Day 5: Alberto is one of the best students of Pre-School Flor da Infância

Alberto Jerónimo Duvane is 5 and lives with his mother and his 14-year old brother. He attends the 5-year old classroom of EFI, our sponsored Pre-School Flor de Infância, under Teacher Etelvina.

Alberto is a child with a great learning capacity. He has strong personal, social, expression and communication skills. He is one of the best students of the school and a very sociable kid. He’s always the first to finish his exercises and has a remarkable behaviour.

In 2011 a private donor requested us to finance a yearly Scholarship of The Flowers, a financial reward to the best performing children in the EFI school. This years winners will be announced soon as the school year finishes in December. 

Alberto does not have a scholarship yet but he is a strong candidate to be awarded this year’s scholarship! A recent volunteer who just visited EFI says “Alberto is a very sweet child, you just want to hold him and squeeze him in your arms”.

Day 4: Silvestre is fulfilling his dream of studying Administration and Accounting at University

“For me ALG is everything, mother; father; brother, true friend and a companion. It is with ALG that I share the good and the bad moments. When I’m feeling down, with no strength, and anguished ALG raises my spirit and fills me with joy; helping me to walk through happy paths; making me feel good for having found a treasure for which I was looking for so long.

ALG found me in a very difficult moment of my social and student life. I was deeply anguished, wanted to give up all my dreams.

I want to thank ALG for its support. It is the hand that never stopped holding me in each step of the way. I thank ALG for the tenderness with which they always took care of me and specially the way they take care of the children.  For me, each day that goes by, ALG becomes a better friend, becomes a better role model.

With ALG we are never alone. It is good to know that we have friends/family that we can trust, like ALG. I have been through rough times but I thank God for having met so many good people with an open and steady heart – people that make ALG come true.

ALG taught me to see life from a different perspective, they guided me through my concerns and filled my days with joy, offered me their friendly shoulder without asking anything in return apart from my friendship. Thank you for everything... Nothing that I have can pay back a beautiful gesture like yours... I can only say Thank you!!!

By Silvestre, one of the 4 ALG Uni Scholarships in 2012

https://mydonate.bt.com/events/algxmascalendar2012

Day 3: Granma Salmina is thrilled for being able to provide a proper shelter for her grandchildren

“Alzira’s and Jaime’s life was changed by a very important event – the construction of a hut with 12 metal sheets which is a total “luxury” for them”.  Alzira is 10 and is on the 3^rd grade in São Vicente de Paulo School; Jaime Ngovene is 9 and is in the 2^nd grade at the same school. During a long time these children had a poor health. They are orphans and live with their grandmother Salmina Saveca, who is of an advanced age.

After last year’s heavy rains the house where the three lived fell apart, leaving this family with no place to sleep. In the winter rainy days they slept in the neighbour’s houses.

The happiness of the three is indescribable, but Salmina managed to send us a message: «Now, more than ever, I have good reasons to keep on living and be happy!»

I told her: “It is true, you will have a new home soon but your mission now is to do the maintenance”, and with no hesitation she said: “This is the greatest gift I have ever received and I’ll dedicate my life to preserve it."

Described by the ALG Technician Hilário, in charge of  the construction follow up

Day 2: At St Luísa Marillac, children also learn how to plant vegetables

In August, at St. Luísa de Marillac, children harvested egg plants, potatoes and garlic. With the vegetables they sowed the children’s basic basket was reinforced. Usually at the end of each month a share of the plot’s production is given to the children and to their families. 

The region  is suffering with drought and it is hard for the families to get enough food. The community is facing huge problems in gathering enough vegetables to feed their families and people go to markets in Chókwe. In these markets small scale farmers have vegetables produced with the help of irrigation systems, but at a much higher price, because there has been no rain lately. 

With the harvest at school the families managed to have a minimum amount of food. Children play a very important role in this great help – by learning how to sow and harvest they are not only helping their family but also learning how to take care of the plot for their own subsistence in the future! 

Day 1: At last, Laurinda has a roof and a family!

Laurinda Wamusse, 7 years old, is in 2nd grade and lives with her aunt Helena, her sister Vitoria and their cousins, in one hut, in Chongoene. 

Today, she goes to school and her aunt receives monthly basket of food from UPG/ALG with basic supplies.  It has not always been like this though.  She has not met her father, and she does not remember her mother, who abandoned her as a baby. 

When the Dominican Sisters found her, she would drag herself around the floor, just like her sister, as her legs were unable to support the weight of her body.  In the hospital, the doctors spoke of undernutrition - abandoned, they would dig from the floor the seeds that would serve as food for them. 

While they were in the hospital, Sister Aparecida looked for family who could take care of the children.  She found Aunt Helena, which used to look after the children but had no food to give them.  They were included in the UPG Sponsorship programme and, today, they move around like other children, they have a roof, and a family. 

Recently, Laurinda received a gift from her sponsor: a teddy bear, a girl box with hair bands and accessories and a t-shirt. 

She was very happy!

https://mydonate.bt.com/events/algxmascalendar2012/

And another letter from Uni Sponsored Silvestre!

For me ALG is everything, mother; father; brother, true friend and a companion. It is with ALG that I share the good and the bad moments. When I’m feeling down, with no strength, and anguished ALG raises my spirit and fills me with joy; helping me to walk through happy paths; making me feel good for having found a treasure that I was looking for so long ago and for which I prayed night and day.

ALG found me in a very difficult moment of my social and student life. I was feeling a deep anguish, wanted to give up all my dreams. But fortunately when you pray constantly someone comes along to help you to move along and to make you see that your efforts will translate into something true as long as you continue praying.

