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About Imagine
Joe and Lorraine are a British couple who originally came to work in Maputo for the Port Authority. Joe then began working for the Overseas Development Administration of the UK government ¡V this is now DFID (the Department for International Development). At the same time, they were doing some voluntary work in Maputo with street children and had set up an Imagine programme there.
In 1999 they were invited by the Ministry of Social Action( MISAU) to visit Catembe, an area of deprivation which is very close to Maputo and has a population of 25 000( unofficial figure). Joe and Lorraine felt that they could help the local communities set up a worthwhile programme and so Imagine Catembe began.
They worked closely with local communities and have a coordinator for each of the 5 areas in which they work. They rent office space from Frelimo and also share this space with employees of MISAU. The 5 areas they work in are all very poor. The HIV rate is 26% which Joe attributes partly to the fact that they are on the main connecting road to South Africa. Most people are living on less than $1 a day.
There are several programmes running in Catembe. Although Jane did not see them all, Joe described them to her.
| House building programme | 100 houses have been built in Magoanine for people who were displaced by the floods of 2000.They had done some work with Habitat for Humanity, but now choose to work with local official builders. There are some rules and regulations about who can build on government registered land and who can¡¦t. |
| Family homes | 5 houses have been built so far. They are brick houses and very substantial and will house 12 children (who are orphans, having lost either one or both parents) in each house as well as 2 adults who act as parents. These are married couples. Some of them bring their own children to the home. Although 3 houses are open at the moment, Imagine is interviewing more prospective parents for the other 2 houses. They feel that the parent figures have to be exactly right. The parents care for the children, cooking for them, washing their clothes and helping them generally. There is a small garden area behind the homes which is used to cultivate food for the children. The children are referred to Imagine by MISAU or by the Sisters of Mercy at Hulene - Mother Theresa¡¦s order. The children attend local schools. Imagine has refurbished a local primary school. The plan is for all the children to finish secondary school. |
| Community Centre | Many activities take place here and it is a hub for a lot of other Imagines activities. They plan to open a pre-school in the future. Imagine also looks after another 250 very poor families which have 1200 children between them. These families remain in their own homes and are provided with money for education, health, food, and help with starting a garden. MISAU has a list of about 1000 families whom they regard as the extremely poor and Imagine is in the process of working through the list trying to provide what they can for the most needy. |
| Street boys programme | This works with local boys who live on the street. One of their boys now studies at Manchester University in the UK where he is studying art; He shows a lot of promise. |
| Hospice work | Imagine helped financially with the building of the hospice at Hulene B, which is run by the Sisters of Mercy. |
| Water holes | There are 11 bore holes which have been built in the 5 communities. |
| Community ambulance | This was probably provided by an Embassy and is very useful as it can transport people around the area, whereas official ambulances can only take people to the hospitals. It carried 3000 patients last year. There are a lot of transport problems in Catembe and there isn¡¦t a frequent chapa service. |
| Family visits | The most vulnerable families are visited by community visitors form MISAU. |
| Agricultural associations | There are 4 of these. There is a new VSO volunteer at Catembe who is an agriculturalist and who will develop the small animal scheme whereby families are given 2 female goats. There is also a community owned male goat! When the goats reproduce, they must give one baby goat back to the project. |
| Work with elderly people | Imagine cares for 110 older people. They have about $4 a month state pension to live on. An old people¡¦s centre was built after the floods by INAS. The centre organises an agricultural programme, small animal farming. Imagine provides food, medicine, clothes and money for hospital visits and funerals. At Christmas time food is provided for a Christmas party. |
| Basketball court | This is used for a variety of sports practices. There is a sports director in post. |
| Local schools | Imagine provides desks and office equipment for local schools and uniforms for the children. Football kits and footballs are given to each school. |
| League of Youth | There is a youth club and activities for adolescents and young people. |
| Children¡¦s Day | Every year, a party is organised for local children. Sweets, biscuits and drinks are provided for 6500 children! |
In terms of what their needs are, Joe and Lorraine were very clear that they didn¡¦t usually like to ask for anything. They are supported by 2 Churches, one near Liverpool and one in Enfield and also receive a lot of support from Embassies in Maputo. Their main priority is the provision of food for the family homes and for the elderly people. They asked whether we could provide money for some extras for the elderly such as milk or tinned sardines or pilchards. They are happy for the ICM to visit them and to helping activities such as distributing food to older people.
Contact
Joe and Lorraine Williams
Email: imagine@emilmoz.com
Tel: 82 317 7020
Website: www.imaginemozambique.org
Gallery
Clothes distribution at the “old people’s village” that IMAGINE supports. (June 2009)
