Help please…

Malawi Container 2019

Will you join us on FRIDAY 17th May at 7 pm, to load our lorry and share in our celebration. Address: Unit 4 F, Waters Farm Road, Tonbridge. TN9 1AN. Should you need directions then please phone Brian on 01732 366846 or 07714 012 915

No further donations please

A big thank you everyone for all your kind donations for the 2019 container we are now well over subscribed, so please no further donations. If you still have donations then perhaps you would hold them for next years container. Once again thank you for all your support – Brain.

APRIL 2016 – FAMINE IN MALAWI

We received urgent requests in early April from our three parishes, for help to buy food. There is a major shortage of maize, which is the main source of food for 8o% of the population.   This has been caused by lengthy drought conditions in the country which has severely hampered the growth of crops.

Maize has been imported by the government and can also be found for sale in local markets, but many do not have the money to buy – and prices vary according to demand.   We have therefore sent £4,500 each  to the three parishes.

There has been recent rainfall but this has come too late for the crop growing season.   In the northern part, heavy rains have caused severe flooding – which has caused even more suffering to the people.

Some of the Correspondence we have received...

From Chiringa parish in early April…

The situation of hunger has reached an alarming stage here at Chiringa.  As I was going for morning Mass I found so many people waiting to ask for food but the parish cannot assist them as there is literally nothing to give them.

You tell them we do not have any help but they cannot leave the parish premises and I am really stranded as I do not know what to do with these starving people.   Looking at them, they are genuine in their requests for food.

As I returned from Mass the number increased and this is the first time in my twenty years of priesthood that I have witnessed such a situation, seeing so many needy people coming to the parish to ask for food.

Of course needy people come to the parishes to ask for help but the situation here at Chiringa has reached an alarming point.  I did not have the choice but to let you know.  As I am sending this email to you there are so many people sitting on the veranda of Father’s house, waiting to be assisted, but they cannot be assisted and as parish priest everybody looks at me and the church leaders are in their homes and the curate just looks at me.

 I was asking the sisters at the convent if every year this is the situation but they said it is because the rains are erratic and it is not like this all the years past. Yesterday we had a meeting of all Diocesan priests at the Cathedral but as we travelled looking at the maize in the gardens drying up due to lack of rains and scorched sunlight it was really very very sad and I am afraid it will become worse. 

There is hunger already but it will be one of the worst times in the living memories of Malawi.

As I have said I am in my room writing this email but so many people are waiting outside to be assisted with food and I do not know what to do.

Sincerely yours, Fr Charles Manyenje

Aid was sent in two tranches and the following mail was received after the first send…..

I managed to buy maize which we distributed to our people and the money you sent  is now exhausted.   We were able to distribute to a good number of starving and poor people but this was purchased at a very high price.

Some needy people continue to come but not as the situation was before because some are harvesting from their gardens.   Though the harvests in most gardens are very poor indeed and the food will not last for long.

Some have literally harvested nothing and these are the people who continue to come to ask for food.

Maize is now on the market at a more reasonable price, so the best thing to do is to buy it, treat it and maybe keep it for future use.  The current lower market price won’t last for long.

We thank you all for coming to our rescue that saw so many lives being saved.   The love of God was seen to our people through you and your generous, kind and understanding hearts.

We all send our Peace and Love to you all and we always pray for you so that God continues to bless, protect and keep you all safe.

With many blessings,

Fr Charles

From Karonga parish…

I write to present a report on the relief project which we carried out in our parish following our request for assistance and your kind donation of £2,000.

From September 2015 Malawi as a nation was hit by an acute shortage of food. The situation worsened in January/February/March 2016. During these months some families had literally nothing to eat. It was not a strange sight to see women waiting for maize husks at the maize mills which they would later process into flour and cook some porridge for themselves or their families.   We also witnessed long queues at the maize selling points throughout the country. Due to the shortage of maize, some people spent three of four days –  day and night –  waiting for their turn to buy some maize.  This was rationed to 25Kgs of maize at a time

We identified 126 vulnerable households of which 120 were female and 6 were male. We prioritised the ederly, those living with HIV/AIDS, female headed families and other vulnerable families. There were many people affected by the shortage of food. But we chose to reach out to those who were more vulnerable.

This was a big challenge because there was very little maize at the ADMARC markets. ADMARC are the official selling points for agricultural products in Malawi. We did not want to bribe the ADMARC officers or jump the long queues. This would have been an abuse of our prominence in the society and a complete disregard of the plight of many poor people around us. As an alternative, we went on the street market to purchase maize but at a slightly higher price.

We bought 126 bags of maize. Each bag contained 50Kgs of maize and cost us MK15,000.00. Thus we spent MK1,890,000.00

In the Diocese of Karonga every Parish has a Disaster Rapid Response Team (PDRRT). The members are trained to report on disasters that have happened or those that are likely to happen in an area. They are based in the villages and work hand-in-hand with our Catechists. The distribution exercise was completed in one week.

We are very grateful to the parishioners of Corpus Christi Parish for the timely support to the poor families in St. Mary’s Parish, Karonga.

Your assistance has helped to save many lives which would otherwise have been lost during the peak period of the famine.

We are sincerely grateful and we pray to God to bless you abundantly.

Fr Denis

From Njale parish…

I’m very pleased to inform you that everyone here is very grateful for the assistance given to us. The £2000 sent to me was used to buy maize flour which benefited 140  most needy households with an average of 4 members each.  

 I wish to assure you that no assistance is too small for us.  To save two lives is better than none.

The problem is so big and the situation is very bad and your help to us is a golden bullet.

 Please extend our thanks to all who have helped us.

Fr Francis

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SEPTEMBER 2015

We have sent £915 each to four parishes to aid their Microloans projects.                                     This will enable more families to earn money to fed their families.

This gift was enabled by our parishioner, Carl Stick, who ran a super-marathon in the heat of South Africa to raise £3,600 for this project.

Well done Carl and his sponsors!!

JUNE 2015

Newly received photos can be viewed in

Projects/Microloans and Container 2015

 

JUNE 2015

Our Container has now arrived in Malawi and all the cartons have been collected by their beneficiaries.   We are promised lots of photos which will show the arrival and unpacking of the cartons.   These will displayed when received.

This was our seventh consignment and all have been transported safely with no damages to contents.

Our next container, in March 2016, is already at the planning stage.

 

MARCH 2015

Our latest project is  – Knitting for Malawi.

Parishioners and friends are knitting blankets and other items, which are sent to Malawi in our containers.

For more information see Projects

MARCH 2015

Our Container left Tonbridge on March 14th.

It is taken via Birmingham, Felixtowe, South Africa and  Mozambique before arriving in Malawi.

For more information see Containers/ 2015

 

FEB 2015

Two reports received from Njale and Karongs regarding our Microloan Projec.

See ‘Projects/Microloans

NEW PHOTOS

Four photos have recently been received from Malawi

One concerns our Solar Lights in the ‘Projects’ page

The others concern our Microloans  project  in the ‘Malawi Mail’ page

OCTOBER 2014 APPEAL

An appeal was held which raised £2,268  This was shared between our three parishes – :Chiringa, Karonga and Njale.   This will be used to purchase solar lights for the people in the village communities.   More information on the SOLAR LIGHTS page…

OUR NEXT CONTAINER  leaves for Malawi in March 2015.

We are already liaising with the companies who donate to us their goods and services and will be collecting household donations in January 2015.

We will be shipping to all our usual people: three Parishes, three schools and many small communities.

Updates to follow…