Redeemer Childrens’ Home

One of IRT’s projects is the Moyo Redeemer Children’s Home (RCH). The Home now has several income generating projects: a poultry unit, a dairy, a grinding mill and a shop. Recently, a farm and a piggery were set up. The piggery has started very well and currently four sows have between them forty-five piglets. Feeds are produced by Sr. Pasqua on the farm which works out 50% cheaper than buying readymade.

The farm is located 20 minutes from the Home in a particularly fertile valley. It consists of 30 acres which were cultivated with beans, maize, simsim, groundnuts, cassava and onions last year. Although bean and groundnut yields were modest due to rainfall, cassava is doing very well and is mature enough to survive prolonged drought conditions.

To further support the RCH, IRT will provide funds for six oxen, ploughs, supplementary seeds, training and drugs. IRT is also negotiating to supply the dairy project with another bull and to install a solar system for the borehole in order to reduce energy costs. To improve accountant systems and train staff at both the RCH and another of IRT’s projects, the Moyo Babies Home, IRT will send an Accountant volunteer to Moyo in September. Furthermore, it is planned to purchase two laptops together with printers for each Home.

The Comboni Samaritans of Gulu project ‘Access to Quality Education’

The ‘Access to Quality Education’ project has come a long way. When visiting Pawel Ayiga school in March 2009, Adrian found only one old classroom and no people living in the area. Now, he was proud to officially open one block of three classrooms. Work has just started on another two blocks of classrooms and teachers accommodation. The area is now livelier with many households being re-established around the school.  IRT also agreed with local authorities to support the construction of classrooms and teachers accommodation at Orapwoyo primary school this year.

The project includes six schools which all run two income generating projects: Tree Nurseries and Bee Hives. Each of the six schools produced pine tree seedlings both for sale and also for planting of woodlots for the respective school. They raised considerable money through sale and planted over 3,000 seedlings themselves. Furthermore, a total of 35 bee hives at the six schools have been successfully colonised. Harvesting will begin in August this year.

The Gulu and Amuru District ox ploughing project

Adrian was particularly pleased with the performance of this project. Launched in 2007, the project targets 4 zones comprising 44 groups of nine families in total. Each group of nine families has one pair of oxen and a plough. In 2009, three of the four zones produced the impressive amount of 44.2 metric tonnes of food. This food comprised beans, maize, millet and groundnuts. In 2010, those three zones have ploughed and planted 729 acres. This equates to approximately three acres per family.  The fourth zone was established more recently and has ploughed around 153 acres (one acre per family as the oxen are still immature).

To sustain this successful project, IRT is planning to build storage buildings in each zone. The stores would allow groups to store their surplus produce (that which is not consumed by the families) until the best price can be obtained for it. Secondly, IRT would like to provide two ox carts per zone to move surplus produce to the storage buildings.

All in all, Adrian was pleased with the progress made by IRT projects in the region. Yet, there is still more to be done. We will keep you updated about how things go.

If you are new to the parish, or would like a reminder, this is what to do:

THIS WEEKEND OR NEXT 1. take an empty shoebox from the church porch.

2. Fill the box with simple gifts for a poor child; the target countries are Montenegro, Romania & Tanzania. In the box is a leaflet explaining what is/is not suitable, plus patterns for knitted or sewn teddy bears and hats – the latter being needed even in Africa where foothill temperatures plummet at night.

3. Wrap the box as per leaflet instructions and return by Sunday October 25 to the Altar Servers’ Sacristy [not please to the Church Porch].

4. Please tape a £1 coin to the outside of the box to help cover transport costs.

There is a children’s booklet available in the porch for these two weekends.   Boxes for boys of all ages are especially welcome as they tend to be overlooked.

Please try to stick to the deadlines as late boxes may not reach the destination in time.

Each child will only ever receive one box – and this may be their only present .. ever.

