After the success of our first container that departed in July 2009, discussions took place with our partners the Angolan diocese of Birmingham to set the date of the next container to Malawi, this was set for Friday 26th March 2010. An appeal was launch by a Malawi Newsletter during January within the parish of Corpus Christi, for the many items required for our second container. The theme for this our second container was Sewing for survival Below is a summary of events that contributed to the success of our second container

• September 2009 Date set for our second Malawi container to depart the UK on Friday 26th March 2010.
• October 2009 Informed the Malawi Twinning Team and our team of helper of the date, for container number two. Ask our linked priest and contacts in Malawi for their “wish list”
• November 2009 Planning meeting for our appeal letters and setting a timetable for appealing, collecting, sorting, packing, documenting and transporting.
• December 2009 Appeal via the Internet using the many recycling sites for bicycles and manual sewing machines.
• January 2010 Appeal Newsletter launch in the parish. Start collecting items from both parish, an also from parts of Kent and Sussex.Our warehouse was opened for storage; a partial sort took place on arrival of items.All the sewing machines collected were serviced and repaired by Mr. Martin Jeffree (from faith in action) who lives in Crawley, who so kindly volunteered to help.Bicycles needing repairs and attention were kindly undertaken by Adam of UK Cycles, who only charged for parts at cost price.
• February 2010 Our packing team commenced work in our very cold unheated warehouse on Saturday 6th February, then continued for the next five Saturdays. Each packing session lasted for at least four hours.Sorting per location, packing, labelling, and documenting each item or carton for customs purposes.
• March 2010 The packing team worked for the two first Saturdays in March sorting and packing an “over spill” of items ready for our next container.
• Thursday 25th March 2010 During the cold evening of Thursday 25th March the dedicated team of packers turned out to load the 7.5tonne lorry, ready for its journey to Birmingham the following day.
• Friday 26th March 2010 The Lorry travels to Birmingham, to enable our consignment to be loaded onto our shared container that was sealed at 3.30pm.Then started it’s journey to Malawi via Felixstowe Container Port.
• Saturday 12th June 2010 The second Malawi container clears customs and is unloaded at Blantyre on Saturday morning. Our Linked priests where ready and waiting to make their collection. All the items were safely collected there were no shortages or breakage reported.
  

  Details of the Consignment sent

  136 Large cartons/items – weighing 2435 kg – measuring a total of 314 cubic feet.

   

   

  Distribution by Area

  Chiringa Parish	44 Items	102 cubic feet	755 kg
  Kachebere Parish	36 Items	82 cubic feet	584 kg
  Kachebere Seminary	8 Items	20 cubic feet	189 kg
  Nsanje Parish	48 Items	110 cubic feet	907 kg

  The following is a summary of the many items sent in the 2010 container to Malawi 43 manual sewing machines with cloth and cotton for sewing, over 250 pairs of shoes, hundreds of pens, pencils and crayons, tens of thousands sheets of plain paper. Also included was metal and working tools, spanners, pliers, wrenches and miscellanies tools. Men, women and children’s clothing, and many items of new sports clothing. Three fully reconditioned sterilisers and over 250kg of food supplements. I T equipment, musical instruments, sports equipment, toys, games, and 15 adults and children’s bicycles. There were countless other item’s sent, far too many the mention.

