Getting dressed up to help Uganda

The Puente Romano annual summer gala in aid of World Vision took place at the Marbella beach resort’s tennis club on Friday, 11 August.

About 250 people attended the event where they enjoyed a four-course meal and live entertainment while raising money for the charity which runs projects around the world to support local communities and especially children.

This year funds from the gala have gone to a four-year project in Uganda, now in its third year, which the event has been supporting since the beginning.

Acting Head of Key Relationships at the UK-based charity, Saramine Mukute, who hosted the evening, explained that by supporting the same project over the years, partners “get to see the impact on the community it is supporting and the transformation”.

As well as the dinner and live music from Kieran Alleyne - star of the West End musical Thriller, Rebeka Brown, Alexander Jams Rodríguez and others, a charity auction saw guests bidding for: two VIP tickets to see the Formula 1 GP in Abu Dhabi donated by Aioka, which went for 27,000 euros; a designer dress and earrings donated by local businesses, which went for 12,000 and 4,000 respectively.

Co-owner of Puente Romano Beach Resort, Daniel Shamoon, addressed the guests about his own individual support for World Vision, which he said started around 30 years ago when he first sponsored a child. But he said it was when his own daughter was born that Shamoon decided to become more involved and the Puente Romano annual gala in aid of World Vision started in 2012.

In an interview with SUR in English, Saramine praised the “partnership” between World Vision and Puente Romano and explained that the Security, Protection and Economic Empowerment (Supreme) project in Uganda it is supporting helps both refugees and locals in the country’s West-Nile sub region by offering apprenticeship programmes and credit services to enable entrepreneurs to set up businesses and establish sustainable agricultural practices, among other aspects.

“World Vision is child-focused” and works on “long-term sustainable development”, Saramine explained.

Visit: www.worldvision.org.uk