Lois has sent a ‘charity’ container to an impoverished area in rural Kenya. Her daughter worked there last year and saw first hand how the Suba district has been devastated by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, malaria and drought.

With the support of her community in North Canterbury, Lois filled a container with donated goods — a tractor, plough, harrows, windmill and irrigation piping, mosquito netting, sewing machines, an incubator for premature babies, wheelchairs, reading glasses, books, clothes, toys etc. Three Cantabrians have travelled to Kenya to make sure the container has safe passage, and to help set up the windmill and irrigation system. Kenya ranks among the thirty poorest nations of the world, with fifty-six percent of Kenyans living below the poverty line. More than two million out of a population of 32.4 million are HIV positive, with 150,000 dying annually due to AIDS. Roughly one million children have also been orphaned by AIDS.

Lois McGirr was last modified: March 9th, 2016 by Gareth Morgan