Sunday, December 25, 2016

25 Dec. In 2017 we will continue to break the cycle of poverty. Join us in this adventure! THANK YOU AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2016 was a great year for ALG! We began the year with a record amount of £231 thousand raised jointly with our sister charity UPG Portugal.

Since January your donations focused mainly on the three projects – School Meals in SLM (35%), followed by a favourite for the ALG friends for several years – Pre-Schools (11%) and HIV Day Care Centre (10%).

We invested even more in academic and professional education, expanded basic sanitation with 13 latrines and increased the support provided to children infected with HIV. We developed a long-wanted programme aimed at helping 11 parents through income generation initiatives. With local poverty increasing to alarming levels, ALG strengthened the basic food baskets of sponsored children and took the challenge to launch a new pre-school in SVP. We were proud of ALG uni scholarship holders like Joaquim and Eduardo who obtained their college degree. They are symbols of our confidence that no matter how underprivileged the child, a better future is attainable through access to education.
On a year Mozambique was plagued by draught and food shortages, ALG was present through strong investment and supported by volunteers on the ground. In 2017 your funds will help us further as we keep on breaking the cycle of poverty. Join us in this great adventure!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH to everyone who allows us to fulfil ALG’s dream to improve the lives of children, families, youngsters and elders in Mozambique. Every Little Gesture Helps!

MERRY CHRISTMAS ALG FAMILY!!!

ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG friends since 2011. This year you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here


Saturday, December 24, 2016

Day 24: ALG Challenges continue to bear fruits!

ALG Challenges keep surprising us. This year we saw ALG friends going for a Cause to Celebrate dedicating their anniversary party to the little ones in ESC pre-school and Virgínia C who, once again, to celebrate her birthday decided to raise money to finance Grandma Maria’s hut.

Thank you to all these ALG Friends for their initiative and strength to support our cause! Among friends and family, in a party environment, stimulating competition between school classes or just spending a fun afternoon in a company with a strong social awareness. ALG Challenges give these ambassadors the opportunity to raise funds while they dedicate themselves to a generous, dynamic and usually fun initiative.

Do you want to organise an ALG Challenge – Charitable Gourmet, Athlete for a Cause or A Cause to Celebrate? ALG helps with the organization and to make your Challenge a success! Contact us at info@alittlegesture.org

ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here

Friday, December 23, 2016

Day 23: Let’s bet big to educate the little ones

ALG Board’s visit to Mozambique is always filled with an array of feelings and subsequent decisions. This year we had a particularly happy decision. We decided to open another pre-school, this time in SVP. The help us achieve our goal we launched a Christmas campaign. With only 52€ you are helping a little one, from 3 to 5 years of age, to attend the new pre-school. A group of 30 extremely underprivileged children will be able to access pre-school education, a daily meal and lots of tenderness.

By supporting the new SVP pre-school with ALG, your giving these children the chance of a better future.

ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Day 22: Studying can be so fun!

In SLM, in the After School Support classes, Cristóvão helps UPG sponsored children to learn their lessons in a fun and creative way. Subjects are approached ahead of time so children can be prepared in classes. In the blackboard Cristóvão divides the subjects according to the classes. On one side the eldest children, on the other the youngest. When they have tests, they have a Q&A session to make sure everyone is well prepared. Before starting, all the children do relaxation exercises, and sing happy songs to be sharp and awake. In the end, they have a snack with cookies, tea or juice. The school results have generally improved and we even have external students attending classes, simply because studying became so much fun!

ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Day 21: Thank you ALG volunteers!

This year Ricardo, Ana, Nuno, Bernardo, Filipe and Adriana travelled to Mozambique to be able to help who needs it the most. They left their family and friends behind and financed their own trip with the goal of cooperating with ALG’s projects. In Mozambique these volunteers shared their knowledge and also learned with whom also has so much to teach. In SLM and SVP, more than 400 sponsored children benefited from the presence of the volunteers through games, talking, after school support, laughing yoga and sports weeks.

