Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Day 25: This year with the help of everyone ALG supported 1581 children. THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND WE WISH YOU A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

In 2013, we supported 911 children individually and directly through the Sponsorship programme ran by our sister charity UPG Portugal. Each child is allocated a sponsor, preferably Portuguese-speaking, and granted access to school, a monthly basic basket or lunch depending on the project. Besides material goods, the children feel nurtured and important because there is someone, many miles away, who thinks about them and who transforms their lives every month and provides them nutrition.

Alongside the backbone of the Sponsoring programme, the Projects by ALG UK and UPG Portugal play a vital role ion complementing and furthering this work.  We believe it is important to “provide” these families with better liveability conditions in housing or access to water; as well as additional sustainability tools, to teach the families and children how to develop their competences in order to live better lives.

Under our Poverty Relief area, we developed Orphan Support further by ensuring a meal for the 120 orphans who check into the Centre Rebirth for Hope (CRPE) on a daily basis while attending morning school close by. We also supported the launch and running costs of the new Home for Orphans in the CRPE, where 13 orphans boarded full time this year and upt to 20 can now have a place to call home.

In 2013, in the Education area, we supported two Pre-Schools, with 170 children between 3 to 5 years old. We provided After-Class study support for 280 youngsters eager to learn, and in our Technical Courses we have around 100 children learning trades in skills-based courses. We helped 8 Uni Scholarship holders to fulfil their dreams of going to college and 103 mums develop their dream of writing their own name in our Literacy Courses.

In the Infrastructure area we built 10 huts, with the support of individual sponsors, benefiting 40 people. We built two Water Wells and we are starting another one to improve the lives of over 1’000 people.
The sister charity UPG also supported an Elderly Fund for older age beneficiaries with health problems living isolated in rural areas, by financing a monthly basic basket.

Thank you for all you help which allowed us to fulfil ALG’s dream of changing the lives of children, their families, youngsters and elderly!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Donate to ALG now!

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Day 24: The value of every £ donated to ALG!

“I visited my sponsored child Edna Nena in the Escolinha do André school, in Xai-Xai, and it was a very special moment. I was very anxious because despite the distance we created an emotional bond, which is materialised beautifully if one has the opportunity to go there.
I had the greatest surprise when I observed, in situ, the dimension of ALG’s activity and its importance. I visited several schools with hundreds of children, a few communities, the ALG Local Partners and accompanied the local volunteers in their activities.

I saw numerous children attending school, benefiting from After-Class study support, having their School Meal thanks to ALG; I met a deeply grateful mother for having a Portuguese Sponsor providing her child what she could not on her own; I witnessed the happiness of a dozen women which received a small loan [under the Income Generation project] which will help them contribute to support their family and I was fortunate to participate in a symbolic tea party with so little to offer but providing such feelings of warmth and tenderness; I met the missionary sisters, ALG Local Partners, true warriors on the ground every day watching over all the children and their families. 
I received affection, attention and gratitude at all times. So much more than what I gave.
Thank you ALG UK and UPG Portugal for giving me this unforgettable experience. I came back even more aware of the value a pound has when it is delivered to ALG.”

Testimonial of Maria do Céu S., a Sponsor under our sister charity UPG Portugal. She travelled with her husband Filipe from Portugal to Mozambique, in August

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Monday, December 23, 2013

Day 23: The ALG Team running in London for the CRPE Home for Orphans!

In October, a group of 22 volunteers of mixed nationalities, from Greece to Arizona, got together to run the first ALG half-marathon in Hyde Park, London. The ALG team reached their target of £20’000 by participating in the Royal Parks Half-Marathon raising funds for the new ALG Home for Orphans at the CRPE Orphan Centre, in Chinhacanine. 

With each £330 raised each runner paid a year of meals, 24-hour care and accommodation. Thank you ALG Team for helping us to reach or ambitious goals!

Do you want to participate in a sporting event and raise funds for ALG? Please contact us at info@alittlegesture.org

Donate to ALG now!

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Day 22: 2 new ALG water wells in Feb - another one coming!

57% of the population of Mozambique, including up to 70% of the country’s rural population, have no access to drinkable water.

In 2012 we built 2 drinkable water wells, one in Bungane and another one in Conjoene, with an average cost of £12’500, which reduced the distance of over 4 hours the community had to walk to fetch water. These water wells improve quality of life for the children and their families, in essentially rural and of difficult access areas, through a more adequate access to safe water sources. They promote gender equality since they avoid young girls having to skip classes in school to instead walk for miles to get water for their families.

