Through Alma we have a link with:
St. Simon of Cyrene Milange, Mozambique
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Here is some history of our twinning
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Population of Milange District: 500,000
Population of Milange town: 70,000 Number of Midwives per 1000 live births is 3 Lifetime risk of death for pregnant women: 1 in 37 UNICEF: 2011 Mozambique is amongst the worlds poorest countries (175 out of 179) |
January 2007: In Mozambique one million children still did not go to school: most of them from poor rural families and almost half of all teachers in Mozambique were still unqualified.
October 2001: Simon Sheldon and Sandy Swift make the first visit to Milange in Mozambique. Following this an agreement is made to link the parish of Milange in the Diocese of Niassa with Shepperton in the Diocese of London.
October 2001: Simon Sheldon and Sandy Swift make the first visit to Milange in Mozambique. Following this an agreement is made to link the parish of Milange in the Diocese of Niassa with Shepperton in the Diocese of London.
October 2004: Second visit to link parish. Chris and Sandy Swift spend six weeks in the Diocese on a teaching programme and see the consecration of the new church in Milange built with money raised by St. Nicholas Church.
September 2008: Our third visit to Milange. Three members of the congregation went with Chris and Sandy to be part of the opening of the new school we helped to finance in Milange. Sandy and Chris stayed on for the Mothers Union Conference and engaged in a teaching programme addressing the subject of domestic violence. They also led the Diocesan Clergy Retreat in Lichinga.
September 2008: Our third visit to Milange. Three members of the congregation went with Chris and Sandy to be part of the opening of the new school we helped to finance in Milange. Sandy and Chris stayed on for the Mothers Union Conference and engaged in a teaching programme addressing the subject of domestic violence. They also led the Diocesan Clergy Retreat in Lichinga.
September 2014: On 9th September a fourth, short, visit was made to our linked parish by Chris and Sandy to look at the future of the school there and the possible expansion by way of another teaching block. What could we do to help facilitate that?
St. Nicholas has funded two visits from Milange to Shepperton. The first was two of the clergy. The second enabled members of the Mothers Union to meet with our Mothers Union and experience a little of life in Shepperton.
It is so important we continue to support our Christian brothers and sisters in Milange and strengthen the link between our two parishes.
The new Archdeacon and his family
St. Nicholas has funded two visits from Milange to Shepperton. The first was two of the clergy. The second enabled members of the Mothers Union to meet with our Mothers Union and experience a little of life in Shepperton.
It is so important we continue to support our Christian brothers and sisters in Milange and strengthen the link between our two parishes.
The new Archdeacon and his family
The school we helped to build
The school - partly funded by us and built next to the church
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School in the church
The gift of a chicken
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A village church
A typical bridge
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From 2017 until 2019, we raised £32,000 and the school in Milange was doubled in size.. Here it is nearly finished in July 2020.
We maintain our link with Milange and receive regular emails. Sadly the visit planned for last year had to be cancelled because of Covid, but hopefully the school is up and running, and we will continue our contact.