Patsy Helm Memorial Hotel Training Centre

Patsy Helm Memorial Hotel Training Centre

The Patsy Helm Memorial Hotel Training School was officially opened on February 12th 2010 in Jinja. It is a residential Training School that is run by Women in Need ( JINJA) under the auspices of the Catholic Diocese of Jinja and exists to take young girls and boys who have been forced into prostitution out of prostitution and to train them up in vocational skills such as hairdressing, dressmaking, catering and hotel work. It not only provides the training but helps the youngsters to get suitable work after training.  The centre was purchased with the help of a substantial donation from Doctor Roger Helm in memory of his late wife Patsy RIP.

 

EDUCATION – 2009 Grant £11,893.00 & Education Fund £30,000.00

Our thanks to those of our supporters who individually have funding the education of orphaned children whose parents have died prematurely, from War, Aids etc. and other children whose parents have served the local Church and died prematurely or in the middle of their children’s  education. The problem in Uganda is that increasingly education is for the rich. The cost of education has risen so steeply these last few years that a decision was made to contact existing donors and suggest that they pay into a central fund. This enabling them to donate whatever they could afford without having the pressure to continually increase their sponsorship for an individual child to a financial level which none of us ever envisaged when we asked for sponsors.   We have sent £30,000.00 from reserves to make certain that if we are not able to raise enough funds in the coming years by donations from existing  sponsors and like-minded individuals that we by this grant insure that these 27 Children will be able to finish their education.

Daughters of St. Anne Congregation Ethiopia – Clinic 6,827.00   May 2009.  The Order was founded in Italy, and has provinces in Latin America and Africa, India, and now the great majority of the nuns there are Ethiopian. They have a number of houses throughout Ethiopia and do a lot of work with clinics, women’s income generation, etc. We gave a grant to extend a clinic, which is a Catholic clinic, in Mokonisa, in Wollaita Soddo Region, in the South of Ethiopia, a very poor part…

Panyangara Mill Hill Parish Kotido – Solar Water Heating Panels and insulated tank: £1,550

Repair of Church in St. Teresa’s Parish, Bukedea Eastern Uganda – £1646. The Church in Bukedea was built in the early 1950’s by the Mill Hill Missionaries.  It was in need of repair.  The facia boards of the Church have been replaced and some structural repairs completed. 

Clean water for Children’s home in Gwatikira – Kibera – Nairobi, Kenya: £2000 – The grant led to the installation of water pipes in the St. Charles Lwanga Gatwikira Rehabilitation Education Centre in one of the largest slums in Africa, Kibera in Nairobi. It has helped to improve the sanitation and health of the 4,500 students and staff members by providing them with clean and safe water for domestic use.  Some of the water has also been used for irrigating the crops which help to provide food for this school, run by the Brothers of St. Charles Lwanga, a locally founded Religious Congregation.

 

Panyangara Parish Wind Turbine – £2,840.00. – The parish has been relying on Solar energy which over the years has become overloaded due to the increase of residents, namely Mill Hill students who stay here for two years mission experience.  We were advised to install a wind turbine to supplement the electricity supply.  Most of the year round the wind blows strongly day and night.  

 

Grant to Serendipity Centre, Kampala, Uganda:  £3,000. – The Serendipity Centre has been operating for some years out of rented accommodation.  It helps to rehabilitate people addicted to alcohol and other substances, and is the only one of its kind in the whole of Uganda, in a country which has the dubious distinction of one of the highest rates of alcohol consumption in the whole of Africa.  For a long time the Centre has been endeavouring to construct a purpose built Centre which can house a larger number of patients… SPICMA with your help contributed to this project along with many other donors. The new Serendipity Centre is now open.

Panur, North Karnataka in Southern India        £5000.00                      EMERGENCY FLOOD

We made an emergency grant to help Fr Maxim SJ and his team at the Jesuit Mission in Pannur, in the poor rural region of North Karnataka in Southern India which had recently been subject to devastating floods that left the families of the downtrodden Dalit caste; the so called ‘untouchables’ of Indian society who had little to start with, lost all, and were left sleeping with their children in makeshift tents on the road. After the recent devastating floods.

Our Future towards the end of 2009 was very much in doubt. Our Volunteer base had gradually dwindled and our attempts to get new volunteers in the local area had failed. We had talks with other organisations but no real progress was made. Following a suggestion from Michael Gorman of Eagle Aid, we met with Christopher Page Chairman of the Association at Stonyhurst. His suggestion was to transfer our office side (which was down to one volunteer) to The Association Office in Clitheroe and share some of the office costs. This was accomplished at the end of this year 2009 and SPICMA through that action continues to do its good work.    In 2010 Christopher Page became SPICMA’s new chairman.

