Beneficiaries

Since Changing Lives began, we have been able to give away over £2000. A number of Burmese people have benefited:

• Kyaw Maung (pronounced ‘Cho Mong’) who is paralysed as the result of a broken neck. Carolyn was the first doctor to treat him and subsequently arranged for him to be transferred to a Christian rehabilitation centre in the north of Thailand. Formerly a Buddhist, he has now found a faith in God. We continue to support Kyaw Maung through letters, personal gifts, prayers and on-going financial support. A particular need is for regular sponsorship as he will need care for the foreseeable future. He has no family of his own.
• A Burmese teenager who needs urgent heart surgery has also received our help. Her surgery is due to take place within the next few weeks.
• Other Burmese refugees who were in particular need have also received help from us. They are known personally to us and their situation was genuine.

We have also been able to give a donation towards the hospital ship ‘Africa Mercy,’ and to the specialist fistula hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

How we began

It is exactly two years since Pete and I went to Thailand to visit our daughter Carolyn, who was working there as a doctor with one of the medical agencies. Based on the Thai/Burma border, her work took her deep into the Burmese jungle to visit some of the remote clinics. From Carolyn’s work, we began to learn a little of the oppression under which these people live, and their desperate struggle simply to survive.

On the plane coming home I knew that I had been changed forever. I had been overwhelmed by the poverty I had both seen and heard about, and was embarrassed by how much we had ourselves. Things that I had previously taken for granted now seemed such luxuries - clean water in the tap, sanitation, a roof over our heads, a change of clothes (and a wardrobe full of more), food in the fridge, education for our children, health care if we need it, and so much more. I remember feeling so helpless to make a difference, but nevertheless asking God to show me a way. On that same flight home, the idea came to start making greetings cards to sell. And so Changing Lives was born!

They do just what it says on the card ...

Changing Lives is the name given to a range of hand-made cards which are sold in order to raise money for some of the world’s poorest and most forgotten people. Nothing is taken for administration or labour: all profit is given away.

The range includes birthday cards for the whole spectrum of ages, get-well, thank-you, sympathy, wedding day and anniversary cards, general greetings cards - and a whole lot more beside. Fresh ideas are being added all the time.

If you would like to host a coffee morning/evening for Changing Lives, then please contact us for more information.

Buy a card – change a life!