Letters of thanks to Nenagh World Aid Society
The following are excerpts from some of the letters of thanks sent to Nenagh World Aid Society this year from recipient charities overseas. A total of 23 projects benefited across the world this year. Nenagh World Aid Society will hold its annual street collection in Nenagh this Saturday and Sunday.
UGANDA
The money you gave us will go back with two of our Brothers to Uganda. I know too that you will keep us in your prayers. Prayer is the backbone of all that we do. We too remember you in our daily prayer.
Brother Brian Johnson, March 2017
ZAMBIA
Your donation will go towards two projects for children with special needs run by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus & Mary, with whom Sarah O'Sullivan worked as a volunteer when she lived in Zambia. Your donation will help with the income-generating activities that go towards helping to sustain the education side of the project. The remainder of your donation will go towards helping with school materials for the centre for children with special needs in the town of Mbala, northern Zambia.
Sean Farrell, March 2017
KENYA
The money will be a huge help to provide residential care for 65 former street boys at the centre they run on the outskirts of a huge slum there. It will also be a big boost to the joy they bring when each month they take a supply of necessary toiletries to the 400+ prisoners in the men's prison, who otherwise have no hope of receiving such, as they rarely have a visit from family or friends.
Sister Sally Mounsey, March 2017
UKRAINE
Your support is very essential for us and helps us to improve the lives of many poor children in Ukraine and give them a chance to have a better future. The money you donated will be used to help seven boys who graduated from school in June to enter college. We will use your donation to help the boys with extra lessons and other expenses so they can start studying in September 2017. Our children (28 at present) pray for all benefactors every evening.
Ruslav Markiv, Director, Miles Jesu boys home in Ukraine, March 2017
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA
It is a pleasure to acknowledge this latest donation of €400 from Nenagh World Aid Society. As well as the purely medical side of things, we were able to provide the basics of food and clothing, without which the sick cannot be expected to recover. So many visitors to Medjugorgje want to meet with Jane Dowd as they become aware of the vital work she and her nurses are doing. Their visits, their donations, all mean so much. Their prayers too are indispensable.
Kevin Whitehead, St Luke's Home Care, Medjugorje, March 2017.
PHILIPPINES
Thank you for your generous donation, which will be forwarded to Rev Fr Shay Cullen in the Philippines. No doubt he will be in touch with you in due course. With every good wish and assurance of the prayers of the Columban community around the world.
Evelyn Maguire, March 2017
KENYA
We deal with secondary school leavers and right down to girls who have never set foot in primary. Our courses range from Food & Beverage, Craft & Artisan levels, Dressmaking, Basic Cookery, and also Machine Knitting for that same group, along with Hairdressing, Beauty Therapy, and Computer Classes.
One girl claimed she was taken to Uganda to become the seventh wife of an old man. She escaped back to their mother. She spent a few days with her. She had a little money and knew some students who had been there, so she made her way to here with absolutely nothing by way of boarding requirements. A teacher said her story is most likely true; there are a lot of girls like that at the border.
A second girl did her first exam here four years ago. She went off with some fellow. This term she came back a mother of three having been constantly beaten by her husband. A third girl in a similar situation, having been beaten by her husband, went home to her brother, who beat her and sent her back to the husband. The brother had been paid 'bride price' by the husband of the girl. If she remained in the parental home, the husband would demand the bride price returned. Through education, we help these girls to develop a sense of self-worth that will help them become self-reliant.
Sister Veronica Quigley, April 2017
BRAZIL
A sincere thank you to all at Nenagh World Aid Society for your kind contribution to the work here in Brazil. The money will be used for materials for our new lab/kitchen in Marinas de Abiai, where a group of farmers' wives are producing homemade medicine from the herbs of the area. They are accompanied once a month by a retired professor from the pharmaceutical department of the federal university of Paraiba. The group consists of 12 women, and I must say it is wonderful to see their interest and involvement both in the study and in the practical work.
Gabrielle Kieran, April 2017
TANZANIA
€400 came through Brother McCormack. €300 came from another source. Part of the fund was used to buy food where there was no food supply as a result of the drought that hit the region. We also help nine secondary school students to clear their school fees balances as the parents could not afford anything due to the poor harvest.
Pr Mnwiri, July 2017
SOMALIA
Thank you for your generous donation towards work in Somalia. In Somalia, over five million people are in need of emergency aid. Currently, 360,000 children under the age of 5 years are acutely malnourished. Lack of rainfall over consecutive seasons has wiped out crops and livestock. The situation in Somalia and South Sudan is compounded by the fact that an ongoing conflict has forced millions of people to flee from their homes, further increasing their vulnerability.
Eamon Meehan, July 2017