So what can you do?

I'm sure this is the question you've all been asking yourselves... and there's an answer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5E6enHa-Qw

This is a 5 min film summarising what I got up to in Mozambique.

The beginnings of the project, as I hope you've gathered, were really successful and funding is now needed for the project to expand and fulfill its potential. The money will be used to enable the field workers I was working with to go to even more communities with the manual we wrote and the skills they now have to train more people how to maintain the pumps. I'd also like them to translate the manual into the local languages. Some of the money will also go towards building more boreholes in villages in the Diocese.

In order to try and contribute towards this progression now that I'm back in the UK I am running the Bupa 10k on the 31st May. Having not run since I left in November and being currently scared to go out into the freezing cold this is going to be a challenge! Please give me a reason to run!

If you'd like more information on the project (even after reading my blog!) then let me know. The project will benefit enormously from your support and you can be sure that the money is going directly to a very worthy cause and one which I would be happy to keep you updated on as it progresses.

Thanks are due to ALMA (London diocese’s link with the Anglican church in Angola and Mozambique www.almalink.org) and to the LDF which kindly administers the funds thus avoiding much duplication of effort. This is why the Diocese of London appears as the charity on my sponsorship page. Every penny raised however will go to the water projects in Niassa.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, the money will go straight to the Diocese of London for forwarding to Mozambique and they make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now - www.justgiving.com/joannelambert

Goodbye Africa

I just looked up theweather for tomorrow in London...sunny yes, but a maximum temperature of 7degrees??? What does that even feel like!?

I'm currently whiling away my last day in Africa. I've been at the waterfront in CapeTown listening to a marimba band and eating lunch, bought with the last of my Rand! The last couple of weeks have been amazing. We've tried surfing (and failed!), been for beautiful coastal walks, spent a day wine tasting (we went to 4 vineyards... I was ready to stop after the first... luckily the 2nd had cheese!), cuddled a cheetah, seen wild penguins and have this week been exploring Cape Town. As EVERYBODY we've met in South Africa has warned us, we fell in love with the place, helped enormously by the huge generosity of some friends of Rebecca who live here who have had Andy and I to stay all week. They feel like family already and the week has flown by much too fast. A highlight for me was seeing the Soweto Gospel Choir perform in Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens as the sun set over the impressive table mountain behind the stage. Such an awesome atmosphere.

So, today I leave this amazing continent and the beautiful sunshine to return to cold England. I don't really feel ready to leave Africa but I'm not sure I ever would be. I am however really looking forward to catching up with a lot of people who I've missed enormously over the last 4 months. It's been an incredible experience and I'm so grateful for the oppurtunity. I'll be kept busy when I get home, catching up with not only friends and family but with EWB-UK work and starting the next phase of my adventure (life!) which is an internship with RedR, an international charity providing engineers in response to disasters all over the world. I'll be working with the water and sanitation cluster programme for 6 months in London.

I guess this is the last post on this blog... unless I return to Mozambique one day!! Thanks for reading, I hope you've learnt something new! God Bless, Joanne.