CHANGING LIVES
In recent months we have been introduced to Changing Lives through Sheila, a contact from ‘Busy Bees’ where she used to bring her granddaughter. Changing Lives is a local charity, started by Margaret Gee, a personal friend of Sheila’s.
Margaret’s
daughter Carolyn, is a doctor working with one of the medical charities.
She was formerly in Thailand on the border with Burma, and crossed into
the oppressed country each day to visit some of the remote clinics deep in the
jungle, sometimes walking for ten hours or more and crossing deep rivers on
foot. Carolyn was the only doctor
for 15,000 people.
When Peter and Margaret Gee went to visit Carolyn in the autumn of 2004, they were deeply challenged by the suffering of the people in that area. Some had been living as refugees for many years, and their only home was a sheet of blue plastic. There was little access to health care or education. Many were oppressed by the harsh regime in Burma, but for those sheltering in Thailand, they were not wanted there either. So for hundreds of people, life is a daily grind of poverty and fear.
On their return to England, Margaret desperately wanted to do something to make a difference. From an early start using some of her photographs, a range of greetings cards came into being and was called Changing Lives. That early range has now been enlarged extensively, with other people getting involved. Every penny of profit from the sale of these cards is then used to help some of the world’s poorest and most forgotten people. Nothing is taken for administration or labour, and as soon as enough money is available, it is given away. Within the last few months along they have been able to donate several hundred pounds to different causes.
Carolyn
is now working in Ethiopia in a very different project, but in an area where the
poverty and suffering is equally desperate.
Conditions are challenging, 
with
temperatures rising to 50oC. Water
shortages are acute and the rats are a major problem.
Changing Lives is not directly supporting Carolyn’s work, as that is done through her employers. They do, however, make their donations with her advice. They have been able to help some Burmese refugees who were in a very difficult situation; some widows and orphans in Africa; the work of another hospital in Ethiopia; the ministry of a hospital ship, also working in Africa. They also continue to encourage one of Carolyn’s former patients, a Burmese man with a broken neck who was not eligible for treatment.
If you would like to host a coffee morning/evening and hold a card party, then you would be making a real difference to the suffering in the world. The slogan Changing Lives is Buy a card – change a life! It is true that every card sold does make a difference.
Contact either Margaret Gee on 020 8594 0771or Sheila Lindsell on 020 8501 4010
Margaret Gee has also written a book about some refugees who came from Africa. ’Valley of the Shadow’ is the true story of love, separation, survival and faith amid the tragedy of war torn Africa. It is a gripping story with suspense and drama, but showing the power of God at work in an amazing way. If you have a faith you will be encouraged to believe for more; if you do not have a faith then this book will introduce you to a God of miracles!
Margaret Gee