At InGameUK we are proud to announce our support of GameChangers Uganda, a unique project that brings board games to young people in Uganda for the purposes of education and entertainment. GameChangers is a new project from Chrysalis born from its recent Village Boardgames Convention.
We noticed that we had some stock that wouldn’t shift so rather than giving it away to a local charity shops, which we do regularly, we thought helping out the GameChangers project could go a long way to change the lives of many young people. The charity strives to use board games to educate children in Uganda which is a very noble and wholesome cause. We will be sending over the eternal classic; Chess, along with several others, notably two Doctor Who puzzles and games as well as a Wombles puzzle that we hope will not only help these children learn valuable skills but also bring a little slice of contemporary British culture out to a far flung village in Uganda. Along with these, the card game King’s Corner should give the kids a nice competitive challenge, Break the Safe encourages co-operation, and Cliff Hanger looks like a title that I would have loved to play as a child, just look at those kid’s expressions on the box art!
As a company that has customers all over the world, we believe in supporting projects that help bring a little bit of joy to the lives of others. We are a global, connected family, bought together by the hobbies and passions we share. This is our way of giving a little back to the global community that we help service and who in turn help us grow!
Though our inspiring ethos we regularly receive donations from members of our community, friends clearing out their lofts or collectors wanting to down size their collections. Some of it we just can’t sell or don’t have the space (our Retro Gaming Bunker is humble, yet functional..). Thanks to those people we can use our profits to help cover the costs to send these games off.
“Without those individuals we couldn’t do what we do!”
People, Planet and Profit.
The Triple Bottom Line. The modern day ethos we at InGameUK embody on a daily basis. Suitability is a difficult term to define but for us, it is a mindset or even an ethos, its how we define our day-day business, considering every aspect, motivation and impact. Its what we feel a Business in todays, connected and empathic world, should be. Yes we strive to maximise profit, but that’s not what its all about for us, for us that profit creates positive community engagements and allows us to inspire, motive and support our community, locally and internationally. With that profit, we can host events, run gaming sessions with young people, even produce fun, viral video content — which in turn, creates, positive, collaborative individuals who contribute to the community, not solely for their own personal gain. Its through understanding other peoples experiences and exploring each others abilities that we become unified in supporting one another to reach our full potential. Whilst above all being mindful of our impact on the Planet.. But that’s a story for another time… 😃
HOLD THE DOOR!
Packed and ready to go, next stop Uganda! Crazy to think how far this box is going to travel, and great to know how it’s contents will give joy to less fortunate children in Africa. We are already planning our next shipment and look forward to see the results and excitement of this first batch of games. As a new brand, newly established in the Board Game Community, we are very much the new kids on the block.. But feel through our ethos and the light minded individuals we have already rallied to our cause, we offer something quite unique. A special blend of thinking, skills and experience, that will make our world just that little bit happier. If you would like to find out more or even support us via Patreon, please get in touch or spread the word of our work! The smallest of actions, sometimes have the biggest impact and simply sharing this story to social media, might encourage others to donate and bring happiness to many more children in Uganda. So we fully endorse that. What are you waiting for, get sharing!
Donate Games to the Children of Uganda
If this is a cause you would like to support, you can, easily, and we know the children in Uganda would be very grateful. You can do this by directly contacting Peter from the Chrysalis or just give InGameUK a shout, we never mind helping others. Two things to bare in mind, the games should be for children aged 8–18 and try to avoid traditional Word Games. A fuller list of games to avoid is available on the Chrysalis Website.
Special Thanks:
This article was written in collaboration between two childhood friends, Andrew Jinman and Kris Kosunen, former Community Manager: Nordic Region for HTC Vive at Lionbridge. With a very special thank you to Ben Parkinson, with whom we met through one of the biggest Board Game Communities in the UK. The Board Game Trading and Chat group on Facebook.
- Kris Kosunen (@koz_kris) | Twitter
- Jinners 😊✌️ 🔜 💫✨ (@ADJinman) | Twitter
- Ben Parkinson - Director - Social Enterprise Africa CIC | LinkedIn
Support Us:
We invite you to become part of what we are doing and help increase our Social Impact! With your support we can create some really cool online content, from viral videos through to documenting the events we attend. Writing cracking blog posts (like this one), to stunning photos and awesome video content. We’ve already got the ideas, we just need a little financial support to make our aspirations a reality. With your help, anything and everything is possible!
Links:
Game Changer — InGameUK was originally published in Board Games UK on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.