About Us - The WOH Story
The start
The Wings of Hope was established in 2002. What stemmed as a small discussion amongst friends about the plight of education in developing countries, snowballed into an action to help. The charity was established and registered in the UK and the fundraising ball got rolling – quite literally – with our first Annual Gala Ball being held at the iconic Royal Air Force Museum in London.
Through the support of very generous friends, and company, the charity grew at a staggering pace. From supporting a school in India to supporting several children in both the Indian sub-continent and in Malawi, in Africa.
WOHAA – Go Rise!
In 2004, the co-founders of the charity, Dr. R Sri Ram, and Mrs. Rajni Sriram believed that it is not only important to empower those disadvantaged in other countries, but also to nurture and foster home talent in the UK. This was the brainchild behind the Wings of Hope Achievement Award – a unique award scheme designed for secondary schools students in the UK.
The Wings of Hope Achievement Award – or WOHAA as it is now fondly called – is a social enterprise award scheme for 14 – 18 year olds. The ethos of the award is the 3 Rs:
- Recognising the exceptional fundraising efforts of students in the UK
- Ripening key transferable skills, in communication, teamwork and enterprise
- Rewarding such efforts with some fantastic prizes and experiences
The design of the award, the co-founders believed would be best done by students themselves. So the Wings of Hope enlisted a group of gap year students, in between school and university, to create an award they would have wanted if they were in school. The student team worked tirelessly to create an all encompassing award scheme. They wanted an award which gave students the flexibility to be as innovative and creative as they wanted. They understood the constraints of the student timetable, and so made it that WOHAA fulfilled the service element of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, fitted the CAS requirements of the International Baccalaureate (IB), whilst taking into consideration the time pressures of coursework and exams.
The prizes and awards were soon decided – the grand prize being the all expenses paid trip to see the charity in action in India. Also, the award scheme partnered with some of the world’s largest employers from all fields, Saatchi and Saatchi, to PricewaterhouseCoopers, The Sunday Times to Arup.
With the help from the charity’s Founder Patrons, Lord and Lady Dholakia, the award scheme secured the Semi-finals of WOHAA to be held at the House of Lords. The hallowed halls of Westminster were transformed for one day, every year, to host the colourful, costume-clad, and cacophonous Semi-finalists of the award.
The luminaries of the judging panel did not disappoint either. The chief panelist was Sir David Jason, followed by BBC News presenters, Lords McNally and Dholakia, enlightened entrepreneurs, sports and entertainment personalities.
WOHAA has had a phenomenal growth in the number of schools and organisations who have partnered with us. We hope this growth to continue. The feedback and comments we have had from the award has been uplifting to say the least, with students rating their experiences an average of 9 out of 10.
The Wings of Hope School
In 2008, the Wings of Hope received the green light to start planning for its own Wings of Hope school in Pondicherry. The British High Commissioner to India, Sir Richard Stagg, performed the ground breaking ceremony at the new site, which also launched the Get School Started Campaign.
The motto of our Achievement Award is Go Rise – be a go-getter and rise up to the challenge – Go Rise! There are certainly many opportunities and challenges ahead, however with our go-getter attitude and the staggering support we receive, we will definitely rise up to them.
Empowering through education.
