Hello all.   I am sending you this report and three photos from Fr Sean about his food distribution programme. I asked if he needed extra funding but you will see he is OK at the moment.  Best wishes Eugene

Good evening Eugene

Our Safaricom network has been offline for the past 2 days.
The photo is a random example of 50 or so people that I give a weeks supply of food to every Tuesday. I used to let the ‘elders’ choose who gets the food. But that did not work. Now I rule this program by decree. The food situation is extremely grim at the moment. A kilo of maize costs 180 shillings. The 50 people I give preferential treatment to might well not have survived the last year without our help, nor several in their extended family. 
The children are not neglected. There are about 100 in school who get breakfast and lunch daily. 
A sack of 90 kilo maize today costs 7,000 shillings (approx. £50). Beans I heard last week were 10,000 (approx. £71)
Close to 50% rise in recent weeks. 
Of course the photos are ‘shocking’. The situation is shocking. I am ok for the moment for funds. I keep £a week for the ‘rainy day’.  Sean.

The project currently supports two Missions run by the Holy Ghost Fathers in East Pokot, a remote and impoverished region of Kenya.  The predominant tribe there is the Pokot people, hence the name of the region and our project.  The area is subject to frequent droughts and food shortages, at times approaching famine proportions.

You can find out about the Barpello Mission and Rotu Mission on these pages, along with the Camel Project.  You can also read the POKOT diary of the development on these areas through the generosity of the Pound a Week Group amongst others.

The Pound a Week Group was set up specifically to raise funds for selected projects in East Pokot.  As its name suggests, members try to give a £1 each week or whatever they can afford.  Donations are made in little orange envelopes put in the collection baskets at weekend Masses.  Some parishioners prefer to pay monthly or yearly.  Donations can be Gift Aided and apart from recording those donations for HMRC purposes, no separate record is kept of members or their donations.  Parishioners simply give what they can afford whenever they can afford it.

Since our new Parish was formed in 2006 from the Cranleigh and Bramley parishes, the Pound a Week Group has sent the Missions in East Pokot more than £93,000.  We have supported the camel project, the medical and food programmes; and nine members of the Group are currently paying the fees for thirteen children at the Barpello school.  The Mission there played a major role in tackling a cholera outbreak a couple of years ago and Fr David told us that the Pound a Week Group was the first to respond to his appeal for emergency funding to help tackle the disease.

Reports from Pokot about the work of the Missions are included in the Parish Newsletter from time to time and in the POKOT Diary, but if you would like to know more about “Pokot” and the Pound a Week Group, please contact the Parish organiser of the Group , Eugene McGivern, at emcgivern@btopenworld.com