What makes a Charity special, when there are so many charities demanding our attention?
In the case of the Elizabeth-Ann charity, at least two things make it special! Firstly, it was born of tragedy. Julie and Michael Davies, of Bradford-on-Avon, lost their only daughter at age 16 to a severe asthma attack and decided, via the charity, ‘Save the Children’ , to provide a water supply in her memory to a mainly Christian village in Andre Pradesh, India. A year later, when there was a problem with the water pump, they sent money for the repair but were made aware of the poverty in the village and decided to set up a charity in their daughter’s name, to provide a range of help-services in the village.
The second thing to make the Charity special, is particularly important; Julie and Michael decided they and other Trustees they appointed, would take no money for administering the charity and would pay their own expenses when they visited India. They would also not spend money on advertising the charity and relied on personally making many contacts with individuals and a few companies in the UK. One company in particular, Utility Warehouse, has provided financial help and encouraged its staff as individuals to help. Our St James’s Church, as well as individuals within St James’s, have been generous donors for more than ten years.
These two aspects of the charity, mean that all donations made to the charity are used directly to benefit the people of the village, in a variety of ways, some of which are detailed in the following:
There is now an Elizabeth-Ann children’s home in the village of Burlavaripalem, to house children from poor families and make certain they get a good education. The picture shows children seated on the floor studying. They study after school, mainly doing homework, from 5.30 pm until 8.00 pm each night as well as in the mornings before breakfast.
At the informal Benefice Café Church service on December 4th, the entire service was dedicated to the charity and we were privileged to have co-founder Julie Davies talk to us live by phone link and answer questions put to her by attendees. The service appeal raised the amazing sum of almost £1000 including Gift Aid. Over half of this will be used to buy 40 chairs and 10 desks for the children so they do not have to sit and work on the concrete floor, which gets very cold in Winter. We are all looking forward to seeing a picture of children at the Home, using the desks and chairs! Over the years, many of the children have achieved outstanding results and have gone on to well-paid jobs, helping their own and their wider families. Education is so key to breaking the cycle of poverty which so many struggle to escape from.
The charity has a particular focus on women and girls, who are often denied opportunities to better themselves. There is a Sewing Business class, whereby women are given sewing machines, costing £60 each and are enrolled in a 3 month training programme to develop a business, making clothes and other items, giving them some eagerly sought-after independence, as well as providing precious family income. There is a waiting list for machines and entry to the programme!
Children who live a long way from school are given bicycles so they can attend school. These are treasured possessions and at £65 each are supplied when funds allow.
Local farmers have benefited from a fund to help buy seed, and the money is repaid after the harvest. This has been particularly helpful after a disastrous harvest, when farmers have been unable to fund the purchase of precious seed for the coming year.
A special focus of the charity has been to help the elderly in the village and each month the elderly and infirm are given £5 each, which they usually spend on daily breakfasts for the month, often their only meal of the day. Food is also taken to those unable to come to the Elizabeth-Ann Home at mealtime.
During the time of the Covid pandemic, Vinay, who manages the work of the charity in Burlavaripalem, was going to the local market at 2.00 am to meet stallholders as they arrived so as to get a special price for food, which he later distributed locally, keeping many families with out of work breadwinners, above starvation level.
The charity also supplies ‘house cows’ to some poor families with children, providing precious milk.
One feature of the charity work is to pay for the visit, every two weeks, of a medical doctor, who manages to see over 50 patients in his three hour session. This is backed up by a weekly visit of a trained nurse and the long queues for both these medical people testify to their value.
As well as providing these benefits to the Christian village, they have also reached out to needy people in the nearby Hindu village, particularly at the height of the pandemic.
Jesus taught that when kindness is shown to the poor and needy, he counts it as kindness shown to himself and we are pleased, that as a Benefice, we have been able to support Julie and her small team as they seek to honour Jesus in their work in far-off Burlavariplem.
You can learn more about the charity by visiting www.eacharity.org.uk Peter Thompson