‘Bookcases and Angel Pockets’
Mothers Union Diocesan Projects
This year the Mothers’ Union members are supporting people in the African community in our Diocese through ‘South People’s Projects’. This is a black ethnic minority registered charity set up in the UK and based in Newport, with the vision of becoming a sustainable and effective international non-governmental organisation working for African people living in the UK and Africa.
Their Family Library Project aims to increase the literacy skills of adults and children and tackle under-achievement of the latter in schools. Parents born to a largely oral tradition can find it hard to communicate with their children who are growing up in a western society where writing and reading are the main means of communication. The project aims to help the parents become more familiar with books by providing ‘bookcases’ containing suitable reading material in the form of books and games.
We are collecting encyclopaedias, atlases, dictionaries and good fiction and non-fiction books for children and adults as well as games with written instructions. One car boot load has already been delivered and more is en route via the Action and Outreach coordinator.
Angel pockets are used for babies who are miscarried or die after premature births. Obviously even tiny clothes don't fit but these pockets give dignity and make it easier perhaps for parents to look at and handle the babies as their skin is so delicate it can slough off. Angel pockets have been knitted by many members and have been given to Alan Tyler the Senior Chaplain for our hospital trust in the Diocese. The response has been so good that we have more than enough for this year and will continue to run this annually as our President’s Project.
Sue Griffiths, Action and Outreach Co-ordinator