Caterham Overseas Aid Trust is an ecumenical local charity with volunteers from St. Mary's, St. John's, the URC and the Sacred Heart churches working together with members of the local community to raise money to support carefully selected projects in the developing world. We finance simple, down-to-earth aid projects which are aimed at improving quality of life and use the maximum community self help. We aim for our projects to become locally sustainable and we work through recognised non-governmental organisations (NGOs). All the money raised goes directly to the projects and we have no administration expenses.
Last year was another good year with £15,882.15 raised through donations, fund raising events and the churches' Christmas Appeal. This report gives me the opportunity to thank you all for your support and especially for the donation from St Mary's Formula Giving.
Major fund raising events enjoyed by many from St Mary's were the truly wonderful Surrey Harmony concert, our annual barn dance, stalls at the Caterham Carnival, Dene Hospital Fete and Coulsdon Fair, a quiz put on by the Sacred Heart Parish Women's Group, theatre trips to London, our annual street collection, the Rotary Club Santa Appeal and last, but not definitely not least, another very popular Bedrock Concert.
This year we have been able to honour all our charity pledges and have donated £3,000 to each of the following:
- Practical Action - providing safe water and sanitation to the slum dwellers of Kisumu, Kenya.
- Self help Africa - supporting small farmers to improve their harvests with the aim of having food to eat every day of the year.
- Water Aid - we have helped pay for 10 new wells and 2 standpipes in Mali, one of the poorest countries in the world where each year 16,000 children under the age of 5 die from diarrhoeal disease.
- VSO we have supported two volunteer doctors in Burkina Faso and Zambia plus a science teaching co-ordinator in Ghana.
Apart from these regular ongoing commitments we have donated to CHECK, the local group who visited Kimilili, Kenya last summer, Tools for Self Reliance, Sight Savers, Tree Aid and have paid for 3 solar panels to provide electricity for a remote school in Fiwili, where dormitories of up to 50 children were studying and sleeping by candlelight.
To find out more about our work visit our website.
Barbara Whiteford
St Mary's Representative: 01883 340994
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