This morning at our morning service, we were privileged to hear about the charity Africa’s Gift.
Ken Dunn, former deputy headteacher of a Sheffield school, set up this charity some years ago and now works in many countries in Africa, including Lesotho, South Africa, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia. He spoke about the practical difficulties encountered in something as basic as cooking everyday food, since this has to be done in a cooking pot which involved women walking miles to gather firewood and water and then having to cook for 3-4 hours. Such a method involves smoke inhalation, which is one of the primary causes of death in the area.
The charity works to supply rural villages with cooking pots, which effectively mean that there is no smoke from cooking and people can leave the pot to cook without having to stay there all the time. This enables people to do other things and many women use this additional time to make beautiful jewellery.
A business has now been set up so that these cooking pots can be fabricated in the countries themselves by local people so that they can be helped further. Africa’s Gift also works to plant trees and to help with education, involving schools, university students and church members in mission trips.
Check out the website for further details. We are happy to collect shoes which can be used to raise money for the charity.
