Shoes for the Village of Light!
Thanks to the generosity of a number of SaltMalawi’s supporting churches and schools we took twenty-five bags filled with shoes – around 500 pairs – to Birmingham for loading onto a charity container destined for Malawi. We loaded the bags on Saturday March 14th and they should (hopefully) arrive in Lilongwe around the middle of June.
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The container is organised by the Malawi Birmingham Partnership (an initiative of the Church of England Birmingham) and is chiefly for Birmingham churches but with space offered (at a discounted price) on a limited basis to other charities and churches with links to Malawi. We have been thinking about using this facility for a while and this year felt that we should give it a trial run. We decided to send used shoes that, whilst of no real value here, will be hugely beneficial to the people in the Village of Light – especially the children, many of whom have to walk to school barefoot. If all goes well with this first shipment it is hoped that next year we will repeat the exercise with perhaps a greater variety of donations.
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 A very full vehicle on its way to load the container
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To avoid attracting very high duty and taxes on arrival in Malawi it is essential that anything we send is used and not new. Some of the things we might consider in future are: manual sewing machines, non-electric simple hand tools, sturdy adult bicycles (no gears) and simple medical equipment such as walking sticks and crutches. So if you have any of these sorts of items please hang on to them until next year and watch this space to see if we are able to send them!
In the meantime, thanks to everyone who donated and we will let you know when your shoes have safely arrived in the village.
David Eastham, Trustee