St Peter’s Cathedral, Kabale
Our Mission Link with St. Peter’s Cathedral, Kabale, Uganda was first talked about in December 1999. Stephen and Margaret Tirwomwe from St. Peter’s were involved with missionary work in Leeds (under the auspices of CMS) and had contact with Beverley Minster. Discussions were initiated at that time and shortly after their return to Uganda the Link quickly took shape and a lively interchange developed between various organisations in the two churches.
Our Mother’s Union, the Music Group, Sunday School, Young people’s group (Emmaus), two schools, one a local primary school and more recently South Holderness Technology College have contacts with corresponding groups and schools in Kabale. Many individual friendships have also been formed.
In 2004 all of this resulted in a visit (under the leadership of CMS) of a group consisting of representatives of various church organisations from Beverley Minster to Uganda. A further visit in March 2007 under the leadership of Canon David Bailey travelled to Kabale. Both visits were heart-warming, exciting and mind stretching, and much was learned of the Ugandan’s trust and joy in their Lord which is so much based on their constant prayer. Their Cathedral St. Peter’s is enormous and regularly filled with singing, clapping and dancing worshippers. Both the visiting groups from Beverley Minster met with Aids orphans who are cared for by the Church, and (medically) by the Rugarama Health Centre and the Reach Programme which searches out the poorest and most destitute in the town. It gave us a new understanding how to care for each other without Social Services.
Further information about the Link and its activities can be obtained from the Link coordinator, Mrs Annegret Aveyard (a_aveyard@hotmail.com).
REACH Program
REACH programme (Relieve East African Children)
The REACH programme was started by Dr.Rachelle Sanderson, the then Medical Director of the Rugarama Health Centre in Kabale in January 2004. The vision is to:
- Improve the future of children affected by HIV/AIDS, many of them orphans by giving them medical treatments, such as testing for the virus and the receiving of retro viral drugs;
- Give them a vocation through education;
- Strengthen the lives of their parents. This could mean help with the very basics of life, through provision of food, housing, education and counselling. Some families receive assistance to start small businesses, such as tailoring and growing food. The families are encouraged to be economically self sufficient, but through illness or age this is not always possible.
The programme started with one family in 2004 and reached 41 families in October 2005, and now helps over 50 families. Very often these families are child-led, meaning they are orphans and the eldest child, often very young still, will be the head of the family. This is a situation we simply can not imagine here. There are no social services available and the church usually fulfils this role. The Rugarama Health Centre runs a support group for the HIV/AIDS patients, which provides counselling and advice on how to improve their health and help themselves.
Michael Assiimwe, a Christian Ugandan man, who has been given the responsibility to identify the poorest and neediest, sends me quarterly reports on how the REACH programme progresses, how the money is spent and how they plan further outreach.
During our LINK visit to St. Peter’s Cathedral, Kabale, in August 2004 I met Michael and Dr. Sanderson, and I have been involved in the REACH programme ever since. Dr. Rachelle and Tom Sanderson, who now live in England, came to visit us in the Minster recently and gave us an evening when they talked about their work and life in Kabale, and Rachelle preached next morning in our Sunday Service. They were a great inspiration to us all.
Through the generosity of friends outside the church, as well as members of our congregation, we have been able to send £200 per month to the REACH Programme. This could prove to be a great burden in the future, since this commitment cannot be simply abandoned, with families and orphans sinking back into their poverty and helplessness. However, the money just comes in and I am humbly aware of God’s goodness. Often I do not know how much donors give since donations can go via the Treasurer of the Minster PCC. Gift Aid is a godsend and we received £890 from the taxman last year, which was also a wonderful bonus.
Should you wish to know more about the REACH programme, and/or contribute towards it and receive the reports from Kabale, please contact me on 01482 869191. I should be very pleased to hear from you.
Annegret Aveyard
