Beyond Immanuel

Although much that we do at Immanuel takes place within our walls, we do try to be outward looking as much as possible and include in our prayers those situations we know of in the community around us, the town and the wider world.  

Amnesty logo 001We feel it is important to show Traidcraft 2017apractical support when we can, and as well as showing support for Christian Aid, two such ways are in our affiliation to ‘Amnesty International’ and the fact that we are a ‘Fairtrade Church’ (we use fairtrade products whenever we can and there is a stall  on  many Sunday mornings.) For more information on Fairtrade look at  http://www.traidcraftshop.co.uk

 

Another way is our Harvest Appeal: for more than forty  years  throughout October, in addition to bringing gifts of produce on Harvest Sunday for later distribution to the homeless of Swindon or the Women’s Refuge, we challenge our members to give to a specific charity – normally it is a charity in the Third/ Developing World, which has been proposed by our World Concerns Committee.

 

Harvest Appeal 2024

This year our Harvest Appeal is  once again  a joint Partnership  project. Launched on  Advent Sunday  2023  and aimed at  raising money  throughout the next  twelve months,  we are looking  to  support  two  agencies within the local  area: “Youth for Christ”  and “Street  Pastors” both of  which  reach  out in  different ways to  young people  across Swindon. 

 

Turkey /  Syrian  Earthquake Appeal February  2023

I response  to  our appeal  a total  of £1,255   was sent to the national  D.E.C. appeal and was matched with  a government contribution

 

 Up-date….. on “Help Madina”

In 2015 we worked to raise funds for a community in Sierra Leone. Our hope was to improve the local sanitation system and also provide a well.  Initially constructing the well proved to be problematic when  the builders hit  solid rock strata and were obliged to bring in heavy machinery in order to break through  to the water table below.

Help Madina 2The good news is that  they have succeeded : as the pictures show. It has taken some time for the photos to come through to us, but I am sure you will all rejoice with the villagers of Madina that good CLEAN water is now readily available and no longer has anyone  to make a long trek with containers and bring back water that was at times ‘highly suspect’.

Help Madina 1

Smiling faces prove that it was £3500 well spent!

Help Madina 4

Previous Appeals:

2000 Kabarore, Rwanda: nursery school classroom £2538

2002  Joint Appeal for Prospect Foundation (Swindon) and Stepping Forward (Swindon) £2,600

2003 Centre for Rehabilitation for the paralysed in Bangladesh £2,641

2004 Kigali, Rwanda: wells and water catchment system £3,733

2005 Twingi School, Zambia: school construction and lighting £3,049

2006 Kagitumba (a partnership project) 3 classrooms, toilet block and water tank £12,000

2007 Joint Appeal for The Swindon Mediation Centre and Missionvale South Africa (feeding programme) £2,657

2008 Ankavandra (Madagascar) –  a village well building project £3,447

2009 Muniguda (India)  –  a hospital for cataract operations £3,100

2010 Mbale (Uganda): Musiquality – support and tuition for abandoned children £2,945

2011 Phnom Penh; Cambodia: medical centre – first aid facilities £3,469

2012 Casa Materna, Ocotal, Nicaragua: Training programme to raise awareness of sexual abuse £3112

2013 Lebanon and West Bank (Partnership project) Christian Aid supported project to support the disabled £10,354

2014 Christians Against Poverty (Swindon) Harbour Project (Swindon) the latter is a project to support refugees and asylum seekers £3,446

2015 “Help Madina” – a project to build a well and improve sanitation in a village in Sierra Leone  £3,970

2016 Bamyan High School, Afghanistan: a project to build and equip a science lab for girls, £3,000

2017 The Swindon Foyer (a partnership project) raised funds to support homeless young people of the town and improve the facilities on offer: £8,700

2018 Vavuniya Special School, Sri Lanka: support in enhancing facilities in a school for children with special needs: £3387

2019 “Shelterbox” : in a tremendous response to the appeal, a total of £4025 was sent to “Shelterbox” and 7 boxes purchased by Immanuel for use in emergencies around the world.

2020. Although our aim to support the Desai Memorial School in Nairobi was halted by  the pandemic,  after the explosion that rocked the port of Beirut. we did send £1500 to the emergency appeal (match-funded by the URC) and in addition sent substantial donations to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s international coronavirus appeal.

2021 Together across our Partnership we raised £8,200 for the Desai memorial School  in Kenya (£3,200  from Immanuel). This will be used to provide new classrooms and with luck a kitchen, as well as  extend the water supply.

2022: Tools for self reliance: a wonderful £2597

2023: A non-government agency based in Hyderabad, India called “VOICE 4 Girls” works with marginalised adolescents and Immanuel  raised  the sum of

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