25 December 2005

We give the assurance of our thoughts and prayers to all who are unwell, awaiting or undergoing treatment, or anxious or grieving for the loss of loved ones.

Holiday news-sheets

A news sheet will be published for 1st January - so information (eg from rotas) will be helpful. (Eds)

Support other Organisations

Scottish Bible Society

• Our support through the Bible-a-Month Club is invited in December for work in Sudan. See library noticeboard for more details.
• Our attention is drawn this week to
  • translation of the first full Bible in Kpele in Guinea
  • political upheaval, drought and famine in Burkina Faso
  • publication of 'Your fears and problems' leaflet in Mali
  • warm reception of revised Sango Common Language New Testament in Central African Republic
  • new Kom New Testament, Massana and Tupuri Bibles in Cameroon

Arusha, Tanzania

“3 years ago I visited a number of projects in Arusha, Tanzania. These included a home for families of leprosy patients, a centre for street children, as well as a primary school at Longido close to the Kenyan Border, where a group of blind children are being integrated.

I was able to deliver some teaching resources and advise on how the school might be supported. Spare parts are sourced to the repair of Braille typewriters and cupboards built to keep them clear of dust and insects. Last year we sent out a large tactile globe for the school. Working with a training college for teachers of the blind, we have also supported a project to develop the recording of teaching resources on tape in Swahili.

Janet and I will be visiting Arusha in February next year and will be spending time at 2 schools, but particularly at the college providing training for local staff. Used magnifiers and test charts from our service in Fife are already being shipped out ready for our visit, and some teaching at the college is planned.

What I am seeking now are second hand tape recorders, particularly the small Walkman type. These will be used by blind children as the main means of accessing textbooks, as Braille is difficult and expensive to produce. For those of you who are upgrading to CD, MP3 and other fancy gadgets at Christmas, can you please consider letting us have any machines to take out.

Alan

Home-Start - a message

A letter has been sent to help clarify the work of this charitable organisation, as follows:

“We are often inundated with calls offering us furniture and household goods. In the course of these conversations from callers it has become apparent that they are often directed to Home-Start by personnel from a variety of churches from Dundee and surrounding areas.

Our organisation in fact offers emotional and practical support to families, as you will see from the enclosed leaflets.

We would appreciate it if you could filter this information to all levels of the church as many of the callers are disappointed that we cannot be of assistance.”

Prayer Points for this week

• Pray Without Ceasing focus: Darlington District;
• continuing development work after last year's Indian Ocean tsunami (Christian Aid);
• work of the Africa Research and Documentation Centre in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wa, Ghana (Feed The Minds);
• The Leprosy Mission's work in north-central India ­ Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal;
• Bible Society work in Sudan;
• we pray with and for the peoples of Jerusalem and 'the Land of the Holy One';
• we remember fellow Methodists in the Erewash Valley Circuit (Nottingham & Derby District), and our friends based in Scott Street, Perth (Angus, Dundee & Perthshire Circuit).

• 18 December 2005
• 01 January 2006

© 2002—2005 Dundee Methodist Church.