Rhoda was kindly the Zoom host on 3rd March, when 15 members joined in the virtual meeting.
We enjoyed a presentation by Dale Aitken, a founder and trustee of The Masoyi Trust UK, which helps orphans in an area north east of Johannesburg in South Africa. Masoyi is a tribal area of about 350,000 people, a collection of villages, with 70% unemployment, the devastation of HIV/AIDS and extreme poverty. The UK trust works in partnership with The eMasoyi Community Development Foundation, which was started in 1997 in response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, when many children were orphaned within the community.
Masoyi Trust UK assists with providing food parcels to 20 families, after school feeding for about 200 children, sanitary products, worker stipends, transport and administration funds. First Aid, health care and advice is also given. They also assist in building small, simple houses for orphaned families, which can cost less than £3000 to build, but also need to be fitted out.
During 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in lockdown, when the impact was worse than here, with even more cases of hunger, and some support groups had to stop.
St Thomas Brampton, where Dale attends, has a group who assist with raising funds. Our prayers were asked particularly for Covid-19 protection, for MaFlo, who is the head of eMasoyi Community Development Foundation, and has substantial responsibilities, and for the HIV affected children who are not on medication.
Our next meeting is on Wednesday, 7th April, at 7pm on Zoom, when we will have a presentation from Margaret Hersee, a member of the Friends of Spital Cemetery, who will tell us about the history of the cemetery and some of the interesting people who are buried there.
The Zoom link will be sent in advance as a reminder.
Please contact me if you have any suggestions or queries.
Trish Law Committee Member Tel: 450407