ALG also had the visit of one of our UK ambassadors on the ground, Madalena, who used her vacation period to visit Mozambique and a few projects which she promotes through fund raising.


To these and to the more than 30 volunteers who collaborated this year with ALG in events such as Line Mz, or who support the headquarters with data basis, sending information to the sponsors and helping sending more than 800 postcards from sponsored children, twice a year, our most sincere THANK YOU, KHANIMAMBO!

ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Day 20: Second chances that are worth it!

Maurício was in the UPG Sponsoring Programme in Escolinha do André, in Xai-Xai. In 2014, he was removed from the programme because he was not attending school as he was supposed to. By the end of 2015, ALG was very happy to know that Maurício did not give up studying and was attending a 2-year Technical Course on Laboratory Techniques in Chicumbane. Because he went back to school ALG gave Maurício a second chance as a scholarship holder and helped him again in his studies. Thanks to the Cascais City Hall, it was possible to finance his school material expenditures and transportation.  Maurício has had great results, he has an average grade of 16, and is now undergoing an internship in Macia’s Health Centre. We are thrilled for giving him this opportunity and so proud of his achievements, mainly because he’s also helping the ones in need!

ALG university and technical scholarships provide dedicated underprivileged youngsters like Maurício the chance of concluding their university studies.  

In 2016 ALG supported 11 dedicated and committed students and helped them to fulfil their dreams in the degrees of Law, Accounting, Engineering and Mineral Processing, Engineering and Food Processing and School Management and Administration. ALG Scholarships make dreams come true and change lives for ever.

ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here

Monday, December 19, 2016

Day 19: Documentary “Tales of Resilience”

In August ALG welcomed two very special volunteers Niko and Mattia in Mozambique. They joined us in this great adventure to shoot a documentary on the work developed by ALG and about the children who benefit from our initiatives.


Among other children, they followed more closely the lives of Arone and Racília. Racília continues to bake cookies to sell and to help in her home monthly expenses, this allows her to pay for transportation to go to school. She’s on the 12th grade and she’s closer to make her dream of becoming a nurse come true. 

Arone is an example unlike so many HIV infected children without assistance in Mozambique. His school grades mirror his dedication to studies. His perseverance and his dream of a better future will take him far. We hope for a different and better future, like many others that do not have illness as an obstacle.

ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here

 

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Day 18: In SLM children will no longer eat on the floor!

The construction of the new School Canteen in SLM was been a long ALG wish but has suffered a few setbacks. Finally, it is ready and it is beautiful!!
Now, with the brand new window panes, our children’s most recent source of entertainment is to gaze at their reflection. Many of them only notice they left home without combing their hair when they get here. The frenzy is such that at lunch time the school guard has to come to the canteen too to keep an eye on the window panes!
In SLM, around 800 children used to eat sitting on the floor, under a tree, surrounded by dust and dirt brought by the wind. On rainy days children had to eat their meals in the class rooms, or under a shed sitting on the floor.
Construction began by the end of June 2015. The new canteen started to take shape in mid-September, and the equipment was acquired before Christmas. Now, our children have proper healthy conditions during their meals period, and they can develop sociability and hygiene habits.  
Support SLM’s School Feeding Programme and improve the daily quality of life of 800 children – bring a Great Help To Mozambique! Contact us for more details

ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Day 17: Full bellies learn better!


ALG After Class Study Centres are educational spaces to provide academic support to youngsters in school age, after classes. This support is free and provided in underprivileged communities with low schooling rates.


In 2016, ALG decided to strengthen the snack in SVP, and started to provide a meal with rice and beans. In SLM, the snack is composed of bread or cookies and juice, since children also benefit from the School Feeding Programme similarly financed by ALG. 

With £833 in SLM (Santa Luísa de Marillac) and £2.151 in SVP (São Vicente Paulo) – an average amount of £10 student/year – ALG finances assistant teachers for after-school follow-up (focusing on subjects such as Portuguese and Maths), occasional school materials and a daily snack; an essential factor to guarantee children’s attendance. 



