I am sure by now you will have all seen or heard about the Christmas Card that Harry and Meghan gave this year,  that has delighted us all in many ways not least of which was the inclusion of the adorable Archie and our first glimpse of the lovely Lili. The card did wonders in cheering us all up and in giving us all something to talk about -  other than COVID.

A truly lovely photo, with Harry and the kids all bare footed,  and credit to photographer Alexi Lubomirski who also took Meghan and Harry’s official engagement photos and their wedding photos. 

Harry and Meghan wrote in their card "This year, 2021, we welcomed our daughter, Lilibet, to the world. Archie made us a ‘Mama’ and a ‘Papa’, and Lili made us a family."

In an accompanying digital card from Meghan and Harry’s Archewell foundation Meghan and Harry wrote "As we look forward to 2022, we have made donations on your behalf to several organizations that honor and protect families – from those being relocated from Afghanistan to American families in need of paid parental leave."

 The 7 organizations who received the donations were 

1. Team Rubicon
2. Welcome. US
3. Human Frist Coalition
4. Humanity Crew
5. Paid Leave for All
6. PL+US
7. Marshall Plan for Moms

I provide the listeners with some information on two of these non-profits:

Human First Coalition is a not-for-profit group that is focused on evacuating American citizens and vulnerable people from Afghanistan following the Taliban’s takeover. 

The group uses partners on the ground in Afghanistan to provide shelters for evacuees are still waiting for a way out of the country as well as setting up what they describe as ‘protected transportation’ within Afghanistan. 

Humanity Crew describe their Mission as to create a world in which mental health support is a fundamental component in all emergency efforts for victims of humanitarian crises.

Over the past 6 years they have accumulated a wealth of experience in fieldwork, trained thousands of  people and operated hundreds of volunteers and mental health professionals in both short-term and long-term mental health psychosocial work. 

 In 2020 they set about transitioning  to work in first response crisis intervention. The organization set up what they call Mental Health Lifeguards who consists of mental health professionals and qualified trained volunteers providing first response mental health intervention on-site and at the point of crises. They travel, like first responders, around the world to where they are needed. 

All of the organizations that received a donation from Meghan and Harry were very grateful both for the money and for the support. Many tweets were sent thanking Meghan and Harry. 

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili.  Reach out to me through my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/ and on twitter https://twitter.com/JeanetteSongolo

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo. Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/