click - Parish of Greater Whitbourne

Tanga in Touch - MiakaKumi – Ten Years!Come and celebrate at our CoffeeMorning on 24th November!Our tenth anniversary is in November.Our charity was formed, and theTrust Deed signed, on 22nd November2002. Looking back, it is amazinghow much we have achieved inthose ten years.We have sent out around four hundredrecycled computers – and I havelost count of the number of sewingmachines and other things. We haverun I.T. courses for teachers – and thechildren and adults who have benefitedmust number several hundred, ifnot thousands. Now, for various reasons,we are not sending any more. Ihave my stable back, and several extrahours each week… (I wonder whathappened to them!)Misufini, the Leprosy Centre, is lookingmuch better and the residentsnow have an adequate supply of foodand water. We did not do all this,but we did encourage the formationof a Management Committee which,once they had a bank account, were ina position to approach other charities.The St. Francis Leprosy Guild,operating from London, sent‘Maintenance Money’ each year. Weadministered this for several years,making sure it ended up in the rightpocket! Now, with the Guild, anAmerican Church charity and the GermanLeprosy Relief Association, thefuture is looking brighter. The numberof new cases is very much lessand now the emphasis is more on rehabilitation.Our link parish, St. Francis Mapinduzi,has also benefited. The sponsoredKiliclimb in 2005 raised moneyto finish building the hostel (intendedas safe lodgings for young women, itended up housing forty trainee teachers.)Then the micro-finance schemeenabled many women to earn a smallincome. Mapinduzi is one of thepoorest parishes in Tanga and manymothers and guardians were unableto send children to school. If parentsdie of HIV/AIDS, their children go tolive with relatives. Often grandparentshave very little income themselves.They are really struggling.Now our Christmas Appeal suppliesschool uniforms, pencils, and in somecases school fees for seventy oreighty children each year.We are having a COFFEE MORNINGon 24th November, at the Live and LetLive in Whitbourne, 10 – 12.30.there will be a RAFFLE and a BRING &BUY. We are raising funds for the annualCHRISTMAS APPEAL for the orphansat Mapinduzi. Donations arealways welcome and may be given tothe Rector, David Howell, or me.Many thanks. Brenda AllanSome of the orphaned children ofMapinduzi10 November 2012