Turn a landmind into a lifeline (War Child helping Iraqi children)

A friend of mine is in a UK band called The Crimea & they've teamed up with War Child for a very good cause: to help War Child fund an extended program aimed at aiding the children of Iraq. The Crimea and War Child have a website set up called The Big Swap that pretty much explains what they're trying to do. (http://www.the-big-swap.com/) Below is (1) an e-mail I received from Owen (the drummer of Crimea) asking for help and (2) a blurb taken from the website detailing the idea behind the project.

I know that The Crimea and most importantly War Child and the children of Iraq, would appreciate any help anyone here at DU could offer towards their goal. THANK YOU, in advance, DU! Please help me keep this post kicked.

Note to Moderators: if this post belongs somewhere else, please let me know or feel free to move it.

(1)
hello Holly and Boz,

I don't know if you know, but we've got this project called The Big Swap running with War Child (a UK charity). It's loosely based on the One Red Paper Clip Guy's trading idea, but we started with a de-commissioned landmine and, after 5 trades, we're up to a two week holiday in Panama City Beach, Florida (all the info's on www.the-big-swap.com). I was wondering, then, if you knew anyone who took holidays there? We don't want anything for it, just something to trade.

I'm beginning to get a little stumped - I've tried Carigslist, 170 newspapers in the Arkansas, MS, GA, LO, AL areas, but I'm not getting much love back. I figured the people who'd go to PCB must be from that area, but I'm fucked if I know how to reach them. Any ideas?

That's it. It's a hell of a random mail, but if you get any brain-waves, please let me know. Thanks.

Owen


www.the-big-swap.com
www.myspace.com/thebigswap
www.thecrimea.net


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and (2)

It boils down to a very simple, very brilliant idea (aren’t they all?).

We don’t want any donations and we’re not going to tub thump. We have something we’d like to swap and, hopefully, you’ve got something you’d like to swap it for. The idea is to keep trading until we reach our goal – we get something that someone is willing to pay one million pounds for.

A de-commissioned landmine is our starting point, enough money to fund War Child’s two-year programme in Iraq is the end. The Big Swap, then, aims to convert evil to good, a potential killer to a potential lifeline. In the process, we hope it’ll be fun, you’ll get something you quite fancy and, ultimately, the children affected by war in Iraq get something they need.

For more information on how War Child will spend the money, or how we’ll run The Big Swap, go to 'War Child And The Big Swap', ‘How It Works’ or the ‘Questions’ pages.