CHRISTIAN AID NEWS

AROUND CENTRAL ENGLAND
‘If anyone can
rebuild a country
so comprehensively
from scratch, Sierra
Leoneans can’
East Midlands intern
Catherine Garsed in
Sierra Leone
in oCtoBEr 2011, our new youth and
student volunteer interns spent two
weeks in sierra Leone, west africa,
visiting some of Christian aid’s projects
there. they had the opportunity to see
Christian aid’s projects in real life, to
understand exactly where supporters’
money goes, and to bring back stories
from the people who benefit from the
projects. during their stay, they met
two of our eight partner organisations
in sierra Leone: the Methodist Church
of sierra Leone (MCsL) and the social
Enterprise development Foundation
(sEnd). our partners prepared a packed
schedule for the group, which included
Catherine Garsed from East Midlands
and sarah Croft from East of England, to
visit a range of projects combating issues
such as a lack of long-term availability
of food, hiV and lack of access to
healthcare, and poor governance.
Catherine said: ‘sierra Leone was
beyond words. it still bore the terrible
scars of the civil war, yet there was
an atmosphere of brave defiance of a
people who were not going to let it ruin
them, of a people who were determined
to rebuild their country; a country where
extraordinarily honest forgiveness
between old enemies defies belief and
where phenomenal Muslim-Christian
tolerance puts the wealthy West truly
to shame. You feel without doubt that
if anyone can rebuild a country so
comprehensively from scratch, sierra
Leoneans can.’
sierra Leone provides the focus for this
year’s Christian aid Week. if you would
like one of our volunteer interns to speak
to your Christian aid group, church or
youth group about the work being done
there, please contact your local Christian
aid office.
Travellers’ tales
Christian aid staff and interns see,
first hand, the real change that your
donations bring to people around the
globe. they return full of stories to
share – could they share them with
your church or group
Early in 2012, Lucy Connell, regional
manager for East Midlands, visits
tajikistan and Martin Gage and alison
Linwood, regional coordinators and
legacy officers in the East and West
Midlands, go to india. Chris Wild,
regional coordinator in the East of
England, has been to Brazil, while
sally Bossingham, West Midlands
regional coordinator, visited sierra
Leone and israel and the occupied
Palestinian territory. to book
staff, contact your regional office:
Birmingham@christian-aid.org / 0121
200 2283; eastmidlands@christian-aid.
org / 01509 265013; eastengland@
christian-aid.org / 01733 345 755.
Paul’s marathon effort
Christian aid supporter Paul
anderson is one of the lucky few to be
awarded one of our Golden Bonds for
the 2012 London Marathon in april!
there are just 10 available, and
marathon debutant Paul, from
Loughborough, is the only person
in the whole of the East Midlands to
have been selected. aiming to raise
£2,000, he hopes to complete the
run in five-and-a-half hours. You can
support him either by visiting his
Just Giving page at justgiving.com/
PaulLon-Mar2012 or by contacting the
Loughborough office on 01509 265013
or eastmidlands@christian-aid.org
Skill sharing
FroM PraYEr to postcards, we
advocate for a world free from
poverty. But how do we know we
are really making an impact our
springtime Passion into action
events are your chance to increase
your campaigning impact, covering
everything from worship to how to
effectively engage your MP effectively.
the events take place in February
and March. to find out more, suggest
a location or express an interest,
contact John Cooper, West Midlands
regional organiser, at jcooper@
christian-aid.org or on 0121 200 2283.
28 Christian Aid News