Successfully inaugurated in February this year, the ALG water wells engage the local community in management committees and in the symbolic payment of the water used. This year preparations are underway to build another one!

Donate to ALG now!

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Day 21: Always some perfume in the hands of the one offering roses …

Sister Lídia, our Local Partner in SLM – Santa Luisa Marilac, saw her school being destroyed by the January floods. With her tireless joy she set about the task of rebuilding this safe haven for 660 disadvantaged children in Manjangue, Chokwé. SLM is a very poor school where 117 of the students are sponsored on an individual basis by our sister charity UPG Portugal. And has always a kind word for the ALG friends…

“It is with great joy we are sending our testimonial on our partnership with ALG UK and UPG Portugal and all their support provided.
We can say with all certainty that everything is derived from ALG’s support and solidarity.


  • Children are healthy, improved their nutrition and even the children with HIV/AIDS, are strong and manage to keep up.
  • The Sister Nurse, who checks if the antiretroviral medication is been taken regularly, has processed the monitoring of infected children with all care and tenderness.
  • With the work developed by the monitors in the After-Scholl classrooms, the school results improved a lot over the 2nd term with better grades, individual follow up for weaker students and constant monitoring by the teachers of assiduity and school attendance.
  • The regular weekly visits by the monitors to the sponsored children’s homes , has been an added value, increasing that family’s awareness that they have direct responsibility over their children and grandchildren growing up, bit at the same time allowing us to check the hygiene conditions and home environment of all the family life.
  • The relationship between the children has evolved and we feel the mutual help growing, not only in school but also in their homes.
  • The will to share also spread through the retribution for the help received. The mums, sisters and grandmothers have been working weekly in the farming plots and the production improved greatly. They work with dedication, interest and joy from the oldest to the youngest.
  • Children were livelier with the Feeding Support provided after the floods, which allowed them to have soup or porridge on a daily basis. It was a great help since they had nothing to eat; everything was taken and destroyed by the waters. Even after resuming the work on the farming plots, production was not immediate and the sugar provided under your support made the children’s life sweeter.
  • We cannot also forget the Seeds donated by ALG to restart our farming plots, which will help us to produce more and faster. We already harvested beans, tomatoes, lettuces, and next week we will harvest potatoes. The garlic looks good and we are about to transplant the cabbages and onions. Along with support provided to the school plots we thank you for the support provided to improve the farming plots of some children’s families.
  • Our hearts were moved by the help provided in the School Reconstruction that has been taking place to rebuild everything damaged by the floods: We already have the window’s nets ready, the doors, the warehouse floor, the desks are almost finished, and we are changing the locks on the windows. The bathrooms were improved and now we will move on to fixing the stoves, dish drainers and finally the general painting. Our school will be like new and on our own we would never be able to gather the necessary conditions to solve the problems caused by all the damages.
  • The presence of all the local volunteers travelling from Portugal was very enriching because through their work they not only incentivize and support the children but also manage to involve the teachers and parents. Their joyful and friendly presence, with no demands, living the daily life at school has been a huge help.
  • The University Scholarship support provided to Silvestre and Eduardo cannot go unmentioned, by improving local capacities we will have better results for children and a brighter future for these two students. Silvestre has been fully dedicated and Eduardo is in charge of the farming plots and school production doing everything within his reach to involve everyone and to increase the income even more.
  • What a joy, we received a camera! Now we can register and share everything that happens here.
  • Your financing of Technical Courses has helped the income generation initiatives making them more efficient and quicker. What we received so far helped us purchase materials and mainly invest in cooking classes by using the products from the farming plots, in candle making, in the banana trees, sowing and agriculture.
  • It is also important to remember the UPG Portugal sponsors who sent gifts and packages to children, providing them joy and reminding them that they are not alone.
  • The partnership with ALG also brought us the joy of your visits. It feels good to welcome you and by coming here you can confirm everything we have been doing with your help. Your visits bring us joy, elevate our spirits and allows us to create stronger and deeper bonds.

There is always a scent of perfume left in the hands of the ones offering roses, in the hands that can be generous, thus we sing in joy and witness the changes observed in our children, in their families and in the school.