Some of these children are found living in wooden shacks, sewers, or primitive refugee camps under plastic sheeting.   A gift-filled box for them may be rewarding to make, but is like a miracle to receive.

For more info, see www.rotary1110.org.uk

If you would not be able to fill a complete box, it is possible to hand in loose suitable items to go in boxes being prepared by the organisers.

Here are some ideas on what to fill your shoebox with:-

Or download these instructions to make knitted teddy bears or hand puppets.

So many people all in great spirit, took awhile to find one another after, thank goodness for Nelson’s Column and mobile phones!

Thank you so much for your support and words of encouragement, you really kept us going in the last kilometre.

When all sponsorship money is collected we will have raised over £1330 for the Apostleship of the Sea – a great result – thanks to you!

In a very weak moment, UCM members Geraldine Potter and Anne Monaghan agreed to pound the streets of London on 12th July as ‘Team Southampton’ to raise funds in support of the Apostleship of the Sea – a charity we should all support if we want to keep items such as bananas on the shop shelves!

The London 10K is known as the most prestigious city centre race in the taking in many of the great sights of London. We start at Piccadilly and pass by famous landmarks such as Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey and finish at Whitehall.

We, the Southampton Team will, with your help, raise as much as we possibly can for the charity.

AoS is the frontline service for the care of seafarers visiting British shores. They provide practical and pastoral care to all seafarers. Their port chaplains and volunteer ship visitors welcome seafarers, offer welfare services and advice, practical help, care and friendship.

90% of the world trade is transported by ship. However the life of modern seafarer can be dangerous and lonely.They may spend up to a year at a time away from home, separated from their family and loved ones and often working in harsh conditions.Apostleship of the Sea is on hand to support them through this.

Apostleship of the Sea relies wholly on voluntary contributions. they are only able to contine their work through the generous donations of supporters and so we appeal to you to be as generous as you can!

To contribute, make a donation at www.justgiving.com/annemonaghan

Down the centuries, the Church has always worked for healing, by prayer and by actions. We believe that this ministry
continues in the Church today, both in its sacramental form and also in the form of the ordinary prayers that we can offer for
one another through our baptism in the Lord.

This Christian healing is about Christ making people whole. When we pray for healing, we trust God to answer, but we do not know how or when healing will happen. We trust God to act in love.

Our sickness, our need for healing, can be physical, emotional or spiritual. Our past experiences of hurt, and our inability to
forgive or be forgiven, make us less than whole, and in need of healing.

It is common that, with the permission of the person asking for prayer, we will lay our hands on their shoulder. Touch, often more than words, is a way of giving physical expression to our prayers and concerns for each other, and lets us know that we are loved.

Here are some words that three St Boniface parishioners have used to describe their experience of this ministry:

“I came for physical relief from my aches & pains but found also a great out-flowing of emotional stress I was not even aware of !! My whole being is so much more at ease now and my pains are also subsiding. I can recommend it to anyone who may be struggling, even though no physical pain is involved. You will find the grace of God around you, giving you strength.”

“It has increased my understanding of Faith”

“During the healing ministry’s prayers I experienced a great feeling of peace and a feeling that problems were being lifted from me. It was an experience which is hard to explain but I certainly found it very helpful.”

The parish has its own healing team, trained by Fr Ronnie Mitchell at Ashurst and commissioned by Fr David. The team offers prayer for healing after Masses on the first weekend of each month. Please come to the front of the church after Mass.

Promises of Healing Ministry Team

• To promote a personal life of prayer and to seek out the power of the Holy Spirit in all we say and do
• To offer prayer for healing and inner peace for all who ask us to do so, without distinction of persons
• To honour any confidences from those who ask us to pray with them in this ministry
• To support each other in ministry and to tell others of the graciousness of God’s will, so that they too may be inspired to serve him in this way
• To make God the centre of our lives, in all our hopes and fears, successes and failures, joys and sorrows

We will be giving further regular updates on progress. Meanwhile there is further publicity on one of the two boards in the north aisle of the church.