  Acknowledgements

  My sincere thanks go to all those people who have so generously dedicated so much of their time, skill and effort, also for the help received from many local companies. Without this support this project would not have been possible. The next (our third) Container to Malawi will depart on Friday 25th March 2011 Brian Wilkins Co-Ordinator – Malawi Container Project My grateful thanks go to the following: – Rev Richard Tucker Of the Anglican Diocese of Birmingham. Richard kindly invited us again to share in their next container that was due to depart March 2010 to Malawi. Wonderful links and friendships have now been established between our two churches, for the mutual benefit of our brothers and sisters in Malawi. Jan Beare and Judith Crubb The co-ordinators of the Anglican container project based in Birmingham. Jan and Judith have become good friends. Their information, help and advice is invaluable. Andrea Senior Andrea again gave invaluable support to both the project and myself, Andrea sourced many of the sewing machines and bicycles via the Internet and co-ordinating the collection of items from all over Kent and Sussex. Martin Jeffree Martin, who lives in Crawley serviced and repaired all the 43 sewing machines that were dispatched to Malawi, Martin indeed donated many of the sewing machines. Martin has for many years assisted people in Africa; he and wife Sally are the driving force of a charity called “Faith in Action”. Chris Hodgson and Tim Manlow Who kindly prepared and packed and labelled the bicycles ready of dispatch. The bicycles need handles turned, pedals taken off and strapped and secured to each bicycles, this reduced damage and saved considerable space and cost. Kevin Wilkins My thanks to Kevin for his continued support and work dedicated to the computers and I T equipment. Kevin continues to source software suitable for beginners. Anthony Halter I am so grateful for all the help that Anthony has given me, not only has Anthony helped with many of our packing sessions, he travelled with me to Birmingham to transfer and load the container on Friday 26th March 2010. Corpus Christi – Sorting and Packing Team For the many hours they dedicated to sorting and carefully packing the many cartons: this work was carried out in very cold conditions in our unheated and draughty warehouse during February. The many odd and heavy item all needed to be carefully packed, they also need to be “water proofed” for the long sea journey. The packing was again carried out to very high standards; not a single item was reported damaged. I am deeply grateful for the help of: Andrea Senior and mum, George and Joyce Boswell, John and Monica Boardman, Ken and Sue Marsh, Michael Guttman Kenny, Molly Mellish, Peter and Lily Wells, Liam Collins, Rosemary Cazalet, Brenda and Nigel Collis, Jill Davison, Roger Fordham, Anne Nida, Peter Plunkett, Bryan Winter, Chris Hodgson, Tim Manlow and Anthony, Deirdre and Rachel Halter. Malawi Twinning Team and Parish My grateful thanks go to the team for their ongoing support and to the parishioners and friends of Corpus Christi Church, for all their generous donations and their continued support and encouragement. Tyler Holding Ltd For donating the use of a warehouse for storage, sorting and packing cartons ready for onward shipment. My special thanks to Graham, for his help preparing the warehouse. UK Cycles My thanks to Adam and his team for checking and repairing the bicycles before shipment, Adam and his team kindly donated their time and only charged for parts at cost price. St Ives Westerham Press Ltd For guillotining and supplying many thousands of A4 sheets of plain white paper, for computer printers and for the school and for helping with packaging materials. My special thanks to David Tilly for his continued support. V R Digital My thanks once again to Adam, for providing storage, donating packaging materials, plain paper, and art materials and much more. S & S Distribution Ltd For their generous donation of pallet storage space; and for palletised collection and distribution in the UK. B K T Printers For donating tape and packaging supplies and materials. Bob Woolmer Sports For Donating so many articles of sports clothing, for both adults and children, including team shirts and shorts for football, rugby, net ball, as well as track suites and fleece tops, many of them brand new. T and T Express Deliveries Are my employers. They have again continued to support and encourage me with this project, indeed they have allowed me time to make and receive many phone calls and e-mails at work. They continue to supply transport to make collections from many local companies and organisations. My employers have again generously provided a lorry to transport the many item and cartons to Birmingham. May I thank them enormously for all the support and encouragement they have given to me and the Malawi Container Project. To anyone else that I have not mentioned I am so grateful to everyone who has given help in any way, to make this, the second Malawi Container such a great success. Again we will have benefited so many poor people in our linked parishes in Malawi, as the following photographs will show. Malawi Container 2011 Planning is underway for our third container to Malawi, it is due to leave England on Friday 26th March 2011. Should you require further information or you wish to become further involved with our project or would like to join our packing team of helpers, the please contact me. Telephone: Tonbridge 366846 or E-mail: brianrobertwilkins@yahoo.co.uk Brian Wilkins Co-Ordinator – Malawi Container Project 25th October 2010

  Photo Trail (Click Photo to Enlarge)

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