Finally I have to thank for all the care and attention shown by Mama Sara [Chairman, ALG] and Mama Anabela [Head of Sponsoring, UPG] in providing us everything we need.

On behalf of the team at school, monitors, teachers, students and all the sponsored children we thank you and we ask Good to repay you everything you do for us.

With love, from Sister Lídia and from all the team in Santa Luisa.”

Donate to ALG now!

Friday, December 20, 2013

Day 20: We are educating doctors but artisans & cooks too!

In Mozambique only 44% of students finish primary school and less than 1% attends universities. To complement our children’s academic education, ALG supports a program of technical-professional courses in our intervention centres to teach them competences that will improve their employability and potentially break the poverty cycle.

We finance Technical Education for more than 400 children and youngsters in the SLM - S. Luísa de Marillac School and in the CRPE – Orphan Centre Rebirth for Hope. These small, local centres provide the poorest children with a skills-based training for a potential job and future self-sufficiency, outside agriculture and emigration. From £450 and £500 we pay a year of plot farming techniches and arts&crafts, respectively, in SLM.

We help ALG children to try to become doctors and teachers. But we also want to support future local carpenters, potters, seamstresses or cooks!

Donate to ALG now!

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Day 19: Benilzio and Rosita will have a new home!

Rosita and Benilzio live in Nhocoene, a neighbourhood in the Mission of Chongoene, with their mum Susana, 37 years old and who works in farming plots. It is a village of limited resources, scarce access to minimum subsistence conditions and spreadout poverty.
Benilzio is 16 years old and suffers from severe epilepsy, while his sister Rosita who is 3 years old is growing but still evidences signs of malnutrition experienced at a young age.

Their sponsors from UPG Portugal’s programme, self entitled “Love from a Distance”, visited this family and were desolated by their living conditions. Their hut was destroyed and falling to bits and the family sleept on the floor, rolled up in old blankets. The Sponsors decided to get together and take on an ALG Challenge – an oportunity to raise your own funds on behalf of a chosen ALG project. This Autumn, they are hoping to give them a new home before Xmas with their fundraisaising campaign Love from a Distance – A New Home for Benilzio & Rosita!

If you want to sponsor your ALG Project and run your own ALG Challeng – reach out at info@alittlegesture.org. 

Donate to ALG now!

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Day 18: Your 40p/day can change lives!

With some 40pence/day, your Little Gesture changes the life of a sponsored child in Mozambique. Launched in Portugal in 2004, the sponsorship programme finances the individual expenses of a child with education, a monthly basic basket, health care, compulsory school uniforms and other clothing items when necessary.
The monthly basic basket includes 10 kg of rice or flour, 3 kg of sugar, 2 kg of peanuts, 1 litre of oil, 6 pieces of soap, 2 kgs of beans, 250 g of tea, 1 can of corn, 1 kg of salt and sometimes 1 chicken.

Our sister-charity UPG Portugal sponsors a total of 918 children in 2013 in the regions of Xai-Xai, Chongoene and Chokwé. Since 2004, with different amounts per region, different ages, and sad but also beautiful stories, there is Portuguese-speaking child waiting for your help and your love.

Donate to ALG now!

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Day 17: More than £62 thousand raised for the flood emergency!

In the beginning of this year, and after 13 years Mozambique was, once again, targeted by the floods. The majority of infrastructures did not resist resulting in the displacement of more than 200 thousand people. The number of deaths remains uncertain but the local authorities point to 113 dead and 250 thousand affected people. ALG was there from the start when the ALG Emergency Fund for Floods saved lives and brought some relief to the population with your Great Help.

The ALG Emergency Fund called for the support of public and private sources to relieve the immediate impact of floods and to support local reconstruction. The Fund was launched simultaneously by ALG in United Kingdom and by our sister-charity UPG Portugal. Your generosity raised more than £62 thousand of funds to manage the damage caused by the floods!

Thank you very much to all those who answered our urgent call!

Donate to ALG now!

Monday, December 16, 2013

This Xmas, get Santa to help the Little Ones at ALG!


Donate now!

Day 16: Even in hardship Artivo is one of the best ALG students!

Artivo is 8 years old and is in the 3rd grade. He became an orphan very early and was looked after by his aunt, his father’s sister, who despite having to raise three children of her own welcomed him and his brother with open arms. Artivo’s aunt works in the village’s farming plots and does everything within her reach to provide for her family. When she has excess crops from the plots she sells them in the market. Despite his shyness, Artivo is a brilliant student and his sponsors from Catavento Project, who sponsor many other children, are very proud of his average of 17 at school.

