NEW FURNITURE FOR MICHE BORA PRIMARY SCHOOL

In February 2011 We were given a generous donation by the British and Foreign Schools Society to furnish and resource our school. We decided to ask another charity working in the area to undertake the work. Marianist is an American charity who offer vocational skills training to the poorest young people in Mombasa. The standard of their work is excellent and we are very pleased with our choice. By the end of April most furniture had been delivered to the school.

Acquiring the resources proved more demanding as we trailed around Mombasa. No one shop had what we wanted and despite our best efforts the teachers are continuing to work on this. We would really like to be able to send out some of the resources from the UK but the taxes imposed upon us at the port make this a very expensive option. We are working hard to resolve this problem.

VOLUNTEER RAISES £3000 FOR MICHE BORA

Donna Morrice visited  Miche Bora Primary School in September 2010 as  part of a group from Books Abroad a Scottish Charity. Donna fell in love with our children and promised to raise money to support them. Imagine our amazement when in the summer of 2011 she presented us with a cheque for £3000.

Needless to say Donna had help from other groups whom she had managed to inspire. Firstly she gave a talk to her local Macduff Rainbow group who decided that they would like to raise money for uniforms for our children. These six year old little girls did lots of fundraising and managed to raise £250 all by themselves. What an achievement.

Then Donna (a tutor for Holistic Therapy at Banff and Buchan College of Further Education at Fraserburgh, Scotland,) and her students held an open evening at the college and raised another £1500.

                   
                                 Donna's Students who helped with the fundraising

Not satisfied with that and working with 3 friends, Kim Craig, Anne Smith and Jennifer Fordyce she went on to organise an end of year show at a local club. Amazingly this also raised a massive £1500.

Brilliant Donna. A huge thank you from Mustard Seed Project.

MOSQUITO NETS FOR MGONGENI RESIDENTS

 Malaria is the biggest killer in Mgongeni especially amongst the under fives. Mustard Seed Project have been working to significantly reduce this problem and finally manged to get the support of PSI an American charity. PSI supplied us with 3000 nets at a very low price for us to sell on to the community. This was enough for one for each family in Mgongeni.

The nets are very large enabling most of the family to sleep underneath. However, because  they are treated with insect repellent which kills the mosquitos in the surrounding area,  even those in the same room who are not underneath the net are protected.

FEEDING PROGRAMME FOR MICHE BORA  Jan 2012

Like most small African Charities MSP has been very concerned by the drought in East Africa and the resulting food shortage and food price inflation. In Mgongeni few people are starving but malnutrition is a huge problem as people exist on one meal of maizemeal a day. For the children of  Miche Bora Primary this has ceased to be an issue thanks to a generous donation from the Herrod Foundation a Swiss Charitable Trust. The Herrod Foundation started supporting our children last year and we were absolutely delighted when they decided to continue their support.

The Trust has enabled us to provide a balanced diet to our children who are already looking healthier. The meal, which includes fruit and vegetables plus pulses and and maize meal was deemed by the headteacher to be the sort of diet that only the very rich could afford.

The parents are delighted with the programme and of course there are other benefits. The children are concentrating much better in class and the rate of absenteeism has greatly reduced! 

VOLUNTEER FOR FREE IN AFRICA WITH MSP    AUGUST 2011

Thinking of volunteering abroad? Mustard Seed Project are delighted to be able to offer free volunteering in Africa with their small Kenyan Charity. They would like to hear from anyone who feels they have skills to offer to this disadvantaged community. Volunteers are initially welcomed to work in the school or computer training centre but further opportunities will be available from the start of the New Year.

Ideally we are interested in people who have previously worked in Africa or a similar environment. We are especially keen to hear from people with KS1 or Nursery School experience.  BUT, if you have a sense of adventure and a desire to help in Africa we are looking for you.

JUST TEXT GIVING

Vodafone and JustGiving have joined together to offer a free donation service for charities. As a result anyone wishing to make a donation to Mustard Seed Project can text MSPK33 and £1, £2, £3, £4, £5, £10 to 70070 to make an instant donation.  This service costs nothing to the donors apart from the donation of course and the money goes straight into Mustard Seed Project's bank account. They even collect the Gift Aid for us providing people indicate that they wish this to happen. Fantastic.

MARY STOTT AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT Sept 2011

English trustee and founding member of Mustard Seed Project, Rita Fowler was awarded the Mary Stott Award by the National Women's Register (NWR) in 2010. (The photograph shows Rita handing it over to Penny O'Bee the very worthy winner for 2011).This is an annual award for someone who is considered to have done something exceptional during the previous year. NWR has a national membership of 8,000 women (more than 420 groups in the UK, but with overseas ‘sister’ groups as well) who meet in local discussion groups. In its very important 50th year it honoured Rita with its Mary Stott Award.

Mary Stott was a feminist and an influential campaigning journalist who worked for the Guardian in the 1960s. She was very closely connected with the founder members of NWR and it is in honour of her that the award is given. The award was presented by Maureen Nichol one of the founding members of NWR.

 STUDENTS TO RAISE MONEY FOR MUSTARD SEED PROJECT         Oct 2011

Mustard Seed Project where so excited to learn that the students at Dauntsey's School in Wiltshire have just voted for Mustard Seed Project to be their charity of the year. During the year the students will devise many fundraising events and all money will be donated to MSP.

The 750 students at this co-educational school for 11 - 18 year olds vote each year for the charity they would like to support. They chose Mustard Seed Project because they knew that every penny that they raised would count and make a difference. Each of the twelve houses thinks of their own fundraising idea in addition to whole school events.

MSP founding trustees Rita and Geoff went to the school on Monday 10th October to introduce the project to the school and to explain how their money would be spent. They also had the opportunity to meet briefly with a very enthusiatic group of charity representatives.

The founding trustees look forward to many more visits next year to update the students on progress and to offer support in their fundraising activities. They also look forward to receiving emails from students looking for more information.

A big thank you to Dauntsey's.

 NEWS ARCHIVE

Updated October 2011