I want to thank ALG for its support. It is the hand that never stopped holding me in each step of the way. People from ALG were there for my sad times and happy times and I thank them for the tenderness with which they always took care of me and specially the way they take care of the children. 

For me, each day that goes by, ALG becomes a better friend, becomes a better role model and the main presence in our lives.

Before ALG I was not well, I felt like a rag thrown onto the floor. I had lost the will to smile, to live; I did not even look after myself. For a long time my sky was cloudy, the days were grey, the nights had no moon and the stars did not shine. But suddenly ALG came into my life and I saw the sky turning blue again, the moon came back to my nights and the starts started to shine and my lips smiled again.

With ALG we are never alone. It is good to know that we have friends/family in which we can trust, people that support us, and take care of you with so much tenderness as UPG. I have been through rough times and my friends are always with me; comforting me and lifting my spirit, one of these friends is ALG. I thank God for having met so many good people with an open and steady heart – people that make ALG come true.

I want to thank you, my ALG sponsors, sister Sara and brother Bernardo for everything, especially for always being by my side.

I want you to know that I want to do everything within my reach for ALG.

I thank God for every moment I spend with ALG's help; I thank God for having known the best person on earth – ALG.

An endless thank you to sister Sara and to brother Bernardo who helped me so much. Thank you all for simply existing... You are beautiful people that God put on my path... In the beginning I didn’t understand it, but today I know that you are part of my life, simply because you share all my moments: happiness, sadness, wins, losses and hold me when I need to.

You are special friends... Precious jewels that I will never find anywhere else...and that I will keep forever in my heart...

You are simply people who taught me to see life from a different perspective, who guided me through my concerns and who filled my days with joy, offered me your friendly shoulder without asking anything in return apart from my friendship.

Thank you for everything... Nothing that I have can pay back a beautiful gesture like yours... I can only say Thank you!!!

My grades

Markets and Financial Systems – 12

Marketing – 13

International Commerce Techniques – 14

External Audit I – 15

Financial Management I – 16

Financial Accounting IV – 14

Khanimambo

An Update from our Uni Scholarship student Hilário

Hello,
My name is Hilário da Conceição Leandro Langa, born on the 9th of September 1989, in Chókwè, District of Chókwè, and Province of Gaza. Like any other child I had a happy childhood surrounded by my parents and brothers, although we were poor.I began my studies in the Primary School of the First Neighbourhood in Chókwè and finished secondary education in the Secondary School of Chókwè, in 2010.

In 2009 I started volunteering in the São Vicente de Paulo School, where happily I did and continue doing my job. In 2010 I concluded the last year of secondary education without any prospects to continue my university education. In the same year I was promised a scholarship which came true, in the following year, when I started attending the Business and Administration Course, in the Economy and Management University.

.

Now I’m proud and happy because I’ll be the first in my family with a degree! I have been doing my best to do the right thing and to be able to be one of the best students of the University.

My grades during  the first semester were:
1 - Macroeconomics 1: 16  
     2 - Commercial Law: 16
     3 - Financial Accounting 1: 17
     4 - Financial Mathematics 1: 13
     5 - Technical English 1: 14

Through my grades it is easy to see that I’m terrible at Financial Mathematics and English but I promise that I will try hard to overcome this crisis.
In the psychological development area the University scholarship helped me immensely in the areas of analysis, expressivity and development of new ideas.

Thank You!
Hilário Langa 

Hilário, an ALG Uni sponsored student in 2012, is also a dedicated and kind ALG Local Technician supporting us in SVP school. To know more about ALG's University Scholarships contact us at info@alittlegesture.org. More dedicated but very poor students await your support!

C. is back home

I just recovered our girl C. who was with a lady from Chókwe who had taken the girl from her aunt’s house, under the pretence of getting her a job in the city of Maputo. It was not easy to recover C. because no one knew exactly where she was taken to.

Today, when I was at school, in the After School Support room (Sponsored by ALG) , I noticed the absence of the little girl and I asked her friends if they knew anything about her; if she was ill or something but they did not know anything about her. Then I asked a girl, who is her neighbour and she told me that C. had gone to Maputo with a lady to get a job. Immediately, a million thoughts went through my mind because these days there are so many cases of young people being “sold” under the idea that they are going to work when, in fact, they are going to be traded as sexual slaves, mainly in South Africa. 

I rushed to the girl’s house and I found the aunt who told me they had taken her but that they would speak to the mother, which they didn’t. Afterwards, I tried to track down the people who had taken the girl, and I was told they had gone to an area close to the military headquarters, after the last village, 10 km from Manjangue. I went from house to house trying to find out what happened and then someone gave me directions to find the lady who had taken C.

Then I took the girl’s aunt and someone from Manjangue with me to find C. and to have witnesses in case I had to inform the police. When I arrived to Chókwe we looked all over the neighbourhood, where the lady who took C. lived. The aunt had already given up and left because it was getting late to return to Manjangue. I continued looking and, by chance, we passed by a house where I saw the girl. I only found her around 21h. I told the lady to deliver the girl to me and thus... I’m here with C. in Chókwe and tomorrow she will be back to Manjangue."

By Mano Silvestre

Donate Now!  https://mydonate.bt.com/events/backtoschool/91049

A Little Gesture reports back...

We just filled in our FIRST ever accounts with the UK's Charity Commission. A very promising £16'823 raised on year1, of which £12'375 immediately applied on the ground in Mozambique. 

Great but already way below our current whooping £95'000+ in 2012!

For all our supporters, a big Thank You and please see attached for your information. 
More details info@alittlegesture.org