Keep going Artivo and keep on surprising us all with your excellence!

Donate to ALG now!

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Day 15: A class in SVP where everybody wants to study!

The devastating floods in January submerged the SVP - S. Vicente de Paulo school, in Chokwé, with significant damages in a school attended by more than 900 highly deprived children.
After the floods, our Technician Hilário, the Vincentian Sisters and students worked tirelessly and rehabilitated the whole school. Among the more recent works, they decided to paint the After-Class study room attended by the 171 children sponsored by UPG Portugal in this school. In this classroom this group of children – the poorest in school – receive after school study support, a snack and daily monitoring.

And what a difference! The renovation work in this study room surpassed all the expectations. According to our Local Technician from the neighbouring school SLM, whose daughter Albertina is a sponsored child in SVP, “this area was transformed in a pleasant and welcoming environment for the children, it is a place to promote the transfer of knowledge and coexistence.”  

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Saturday, December 14, 2013

Day 14: The importance of ALG Pre-Schools!

ALG supports 165 children in two pre-schools – Santa Catarina and Flor Pre-schools. Your support prevents these children, aged 3-5 years old, to become “street kids” roaming the streets all day. With ALG they have access to daily meals and basic education in a protected pre-school setting. Starting from £80 per year, we guarantee access to breakfast, lunch, teachers and school material for every underprivileged child enrolled in the school. 

Pre-school education is the first step of basic education and within the local context it is essential to break the cycle of poverty. The ALG pre-schools try to receive these children in a stimulating, welcoming and learning-friendly environment, teaching them Portuguese and how to count, to be assiduous and clean, to play and to be well behaved in school.

At EFI pre-school, a generous benefactor has also helped us implement and finance the Scholarship of the Flowers – an annual merit scholarship for the best 8 tiny students. Now in its third year, the children learn that dedication and hard-work pays-off – and competition for the Scholarship is getting fiercer among the joyful children!
Your school or company can become a Friend of an ALG Pre-School! Please contact us to find out how.  

Donate to ALG now!

Friday, December 13, 2013

Day 13: Our entrepreneurial Mums in Income Generation!

The ALG Income Generation programme was rolled out extensively in its small format in 2013. It currently supports 121 entrepreneurial Mums of families in need by providing them a small financing amount. The programme tries to allow them to become self-sufficient by developing their own businesses, such as the sales of African “capulana” cloths and domestically produced soap. The Mums of Banhine, Nhancutse and Chongoene, rural villages around the Chongoene Mission, are previously selected by our Local Partners such as Sister Aparecida. ALG grants them monetary resources (in cash), provides training and follows up on the Mums’ activities. Besides investing in their self-sufficiency we also believe in the development of local commerce. We believe that the success of these businesses can result in a continual improvement of the quality of life for these families, in the self-fulfilment of the Mums and hopefully in an improved dynamism in the villages surrounding them.

"This afternoon we helped Sister Aparecida in the distribution of funds to the Mums of the Chongoene Mission, in order to allow them to begin work in the farming plots. They signed a solemn declaration and a receipt for the money received. It was a rewarding experience and we could witness the enthusiasm and the commitment of the Mums for everything to run smoothly.
May this financing be a Great Help in their development! Thank you very much!!"

A local testimonial by Indira and Maria, two volunteers from UPG Portugal who helped implement the Income Generation program in the Chongoene region.

Donate to ALG now!

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Day 12: The success of ALG Challenges with I. Camões & Hillside School!

The ALG Challenges are a fantastic opportunity for you to pick a special occasion and raise funds yourself on behalf of our children. The Instituto Camões UK spread the word to associated schools and institutes throughout the country - W. Morris School, IE Canada Blanch, R Atkins Primary School, the Watford Portuguese Ass, Hillside Junior School, Hounslow School and St. Paul´s C of E PS - and what a fantastic result!  £4'503 raised VIA bake sales and small campaigns led by encouraging teachers and enthusiastic students.
On a sunny afternoon on the 8th of June, Ms Lumen Rodrigues and students from Hillside School, Northwood gathered excitedly to raise funds for the children of Mozambique, in support of ALG. The bake sale was championed by 2nd, 3rd and high school students enrolled in Portuguese classes at the school, supported by all the parents and the Portuguese community around Hillside. Their effort had the full support of Hillside School's Faculty and PTA. Everyone was so generous! There were sweet and savoury snacks for sale, drink stands, football matches, shoot outs and kick ups, nursery games, face, nail and henna painting, raffle boxes and other games. A whooping £1'246 were raised on a single day, enough to support After-class centres in SVP and SLM schools in Mozambique for half a year!

