Report in April Messenger from Carolyn and Ronnie our two Christian Aid Representatives.
Christian Aid Lenten Lunch: Thank-you very much from Carolyn and me for all the support in coming to the Lenten lunch on Saturday 14th March, it was more than generous of friends to attend in these uncertain times; generous with their time and with their money too. The total raised which all goes to Christian Aid, of course, was £245.54 Our menu consisted of a choice of two soups and rolls, with a hot drink and Lenten biscuits to follow. Jill very kindly made some biscuits too, and no prizes given for guessing which hers were as they were the far superior ones! Enough said. About 27 people attended; I was advised not to cancel the event because of the Coronavirus and was extremely pleased to have followed this advice in the circumstances. I would like to thank Joy for the fantastic job she did in waitressing – in a way she was too efficient for her own good as she’ll be asked again for sure. Carolyn, Jo and I attended the meeting about Christian Aid in Kenya the following day, with Jill Stone the Regional Rep. leading the meeting. There was an internet link-up with other areas in the UK e.g Bristol , Essex, and the Christian Aid rep in Kenya, Nicholas, who described how funds were spent and then the different groups in UK were able to ask him questions. Nicholas described the drought conditions in certain parts of Kenya, and the relevance of irrigation. The latter is only possible because of large earth dams which have been constructed (by earth diggers). These earth dams are made of the existing earth in that area, rather than some imported material and are the size of five football pitches. It was noted that culturally most of the farming is done by the women in Kenya which is why, supposedly, the envelopes this year do appear to feature women on the poster and envelope covers. Our money goes to the above and to education about farming, irrigation, soil erosion and so on. We were sad to learn that Jill Stone is leaving Christian Aid after some 19 years of service in total. She explained that she was taking voluntary redundancy along with others, as the charity is in some financial difficulties. She went on to explain that there are funds for specific areas which are matched by government funding but the collections from the general public are way down. The regional centres are all being closed but there will be a new office/hub in a northern city, while the one in the south of England will be closed. Jill said that when she started her job in the south-west some 2½ years ago she felt that North Devon had rather been forgotten about by the charity and therefore she had made frequent visits, as far as time allowed, to increase communication with the region. Both Margaret Robinson, rep from Braunton and I did thank her very much for her visits in general and for leading this interesting meeting on Sunday. Thank you very much for Carolyn’s help in organisation and with Jo’s input on the IT , without which the meeting and link-up simply wouldn’t have taken place.
Christian Aid week re Coronavirus This year the charity’s week runs from 10-16 May. Carolyn and I had already placed our annual order and so have bagged up the church’s individual requests. I feel it is probably up to the churches to distribute envelopes as they see fit. We all know that many can’t give, especially this year, but many a mickle makes a muckle. With thanks, Carolyn and Ronnie
