Strathblane Parish Church are just one of the organisations who have been very supportive of our charity. I am asked to contribute regularly to their quarterly church magazine, Cornerstone. Here is the article I have just written. I also attach the link to the magazine. If you aren’t able to see my screenshot properly, it will be much clearer in the original copy.
Last year we had a very generous donation of preloved bibles from St Michael’s Parish Church, Slateford Road, Edinburgh. The congregation kindly also donated some clothes and lots of other useful items.
The bibles and other donations recently arrived on the container. Many of the bibles have been kept for the young people supported by The Foundation to help with their studies. One box was sent to a different organisation. Whilst we are not in a position to support other organisations financially, occasionally we are able to pass on donations.
Last November, I was honoured to be invited to an afternoon tea with The First Lady of Malawi at the City Chambers in Edinburgh. I was invited by Joyce Juma-Phiri who is CEO of Fair Trade Scotland and also Head of The Associations of Malawians in Scotland. It was a lovely afternoon, and I met some wonderful people. One lady, a Malawian living in Scotland, is Gertrude Kadzuwa who runs this organisation for widows in Mzuzu. As well as bibles, we put lots of bars of soap in the box. The widows have had a meeting today and Gertrude sent me this photo and a great video. I hope you enjoy the video. Thank you again to the congregation of St Michael’s Parish Church for your donations, Sarah x
I wanted to share a presentation that I gave in a few churches three years ago before covid arrived.
Our charity is welcoming and inclusive of all faiths or none, differing abilities, colour and gender. We all have different skills and we are all about teamwork.
I have a faith and made up this presentation, for a specific audience, based on that. I have also given lots of talks and presentations for a variety of settings including schools, that there has been no mention of my faith.
I wanted to share this with you to show you how much has happened in the last few years. Also to say thank you for any help you may have given to us and we need people to keep on supporting us and being part of our team.
If you would like me to come and speak at your church or club or an event, or if you would like me to help put together some resources for you to talk at an event on our behalf then please do let me know. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com. Thanks for reading, Sarah x
Strathblane Parish Church, near where I live, is very supportive of our charity and the work Levison is doing in Malawi. It’s where my mum, Christine, is an elder and where we had the fundraiser/exhibition for her paintings and cards in October, raising money for an extension to the chicken house.
Strathblane Parish Church also donated money to buy Levison’s motorbike a couple of years ago which made a huge difference to the amount of people he can see/things he can do each day. We were all very thankful to them for this generous donation. The guild had kindly donated money to provide food for the children’s Christmas Party in December. Various members of the congregation have supported our charity in different ways.
I am thankful to be invited to contribute articles to their church magazine. Here is my latest article as a photo and I’ve attached a link to the whole magazine, with my article on page 10. https://online.flippingbook.com/view/340778991/ . Also, my mum, as well as being a talented painter, writes poetry. One of her poems is on page 11 of the magazine if anyone was interested in reading it. My mum is also a trustee of Changing Lives Malawi and gives generously of her time and talents. On the back page is a photo of my parents at a recent event at Strathblane Kirkrooms.
Also, I wanted to share with you a photo of a donation of soap I received at the weekend. A friend used to make soap and sell it at fetes and markets and had some left over. She donated it all to us to send to the children in Malawi. It smells absolutely lovely and I am sure the children who receive a gift of a bar of soap will be delighted. If anyone else wants to contribute a few bars of ordinary soap each time they are shopping then this would be very much appreciated. Providing soap for up to 800 children and young people is not an easy task.
Thanks for reading and thanks for your continued support, Sarah x
beautiful handmade soap donated by a friend of mine