YOU CAN ALSO TAKE AN ALG CHALLENGE!

Organise an ALG solidarity tea for family, friends or colleagues and ask them to contribute with a donation to your cause. Run a marathon (full, half or mini) or go on a mountain bike race, alone or with family and friends. Celebrate a special occasion like a christening with your solidarity campaign and share a bit of your happiness with others. 

Discover the ALG Challenges now at info@alittlegesture.org.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Day 11: In the most difficult moments always a smile... THANK YOU ALG VOLUNTEERS

Sara Ferreira travelled with UPG Portugal to Chokwé as a volunteer. Just landed on the 21st of January for almost 3 months, she intended to help the organization with After School study centres and Income Generation Programs at CPRE, SLM and SVP. But a few days after her arrival, she was thrown into the dramatic violence of the January flood crisis. She was tireless and brave helping the refugee population in the CRPE Orphan Centre, and in the middle of the chaotic floods she become a nurse, a mentor and a friendly shoulder.

"The greatest difficulties were felt during the two first weeks, because there was no adjustment period. The options were “to do, or to do” - there was no option other than trying to the best we could to help the population.
After Brother Licínio’s arrival it was difficult to find the most needed ones who were hiding in the Centre surrounding areas.
“I was asked if I loved it...one cannot love calamity... suffering, pain and wounds … but I loved the experience, the people, and the country because even in the hardest moments I always had a smile like this one, here and there... Thank you Mozambique... I have to thank you too, despite all the initial confusion I always felt at home, I was welcomed as a daughter, I took care of you like my own, I overcame the hardest moments and keep the good ones in my heart … I did not arrive in the “worst” time, I arrived in the right time for you, and everything happens for a reason … I came back with an overflowing heart. 

Tá tá! Sister Sara”

THANK YOU ALG VOLUNTEERS, AT HEADQUARTERS IN LONDON, IN UPG LISBON, REMOTELY AND IN OUR MOZAMBIQUE OPERATIONS, HELPING US TO PROVIDE A GREAT HELP!

Donate to ALG now!

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Day 10: TAP Volunteers took over 160 suitcases to Moz

Our donors and patrons are generous and like to send as many gifts as possible to our intervention area and to our sponsored children in Mozambique, especially from Portugal where the sponsorship programme is underway for almost 10 years. Unfortunately, the shipping of donated gifts continues to be very difficult and expensive, worsened by all the Customs constraints, which delay the process even more.
It is with both joy and relief that for the past 2 years we can count on the support of TAP Air Portugal’s VWW’s – Volunteers With Wings. These volunteers from the airline’s flight crew make room in their luggage and carry gifts our supporters wish to offer to the children as well as clothes and donated goods for the local communities.

Thanks to the Volunteers With Wings it is possible to provide these families some reasons to smile for the small comforts received. After a total of 200 suitcases carried last year, this year over 160 suitcases were transported with toys, blankets, clothes, school material and essential products! Thank you VWW’s!

Donate to ALG now!

Monday, December 9, 2013

Day 9: Gil dreams about spreading smiles!

Gil is with A Little Gesture from a young age. Currently 24 years old, he was one of our earlier Uni Scholarship students attending the Dentistry course in Nampula. This November, we were so proud to see him graduate from College, our very first ALG child to do so with our support!
This road was not always easy for the hardworking Gil. Moving 1’823km north from his home town, Xai-Xai, Gil had to sacrifice a lot to study... He headed to Nampula in a small bus, which took him three days and three nights, with a few belongings. He was only able to go back to his hometown two years later. He was planning to give some tutoring lessons to be able to help with the expenses, but it was not possible because the schedule in the hospital is very intense, and he also had practical classes.
He sent us a moving and tender testimony this Summer and he is living proof that effort and hard work pay off.