In After Class Study Centres, a lot has happened during this last year! Volunteer Adriana made teaching more dynamic and taught our children many fun and different facts. In SLM, during the snack period, children learned basic health and hygiene habits which help to prevent diseases. In SVP, where we provide a warm and comforting lunch, children’s creativity was explored and they drew animals using the shape of their hands to create different figures. The guaranteed result was: lots of smiles!

ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here



Friday, December 16, 2016

Day 16: HIV Day Care Centre and the hope of a better future!


To live at the ALG HIV Day Care Centre is a hope for a better future, which has been denied to so many children. Azélia Cuna is an example of that. She’s 11 years old and she’s on the 5 th grade. She lives with her mum and 3 older siblings (2 boys and 1 girl). She entered the Day Care Centre in 2013, where she loves to be, mainly because of the food, friends and playing football. At home she does not have running water, nor electricity. Mum works in a farming plot 1 hour way. Before being admitted at the Day Care Centre, she had several health issues: difficulties in breathing, headaches and dizziness when she took her medication. In 2013 everything improved! Now Azélia is a happy girl with good grades, she attends the activities in the Centre and is well behaved in classes. In her free time she is a happy chid and plays a lot with her colleagues.

Her dream is to be a nun! She cherished Sister Sidónia, who monitored her at the Centre until mid-2016, and she wishes to follow her footsteps.

ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Day 15: The only meal of the day in SLM

Muchaque Vuma is 8 years old and attends SLM school in the morning. He’s a poor but happy child. Although he’s not part of UPG’s Sponsoring Programme, Muchaque is one of the 800 children benefiting from our School Feeding Programme which provides 1 daily meal to all the students at SLM school.In the beginning of the year he was thin, the draught has been severely affecting families in Chokwé District, preventing them from resorting to agriculture as the main source of income for families.

Now, Muchaque is revealing a good development and sound health. According to him, he usually has his meal in school and he “loves having lunch at SLM because he can eat more than at home”.

The ALG School Feeding Programme was created as an emergency response after the 2013 floods which devastated Chokwé region. Since then, ALG has made a huge effort to maintain this project. Despite its high costs, the positive impact is even greater. In a poor vulnerable context, aggravated by strong draught, the School Feeding Programme has been affected not only by the increase of local products’ price, but also by the consumption increase of children, for most of them this is the only meal of the day.
With the help of all and with only £4 per month, ALG is able to provide one free daily meal to fight school abandonment and incentivise gender equality by feeding children like Muchaque.

ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Day 14: When creativity overcomes everything!

Despite the extreme poverty and a total different reality from ours, a child always finds a way to play. Creativity rules, and our children are so creative that if they do not have toys they make them up and build them themselves – Snooker by Nelson Sitoe!!!

ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Day 13: Upside down chickens!


Throughout the year of 2016, the draught felt in some areas of Mozambique aggravated the already poor living conditions of families. Family farming plots allows several families to obtain a meagre income. This situation forced ALG to adopt a few emergency measures. Since June, the Basic Baskets delivered to the families of sponsored children included, on a monthly basis, a source of protein. It varies between chicken and sardines. For many local families, this is their only consistent source of food throughout the month. And the distribution day is a true joy, hundreds of chickens trying to fly with their legs held by really happy children!

ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here





Monday, December 12, 2016

Day 12: Mum Noémia proud of her stand and new house

ALG’s team visits to the ground always originate stories and testimonials which fill us with pride and that we have to share with the everyone who support us and believes in our work.
Noémia, is the mother of UPG Sponsored child Talita, she’s HIV positive but she has been monitored and treated since 2013. Due to her fragile health condition, mum Noémia can only do a few cleaning jobs, laundering and other light activities, which were not enough to help supporting her 4 children. After the 2013 floods, mum Noémia started to be supported by the Income Generation Project in S. Vicente de Paulo, a small financial help to be able to create a small local sale business. 3 years later, during ALG’s visit, we were surprised to see what was achieved by this mum. Thanks to the success of her stand, mum Noémia managed to start building a house for her family. Although it is not concluded, this mum is an example of struggle and for this ALG helped this mum again with materials to finish the construction of her home and improve her family’s life.
The Income Generation Project in S. Vicente de Paulo was launched with the profits from the first crops distributed by ALG for the farming plot in SVP, right after the 2013 floods. After taking a few items to strengthen lunch for After School Support classes, a share of the revenues from this farming plot, is invested in these small-scale businesses for our mums. Since 2013 we have helped 12 mums and every single one of them are true examples to follow and ALG is so proud of all of them!
2016 brought us lots of news, one of them is a long-cherished project for ALG: the relaunch of the income generation project for 11 mums of UPG Sponsored children.
This mums (and two dads) are true entrepreneurs, whom ALG helps by financing small individual, family or community businesses, to encourage entrepreneurship in the rural communities and contribute for the family economic independence.
Supporting the income generation initiatives is to contribute for better living conditions for several families. 
ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Day 11: License in sight for the new IT centre

Remember Arnaldo’s IT Centre? It was an innovative Income Generation project sponsored by ALG 2 years ago, jointly with Randstad and Instituto Camões. This ambitious and hardworking young man’s project is undergoing a legalising and licensing process to become a Training Centre, acknowledged by the National Institute for Employment and Vocational Training!

The first steps have already been taken to obtain the Centre’s licence and we believe that in 2017, the IT Centre will be able to benefit even more youngsters with INEFP’s certification. The Centre is sought by youngsters who wish to take their IT course to enrich their curricula and acquire competences in the new technologies area. Despite the region’s huge economic deprivation, IT is a requirement for several work posts such as shop assistant or secretary.

ALG’s Income Generation initiatives finances small individual, family or community businesses, to foster micro entrepreneurship in the rural communities and contribute for economic family independence.

ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Day 10:  Nataniel spreads smiles at HIV Day Centre  

We have a new boy in the HIV Day Centre! Nataniel is 7 years old and arrived in October because he’s HIV infected and needs our support. With the crisis and draught Nataniel’s mother, also seropositive, had to look for other jobs to be able to care for her 3 children. The father is deceased and the mother is the family’s only source of income. Nataniel and his mother are monitored by the Vincentian Sisters Daughters of Charity at the Carmelo Hospital. After being integrated in the HIV Day Centre where he has an adequate nutrition, access to school and can play with other children, Nataniel has a huge smile on his face every day.

When he arrived at the centre Nataniel did not speak Portuguese, only the local dialect “changana”. He was too embarrassed and shy, he didn’t play much with the other children and he was even more isolated because he did not speak the official language. Now he’s learning Portuguese to be enrolled in the 1st grade in 2017. The other children at the Centre welcomed their new friend with open arms! Now they all play together and are very committed in teaching Portuguese to little Nataniel. A beautiful sharing story for this Christmas!

The HIV Day Centre is a very ambitious project in SLM embraced by ALG in the end of 2013. It provides a full customized programme to HIV/AIDS infected children in an area where the disease has a strong incidence. With an annual cost of c.£26'113 or £67/month per child in 2016, this programme guarantees adequate nutrition, controlled medication and constant medical assistance for 32 children. With this Centre ALG wishes to relief local poverty and provide a dignified and healthier childhood to seriously ill children. With future capacity for 50 children, in 2016 the Centre welcomed 32 children on a daily basis. Children at the centre are still HIV infected but they are stronger, cherished, loved, fit to study and very, very playful!

Present this project to the corporate social responsibility department of your company or share it among friends. Contact us for more details!

ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here

Friday, December 9, 2016

Day 9: Speech therapy brightens up EFI


In the end of the year, EFI welcomed a very special new ALG friend twice - Catarina. Catarina is a speech therapist, she lives in Mozambique and volunteered to train the children first and then the teachers. The proposal was extremely well welcomed by ALG, by the three teachers and by our Local Partner, our dear “Grandma” Etelvina, who witness the training enthusiastically. Mana Catarina is going to be a usual presence at EFI, offering a weekend a month to visit the school and spend time with the teachers.

