Rodborough Tabernacle United Reformed Church

AGNES Arkell has recently sent boxes of knitted garments and teddies to the Stella Pre-Primary School in South Africa.

She and her band of knitters have done this for many years including two wonderful 102 and 96 year old women.

They have lovely thank you letters sent from the Principal and mothers to “The little old ladies of Rodborough Tabernacle” and to pay for the postage Agnes has shelves of books the people pay to borrow to cover the cost.

On Sunday, June 7, at 7.30pm in the Little Chapel of Rodborough Tabernacle United Reformed Church, Alison Malcolm gave a talk about her work with “The Good Shepherd Healthcare Initiative” in India.

Alison is the daughter of Clive and Gill who are members of the Tab.

After training to be a doctor she went of a gap year to India in 2009 and fell in love with the country and spends part of every year working with them and rest as a GP in Reading.

During her interesting slide show she explained that 40 per cent of people are malnourished and a third of the children will not reach adulthood and this is higher in India than Africa.

The caste system is still very much in place and the untouchables have a very hard time if they become ill but the Initiative is training Community Health Workers who go into the villages and bring them in to the clinics to be treated.

One lady had HIV and they were able to treat her but she still died but more easily and they have been able to look after her son.

The children die from very common illnesses but with the health workers they are encouraged to use better hygiene and if possible to provide better food.

They are trying to improve the lives of young girls who go through a wedding ceremony between the ages of eleven and twelve and are used for sex.

Education is the key and learning English is very important.

To the people listening it all seemed impossible but Alison was so positive and it is hoped that by 2025 there will be three hundred community health workers and twenty five primary care clinics and 600,000 people will receive life saving teaching about health and hygiene.

Rev Eric Massey thanked her for her wonderful informative talk and the Tab folk will be thinking of ways they can help this wonderful charity.

The next meeting in this series organised by Rev Eric Massey will be a talk by Rev Simon Topping on July 5, at 7.00pm in the Little Chapel entitled “Social Justice” and everyone is welcome to attend.