Container to Kiribati

Post date: Nov 15, 2012 10:16:32 PM

*** UPDATE 14/06/13 ***

Photo of the container in Kiribati

Container in Kiribati

*** UPDATE 29/05/13 ***

Dear Adrian,

The container is being emptied slowly: Marlene has it safely locked; the only time her workers and ourselves are free to unload it is the late afternoon - the goods are stacked in her house, or a room in the MSC house - and everyone is free to inspect and to take what they need.

The surprise of the people is great: the goods are new, they are packaged safely and labelled clearly. They haven't seen a container like this before. we have not emptied even half of the container yet - but the OLSH already have some of their goods, and are checking the items already stored in this house.

Thank you, and we thank the many benefactors: I saw one secondary student this afternoon going home in glory on one of the bicycles - a new world was open to him.

May God bless all your work.

Albert

*** UPDATE 10/05/13 ***

Dear Friends,

Autumn greetings - hope you're all keeping well.

Some good news: container #2 for Kiribati has arrived! We have already collected and packed enough to fill well over half the container so we are in good shape (as usual!).

This Saturday is the annual clean-up day @ OLSH Parish, Randwick so a number of us will be missing from our monastery duties. But there is plenty of work still to be done so please come along at the usual time of 10am if you are free.

Rocco is organising more boxes and Christine will be dropping off a whole lot of office chairs. Bernadette has managed to get OLSH Primary School to donate a whole classroom full of desks and chairs - we will have to coordinate a pick up for these.

PS: the new Mission Office Newsletter is out - please ensure to pick up a copy.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Blessings,

FKM

*** UPDATE 04/04/13 ***

A quick update:

The container has been picked up and is now on its way (see attached). The replacement container will be delivered in the next couple of weeks.

What's next?

After a brief discussion with Padre Adriano, he has decided that we will now send a 2ND CONTAINER to Kiribati. Great news!

Our immediate task is to start preparing the boxes again. There are plenty of items that need to be 'packed' as per the first container.

We also need to prepare the religious icons and statues for the long journey. These items are very fragile so require extra attention.

*** UPDATE 21/03/13 ***

Dear Friends,

First and foremost, we should all be very proud of what we have achieved thus far. The container is almost full (yes, can you believe it!?), which means that we will be able to fill it this Saturday and make the deadline. There are still plenty of items coming through, which augurs well for Nauru. When the shipping company picks up the Kiribati container, they will drop one off for Nauru at the same time.

A few requests to the team:Box counters: we will need a list soon of box numbers and contents. This information will be provided to the shipping company as part of the Bill of Lading. Hope you've got the list handy!

Packers: please let us know what is missing i.e. tape, bubble wrap etc so that we can purchase them before Saturday.

Container loaders: we will need a list of loose items loaded e.g. bicycles, wheel chairs, retired priests etc so that we can add to the main list.

We look forward to seeing you all this Saturday at the usual time of 10am.

FKM will take Holy Week off - a timely opportunity for us to have a break and reflect on the mystery of His death and rising.

If any of you watched the Installation Mass last night Pope Francis quoted John in his homily: 'Feed my lambs', 'Take care of my sheep', 'Feed my sheep' (Jn 21:15-17). At the heart of his ministry is the care and concern for the vulnerable and poor; to be 'protectors' in the spirit of St. Joseph on his feast day. This is also very much at the heart of FKM's ministry. We should all be very proud and encouraged by the words of our new Pope.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Blessings,

Friends of Kensington Monastery

*** UPDATE ***

Fr. Adrian met two members (teachers) from our local schools to launch the Container for Kiribati campaign at the school level.

OLSH Primary School has already advertised in their school newsletter. Children/families will bring items to the school then they will be kindly brought to the monastery by their amazing Family Educator. Rosebank College has already agreed to donate five laptops to visiting seminarians with more support to follow. A great start!

Thanks to the generosity of FKM, the container is about a third full now and increasing all the time. We hope to fill a second container to Nauru.

And a special thanks to an anonymous FKM donor who brought in bags full of brand new stationary for the children of Kiribati. Education is the key for these kids so please continue to support the cause.

"Live simply so others may simply live". - Mahatma Gandhi

Blessings in abundance,

Friends of Kensington Monastery

*** UPDATE ***

THE CONTAINER FOR KIRIBATI IS NOW HALF FULL AND WILL BE SENT EARLY IN THE NEW YEAR.

PLEASE CONTACT friendsofkensingtonmonastery@gmail.com IF YOU HAVE ITEMS STILL TO COME.

***************************************************************************************************************************

Dear Friends,

We hope you're having a great week.

Thank you to those who came to help last Saturday.