“Hello
Everything is well here,
I already sent my grades for the past semester. My greatest wish is to finish my degree and become a reference doctor in Dentistry... To work, help my family and other people in need, mainly children. My wish is to provide beautiful smiles to everyone… and specialize in Dental Prosthesis or Public Health. Also, God willing, I wish to maintain my ability to play musical instruments and sewing clothes.
I cannot thank ALG enough for all the help and for the opportunity they gave me! Thanks to your efforts I’m being able to fulfil my greatest dream that will change my life.

Thank you ALG and all the aunties. I wish you all the best and healthy smiles, SMILING IS MY MISSION "

Donate to ALG now!

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Day 8: We are selling cabbages and lettuces in SVP!

For ALG incentivising the children and their families to be self-sufficient is a huge ambition. This is the reason why we are so moved when we receive good news about mini-projects such as the school farming plots in SVP - S. Vicente Paulo School in Chokwé. Share this emotion with us by reading what Hilário, our Local Technician in SVP, wrote to us late in the Summer!

"This was one of the greatest challenges in which we embarked on, and the reason why we are so happy with the current status of the farming plot.
Part of the lettuce harvested is applied to the children’s snacks in the After-School study centre classroom; the other part goes to the mothers, who unfortunately couldn’t receive any seeds (we could only afford to help 30 families [with the ALG distribution after the floods]).
The mothers buy the lettuces, from our farming plot, at the price of 8mt/kilo and resell them at 5mt/half a kilo. This is, without a doubt, the biggest source of income for these mothers! The remaining lettuces are destined to the neighbouring communities, and to the SVP teachers and staff.”

Donate to ALG now!

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Day 7: Jafar smiles in the CRPE Home for Orphans!

Jafar is one of the smilling children in the new Home for Orphans in the CRPE Orphan Centre (roughly the Centre Rebirth for Hope, in Chinhacanine), inaugurated in the beginning of the year with the full support of ALG.

ALG finances up to 20 orphans every year, with 24 hour assistance, meals, study support, technical education, financing of education in the public school and, more importantly, a roof over their heads. The CRPE Home for Orphans helps youngsters, under extreme poverty conditions, between 14 and 18 years old, who currently live in remote areas and are prevented from attending school. With this new project we extended the CRPE support, where we already financed 120 orphans, in the Chinhacanine area, providing meals, technical education and study support.

Jafar is one of the children boarding at the new Home for Orphans and attending our Technical Courses. These skills-based courses such as Blacksmith, Sewing or carpentry allow our young students to acquire competences to be employed in the future and break the cycle of poverty!

"I like being here at the Centre because now I know several things about locksmith such as welding, cutting iron with a grinder, and I also know the name of the tools we use. At school I behave myself and I usually have good grades. Next year I would like to be in the 9th grade and maintain my good grades. When I grow up I would like to be a judge.
The Centre has helped me to be the person I am today. I know that locksmith will not be my future but it will help me to be a different, successful and better man.
I appreciate brother Joaquim’s skills [one of ALG’s Uni Scholarship students, originally from the CRPE] and I like to hear him talk especially when he says he will be a judge. I want to be like him; he is a very good and exemplar friend.

Thank you very much CPRE and A Little Gesture."

Donate to ALG now!

Friday, December 6, 2013

Day 6: Now I can write my own name!

In Mozambique 60% of adults, mostly women, cannot read or write. The ALG Literacy courses, held locally in the villages and of free access, finance literacy classes, including Portuguese and mathematics, in the rural communities. Averaging £1’450 annually per course, per community, we want to improve the education of young mothers by increasing their potential employment, self-esteem and increasing the impact this initiative has over their children’s education.

The testimonials of the hardworking Mothers who attend the ALG courses happily, week after week, are heartwarming: “Now I can write my own name in the Identity Card”. “I couldn’t speak Portuguese, but now I can communicate with my grandchildren in Portuguese”. “I did not know how to put the letters of my name together and sign it, but now I do!”

Thank you for contributing to turning an adult’s dream of learning how to read and write come true!

Donate to ALG now!

Thursday, December 5, 2013

ALG is on Second Life!

Are you a Second Life Resident? Do you enjoy Second Life? Remood United invited ALG to be present on Second Life plataform. 

During the month of December they will be hosting a charity fundraising event in several different ways. All the raised Lindens (virtual currency) will revert to ALG. 

