For the last five years St Mary Magdalene church, along with many others around the country, has been supporting a charity in Mozambique called Imagine. Imagine was established and is run by Joe and Lorraine Williams, who originally went to Mozambique on business and were so moved by the poverty and devastation they saw that they decided to stay and help. Currently they are working with the local authorities in an area of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, called Catembe.

St Mary’s met Joe and Lorraine when two members of the congregation also moved to Maputo to work. Through the ex-pat community engaged in charitable work, the link was made and since then other members of the congregation have visited our friends and seen at first hand the work of Imagine. It is an impressive and humbling experience which has persuaded the whole congregation that it is worthy of our long-term support.

The work of Imagine is described in regular updates to the website which can be accessed by clicking on the following link.

IMAGINE Update for February 2006 Parish Magazine

I thought you would all like to know that we sent almost £3,000 to Imagine last year – an excellent result. This is a combination of income from regular gift-aided donations, from coffee mornings and other events.

This amount is just about the cost of one of the boreholes for fresh water which I wrote about last year and Joe and Lorraine are still working on that programme. They are now also focusing on a family home centre and on establishing agricultural and sewing programmes to provide people with sustainable jobs and incomes.

It is not possible to say exactly where our money goes in all of this – Joe and Lorraine could not keep track of each specific donation they receive from churches, schools and other donors – but you can be sure it is spent wisely and is doing a lot of good. It is, as the Imagine motto says, “Changing Lives” and Joe and Lorraine never cease to say how grateful they are to us for the help which we give them. Those of you who have been privileged to see their work first hand know how important it is. The joy and happiness that it gives to the local community has to be seen to be believed. It is a humbling experience.

If you want to know more, or if you would like to become a regular giver, please speak to Judy or Michael Smith or visit the Imagine Newsflash link through the Mozambique area on the St Mary Magdalene website.

Michael Smith