The AV1 robot above belonged to Tribe-Charity co-founder, Ellie. It was nicknamed Ellie-Bot by her classmates at school. It even wore a hat, just like Ellie. It may look very simple, but what it does is nothing short of amazing.
For many children diagnosed with Cancer, attending school can become almost impossible. The risk of infection, moving between lessons, travel, dealing with medication, fatigue, hospital stays...the list goes on. With so much going on, it may seem like school is not the top of the list of priorities, but missing school can become an additional worry for a young person in terms of the work they are falling behind with, but also for social and wellbeing reasons.
School isn't just about exams and lessons, but plays a vital part in a young person's overall development and is their main place for social interaction outside their family. Without school, life can be very lonely and isolating.
The AV1 robot helps ensure that a child can get to school without having to physically be there. The robot stays in school and the young person controls it using a tablet at home, meaning that they can take part in the lesson. The robot can look around the room, and the young person can speak through it to ask questions, answer questions, talk to friend and even have social conversations outside of lesson time. It enables an element of normal life to continue, and gives something to look forward to each day.
Sadly Ellie died in January 2022. We were in the middle of fundraising for a robot to donate to The Royal Marsden Hospital School in Sutton, so that more children could benefit. We would now like to continue our efforts to buy our robot and hopefully be able to donate it to the hospital school by the end of the year. We already have the funds for the tablet, we now need to raise the rest for the robot. Please help by sharing and donating whatever you can.
We know that the robot made a big difference to Ellie's life and that she was eager that someone else would also be able to enjoy the same experience as she did.
You can find out more about our charity by visiting www.tribe-charity.org and our Instagram page @tribecharity
Thank you
Maria
Co-Founder of Tribe-Charity