Comic Relief

Comic Relief works to support some of the poorest and most disadvantaged people in the UK and around the world and strives towards a just world free from poverty.

Comic Relief was launched on Christmas Day in 1985, live on BBC One. At that time, a devastating famine was crippling Ethiopia and something had to be done. That something was Comic Relief. The idea was simple – Comic Relief would make the public laugh while they raised money to help people in desperate need. Before too long, Red Nose Day was created and the first ever event in 1988 raised a staggering £15m.

2013 marks the 25th anniversary of Comic Relief’s first-ever Red Nose Day which has raised over £600m and helped to change lives both in the UK and Africa.

Comic Relief’s impact over the years:

• Over the past 25 years the money raised by the public will have helped 50 million people across Africa, the world’s poorest countries and here in the UK
• At least 7 million people living in urban poverty in slums in Africa and the world’s poorest countries have been helped
• In the UK, Comic Relief helped to establish the National Domestic Violence Helpline, which has received 1.2million calls since it was set up in 2003
• In the last five years, half a million people with mental health problems have been helped to get their needs met and voices heard in decisions that affect their lives

Red Nose Day 2013 is taking place Friday 15th March when the great British public have again been asked to Do Something Funny for Money.

Jane with Evelyn, who grew up in the Agbogbloshie slum in Accra, Ghana. Determined to get out of the slum, Evelyn sold tea in the market at 4am every morning and water sachets every evening after her studies, which paid for her to go to school. At the age of 22 Evelyn heard about SISS (Self Help Initiative Support Services), which is supported by money raised by Red Nose Day. Thanks to SISS Evelyn took catering, business management and personal development courses. SISS also provided Evelyn with a loan to set up her own business, a restaurant outside the slum called ‘Shepherd’s Best Kitchen’, which is thriving and has enabled her to leave the slum.

Jane with Theresa, who learnt the skills to make soaps and cleaning products and set up her own business, thanks to SISS (Self Help Initiative Support Services) which is supported by Red Nose Day cash. Location: Agbogloshie slum in Accra, Ghana

Jane Garvey with Mariama in the Agbogbloshie slum, Accra, Ghana. Thanks to African Outreach, and its local partner SISS (Self-help Initiative Support Services) which is supported by Red Nose Day cash, Mariama was trained in catering and helped to set up her own stall, where she now sells the food she makes. She uses her earnings to pay for her children's upbringing and education.