The family that prays together stays together.........................
I BELIEVE
EASTER 2008.
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HELP CAMBODIA?Congratulations, you have done so much to help those people we are supporting through our charity, 'I Believe, Action Cambodia Today'. Money raised by the friends and parishioners of St. Alban's and Good Shepherd parish have paid for the building and equiping of a classroom in a new primary school. The school was designed with six classrooms, five being paid for by The Jesuit Refugee Service. Now through your generosity they are able to complete the school. Funds have also been sent so that seven young children can start school next September through your provision of 'Rice Scholarships'. This will pay for their families' rice for a year and so release the children from working in the fields and give them the time to go to school. Six older pupils will now be able to transfer to secondary school, a little further from home, by your sponsorship of 'Bike Scholarships'. We are also sponsoring a girl, called Sopern, through university by providing her with a 'University Scholarship'. What a great achievement in such a short time, and it has been achieved through your generosity, well done! We will keep you informed of future events, and all the ways that you can continue to support the charity. We hope to have the names and photographs of the young people you have helped and pictures of the building progress on the school in the near future. Many thanks. Action Cambodia Today.
I Believe is a charity set up by members of the parish of St. Alban and The Good Shepherd in Blackburn, Lancashire. It has been established by Father Jude in response to an initiative by the Bishop of Salford, the Right Reverend Terence Brain, and is part of a national plan of action 'Welcome Programme' launched by the Bishops of England and Wales. Its purpose is to raise funds for Sister Anne Sklennars, who is a member of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions, for her work, on our behalf, in Cambodia.
DECEMBER, 2007.
Sister Anne arrived in Cambodia last December having been asked by us to find a project , or a series of projects which, with our help and support, she could manage on our behalf. Her intention was to look at the areas of education and community health and see where our help was most needed. She did , however, warn us that her suggestions would take time to prioritise, as her immediate concern was to learn the basics of the Khymer language, the language of the people of Cambodia, as this was a condition of her being allowed to work there. She then had to start her 'official' work of training teachers for the schools of Cambodia. Things were further delayed by the bereavement of a close family member, causing Sister Anne to return to her home in New Zealand for a short while.
Meanwhile, in this country, the committee, made up of members from both churches, Fr. Jude, Alan Duffy, Steve Hedderman, Caroline Scholey, Michael Snape, and Bob Turner ,was laying the foundations for the management and organisation of the charity here in our own parish. This was not an easy task, as it involved coming to terms with the many legal issues of setting up a charity and many hours of often heated discussion took place until we all agreed the best way for our charity to develop. Fortunately, in all of this, the diocese came to our help. Instead of forming our own 'Trust' with all the legal and financial implications this involved they allowed us to share in their status as a charitable trust, and provided us with our own bank account and our own registration number, allowing us to claim 'Gift Aid', all under the auspices of the Diocese of Salford. The committee has also been busy involving St. Alban's Primary School and Our Lady and St. John Catholic Arts College in our project. Sister Anne originally visited both schools and this has been followed up with other meetings including assemblies. Our Lady and St. John advised us on the dvd that has been produced and will be available in the New Year, and the Headteacher, herself, came up with ideas on how school children here can help those we link up with in Cambodia. A competition was organised in both schools, asking pupils to design a logo for the charity. The winner of this and the recipient of the prize of a £10 gift token was Lila Postlethwaite, a Year 9 pupil at Our Lady and St. John. More recently the committee has made contact with St. Mary's College, and it is hoped to involve their students in our endeavours in the future. At present the committee is planning a series of fund-raising events for 2008, and these will be announced nearer the time. We must stress, however, that we cannot do anything without your help. The committee gives its time freely and is devoted to this cause, but cannot achieve anything on its own. This is your unique charity based solely on the people who attend the two churches of our parish and its associated schools. Our suggestions will allow people to help in the work of the charity and its funding at different entry levels.
Sister Anne is now fully operational, and over the last six weeks our computers have been red hot, with e-mails flying back and forth between England and Cambodia, and as a result we are able to place before you today the ways we can directly help people in Cambodia. First of all there is;
The Rice Scholarship. There are many very poor remote villages in the province where Sister Anne is based, and the children have to spend their days working in the fields picking rice for their families to eat. As a result of this they have no money or time for school. They receive no formal education and have little hope of escaping from a desolate future. The charity intends to provide the cost of a year's supply of rice to families, so that they can buy the rice and thus allow their children to attend school. This comes to £25 per family. Secondly there is;
The Bike Scholarship. When a child reaches a certain age and level of attainment he or she can then move on to Middle School and then Upper School. These schools are often further away from the homes of many of the children, and so the charity intends to support the provision of bikes for pupils to cycle the many miles to school each day. Pupil attendance is closely monitored, and any pupils who have been loaned a bike, but fail to attend school then have the bikes taken from them and these are then passed on to other, more deserving pupils. The cost of a bike is £18. Next there is;
The University Scholarship In the schools where Sister Anne works there are some very bright pupils who, if they had the financial means, would normally progress to university. The university, however, is in the capital, far away in Phnom Penh, and so accommodation is needed, as well as a uniform and basic student equipment. £200 will allow a student to take up a place at university, and this in turn will help enable the country to replace the professional people slaughtered in the 'Killing Fields'. Finally, for the time being, there is ;
The School Development Project. The first part of this involves the building and setting up of a 'mini-school'. This is for children aged between 5 to 13 who have not yet started to school. They are here for at least two years until they have reached a basic standard which will allow them to progress to a school more appropriate for their age. The cost of a mini-school is £1500. The second part of this project, and the most ambitious, is to build a complete new school with five classroom blocks, toilets, teacher accommodation, furniture and uniforms. This is for a village where 600 pupils need a basic education in order for them to enter High School. The cost of this is £16,000.
If you are a tax payer and pay by direct debit or any other method that can be recorded then we, as a charity, can claim back 'Gift Aid'. That is the tax that you have already paid through your income tax. All you have to do to set this up is to fill in a 'Gift Aid Declaration' form from the back of church, and return it to us. At the end of the tax year we, through the diocese, will claim back the tax on the amount you have paid to the charity. For the Financial Year 2008-09, for every £1 paid we can claim back an extra 25p from the Inland Revenue for the charity. The charity's latest newsletter , containing this information, is available at the church door, and we hope that you will take one home and read it. There is also a permanent Charity focal point at the back of church and in our schools where we will display newsletters, photographs, information about fund-raising events and news about the projects we are supporting, in fact all you need to know about your charity. If you wish, you can contact Sister Anne directly by e-mail. Her address can be found on the St. Alban and Good Shepherd website. Our parish has a reputation for generosity, and we are often asked to support this or that cause, and very few of us, if any have the ability to help every worthy cause we come across. We accept that you may already be supporting other charities, and respect that, but if you do believe in what we are trying to do by working with Sister Anne on such a worthy cause we can assure you that your money will not be wasted. Once again this is your own parish's charity. Please try and help. We guarantee that every penny you give will go to improving the life of someone in Cambodia. Thank you.
