Drums and Dessert

Presented by African Children’s Mission

On Sunday, March 10, 2013 from 6 to 7:30 pm, parishioners and friends of all ages are invited to join members of the African Children’s Mission committee in the Parish House Assembly Room for hands on African drumming led by Betsy H. D’Angelo, MA, trained facilitator of drum circles and board certified music therapist. A Redeemer Choir member for a number of years, she also directed a multigenerational Handbell Choir for four years. Betsy recently led a very successful abbreviated drum circle with the Youth Group.

At Drums and Dessert, she will introduce us to a number of her vast array of instruments from all over the world—frame drums, bass drums, African and Asian drums such as djembes, doumbeks, and a “talking” drum, smaller percussion instruments such as bells and shakers and other special instruments that provide texture and melody.

Delicious homemade desserts and beverages will follow the drumming. Contribution: $5 per person or $15 per family.

RSVP here.

Mission Statement

As Christ cared for and uplifted those most powerless, so, too, the Church of the Redeemer strives to care for those suffering from the devastating impact of AIDS in Africa.  The committee has sought to:

• Empower our congregation to improve the lives and hopes of children affected by HIV/AIDS through education, child care, home health care, community improvement, and new programs
• Provide travel team members with a new perspective on life through observation of the positive attitudes prevalent among the Malawians.
• Develop an interactive educational and spiritual relationship between these children and our parish community through education of our children, young people, and adults
• Coordinate activities with other faith-based organizations when our mission coincides with their mission
• Ensure that funds are applied effectively and efficiently to address the pressing needs of these children orphaned by AIDS

In fulfilling its mission, the African Children’s Mission at Redeemer funds community-based projects organized by local leaders to benefit infants and children orphaned by AIDS in Malawi.  We partner with the Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance (GAIA) which not only works with us to identify worthy projects but also provides oversight of the funding to ensure that funds are indeed applied effectively and efficiently.

Redeemer’s African Children’s Mission is led by a group of volunteers who meet monthly on Saturday mornings in the Parish House to plan fund raising and educational efforts as well as to plan how funds will be used.  We maintain personal contact with our brothers and sisters in Malawi through correspondence and self-funded visits by members of Redeemer and the campus ministry at Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges.

Click here for a PDF of our most recent brochure.

For more information about the African Children’s Mission at Redeemer, contact Lynn Marsden-Atlass or any member of the mission.

For more information about Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance, visit www.thegaia.org

Join Us

Get Involved

ACM welcomes the thoughts, suggestions, and active participation of all who share our sense of mission and want to make a difference in the lives of children in Malawi.  There are various ways in which you can contribute. Please join us!

ACM usually meets the first Saturday of each month at 9:00 AM in the Parish House (check Church calendar for occasional variation in date)

Malawi Trips

Since 2004, more than 20 members of the Redeemer community, including college students (Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and University of Virginia), have traveled to Malawi, some more than once, to visit several projects supported by ACM. A travel team is formed in the winter to deliver our message of concern and interest “on the ground” in Malawi during the following summer. Interested individuals are encouraged to come to the monthly ACM meeting for the 2013 trip or to contact Lynn Marsden-Atlass, Prill Bradshaw, or Stephen Billings.

Click here for a copy of the Daily Log from the 2007 ACM Travel Team 

Children and Youth

Each year, Redeemer children learn about Malawi through age appropriate lessons.  For the younger children, the focus is on the ways in which our ministry in Malawi strives to serve broad objectives (the Millennium Development Goals). Older students are introduced to some role playing based on materials that are used in Malawi to increase awareness about HIV/AIDS.

 In February 2006, valentine cards were handmade by youth ages 8-16 for children in Malawi. The cards were mailed to our Global Aids Interfaith Alliance Malawi contact, Sister Gertrude, who distributed the valentine cards to children in select villages.  

Projects

Redeemer’s Village in Malawi

In 2011, ACM began providing support to the village of Naluso, part of Njirambo Center, a cluster of 5 villages in the Mulanje District of southern Malawi. The Redeemer’s village has over 330 households with 1680 people in great need. We provide 72 orphans and 330 households with food, education, medicines and life-saving services.

Nursing Scholarship Program

In Malawi, the shortage of skilled nurses limits the basic healthcare available to children orphaned by AIDS. ACM has supported Kaboni Gondwe and other nursing students with tuition, room, and board, uniforms, shoes, stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs, watches, and small living stipends. Each new nurse pledges to remain in Malawi after graduation for a minimum 4-year commitment at a government or mission hospital as leaders in fighting the effects of AIDS at home.