With Catarina’s help teachers will learn new techniques and fun ways to teach and become more skilled to help the little ones, who are beginning to talk, to formulate their first sentences in Portuguese at Flor da Infância Pre-School! It was clear that communication is very important. The way we want to convey our ideas is crucial for our listeners to listen and to understand every word.

ALG Pre-schools are a joyful achievement. EFI in Xai-Xai, and ESC in neighbouring Chongoene, offer vulnerable children daily access to classes where they are busy, developing their skills and study habits. At the same time, we reduce pre-school marginality rates.

At an annual cost of £80 per child at EFI Flor da Infância Pre-school (Marien Ngouambi Village in Xai-Xai) and £98 per child at ESC Santa Catarina Pre-school (Chongoene Mission), ALG finances 2 meals per day, uniforms and teachers and specialized monitors, under Grandma Etelvina (EFI) and Sister Hortência (ESC) local supervision. In 2017 we will start funding the new Pre-school in SVP!

ALG Pre-schools provide poverty relief and promote an educated childhood for extremely underprivileged young children.

ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Day 8: Eight years growing with ALG



After 8 years, children from the Escolinha do André (“EA”) school that were supported by the Sponsoring programme ran by our sister charity UPG Portugal grew up and left the school. These children typically attend the Escolinha until the 5th grade and continue their studies in state schools near the area where they live. They would regularly come to receive our support in the EA as “external” children, always under the supervision of the Dominican sisters.

In 2016, ALG took direct responsibility for the “external” students in André’s Pre-school. We believe that this change allows us to monitor the children more closely and provide a more customized support during this difficult phase when many students consider abandoning school. At the same time, the Dominican Sisters can dedicate their full attention exclusively to the children in André’s Pre-school.

The support provided to the children focuses on Education. Our sister charity annual sponsoring fee finances enrolment fees, school material, school expenses, uniforms, guard, as well as extra support for healthcare and hygiene, according to the children’s needs. We have 38 Sponsored children we hope to continue to witness their successful growth!

ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Day 7: Line MZ by ALG – Warm colours that fill your heart

This year ALG decided to invest in a Merchandising line which is a little bit different. Inspired by the Mozambican colours and materials we created MZ by ALG Line – a modern crafty line, made with love. Currently, we have four products: big bags made of straw, clutches, wood bracelets lined with capulanas (traditional Mozambican fabric) and pillows.

It is a 100% solidary line bursting with African colours, that fill our heart! 100% of the sales profit (net of seamstresses’ expenditures in Portugal, labels and packaging) revert to our 2500 children in Mozambique!

Throughout the year, we were in Spot Market in Amoreiras, and in the Stylista Summer and Winter Markets where we raised c.£2'532. Thank you for giving us this opportunity.


You can buy Line Mz by ALG here!

ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here


Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Day 6: Learning Portuguese is fun in SVP!

Volunteers Bernardo and Filipe had many ideas and initiatives during the time they spent with ALG on the ground. One of the best was  ALG Sports’ week – an intensive week to learn Portuguese with the incentive of sports and one hot meal, offered to every UPG Portugal Sponsored children in SVP. And it was a success!
"The sports’ week programme started in the best possible way. In the beginning, we thought that children wouldn’t participate, but on the first day we had 75 children and the next day 83, their enthusiasm exceeded our expectations. The main goal of these two weeks is to teach Portuguese. Most children were from the 1st to the 4th grade. The older children were present to help and were very committed in assisting us. Besides the sports activities, we also developed several games and physical activities. Lunch was delicious and all the children enjoyed it."

ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here


Monday, December 5, 2016

Day 5. Edson Bila another tale of strength!

Edson Bila, a new child under UPG Portugal´s Sponsoring programme and based in the SVP school, has a sad story to tell, but a very brave one too. He has a problem in his legs which prevents him from walking. To avoid missing classes this 11-year-old child goes to school by himself on a wheelchair. He is a peaceful but sad child. But a yellow t-shirt mana that ALG Trustee Patricia offered him, during her visit in October, brought a huge smile to his face. He was so proud and happy when he discovered out he was going to have a new sponsor!


