Carmen Wiltshire
Founder
About The Founder
Carmen Wiltshire at 79 years old is a part of the historical Windrush Generation and arrived in the UK from Jamaica, West Indies on 1st February 1962 at 21 years old. She landed at Heathrow Airport with promises of a better life. Following World War II, Jamaican families had responded to Great Britain’s international recruitment call appealing for them to come with their trades to help rebuild the war-ridden ‘Mother Country’ and so carrying one suitcase and high hopes she came. However, on arrival her actual experience was very different on many levels. From the harsh cold weather, the houses being close together and unpainted to the hostility she faced during that time. She described those early days as being very difficult for her. Nonetheless, she made many friends with the locals and beyond over time. She has played her part in making London a peaceable place in which to live, also helping many other migrants after they arrived in the 1960′s. She remains active within the community through volunteering and charitable activities helping the young and elderly in diverse ways both in the UK and overseas.
Carmen and her husband Roy met in London and married in the month of September 1965. Roy was a bus driver for London Transport who retired in 2017. Carmen was a qualified seamstress, teacher and also worked for the Home Office. They resided in the Borough of Wandsworth until 2016 and now live in Surrey. They had 3 children and many grandchildren and great grandchildren. Tragically, one of sons was killed in the 1980s.
Carmen has since contributed immensely to British society through her charitable, pastoral and musical achievements from singing for Her Majesty the Queen, performing at the Royal Albert Hall, being signed to a major music label, ministering hope to hundreds at large events to founding her own registered charity, Karoy Foundation which is her heartbeat.
Karoy Foundation was founded in 2011. The charity is a non profit organization that provides humanitarian relief to vulnerable people affected by the crisis of extreme poverty, food deficiency and lack of access to education through its use of public donations, which directly fund projects such as building water wells, food supplies to schools and educational facilities.
Carmen says: ‘I started the foundation to help people within the UK, Jamaica, Ghana and others countries find hope and better their lives with my help. When I went to Ghana I did mission work three years before I started the charity. I have always been a peoples’ person and like to share whatever I have. I gave to many charities over the years but never thought of organizing one myself. My defining moment arrived one day when I saw Sir Bob Geldof on television. I was so inspired to organise a charity of my own. With the help of my husband and many friends, Karoy Foundation was birthed. My ambition is that it will grow from strength to strength in impacting the lives of the poor and disadvantaged. My prayer is, to do what God has given me to do and to finish my work before I die. Too many wonderful people are laying down in the grave yard that did not accomplish what God had specifically given them to do and I’ve seen too many funerals with that realisation.’
Her foundation’s next plans for 2020 are to build a primary school within a Ghana community named Yaboadi and source new water wells and food supplies for their Ghana, Jamaica and UK projects which they believe will positively impact the lives of these people forever for better sustainable futures.
Carmen and her husband Roy met in London and married in the month of September 1965. Roy was a bus driver for London Transport who retired in 2017. Carmen was a qualified seamstress, teacher and also worked for the Home Office. They resided in the Borough of Wandsworth until 2016 and now live in Surrey. They had 3 children and many grandchildren and great grandchildren. Tragically, one of sons was killed in the 1980s.
Carmen has since contributed immensely to British society through her charitable, pastoral and musical achievements from singing for Her Majesty the Queen, performing at the Royal Albert Hall, being signed to a major music label, ministering hope to hundreds at large events to founding her own registered charity, Karoy Foundation which is her heartbeat.
Karoy Foundation was founded in 2011. The charity is a non profit organization that provides humanitarian relief to vulnerable people affected by the crisis of extreme poverty, food deficiency and lack of access to education through its use of public donations, which directly fund projects such as building water wells, food supplies to schools and educational facilities.
Carmen says: ‘I started the foundation to help people within the UK, Jamaica, Ghana and others countries find hope and better their lives with my help. When I went to Ghana I did mission work three years before I started the charity. I have always been a peoples’ person and like to share whatever I have. I gave to many charities over the years but never thought of organizing one myself. My defining moment arrived one day when I saw Sir Bob Geldof on television. I was so inspired to organise a charity of my own. With the help of my husband and many friends, Karoy Foundation was birthed. My ambition is that it will grow from strength to strength in impacting the lives of the poor and disadvantaged. My prayer is, to do what God has given me to do and to finish my work before I die. Too many wonderful people are laying down in the grave yard that did not accomplish what God had specifically given them to do and I’ve seen too many funerals with that realisation.’
Her foundation’s next plans for 2020 are to build a primary school within a Ghana community named Yaboadi and source new water wells and food supplies for their Ghana, Jamaica and UK projects which they believe will positively impact the lives of these people forever for better sustainable futures.