Ugandan baskets from St Charles Lwanda parish

Adrian Hatch from the International Refugee Trust with Fr David Sillince

Gulu school children's choir

Children of Gulu school

Every year in the parish, we support a large charitable project for twelve months. Our project for 2008/09 is the International Refugee Trust.

To find out how much we have raised so far, check out our latest parish newsletter online.

All too often there are headlines in the media showing people forced to leave their homes and become refugees because of natural disasters such as famine and earthquakes or man-made disasters such as war. When the media coverage has died down, many of the big agencies move their resources on to tackle the next emergency.

The focus if International Refuge Trust (IRT) is on smaller, longer-term projects that address the most urgent needs of refugees, supporting education and develop self sufficiency, in order that refugees don’t miss out on the knowledge and skills they would otherwise have learnt, had they not been forced to leave their homes. All their work is carried out overseas through local partner organisations.

Map of Uganda

Uganda

20 years of conflict between the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Government of Uganda in the north of the country forced over 1.8 million people to flee their homes and take refuge within displacement camps. The LRA is accused of widespread human rights violations including mutilation, torture, rape and massacre. During its campaign, the LRA abducted children to be trained and used as soldiers or slaves. The conflict left thousands of children orphaned and traumatised.

Following the signing of peace accords between the government and the LRA, security and peace has greatly improved. Displaced communities who were living in camps are returning home to rebuild their lives. Thousands of abducted children have been released by the LRA. Most of these children are unable to read or write and a generation of illiterate children is now emerging. Thousands of other children have lost one or both parents and are reliant on extended families. These children survive with deep emotional scars due to their traumatic experiences of rape, witness to murder and other atrocities.

Building schools

IRT-built classrooms

Children on the first day at school

The Combioni Samaritans

We are focusing on raising money to build new schools near Gulu in north east Uganda, working in association with the lay Combioni Samaritans. The group concentrated on helping those suffering from HIV/AIDS but have extended their work into education programmes for orphans, not only those whose parents have died from disease but killed by the LRA.

IRT is funding the building of classrooms and latrines in six schools, providing text books, basic sports equipment, teacher
accommodation and training, as well as education costs of 300 orphans each year. So far eight classrooms have been completed and are in use.

There are collection boxes available in St Boniface church for your donations. The Combioni Samaritans guarantee that all money given will go to building new schools and none is spent on administration.

Did you know that £15,000 will

• fund the annual running costs for a babies’ home
• buy benches or chairs for 800 primary school children
• allow 12 orphans to undergo vocational traning?
  

Learn more about IRT at www.irt.org.uk

In August 2007 the Missionaries of the Company of Mary began a food delivery service to those who are either destitute or unable to access help in the Southampton area. This ministry is called the Poitiers Project because it resonates with the work of the community’s founder, Louis de Montfort, in Poitiers, France when he worked amongst those living within the city’s poor house.

‘Louis … obtained an old donkey, saddled it with two large baskets, and went the rounds of the tradesmen and wealthy people of the town. He was at first the cause of many raised eyebrows, but it was not long before he became an accepted sight, and would return with laden baskets and full pockets … His begging baskets may have been humiliating, but they were undoubtedly the only practical means of solving the problem’

The numbers of men, women and children served increases each week. At present, our co-workers and volunteers are providing over 5000 meals a month, including giving food to 100 children. We operate within the poorest quarters of Southampton and take food to many different people including people in financial crisis, those struggling to cope due to addiction, trauma or rebuilding their lives after exiting prostitution.

How you can help

Finding enough food each week to feed all these people is an immense task. Many of the churches in the Southampton area support local homeless charities but it is precisely because these charities receive Government funding that the Poitiers Project was founded; ‘to meet the unmet need’.

