Our Links With Africa -  Mongu Zambia 

   

  During the International Year of the Child, in 1983, the Presentation Sisters founded a Cheshire Home for  disabled children in a remote town called Mongu in the Western part of Zambia.

  Soon after, Dorothy Rance, a parishioner of St Teresa's, was developing the Justice and Peace initiative in Beaconsfield. By happy chance she heard of the Home at Mongu through a Sister Louis who explained that the main aim of the Home was the rehabilitation of the handicapped child through surgery, physiotherapy and education.

  The need was desperate: polio and cerebral malaria were wreaking havoc among the young of Zambia, and there were such few resources there.

 

 

 

 

And so the parish "adopted" the Home and for many years has been raising money to help expand and maintain it. Fund raising events are many and varied: from the annual Fete which raises many thousands of pounds each year, to the Sunday Mass Coffee Rota which pays for the postage to send about 20 kgs of gifts for Mongu every few months. 

 

 

Should you wish to make a donation please make cheques payable to St.Teresa's Church and send to:-                                                       St Teresa's Presbytery
                                                             40 Warwick Road
                                                             Beaconsfield,
                                                             Buckinghamshire
                                                             HP9 2PL
                                                             UK

Mark back "Mongu"     if you want to giftaid please e mail the office

 

Over the years, people as well as money and gifts have gone to Mongu.

Fr George McCann visited the Home in 1990, followed by the Hughes family two years later; then John Jolly and, most recently, Katrina Kelly. Each year, one of the Presentation Sisters visit our Parish, and two years ago Mr. Ikaffa, Chairman of the Board of Governors for the Home, came to our Fete and helped with the fundraising!

   

In 1997 the Parish covenanted to maintain its support for Mongu, and help is also being extended to a Care Centre for young orphans and babies at Kaoma, about 200 kms from Mongu. That same year we installed a new stained-glass window in the church to commemorate St Teresa being declared a "Doctor of the Church."

 



Stained glass window of St Teresa of the Child Jesus
   

In it St Teresa holds the Bible with the words "Sicut Parvuli" - "Become like children." Around her are depicted children from the different continents of the world and the 2 African faces are those of Kanyanga and Massaleeso, children from the home at Mongu. Our links with Zambia provide a focus for all the parishioners, from our children who send Christmas gifts, to their parents and all who are in many ways involved in the various fund raising activities.

Some would say that the flow of benefits is very much two way: Zambia contributes to the Parish in ways that the people of Mongu do not realise.

                                                                    Update  2011 

St. Teresa's Fundraising for Mongu

                      Where did our money come from this year?

2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11
Fete/Raffle 8,922 8,255 9,520 10,291
Candles 3,704 3,379 3,123 3,088
Donations 4,001 2,742 1,444 673
Lottery 3,585 1,886 2,517 3,002
Lenten Boxes 1,652 1,981 1,345 2,124
Car Park 2,000 2,250 2,500 3,000
Parish Supper 0 260 394 5
First Communion Coll'n 496 812 0 768
Confirmation Collection 0 400 0 420
Crib - Dons, raffle & service 503 626 533 --
Folk Group 260 380 220 320
Folk Group CD 508 42
Christmas cards and dons in lieu 46 230 120 105
South Bucks Catenians 2,000 120
Bag collections 1,172
Cards for Good Causes 750 750 750 750
Concert 320 440 0
Hick's Ldn Marathon 518 0
Advent/Xmas Gift Sales 378 445 0 703
Wine Tasting 560 0 0
Kidsathon 300 0 0
Less: Mongu Postage -451 -715 -264 -440
         Votive candles
£27,026 £24,639 £25,882 24,971
   

Fr Francis Parish Priest of St Teresa's presents the 2011  cheque to 
Sr. Catherine of the Presentation Sisters for £23,000 

  The Home in Mongu
For more pictures of Mongu, please click here

Send mail to francis@littleflower.co.uk with questions or comments about this web site.
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