Medicines Assistance Program (MAP) International

MAP International, a program that helps distribute medicines to the developing world, researches the medicinal needs of target countries, assembles donated medicines into shipping containers, and provides customs clearance assistance.  Redeemer travelers to Malawi have personally delivered large boxes of much-needed medical supplies to clinics in Malawi through this program.

Fundraising

Got Goat?

ACM’s “Got Goat?” campaign has spread awareness of the project while raising money for the purchase of live goats for villagers in Malawi.  Goats are a food security program for villages: a sustainable source of milk, offspring are retained by the original recipients and the mother goats are passed on to other villagers. To date, Redeemer youth and students in the College Ministry program have raised over $12,000 – enough to purchase and deliver more than 375 goats and to instruct new goat owners in their care

Christmas Joyful Giving

Colorful photographic cards of Malawi are provided to announce your gift to the bicycle ambulance program, nursing scholarships, and/or   elementary and high school educational opportunities in honor of special individuals on your list.

Have-A-Heart Campaign

Valentine’s Day means more than candy and roses with ACM’s “Have-A-Heart” campaign.  By responding generously to Cupid’s arrow, additional support is raised to help children in Malawi whose lives have been affected by AIDS. Since 2009 “Have-A-Heart” has raised nearly $15,000 to support orphans and women. Additional information about all ACM activities can be found at http://www.theredeemer.org/acm

You can make your gifts online using VISA or MasterCard or direct payments from your bank account.
You’ll need your login or to create a login. Once inside enter the amount you want to contribute and on the next screen enter that amount in the box next to the African Children's Mission line and follow the directions to complete your gift.

Click on the button above to give to the 2012
African Children's Mission Have A Heart Campaign

Valentine’s Day.... chocolates, flowers, a romantic dinner for two?

Are you looking for a meaningful gift for your sweetie, and an unusual surprise?

Have a Heart is a way to express your love by making a donation to improve the lives of AIDS orphans in Malawi. The African Children’s Mission at The Redeemer provides transformative gifts for Valentine’s Day that will have long-lasting effects, as shown below:

Box of chocolates = Goats to AIDS orphans ($25)

Dozen roses = Antibiotics and HIV drugs ($50)

Dinner for two = Secondary school tuition for a child ($100)

Theater tickets = Bicycle ambulance ($200)

Night on the town = Medicines to stock a mobile clinic ($500)

Weekend at the shore = tuition, room and board for a nursing student ($1,200)

 This year give from your heart! A Have a Heart invitation from African Children’s Mission will be mailed in early February. You can also make your contribution online (please designate it for African Children’s Mission). For more information, contact co-chairs Julie Williams and Margaret Welsh, or make a donation to Church of the Redeemer noting ACM Have a Heart on the memo line. Thank you! 

http://www.thegaia.org/
The Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance (GAIA) partners with religious organizations in resource-poor countries for community-based HIV prevention and care.

www.africaaction.org
Africa Action is the oldest organization in the U.S. working on African affairs. We are a national organization based in Washington, DC. Our work dates back to 1953, the year our oldest predecessor organization was founded in New York.

www.AidsinAfrica.net
AidsinAfrica.net is an online resource for current information on HIV/AIDS in Africa. This website uses visual models, such as animated maps and diagrams, to make the the statistics behind HIV/AIDS in Africa more engaging and easy to understand. AidsinAfrica.net is also home of the in-progress documentary "5 Heroes of AIDS in Africa."

www.allafrica.com
AllAfrica Global Media is a multi-media content service provider, systems technology developer and the largest electronic distributor of African news and information worldwide. Registered in Mauritius, with offices in Johannesburg, Dakar, Lagos and Washington, D.C., AllAfrica is one of a family of companies that aggregate, produce and distribute news from across Africa to tens of millions of end users.

www.africasangels.org
Africa’s Angels is a privately run website and is not affiliated with any specific organization. Its goals are to provide information about the AIDS epidemic in Africa, the resulting orphan crisis, the many organizations and individuals working to help these children, and details on how anyone can help. It is meant to serve as a resource for those looking to learn more about the situation and also provide a guide for those searching for ways to help Africa’s orphans.

www.afsc.org
The American Friends Service Committee is a practical expression of the faith of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Committed to the principles of nonviolence and justice, it seeks in its work and witness to draw on the transforming power of love, human and divine.

ACM Meeting Minutes

Recent Articles that have appeared in our monthly newsletter

African Children's Mission was featured in this issue of our
Outreach Missions Newsletter

Volume 2, Issue 6
October  2011
African Children's Mission (ACM)