Newsletter No. 69 Autumn 2O17

NEWSLETTER NO. 69 AUTUMN 2O17

ONE WORLD GROUP

OXTED

Please remember the Bottle Stall September 16th at the Hurst Green Fair

REGISTERED CHARITY NO 295800

NEWSLETTER NO 69 AUTUMN 2017

Dear Friends of Oxted One World Group,

Welcome to our autumn newsletter with news of our fundraising activities and some of the projects that the Group has supported.

The Group continues to flourish with membership currently standing at about429 households.As subscriptions are used to cover our administration costs it is important that we try and keep up our membership numbers so please do try and persuade your friends and relatives to join the group.There are still some of the new membership flyers available – if you would like some to encourage friends to join please ask a committee member.

Fund-raising continues to go from strength to strength. The committee is grateful to all those who have helped in any way at the recent fund-raising events and to all those who have donated money. All money received from donations as well as from fund-raising activities, goes directly to one of the OWG projects with no deductions made.

In order to try and raise the profile of the group locally the committee has been discussing ways of improving the use of social media. A Facebook account is to be set up and as a start the Open Gardens event was advertised via Facebook. The use of Dropbox to store and access information is also being considered and the web-site is to be updated. In addition a fund-raising strategy has been agreed.

In April Jenifer Ruxton announced that she would be standing down from the committee at the AGM. Jenifer has given unstinting service on the committee for 34 years. She is a former Chairman of the Group and for many years has looked after the correspondence with the Group’s projects. Where there have been any doubts about the viability of a suggested project she has been assiduous in pursuing details. The committee and the Group owe her a huge debt of gratitude.

COMING EVENTS TO BE ORGANISED BY OWG

HURST GREEN FAIR -- Bottle Stall –16thSeptember, 2017

If you have your newsletter delivered by hand a committee member will be calling on you shortly to ask if you would be kind enough to donate a bottle for this event. If however you receive your newsletter by post but would like to donate a bottle we would be grateful if you could take it along to Maureen and Keith Mayers, Priest Hill Lodge, High Street, Limpsfield (Tel No. 723398), by Wednesday 13thSeptember. (Priest Hill Lodge is accessed via the driveway which runs beside the Memorial Stores). Any sort of bottles are welcome, from champagne to tomato ketchup but we cannot use bottles with an out of date code on them(they have to be thrown away as several were last year), so we would like to ask you to check the date on any bottle(s), before handing them over to your collector.Last year the stall raised £748 for the Group – less than in the previous year as fewer bottles were donated and the fair was quieter than usual. Further money was raised at the Silent Auction from some of the better quality bottles of wine that had been donated.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING –18th October 2017, 8.00pm, United Reformed Church, Bluehouse Lane, Oxted.

The first part of the meeting will give members the chance to hear about the projects supported and the fund-raising activities of the Group over the past year, ask questions about the work of the Group and meet the committee members. Following the business part of the meeting there will be an illustrated talkby Anne Lotter from Project Le Monde, Uganda. Le Monde builds new schools in the poorest areas of Uganda. Anne keeps in regular contact with the headteachers of the schools as well as visiting twice per year. In June OWG sent £3,000 to the project to fund the building of a new school sanitation block to replace a building that had two very old latrines.

After the talk refreshments will be served and there will be the chance to buy Traidcraft products as well as Christmas cards and wrapping paper (with the profit on these going to OWG funds). Also available will be Gift Cards which you can buy to give to your friends and relations to explain that instead of buying them a present you are giving a gift to OWG.

STREET COLLECTION – 25thNovember 2017in Oxted and Limpsfield

This is an important way of raising our profile within the general community of Oxted and district as well as being a good opportunity to collect money.

Please volunteer to Jane O’Hare (722803),f you would be willing to stand for an hour with a collecting tin.

SILENT AUCTION – 24thMarch 2018, St. Peter’s Hall, Limpsfield

PAST EVENTS AND FUND-RAISING

OPEN GARDENS – 29th May 2017, 2.00pm – 6.00pm.

After an overnight thunderstorm with torrential rain the day dawned cloudy but largely dry. Thankfully the rain that did fall at intervals throughout the afternoon was light and not enough to put off people visiting the gardens.Nearly 500people enjoyed looking at five very different gardens in the Limpsfield and Oxted areas. As a result a profit of £5,100(after expenses have been taken out), was raised from the day, including £3,152from ticket sales, nearly £1,100from refreshments, £453.21 from plant sales and £500from a raffle held at one of the gardens.The committee is very grateful to all those who helped on the day, whether by standing outside to man the gates, selling raffle tickets, supervising parking or by helping to provide and to serve refreshments or plants and to some of the local shops who were prepared to sell tickets for us in advance of the day. Particular thanks are due to the garden owners for all their hardwork, both before and on the day itself. If anyone would like to open their garden next year, the Secretary or Chairman of the Group would be very pleased to hear from them.