In Remood United you can find:
- Different Fashion Items specially made for this event (clothes, accessories, poses)
- Two different Breadable Fairies also specially designed for this event, one being sold in a Gacha, and another being an Unique on Grid Fairy which will be auctioned on the 15th of December.
- Donation Boxes around the grid.
- Some live performances (live singers, dj's, entertainers)

You can watch some examples of some actions allready done here:

Video of the area where the donation items are, here
Last 15 minutes of the live performance by Bart on his tribute to Pynk Floyd, here
The Album with pictures of some of the actions done during this event, here

Day 5: A letter to smile and appreciate YOUR Little Gesture!

“My name is Agredisse, I’m on the 7th grade. I’ve been under the protection of ALG since the fourth grade. This project provides a huge help for me and other children. All the support we receive is helping me to grow up! I feel my life has changed because every month I’m fed, and sometimes I receive some clothes. I’m looked after by my Sponsors via UPG Portugal and by those who keep me company every day. The study room [ALG After-School study centres] has also helped me a lot because now I can read and write.

I just want to say thank you because I feel my life and my family’s life is changing. My mother is working but my father died a long time ago. Due to this help now I’m attending school and have enough to get by. My mother would not be able to enrol me in school and buy notebooks, uniforms and all the necessary things to grow up.

I’m asking you to continue helping me and other children like me with your financial support. I’m evolving and I feel the presence of my sponsors as true parents from a distance. I feel your tenderness every day.
Thank you very much for your help. I’m sending big hug to you all!
Agredisse”  

Letter from Agredisse, 12 years old, and sponsored through our sister-charity UPG Portugal in S. Vicente de Paulo, Chokwé. From £150 per year you can sponsor a child in SVP, as well as several other projects such as the After School study centres, in one of the most impoverished areas of intervention of ALG. Please contact us!

Donate to ALG now! 

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Day 4: A new home for António and Salomão!

After the devastating floods in Chokwé, the hut of brothers António and Salomão was completely destroyed. Under inhumane conditions they slept in the rain, wind and cold. Thanks to the support of their sponsors via UPG Portugal the life of this family changed and they managed to have a new home!

“The construction work for the brothers’ house has begun now we have to do the structure for the main beam, after that the roof will follow (...) in last Sunday’s meeting presided by me, as chairman of the Chinhacanine Youngsters’ Committee, it was agreed that the Committee would support the cost for renting the structural  equipment (by selling bricks produced by them), in addition to the volunteering help provided for building the house, because this really is a family in need.”

A local report from Silvestre, our ALG Local Technician in Santa Luísa de Marillac, Manjangue and also one of our dedicated Uni Scholarship students. Silvestre gathered the local population and his Youngsters’ Committee to help in the construction of these brothers’ new home for these.

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Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Day 3: Our smiling “elderlies”!

ALG supports mostly children but through its Portuguese operation extends its support to an Elderly Fund in Chongoene, rural Mozambique.

In Mozambique, 70% of the people live with less than 2 dollars/day. Our Elderly Fund tries to relieve the extreme poverty of a group of 12 elders in the rural areas of Chongoene. With an annual cost of £125/per household, Sister Aparecida visits these elders every month and delivers them a monthly ALG Basic Supplies Basket with rice, sugar, peanuts, oil, soap, beans, tea, corn, salt, chicken or fish, bread, batteries for the radio and, sometimes, juice.

As testified by one of our local volunteers, “They lost their closest relatives, they are alone and live in isolated areas, near Cavalene. Hiding the bush, their huts are only visible at a short distance. The access to water, always difficult, at this age becomes even harder. Broken by the weight of the years, they carry water in 5 litre containers and store it in clay deposits. When they feel a bit stronger they carry water and work a bit in the farming plots. During the rest of the days they keep their pain to themselves and stay inside their huts.”

Thank you for contributing to a more dignified old age to our Elderlies!

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Monday, December 2, 2013

Day 2: 660 children enjoy daily lunch in SLM with ALG

This Summer ALG started an ambitious program of School Meals in SLM, where we already supported 117 of the poorest children.

With 660 children, mostly orphans, daily at the school, a nutritious meal is essential to fill their empty stomachs and incentivise school attendance. 
Benefiting from the financial support of a British Foundation, this ALG program provides meals for the school population in the impoverished village of Manjangue, Chokwé. 

With the amazing sister Lídia managing SLM, the whole school is happier! Her entrepreneurial spirit has immersed the school in a plan of farming plots sustainability, technical courses and income generation activities which are intended to lower the nourishing needs within 3 years.

In SLM, the school glows with enthusiasm and we at ALG are filled with pride!

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