Thursday 26 February 2015

"Thank God I had already escaped when the house collapsed"


http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/MalawiFlood
54yr old Selina Kadondo and her family were one of the first to settle in Pensulo and establish the community there over 30 years ago. A grandmother with six children, she lost her husband 5 years ago and has been struggling to survive ever since. Three of her children still live at home with her, thankfully they all managed to escape before their house collapsed due to the heavy rains at 3am one morning.

Their home was made from “burnt bricks" with an iron sheet roof. After days and day of continuous heavy rains water started to run down the inside of two of the walls. First one wall collapsed and then at 3am two others, saturated from days of heavy rain followed suit. Selina said "Thank God I had already escaped when the house collapsed." She is now living at Pensulo Camp with other flood victims.
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/MalawiFlood
Only one wall of Stella's house remains standing. Thanks to your donations to our Emergency Appeal we have been able to give Selina and her family, plastic sheeting to protect the remaining wall, blankets, soap, rice, cups, lukini phala (fortified porridge,) maize, salt and a bucket for washing.

The future is uncertain for Selina, but thanks to your generous donations she and her family are warm, well fed, safe and clean.

Thursday 19 February 2015

Secret Compass Event in aid of Joshua: An Audience with Adventure

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1269032
In London on May 21 this year, our friends at Secret Compass present a night of inspiring adventure films as part of the Kendal Mountain Festival Film Tour, plus there’ll be an incredible 'Audience with Adventure' hosted by one of our very favourite adventurers. All profits from the evening will go towards supporting Joshua's life changing work in Malawi.


The Films
http://www.kmfworldtour.com/
  • Megamoon (21 mins): a couple’s adventurous honeymoon
  • The Balloon Highline (4 mins): extreme attempted slacklining
  • Sufferfest II (25 mins): climbing and…marauding in the desert
  • Forgotten Dirt (10 mins): Afghanistan’s first MTB film
  • Dejame Vivir (62): the changing face of ski mountaineering

The Audience with Adventure panel
After the evening’s first selection of award-winning films (judiciously selected from Kendal’s 2014 highlights) there will be an on-stage adventurer Q&A; a compered panel session that will let you ask all those pressing questions about adventures big and small, specific and general, big budget and free.

Tickets
Tickets are now available to book via the Secret Compass events page.
Tickets cost £20.00 with all profits from the evening going to Joshua.

Tuesday 17 February 2015

Concert raises the roof for Joshua

Last Thursday Joshua's very own Sylvia and Sarah were delighted to attend a fundraising concert in aid of Joshua hosted by St Marks Church in London.

As well as an array of fabulous music, Sylvia gave a special talk about our work in Malawi and the recent devastation caused by the heavy rains.

It was a fun evening and with Malawian goodies on sale and tickets having sold well the event raised over £700. Which is enough to repair a lot of homes damaged by the recent extreme weather.


A special thank you to Shirley for all her enthusiasm in organising the event, all of the musicians who gave their time for free, and to everyone who came along and made the event such a huge success.

To read more about how Joshua works with Churches across the UK, click here.

Wednesday 11 February 2015

An incredible year


For the last year St Mary Magdalen Church in Tilehurst have been fundraising for Joshua. Having organised a range of events from Organ Recitals, to Fish and Chip Suppers and Charity Cards Sales we are delighted to announce that they have raised a total of £1,628.60 to support our life changing work with HIV/AIDS orphans and vulnerable children in Malawi.

Over the last year it has been a delight getting to know the congregation and clergy at the church who have welcomed us with opened arms and gratefully received cups of tea. At every meeting they have been keen to learn more about our work and we were especially touched when they held a special collection to raise funds for the victims of Malawi's recent flooding.

A special thank you must go to Peter and Mair Mayers, who instigated this year of fundraising for Joshua and have put endless energy and enthusiasm behind making every Pasta Party and Coffee Morning a success. Not to mention Peter tackling the Heroes Run for us last May. Peter volunteered in Malawi with Leighton Park School in 2012 and saw first-hand the difference our projects have on some of the poorest people living in Malawi. The people he met and the experience has stayed in his heart since then and we are delighted to have such a dedicated supporter and fundraiser championing our cause.

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has donated time, effort and money to making this year of fundraising such a huge success.

If you are a church and would be interested in having one of the Joshua trustees come and talk to you about our work please get in touch with Heather Deaville on heather@joshuainmalawi.org.uk

Friday 6 February 2015

Getting help to flood victims in Mwandika with Capital Radio Malawi



The 40 families with their emergency parcels

We visited Mwandika with Capital Radio Malawi last week to distribute parcels to 40 needy families identified by the local Village Development Committee and Joshua’s Field Officers as being in urgent need of support. 

All 40 families have lost their homes and most of their belongings as a result of the extreme weather. One family had lost everything except what you can see on the grass matt in the picture to the left (second one down) after their house collapsed.

This is all one family had left
As well as our own fundraising efforts here in the UK, Capital Radio Malawi has been helping to raise funds through a local appeal. 

The team from the radio station, along with Joshua staff and Project Trust volunteers helped to pack up the parcels and the radio crew came with us to help with distribution.
Homes are continuing to come down in the heavy rains

They were gobsmacked at the levels of poverty and isolation of the communities just a stone’s throw from Blantyre. And they experienced the full force of the rains when we got trapped in the Community Based Childcare Centre for 45 minutes when a viscous storm hit. It was a hot topic on the morning radio show the next day.  

Unfortunately the heavy rains haven't stopped and when it does rain it brings everything to a standstill, roads are impassable and it's impossible to get out to these rural communities. But thankfully today (Friday 6th Feb) the sun is shining and the team are out in Khola delivering supplies to the flood victims there. Including Mphatso and her family, whose story we shared with you last week.

Thank you again to everyone across the world who has donated to our Malawi Flood Appeal. Your support is making a difference and we'll share more photos and stories with you as and when we can.