When he grows up Edson wants to be a teacher. He speaks Portuguese very well and is well behaved!


ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here


Sunday, December 4, 2016

Day 4: If Miliona was President…


During an activity promoted in the After-School Support Course, UPG sponsored children were asked what they would like to change in their country if they were Presidents of Mozambique. Each one wrote an essay, but Miliona’s inspired us particularly:
If I was President of Mozambique I would change everything i.e. build schools, hospitals, banks, stores, churches, roads, bridges, markets and gardens. I would change the prices in stores because they are too high. 

  • I would have more desks made for children to study;
  • I would increase the number of teachers in schools;
  • In recess, every child would eat, because many orphan children don’t have anything to eat and are homeless;
  • I would build homes for orphan children;
  • I would increase the number of doctors in hospitals;
  • Everyone should be treated with love and tenderness;
  • I would increase the number of hospitals; each Province would have 10 and each District 5 hospitals;
  • Every mother and father would receive food for their children and for themselves;
  • In the mines, every worker would receive a better salary, I would increase the work tools, and they would be provided with adequate clothes;

I would also increase fishing materials – fishing nets. I would invest the money in banks because most people do not save their money in banks. They dig a hole, put their money there and end up losing it.

In the two larger schools running ALG´s programmes - SLM and SVP - a total of 281 students attend After-School support classes. From £11 per month, per child, we manage to secure an adequate daily school follow-up after classes, reinforcing Portuguese and Mathematic subjects, with a monitor, and providing a snack or lunch which stimulates the students’ attendance.


ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here

Saturday, December 3, 2016

Day 3: A brave Grandpa full of love

The year of 2016 was particularly hard for the communities under ALG´s care in Chokwé, including the children sponsored by our sister-charity UPG Portugal. In this rural region, where it does not rain for over a year, the extended draught has prevented domestic crops to grow. Thus, the underprivileged families cannot rely on the land to survive as they have been doing for decades. 

ALG could not remain indifferent to each day that went by and to the several requests made – we had to help. 

During one of our team´s visit on the ground, in August-September, Joana and Anabela made their usual visits to the families with our Local Partner. They met Grandpa Simião wholes been called to our attention by volunteers Bernardo and Filipe. Simiao lives in a tent received in 2013, after the regional floods, with the whole family. This tent shelters one of his daughters, with two children (Rafael 8 years old and Márcia 6 years old) and a grandson (Andrisse with 8 years old), also is under his care after being abandoned by his mother. We immediately authorised for a basic food basket to be delivered to these children on the following food distribution day, making up the 200 Sponsored children we currently have in SVP. 
UPG Portugal began its Sponsoring Programme, in 2004, with 50 children. After more than a decade UPG and ALG support more than 850 sponsored children in the areas of Xai- Xai, Chongoene and Chokwé. Each child has a sponsor and has access to school and to nourishment, through school meals and through basic baskets for the whole family. Besides the material goods, Sponsoring brings care and attention to extremely underprivileged children.
A Little Gesture from £130 per year can be a Great Help for the life of a Mozambican child. Join this community!

ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here



Day 2: Warm bread and cakes in SLM

In SLM every morning we feel the aroma of warm bread and cake in the air, just out of the oven! Sister Antónia and a few UPG Sponsored children prepare everything to have the first batch ready around 8am. The older and more responsible girls carry the bread and cakes in trays beyond the school gates. They go to the next-door Market where they are expected by many customers. The bread sells out fast, and the cakes follow. The girls come back to repeat the process in a few hours, they have fixed customers that rely on them.
The bread making activities were launched in 2015 as ALG invested funds to launch several technical courses in the school. The curse soon became self-sustainable and a success for the children and community who rely on fresh bread and warm cakes from the School. Some children are even already using Sister Antónia’s recipes to bake at home and sell cakes to the neighbours. This is the goal of technical courses – to ensure that children acquire technical skills to be self-sufficient, without dropping out of school to provide for their family.

ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Day 1 - Eight new homes to brighten up a year of draught!

This year ALG financed the construction of eight new homes for eight families under the UPG Sponsorship Programme in S. Vicente de Paulo, Chokwé. The area, strongly affected by draught during this last year and half, is characterized by the precarious construction of small dwellings made of mud. With time these houses start to deteriorate. Many have the walls with holes, that the families try to mend using plastic bags, cloths or boards, when they can find them. Most of them is easily exposed to burglary, when it rains they get flooded and, in many cases, they end up in ruins. 


This year sisters Maria and Delfina, Isaura, family Williamo, Sordência, Nunes, Neusia, Assane, and Andrisse received a new house financed by ALG. A safe and resistant brick house, where they can spend the night without fear, and face the wind and rain without having the walls collapsing over the children’s heads. This year ALG invested a total of c. 7,526£ in these constructions.
Having a home is a vital aspect, complementary to UPG’s sponsoring activity, within ALG Infrastructure area. The construction or recuperation of homes extends ALG’s help beyond education and nourishment, complementing these objectives with a dignified environment for families to live in. 

Housing provides children more that a roof. Through housing rehabilitation support, the right to Food and Housing, as per the Universal Declaration of the Rights of the Child, is fulfilled. A dignified place to shelter children promotes their psycho-social development, and feelings of protection, comfort and security. 

ALG has been offering this festive calendar to all ALG Friends since 2011. This year, you can also print a high definition version for only 1£! Donate here

Welcome to the ALG Xmas Calendar 2016!


Thursday, November 24, 2016

December: Month of the Little Ones!

This Xmas you can offer a different present. With just £6 a very poor child, 4-5 years old, can attend the new SVP pre-school for a full month.



Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Nataniel arrived at the Day Center

In the last weeks, the Day Center has a new boy! Nataniel is 7 years old and in October came to the Day Center because he is infected with HIV and he needs a lot of care. With the crisis and dryness, Nataniel’s mom, also HIV positive, had to look for other jobs to take care of her 3 children. Her husband died, so she is the family's only source of income. Nataniel and his mother have medical assistance at the Carmelo Hospital of the Vincentine’s Sisters Daughters of Charity, and now he arrives at the Day Center, where he has a careful diet, access to school, and can play and be with other children.

Nataniel does not speak Portuguese, he entered this year so that in the next he can admit the first class. When he arrived at the Center, Nataniel was very ashamed and shy, as he does not speak Portuguese, he did not play with the other children very often. The other boys from the Center welcomed the new friend with open arms and it was not long before he felt integrated. They all play together and the other children of the Center are very committed to teaching the Portuguese language to little Nataniel. This is such a lovely story that we had to share it!

 

Thursday, October 27, 2016

SVP Income Generation Mom - 2016

And we get to the end of our list introducing the youngest of our moms, Anastância Choéque, with 32 years old. Her two children – Salomão and Daine Avelino are with ALG since 2010. Her business is to purchase and sell cookies, oil and sugar in a stand next to her house.
We hope you enjoyed meeting these entrepreneurial women (and one dad) whom ALG helps by financing small individual, family or community businesses in order to promote entrepreneurship in rural communities and contribute towards the family economic independence.

To support in Income Generation initiative is to contribute for the improvement of living conditions of several families.

Friday, October 21, 2016

SVP Income Generation Mom - 2016

ALG is introducing us to Angelina Mangulano, she’s 38 years old and Faustino her son is with us since 2013. Her business is a little bit different from the other moms, since Angelina produces some of the produces she sells. She has a stand next to her house and at the market where she sells fertilizer, seeds, tomatoes, lettuces, onions and chemical products. Good luck mom Angelina!

Friday, October 14, 2016

SVP Income Generation Mom - 2016

Today we have mom Amélia Zé Fanias, she’s 44 years old, and she has two children sponsored by UPG Portugal in SVP - Inocência and Dulce António. Her business is purchasing and selling pasta, potatoes, rice, oil, soap and onions in a stand next to her house. It will be a success mom!