Since the Autumn 2005 Newsletter, 8 containers have been sent to Ghana (1), Malawi (2), Uganda (1), Eritrea (1 x 20ft), Tanzania (1), Sierra Leone (1) and Benin (1). The average cost of sending each container is £4000.

As always, when we are not loading a container on a Saturday morning we are preparing goods for the next one - sorting, packing, stacking etc.

A few more pairs of hands on these occasions would be most welcome.

Just turn up any time between 8.30 a.m. and 12 noon.

"We take advantage of this occasion to wish all connected with CART a Happy New Year, good health and success for the continuation of your charitable activities in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The underprivileged of our community are very happy for your assistance because they have good Christmas holidays thanks to CART.

"All your organisation has done and will do for the struggle against poverty in our community God will return a hundredfold to you."

Ludger Aime Badou, Benin

December 13, 2004 "Dear Gordon, "Thank you so much for the wonderful gift boxes included in the containers for New Hope Villages. Each yeaer for the past 5 years, our 'Christmas in a Shoebox' project has provided Christmas packs for the destitute children in our New Hope Village and Destitute Care programme. Each year the number of needy children grows. Your generous gifts have enabled us to give 'improved' packs to more children! It is so encouraging to be able to share a little Christmas cheer with these children who live, for the most part, under plastic, with no modern amenities and few future prospects. "This year we have distributed approximately 3,000 gift packs to children in our projects at New Hope Villages, Whedza, Porta Farm, Borrowdale, Hatcliffe Extension and the Pomona and Warren Park refuse dumps. "Please will you pass on our gratitude to the many churches, schools and individuls who have contributed and filled shoeboxes. Each gift is greatly appreciated. " Lorraine Brits, Project Coordinator

We have plenty of gift boxes waiting to be filled ready for a future Christmas.

If your church group or school would like to fill some please contact us on 01484 423453.
Thank you

This nativity set was made by people in Kenya using some of the money earned from the fish-fly tying project supported by CART. We have a limited number available in our shop at £5.50 a set. The money will be sent to Kenya for the benefit of the makers.

Having a turkey for Christmas? Why not buy a chicken?

Simon Henry Opio-Emuna writes from Uganda:-

"The situation in the Lira Internally Displaced Persons camps is very bad. People are living in very poor conditions. We are in the process of starting a poultry project to train the people.

"We have managed to build two sheds where we could keep 1000 chickens. We wish to request your help to start this project. We plan to keep 400 layers and 600 broilers. We hope that once the project starts we should be able to start selling the broilers at eight weeks. We need money to cover the cost of purchasing the chicks, medication, light, water and part of the feed."

If 200 of our readers bought a chicken for £5 some of these unfortunate people could have an opportunity to become self reliant.

"A chicken is for life - not just for Christmas! "

Would you or your church like to know more about CART's activities in Africa? The following presentations are available:

GHANA Vanessa & Glenn Stewart 01484 652850 (Evenings only)

TANZANIA Donald & Mary Burkinshaw 01484 427192

MALAWI Cynthia & John Feather 01422 357739

ZAMBIA Malcolm & Maureen Vincent 01484 605038 (Evenings only)

CART generally Gordon Dawson 01484 311287

A donation to CART's activities would be welcome.

Over 90 churches and 70 schools responded to our Harvest Appeal for food, school stationery and 'elephant' pumps to provide clean water at modest cost. Thank you for your generosity.

On October 21st a 40 foot container to Sierra Leone carried, amongst other things, 112 boxes of school stationery. On October 29th a 20 foot container carried 808 boxes of food to Eritrea. Before the end of 2005 the remaining food and stationery will go to Uganda and Malawi where a third of the population face hunger this year and failed crops mean no money to pay school fees or buy the necessary stationery.

The importance of food, water and stationery to the quality of life in Africa is well illustrated by this letter from a Malawian schoolgirl:

"It's another scorching hot day. In the fields the earth is cracking under the sun, the air is dry and the maize is wilting. Unless it rains soon my father will lose another crop.

"If my family can't grow enough food we won't have any surplus to sell and that means there will be no money to pay for me to go to school. I'm lucky that father believes girls should be educated. Most families here only send their sons to secondary school.

"Many of my friends have lost one or both of their parents. No one wants to talk about it but we all know they died of AIDS. It's really bad for children being brought up by their grandparents. Often the old people live in the hills. They do their best but when food is given out they are too old to walk to the distribution stations so we go hungry.

"Here at school we get just enough food to keep our tummies from feeling hungry. The school had to guard its store of maize because hungry people will do anything to get food. At lunch time the poor kids who can't afford to come to school come to our classrooms begging for food. They want our leftovers.

" We try to find them something but there is so little to go round.

"I am grateful for my education. It is everything to me. If I grow up without being able to read and write or learn about the world it's like living in a box: being in the dark and cut off. When I leave school I want to go to college and get a degree. I would like to be an accountant and maybe I could help my country and play a part in helping the economy."

In 2004 we asked for gardening tools. Some of these were sent to Zambia where Jonathan Kachenjela was starting a small agricultural project. Here he is with his 'apprentices' and his first harvest.

"Thank you for all the gardening tools you sent us - they are of great help to us."

Jonathan Kachenjela

WANTED - Sponsors for the education of children in Liberia & Kenya

Most countries of Africa are very poor - for example in Kenya, almost 80% of the people live on less than $1 per day. HIV-AIDS has compounded the problem, claiming many lives mostly from the productive sector of society, meaning that orphans are left behind, having to fend for themselves, without any government support.

CART is committed to helping these children get an education thus helping them acquire skills for future self-reliance, hence prevent the vicious circle of poverty.

At the moment, we sponsor 25 children in Liberia, but due to the change in the circumstances of their sponsors, 2 children are now without support. Can you help? It only costs £40 to educate a child for one year in Liberia!

CART also sponsors 5 children in Kenya where education is much more costly, and we would like to expand the scheme.

• It costs £130 to educate one child for one year at primary school.
• It costs £250 to educate one child for one year at secondary school.
• It costs £70 to provide the uniform for one child.
• It costs £80 to provide the books and writing materials for one child.

If you are willing to help, please contact Mrs Brigitte Matthews, CART, PO Box 554, Huddersfield HD1 9ZQ

(Photo courtesy of The Huddersfield Examiner)

"Furniture for Sale"

So says the sign on the CART warehouse fence. Until recently the amount of furniture has been limited by display space and offers of good quality furniture have had to be met with, "Sorry we have no room."

But with the opening of the new shop extension, designed as a furniture showroom, things have changed.
The extension was officially opened by the Mayor of Kirklees, Clr. Margaret Fearnley, accompanied by her consort Mr Barry Fearnley. A torrential downpour which abated just prior to the arrival of the Mayoral party who were met by our President Guilford Tompkins did not prevent a good attendance of supporters who heard the Mayor pay tribute to CART's activities before cutting the ribbon.

The cost of building and fitting out the extension was £40,789. Many thanks to all who contributed to this. This investment will increase the income from the shop enabling CART to extend its activities to relieve the need in Africa not only by sending containers but contributing to sustainable development programmes there.

With thanks to Huddersfield Technical College for producing the paper version of this newsletter.