COLLECTION AT MORRISONS–24th June 2017

Oxted shoppers at Morrisons donated £453.95 for OWG funds. Gift Aid of £114 was claimed, bringing the amount up to £567.95.Thanks are due to Morrisons for allowing us to collect on their premises and to the 20 collectors.

PROJECTS SUPPORTED

KONBIT POU POTAPIMAN, project, (KPP), HAITI.

KPP works in a very poor area of Haiti helping women to develop a regular source of income. In March 2015 OWG sent £2,500 to KPP to cover the costs of setting up a small ruminants project including the purchaseof sheep and goats, acquiring a plotof land for providing fodder, the planting of seedling trees, the construction of enclosures for the animals, vetinary care,and awareness training. The project went well but unfortunately in October 2016 the area was completely devastated by hurricane Matthew. Fortunately the £2,500 sent by OWG in August 2016 for another similar project had not been spent. News has just been received however that this money is to be used to provide ten families in the small village of Nan Ma which lies in one of the hardest hit areas, with two goats or two sheep.

OLIVE CANCER FOUNDATION, KAMPALA, UGANDA

The Foundation was set up in June 2014 by Olive Nambi, a cancer survivor who felt that there was little awareness of the disease, even amongst health workers, and minimal access to screening and treatment. Initially it provided free counselling services and palliative care but in July 2015 it expanded to provide free training and facilitation so that women affected by cancer could get involved with income generating projects. In April 2017 OWG agreed to send £624 to fund a rabbit breeding project. Two Foundation members who had already undergone training will be responsible for overseeing the project, training others, distributing the rabbits and marketing the rabbits. Rabbit pens were constructed, feed, feeding pots and other necessities were purchased and in July 2017 11 rabbits were purchased. The rabbits started mating on July 11th with births expected within 28 days. Once the rabbits start producing those interested will each be given 2 rabbits, start up food, pellets, disinfectant and technical support. There is good market potential for rabbit meat due to its low levels of fat & cholesterol and profits from sales will either be reinvested in the farm (to buy things such as weighing scales and to cover vet costs), or go to the Foundation fund to carry out planned activities. Photos have recently been received showing the rabbits and their pens.

HOYOMAFISH FARMING, KNORD KIVU PROVINCE, THE CONGO

Hoyoma – Hope for Young Mothers Association, is a community based organization founded in 2008 by 4 young women to promote community development. In 2013 OWG gave funds to start a fish farming project to provide nourishing food as well as an income from the sale of fish. There is a great demand for fish in the area, as otherwise they have to get it from Uganda which makes it too expensive for most families. We had good feedback and in 2016 they requested help with funds to extend the enterprise to a further group of women. In April 2017 OWG agreed to send £2,000 to extend the project with Hoyoma contributing £406. The money sent will cover the cost of feed and the purchase of ‘fingerlings’ which will grow on to breed and provide fish for sale within 12 months.

AFRICA COMMUNITY CONNECT, KASESE, UGANDA

This project formerly known as FOCI, was established by a team of 4 women and 3 men to serve children, adolescents, women and other indigenous populations with special needs such as orphans and vulnerable children. It has particularly supported people with HIV/AIDS. OWG has supported the project several times since 2005 and has always received good feedback. At least 760 orphans and vulnerable children have been supplied with skills to manage income generating projects and 60% of the orphans supported have been able to complete secondary education. In addition 1,052 women in 36 women’s groups have become engaged in sustainable development projects in agriculture, hygiene, sanitation, and maternal health and 12,000 youths have been supported in advocacy skills and budgeting so that they can understand their rights and responsibilities and achieve their potential. The group has recently set up a health centre to help with diagnosis and treatment of diseases and needed help to equip it. In June OWG agreed to send £1,735 to fund the purchase of two microscopes for the centre. Photos have since been received of the clinic staff holding them and of a senior lab technician doing the final testing for them.

KUNDAPURA, KARNATAKA, SOUTH INDIA

In 2015OWG sent £10,000 which had been received as a single donation, to a project being run by The Concerned for Working Children (CWC) to cover the cost of a workshop which will be used to train 100 rural boys in vocational skills such as carpentry. There have been many delays in the construction of the workshop due to a variety of factors including unusually heavy monsoon rains and the bank withholding cash supplies, however earlier this month we received news that the final instalment of the money has now been released and all the necessary materials are on site. Plastering work on the beams and ceiling has been completed and electrical wiring, internal plastering and fabrication of doors and windows are in progress. CWC have said that the work will be finished during September 2017 and that the workshop will open in October. It will enable underprivileged street and working children from the rural areas of Karnataka State to gain the skills and knowledge that will make them employable so that they can build a better future.

