This year’s Anglican Missions Lenten Appeal is supporting three projects that improve healthcare and access to education for people living in areas that lack basic public health services.

In Geraldine parish in the Diocese of Christchurch, the Anglican Church’s mission committee decided to focus on the Solomon Islands sanitation project by setting up a “Bank roll a toilet roll” campaign. So far, the parish has raised more than $500 using their printed Solomon Islands’ toilet roll wrappers, which they gave out to local households with a call to support this year’s Lenten Appeal.

Anglican Missions is encouraging parishes, pariha, schools and ministry groups to raise money as part of their Lenten observance in 2022.

This year’s projects are:

– The Church of Melanesia’s sanitation project

– Rwenzori Special Needs Foundation(RSNF) holistic healthcare for children with disabilities in Uganda, and

– The Diocese of Egypt’s community healthcare and health education centres

Each project meets the pressing needs of communities struggling with poverty, which are now also having to deal with the impact of Covid-19. 

Church of Melanesia - Solomon Islands 
Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) project

Around the world, one of the most important ways to improve community health is to support communities to build better sewerage, sanitation and hygiene systems that prevent life-threatening gastrointestinal infections.

In remote and rural areas of the Solomon Islands people living with low cash incomes and subsistence struggle to afford the materials or gain access to training in the engineering know-how to build adequate sanitation facilities. As a result, many rural Solomon Island villages and schools do not have adequate latrines or toilet facilities, which leads to water pollution and preventable disease.

The Church of Melanesia’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) project will respond to these issues by funding three of its’ religious communities to upgrade their communities’ sanitation infrastructure and upskill in sanitation engineering and management as they go.

Those skills with then help other rural communities to plan, implement, manage, operate and maintain improved sanitation facilities that will keep more children and vulnerable community members safe from disease.

To donate to this project enter the dollar amount you wish to give in the box titled

Lenten Appeal - Solomon Islands - sanitation project on the Anglican Missions Donate page.

Diocese of Egypt - Episcocare
Children's health improvement and awareness 

In Egypt one quarter of the population lives below the poverty line and 38% of women do not have basic literacy. As a result, many children in Egypt suffer from malnutrition, and anaemia and intestinal infestations due to poor diet and hygiene.

To help families living without access to good medical care or health advice, the Anglican Diocese of Egypt’s social services arm ‘Episcocare’ runs Community Development Centres that provide free and affordable health care services to children and their families and serve nutritious meals to children.

Episcocare community health centres also offer healthcare and healthy living training and resources for mothers who do not have access to reliable information on how to care for their children’s needs.

To donate to this project enter the dollar amount you wish to give in the box titled

Lenten Appeal – Egypt, children’s health project on the Anglican Missions Donate page.

Rwenzori Special Needs Foundation- Uganda 
Holistic support for children with disabilities

In Uganda, negative social attitudes towards people with disabilities and the reality of family poverty has meant that for generations many children with disabilities have suffered on the margins of society.

In Uganda today, 85% of children with disabilities have no access to special needs education or to basic healthcare to alleviate treatable conditions such as cleft lip.

In Uganda where 57% of all children lack access to health care, the poorer and more rural you are, the harder life becomes for children with disabilities and their families.

In 2010 Invercargill Anglican and special needs teacher Dot Muir co-founded The Rwenzori Special Needs Foundation (RSNF) to support Ugandan families to care for their children with disabilities.

In 2020, RSNF supplied welfare packages, transportation, meals, school supplies, uniforms and vocational training to 394 children with physical or intellectual disabilities. RSNF provides wrap-around support, social and sporting opportunities and job skills training to each child in its care. This enables children to gain the education they would otherwise lack, which in turn enables them to move into work or start small businesses, instead of relying on family or charity.

Now Covid-19 has added another layer of health support needs to RSNF’s work. With our support it can offer a better life to more people with disabilities.

To donate to this project enter the dollar amount you wish to give in the box titled Lenten Appeal – Rwenzori Special Needs, Uganda on the Anglican Missions Donate page.