2009/2010 has seen SPICMA’s donated income increase a little over our normal level. This indicates the generosity of our donors even during these difficult times of recession

                       

OUR MAJOR GRANTS FOR 2009 – 2010    Total Funds RECEIVED £223,160.00   Grants Made £262,339.00

January 2010 Pannur – INDIA In 2010 we continued to support the Emergency Flood Appeal from Fr. Maxim SJ and the team at Pannur Jesuit Mission, India – £20,000.00 Sent via Jesuit Missions

There were a total of 29 villages destroyed by floods in the region of Pannur– what was left was just piles of rubble.   The families who lost their homes were left sleeping with their children on the road, in four foot high tents made of loose gunny bags (pictured to the left). These people started with little and were left with nothing not even drinking water.

February / March 2010 GRANT of £25,000.00 TO KOTIDO DIOCESE, EASTERN UGANDA FOR FAMINE RELIEF    In early 2010 following an appeal by The Mill Hill Fathers to assist the Medical Units of the Kotido Catholic Diocese in Karamoja, Eastern Uganda SPICMA sent £25,000.00 to buy food for the vulnerable people such as the sick, the old and infirm and mothers with small children.

March 2010 Faisalabad – PAKISTAN:  £6,000.00 we made the Grant to build a House for a Catechist in the Diocese of Faisalabad.  Here a catechist needs to be multi-talented.  He is not only a catechist but also a pastoral assistant and community leader. In a situation where the Catholics are sporadically scattered about in predominantly Muslim villages; where about half the people are illiterate and the priest can visit only about once a month or so, the role of the Catechist is of vital importance for the pastoral care of the people.

July 2010 MASSIVE FLOODING IN North West Frontier (Peshawar and Nowshera) & Sindh Province – PAKISTAN     We received an Emergency Appeal from the Mill Hill Fathers in the Peshawar and Nowshera area of Pakistan and from the Diocese of Sindh Thanks to the generosity of our Donors SPICMA sent a total of £115,000.00 in 2010 & 2011 via The Mill Hill Fathers to enable the Parishes in The North West Frontier and Sindh Diocese Pakistan provide assistance to the families following the terrible floods that swept this part of Pakistan in July/August 2010.

MAY 2010 Grant of £6,000.00 to St Vincent De Paul Nursery School Langata St Vincent De Paul Rescue Center (Kibera), Nairobi, KENYA. The Nursery school provides education to over 85 children, including children orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS. Children not only receive early education, but also benefit from two meals provided daily to all students. The high rates of HIV/AIDS have contributed to a large number of child orphans in Kibera. In response to the growing number of orphans, SVPCDO established the Children’s Rescue Centre to provide housing, food, clothes, schooling and medical support to orphaned girls and boys ages 3 to 10 years old…

 

AUGUST 2010 Nellore Diocese,  SOUTH INDIA – GRANT £5,000.00 – We made a Grant of £5,000.00 to  Bishop Prakasam  of  Nellore Diocese in South India to start a Tailoring Centre in Nayudupet Catholic Parish this would provide training for poor young uneducated girls. Many low caste girls and women have grown up looking after cattle and because their families are so poor, never receive an education. Consequently teaching them a life skill such as tailoring can have dramatic life changing benefits, by providing a small income, which will provide an independence which in turn frees them from male domination or in a more positive way makes them more valued as a marriage partner. The Grant was given to set up a training school, by purchasing 42 Tailoring Machines and provide for a Tutor. The School will then provide one year courses for 42 your women.

OCTOBER 2010

We gave a Grant of £73,000.00 to set in motion Phase 3 of our Major Project to Bore another 25 wells in Kotido District, Eastern Uganda making a total of 53 over the last few years. This is an on-going project that needs substantial further funding and parish or school involvement in sponsoring a Well would be appreciat

Our Future

SPICMA is a fairly unique organisation and has been able to continue its work this year because of the joint operations of Sam and Anne Ewing, John Buttigieg, Christopher Page our new Chairman and of course yours truly.

We volunteers working for SPICMA are conscious that we cannot go on forever.  None of us are spring chickens especially those of us who started when the charity was founded in 1967.  Our hope is that other volunteer workers will come and join us. 

As can be seen from our web site we work from different parts of the country via the benefit of the Software “Go to my PC.”, if you have a gift that you feel would be of benefit to the Charity such as computer literacy, accounting skills or managing a website please, do get in touch.

Our final thanks go to the most important people – you the donors.  None of the work that SPICMA has managed to achieve these 47 years would have been possible without your generosity.  Thank you, not just from us but from the many thousands of people for whom you have allowed us to reach out and share The Good News 

Finally if you have made a will, it is easy to make a bequest to SPICMA by adding a codicil. This is an amendment to or addition which must be signed and witnessed like a will. A popular way of ensuring a fair proportion to all is to leave a percentage or fraction of the residuary estate. Once all other gifts have been distributed, the remainder of your property can be shared in the proportions you stipulate amongst the people and charities you name.  For further details please contact the office for an information pack.

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