EACH year for one week during May people from churches across Wokingham collect donations for an international development agency called Christian Aid.
Early in May the charity highlights its work, and asks people to consider supporting its projects around the world.
Christian Aid works with partners across the globe to support some of the poorest people on the planet.
It works with anyone in need – whatever they believe.
Support ranges from responding to natural disasters, through to helping people buy livestock to generate income so their children can go to school.
Sometimes it’s as simple as building a well so women (usually it is women) don’t have to walk for six hours each day just to collect water.
Like many other charities, this year Christian Aid has been supporting people in places like Gaza and Ukraine, helping people to access health services, education, medicine, and food.
Working with its partners on the ground it provides skills to enable local communities to become independent and to manage their lives without help from others.
The charity’s longer-term goal is to get people out of extreme poverty.
This year Christian Aid Week is looking at countries like Kenya, where it is helping people like Fridah use urban farming to protect her family from hunger, and to build a more secure future.
Through training, tools and seeds, Fridah learned how to grow food in small city spaces, using cone gardens, making compost and conserving water.
She said: “I discovered I could sow here – right where I stand.”
During Christian Aid Week, May 10 to 16, the charity asks the borough to support its work to save lives and change them for the better.
For information and to donate, visit: www.justgiving.com(search for caw26)