We continued with our cleaning of the windows adjacent to the chapel as well as clearing out the Mission Office store room and neatly packing the goods into boxes. This is in preparation for the container that will be sent to Kiribati. We hope to continue with our cleaning so if you are free, please come along to Kensington Monastery (Roma Ave) at 10am this Saturday morning for a couple of hours then lunch.

Just on Kiribati, it is an island nation located in Micronesia and is one of the poorest countries in the world. With a population of a little over 100,000, there are less than 30 physicians looking after the entire country (WHO). The island is slowly submerging due to global warming, resulting in significant soil salination making agriculture extremely difficult. With very few natural resources, Kiribati is almost entirely reliant on external sources for income such as selling fishing licenses and tourism. The IMF sees no economic growth in the country and considers it a contracting economy.

The Mission Office is committed to assisting the people of Kiribati, which means that the Friends of Kensington Monastery are also committed! They are our pacific neighbours and need our help - let's make a difference!

After contacting Bishop Paul Mea MSC in Kiribati, here is a list of items that have been requested:

Educational:

- white boards

- library books (targeting children and teenagers, not so much novels)

- pencils, coloured pencils, pens, textas, note pads, (any general stationary)

- Computers (working condition - laptops welcome)

- printers

- Games (board games, teaching aides, education material)

- Chairs and stools

- religious/theological books

- religious icons

- sporting equipment (balls, boots etc - popular sports: soccer and volley ball)

- school & sport uniforms (new)

Children:

- toys

- clothing (new)

- nappies (new)

Adults:

- fabric (new)

- clocks/watches

- spectacles

- sunglasses

- clothing (new)

- musical instruments (any)

General:

- chairs (ideally plastic and stackable)

- folding tables

- bicycles

- motor bikes (yes, we are serious!)

- lawn mowers

- beds/mattresses (preferably new, especially for mattress; inflatable mattresses)

- sewing machines

- fishing nets

- basins

- tea pots (large)

- mosquito nets

- towels and sheets (new)

- urns/thermos flasks

- tarpaulins

- wheel barrows/hand carts

- fencing wire

- rubbish bins

- cabinets; filing, storage

- cutlery (any)

- crockery (any)

- beds for priests (preferably new)

- carpentry tools

- paper binding machine

- paper guillotine

- microwave ovens (clean and in working order)

Medical equipment for OLSH sisters in Kiribati:

- wheel chairs

- walking frames

- crutches

- commode chairs

This is an excellent opportunity for us to make worthwhile all the items that have piled up in our homes. To us it's just excess 'stuff' but to the people of Kiribati, goods that are in desperate need and will be appreciated and put to great use.

Ideally, we would like the items at least wrapped in newspaper (where possible of course) and placed in a tightly packed box. Fragile items will need extra care. The box needs to be clearly marked with its contents (no great detail needed) to ensure that if customs open the box, the contents are declared on the outer. It would be greatly appreciated if the boxes could be brought to the Monastery (Mission Office) on Saturdays between 10am - midday, where one of us (the Friends of Kensington Monastery) will be there to receive it.

The biggest concern that the Mission Office has is with regards to clothing and fabric - anything that needs to be fumigated. Island nations take fumigation very seriously (as we do in Australia) thus we need to avoid sending second-hand clothing/fabric/mattresses etc if we expect to clear customs on the other side.

It would be greatly appreciated if you could forward this email to your family and friends - this is so important as this project should be embraced by as many people as possible. It would be greatly appreciated if we could also ask various Parishes to advertise this in their Bulletins and Newsletters.

__________________________________________________________

Carols @ Kensington Monastery, OLSH Convent & St. Joseph's Nursing Home:

Randwick's Via Dei Choir (conducted by Tony Amidharmo) will be singing Christmas Carols at the above venues on Saturday 8th December.

It will be an extra special occasion for the MSC's as on this day in 1854 Father Founder Jules Chevalier established the Order after a Novena to Our Lady. Times are yet to be finalised but Fr. Peter Guy (superior) has kindly invited the choir and the Friends of Kensington Monastery to join the community for lunch after the 11am Feast Day Mass at the Chapel. It would be wonderful if the Friends could organise a Christmas/Feast Day Party for the residents. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! Tony has prepared a beautiful selection of Christmas/sacred songs so it will be a wonderful celebration; something to look forward to!

We will endeavour to inform you of confirmed times and schedule as soon as it comes to hand.

The Friends of Kensington Monastery are always on the lookout for new members. Please forward this email to your friends and ask them to get in touch with us. It's only for a couple of hours each week - come and get a taste of what it feels like to "Be on Earth the Heart of God".

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Blessings in abundance,

Friends of Kensington Monastery

Friends of Kensington Monastery <friendsofkensingtonmonastery@gmail.com>

Container to Kir