We have collecting boxes in the church to take your donations. Why not take along some of these items:-

• Milk (UHT or powered)
• Cereal
• Tinned Soup
• Fruit Juice (Long life)
• Pasta Sauces
• Baked Beans
• Rice or Sponge pudding (tinned)
• Tomatoes (tinned)
• Pasta or Rice
• Tinned Vegetables
• Tinned Fruit
• Tea or Coffee
• Instant Mash potato
• Tinned Meat or fish
• Sugar
• Biscuits

The programme consisted of weekly talks given by CES’s David Payne and opportunities to reflect on and discuss the material in small groups. The talks were based on the Bible and the Catechism. It is endorsed by Mgr Keith Balthrop who heads the Catholic Agency to Support Evangelisation.

The sessions helped us to know different aspects of God better, including God’s love, forgiveness, help, word, Spirit and hope.

It is not just for Catholics: you may be married to a Catholic or know someone who is curious about the faith, you may have questions or just want to go deeper.

I understand my faith much better, now I can explain it to others.

It has given me a new enthusiasm for Scripture. It was fantastic.

I feel able to support my children better in their search for faith.

People from the parish found the course to be easy to understand, very well organised, humorous and yet profound and inspiring.

Communicare

Communicare in Shirley and District exists to help those in need. We shop for and with the elderly and infirm, visit the lonely and the housebound, provide transport for medical and social appointments and hospital visiting, befriend those with mental health problems, carry out practical tasks for those with physical difficulties, collect prescriptions and pensions and do small DIY jobs.

We are all volunteers and there are no charges for the help we give, though donations towards our running costs are gratefully received. We come under the umbrella of Southampton Voluntary Services.

We have been in existence since January 1991 and have helped hundreds of people over the years. Most are elderly but we also help mothers of young children and those of any age with mental or physical disabilities. Whatever your need, give us a try!

This is what some people have said about Communicare:-

“It’s with great sadness that I have to say goodbye to my Communicare visitor. She has been a great help to me over the past two years, always she has a listening ear. She always thinks of others not herself. Communicare is a wonderful service to all who need it.”

“I want to sing the praises of Communicare because of the difference it has made to my life. I have been a housebound elderly lady for over five years who can only go out in a wheelchair, but unfortunately I do not have any family to take me out. I appealed to Social Services to see if they could find someone, and they found a lovely lady from Communicare who now takes me out once a fortnight. She is such a caring lady and we have fun together. On one occasion I asked her if she would take me to the West Quay Shopping Centre. It was a very cold day and she turned up to collect me carrying a tartan rug with a hot water bottle wrapped up in it. Because of Communicare I now call myself a ‘liberated lady’.”

St Vincent de Paul Society

The SVP is a care society whose members visit people in their own homes, in Nursing and Residential Homes and in Hospitals. As well as offering a good listening ear, the SVP offer practical, personal and sometimes financial support in many different, confidential ways.

We regularly visit housebound or elderly parishioners, the sick and one-parent families, as well as providing food vouchers for the homeless and refugees in Shirley. Our work is always strictly confidential.

Each year we organise a Christmas Party for the senior members of our community, as well as regular outings into the countryside or the nearby New Forest.

The Society in Shirley meets regularly in the hall, and new members are always welcome. If you think you would like to help in this work, please contact the Parish Office and we will put you in touch with a member of the group.

More information on the national work of the SVP can be found at www.svp.org.uk.

Association for the Propagation of the Faith (APF)

The APF exists to supply spiritual and material aid, mainly for the peoples of the Third World. The principal source of income is provided by the red mission collecting boxes.

To join what Pope John Paul declared to be his favourite charity, and help save lives and prevent blindness in the Third World, contact the Parish Office.

More information at www.missionsocieties.org.uk/APF.htm.

• Fr David Sillince
• Chair: Richard Pilley
• Gift Aid Coordinator: Brendan O’Donovan
• Secretary: Margaret O’Donovan
• Financial Administrator: Eileen Aylett
• Philip Crook
• George Daley
• Eileen Read
• Ron Smith

The committee make a financial statement to the parish each year.