A CHURCH minister who has helped 25,000 people escape war and poverty in a west African country has filled a container of aid to be sent there.
The Reverend Phil Cheale of Peppard Congregational Church, who helps to run the Practical Christian Ministries charity, stocked the container destined for Liberia with help from Peppard Primary School children on Wednesday (March 26th).
Computers, clothes, food boxes and electrical generators are just some of the items that have been packed into the container to be sent to Monrovia, the Liberian capital.
Mr. Cheale has been helping a community in Monrovia for 30 years and lived in Liberia for nine years, working as a missionary with his wife Sylvia.
Children from the primary school became involved when Paul Homans, assistant minister at the church, paid them a visit to talk about Mr. Cheale’s work.
Members of the school assembly then asked fellow pupils to bring in items they could donate from home.
Mr. Cheale said the container " the 21st he has sent to be shipped to the country " would help to make a difference to people living in poverty there.
"They haven’t had electricity there for 24 years, so the generators will help with that, while bags of rice and tins of other food can be given to people to sell on and make a living,"¯ he said.
"Computers like the ones we are sending have also helped us to set up a college there, where 5,000 students are enroled and a further 2,500 have graduated."¯
Published on 04 April 2008
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