The parish supports various groups and charities both financially and by offers of help of time and talent. The parish committee which deals with outreach is the World Church Group. WCG focuses the support that the parish provides, which is primarily to one local charity, RAMFEL and to a charity outside the UK, the Blind School in Gulu, Uganda.
RAMFEL – The Refugee and Migrant Forum of East London
The London Borough of Redbridge has a large number of refugees who are not able to claim assistance from the benefits system and live in poverty. RAMFEL, which is based in Ilford, provides material assistance in the form of clothes, emergency food, household items and baby equipment and also high quality advice, support and advocacy services.
The World Church Group arranges for collections of household items such as unwanted bedding, towels and children’s clothing. Any unwanted household items which could be of use to a migrant family, who may only own what they could carry in a suitcase, can be donated.
The gifts given on Toy Sunday are donated to RAMFEL. - this year (20th November 2011) items urgently needed are:
Terry towelling nappies
Baby equipment and clothing
Shoes and Clothing for children, young people and adults
Toys and books
Food suitable for storing and household paper goods
Furniture ( large items can be colected)
Financial donations may be spent in the following ways:
£1.00 – will buy two cartons of long life milk
£5.00 – will buy baby half a tin of baby formula for a mother that is unable to breast feed
£12.00 – will buy an hour of English tuition for a class of up to 15 individuals
£25.00 – will buy a family of four an emergency food parcel for a week
£60.00 – will buy 2 hours of a specialist adviser's time to represent an asylum seeker at an immigration tribunal
£100.00 – will buy a weekend's emergency accommodation for a family in need
The World Church Group also encourages volunteers to donate their time and talent. Examples of the sort of assistance required include:
Administration – Helping on the reception desk, manning the switchboard, photocopying, writing letters, compiling mail outs.
Children and Families – volunteers work with children and families also help facilitate the young people's group. The work with children and families is vital to making sure that families are helped to move out of poverty, and that asylum seeker, migrant and refugee children are given the best possible start in life.
Directors/Trustees – With a minimum commitment to attend one evening meeting every two months, RAMFEL trustees are the backbone of the organisation.
ESOL/Basic Skills teachers – As access to courses for asylum seekers being increasingly curtailed by a lack of public expenditure, volunteers are required to assist those wishing to become more self-sufficient.
Food distribution – Managing non-financial donations by sorting out our clothes, food and goods service is a vital piece of work. This is a weekly commitment.
Working with women – RAMFEL has a number of specialist services for asylum seeker, migrant and refugee women, including a specialist domestic violence project.
The WCG also aims to provide student placements with RAMFEL.
For more information click on http://www.ramfel.org.uk/
The Blind School, Gulu
The Blind School is part of Gulu Primary School in Northern Uganda. The school is strongly placed at the centre of the community and provides care and stability along with a good education for hundreds of children, who have been traumatised by the war that has been raging for most of their lives. The Blind School provides an education for a group of children and adults who would otherwise not receive schooling because of their disability. Children have the possibility to board in the residential annex, one of the few of its type in Northern Uganda. Many of the children are orphans—their parents mainly having died from HIV/ AIDS.
The support provided by the parish is largely financial. Fund-raising has already provided a wall to protect the school compound, re-furbished the dormitories and provided Braille machines.
The parish is also committed to building real and lasting relationships with the Anglican Church in Gulu.
To that end in March 2004 the Rector and the then head of Wanstead Church School visited Gulu and saw for themselves the ministry of the church in this part of the world devastated by a conflict between government forces and the ‘Lord’s resistance army’ over the last 18 years. The majority of the population had to be resettled in refugee camps. The economy collapsed with many living on food provided through the United Nations and other aid agencies. Children, especially, lived in fear of being abducted, abused and made to fight, while others lived with the scars of such abduction both physical and mental. Despite this, the ministry of the church continued in worship and with a focus on education and preparing the young for a better future. The parish group found a determination not to lose hope and a strong will among the children to study and learn.
A reciprocal visit was made in June 2005 by the Revd. John Ochola and his wife Christine to the parish. John was director of Education for the diocese of Northern Uganda, based around the town of Gulu, as well as a primary school head teacher. This enabled those in the parish to gain a sense of the context in which the African church was working but was also important for the Ocholas to understand something of our context and why we may approach some issues in a very different way. At a time of great tension for the Anglican Communion such visits can play a part in promoting tolerance and a mutual understanding.
A group from the parish visited in March 2007 and in March 2010 the Rector, Liz Horwell, Pen Garlick, Sarah Slack, Phil Carnelly and Diane Horne visited Gulu. They spent a whole day in Gulu primary school talking to the children about the effects that war has had on them. In Gulu school, and other schools, there were notices to instruct the children: a sort of Ugandan 10 commandments, written in the light of the war from which they are only just beginning to recover.
A visit was also made to the Homesteads, a collection of traditional African houses with no running water or electricity. People here live on less than a dollar a day. They build their homes using local materials;and grow their own food. So they buy and sell very few items.The shops in Gulu – the closest town - don’t sell food: there’s no cold counter; no frozen foods; no meat or dairy produce. There’s a few packets of biscuits; some crisps; salt, tea and coffee. The market place sells fruit and vegetables if you have money to buy; but basically every family will expect only to eat what they’re able to grow. During the war, which ended three years ago, there was a great deal of starvation as it wasn't safe to leave the huts to tend the crops. Now the war is over, people are looking to the future. In the Homestead four new areas had been planted: pine trees- a longterm investment taking 20 years to grow;bee hives which would produce honey the following year; banana trees which would give fruit within two years; and a vegetable patch which would produce food within a matter of weeks. Those living in the Homesteads are enormously resourceful.
beehives banana plantation a typical homestead house
ladies of the homestead the market at Gulu
The group also visited a village called Agung. Bishop Johnson, the Bishop of Northern Uganda was also there and they togther with the villagers went to a hill outside the village with a cross set in a rock which marked where the first missionaries set up base. As the site had been over-run by witchcraft, it was re-dedicated to Christianity. The only building in Agung is the village school. The people long to establish a church building and a medical clinic at Agung so that they can re-build the community there. Our parish wants to support the village in that vision.
The parish has provided funds to buy corrogated iron for the new church roof.
Rev John Ochola hands the iron sheets over to Agung parish councillors, watched by Rev Nyeko Julius Peter, the Archdeacon.
The parish has also provided funds to buy 11 beds for the children at Gulu primary school.
Besides RAMFEL and Gulu, the Parish also provides support to the following organisations.Members of the congregation may choose to provide additional assistance by the use of Lent boxes.
Donations, collections, fundraising events and the proceeds of coffee mornings help
The Redbridge Night Shelter provides emergency overnight short-term accommodation for adults who have nowhere to live and is a project of the churches in Redbridge. The RNS receives the gifts given at Harvest Festival. Pillows and bed sheets are always welcome.
The World Church Group sees support for those who need our help as a very important practical expression of the Christian life of the parish.
If you are interested in joining the WCG please contact Diane Horne.