Wednesday 15 September 2010

Out of Africa (Part One) (posted 08/01/2010)

In the summer of 2004 I was asked if I could arrange a one-off special collection for a HIV/Aids Hospice in a poverty-stricken part of Lusaka, Zambia.  I decided to make this a “parish charity effort”.  The Director of the Our Lady’s Hospice was Mr Sanga and the Financial Director was Sister Crucis. After a couple of years the Zambian Government took over the running of the Hospice and both Mr Sanga and Sister were out of jobs.  However, Mr Sanga had made himself responsible for the upbringing of about a dozen orphans,which was a great responsibility, and also he and Sister decided to purchase a plot of land to build another facility for training purposes and caring of HIV/Aids victims. So the money which we are now sending out to Zambia goes partly to help with the upbringing of the orphans as well as going towards the cost of the land.
Altogether, since 2004, the parish has now sent a total of £34,000 for our Zambian project, and I am particularly pleased that the orphans are being educated and fed; on more than one occasion our monthly donation has arrived just in time to stop the orphans from starving. Times are a lot harder out there than they are here!
I hope that now readers will be able to make sense of my posts Out of Africa (Parts Two and Three)!

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