ay the word ‘Africa’ and people think of heat and dust. But the reality is that during winter, many of our Archdiocese Missions and outstations in the foothills of the Drakensberg mountains will be covered in deep snow.

Without power for heating in their humble huts, Mission families really suffer, and deaths from exposure are not uncommon.

For these rural people, the earth floor of the hut is also usually ‘bed’. Thick warm blankets create a cosy buffer between flesh and the hard cold floor – as well as providing a cover for warmth. Blankets are also used as a protective item of clothing when venturing outside in icy conditions.

All of which make a blanket an essential item for people on the Missions – especially children and their sickly grandparents who are most at risk. But when money is tight, the first priority will always be food, because food keeps us alive. And a blanket, however badly needed, may be beyond the reach of poverty stricken families.

This is why, as winter approaches each year, we ask for help from more fortunate families to provide blankets for the poorest people on the Missions – before the cold sets in.

Please make your donation online now – and, however bitter this coming winter’s snow and winds might be, Mission people will be wrapped in the warmth of your kindness.

In return we have nothing to offer you but our prayers.  So please let us know if you have any intentions you’d like included in our monthly Mass for Mission friends, please let us know – and we will add our prayers to yours. Thank you and God bless you.