KOLE WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION, (KWA),N. UGANDA

Since its foundation in 2008 KWA has had great success in training villagers to make and use smokeless fuel briquettes made from locally obtained waste materials to replace firewood which depletes natural resources and is a health hazard. OWG has supported the group since 2014,funding training for the women and the purchase of machinery and equipment to make the briquettes. Demand for the briquettes has increased enormously as people begin to realise the health benefits of using smokeless fuel and the group has found it difficult to dry the briquettes quickly enough to keep up with demand, especially in the rainy season. In April 2017 OWG agreed to send £1,000 to cover the cost of two solar dryers to help with this problem.

RAFIKI THABO FOUNDATION, FUSI, LESOTHO

In June OWG agreed to send £1,500 to fund the extension of the electricity supply to the classrooms of Fusi Secondary School. Founded in 2008 the school, which is in a very remote area, serves 180 children who can’t afford the fees at the secondary school in the nearest town or the means to get there. The school provides a daily meal for all students augmented by eggs from the school chickens and crops grown in the school grounds. Excess eggs are sold to generate income, keeping fees low so enabling more children from disadvantaged backgrounds to finish their secondary education. Although the seven classrooms had been built with provision for connection to an electricity supply the only room with electricity was the computer room which has solar panels. During the rainy season there are very heavy downpours when everything becomes very dark making it impossible to study. Despite this the school has consistently achieved good academic results. The supply of electricity to the classrooms will ensure that lessons can continue whatever the weather and the academic progress of the students isn’t impaired.

MISSION AFRICA, KIVULE, UGANDA

Mission Africa was founded in 2001 by Terry Charlton to bring Christianity to very remote rural areas of Africa and develop schools, churches and infrastructure to improve the quality of life for impoverished communities. Early in 2014 OWG sent £8,000 to the project, raised from the 2013 Christmas Appeal, topped up by the street collection, to fund the building of a school for 160 children, in the remote village of Kivule.

The school at Kivule has been so successful that it has expanded and needed new classrooms. OWG has supported the project to help build these classrooms, built using locally sourced materials. In June OWG agreed further support of £1,250 to cover the cost of installing windows and doors in the latest classrooms and £1,150 to cover the cost of laying a cement screed on the dusty floors. The dust in the floors harbours jiggers, a parasitic flea which burrows deep into the feet and unless they are removed – a painful process, the infected feet become so swollen that eventually the infected are unable to walk. Photos have been received of pupils looking very happy sitting in the new classrooms but also showing the thick layer of dust on the floor before the application of a screed.

BACHPAN BOYS HOME, BARRACKPORE, INDIA

Bachpan helps deprived children and women and the homeless elderly and rescues children from bonded labour and trafficking, giving the rescued children a safe home. In August 2016 OWG funded repairs to the Bachpan girls home and the building of a tube well and water storage tank. Since then it has received a request to help the boys home. There was a need for a regular water supply which could be provided by the construction of a reservoir at a cost of £1,800. The organisation could contribute £800 so OWG agreed to send £1,000 to allow the construction of the reservoir which will benefit 19 boys, 10 elderly people and 8 in house staff.

JOSHUA ORPHAN AND COMMUNITY CARE, MALAWI

In April 2016 OWG sent £1,000 to fund the building of a toilet block for a primary school in Manyenje which has 196 students. Many of the girls are older than standard primary school age so the need for proper facilities was desperate. Over the summer holidays of 2016, with help from pupils from Tonbridge Grammar School, a new toilet block was built for the girls and the existing block was renovated for male students with a separate toilet for the 5 staff. Photos of the completed blocks have been received showing delight on the faces of the pupils. The staff of Joshua have commented that the project at Manyenje has been instrumental in starting work to improve the toilet facilities in other schools and in improving health issues for girls in particular.

SUBSCRIPTIONS AND DONATIONS

ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS. These are due at the AGM inOctober. They remain at £5.00 per person. Please use the form on the enclosed AGM notice for paying subs. and forward the moneyto our treasurer, Anna Burrage, or give it to any committee member or bring it to the AGM.

DONATIONS are always welcome and are a way of increasing the number of projects (such as those described in this newsletter),that we can support. They can be added to the subs. and sent to the Treasurer.Last year we received the excellent total of £10,976 from donations.