As a company it is extremely important to us that we only support causes where 100% of our contributions go directly to the beneficiaries of the charity. This is why we have chosen to support Nema, a charity running community projects in rural Northern Mozambique.

This is one of the poorest areas of Africa where life expectancy is only 38 years old and infant mortality is roughly 30%. Villagers have to walk several hours to get to health clinics and only half the population has access to safe drinking water - resulting in diseases such as cholera, typhoid and malaria being widespread.

Nema was established to work with communities to relieve poverty and protect the environment. The word Nema translates as happiness following hardship. Mozambique has endured 20 years of vicious war where the use of child soldiers was endemic. Since the end of the civil war, 10 years ago, the country has succeeded in establishing a sound government but they are in desperate need of aid to rebuild an already poor infrastructure.

In addressing the needs of rural communities, Nema's projects fall into 5 main categories: Water, Health, Education, Enterprise and Environment.
The projects are tackled in priority order with basic human needs being addressed first before moving on to non-life threatening requirements such as empowering communities to become economically independent and self-sufficient. Wherever possible, projects are focused primarily on women as they are the core of the family unit as well as being the primary carers of young children.

Since starting our association with the charity we have purchased 300 mosquito nets to give one to each pregnant woman in the community we are concentrating on. We have also built a website for the charity, taken on an administrative role by providing and manning a telephone line for the charity and we will be undertaking the annual accounts at the end of the year.

For the current financial year our major project over and above the ongoing support is to fund the building of a new village school. The education projects aim to help as many children to progress as far through the education system as posible. School will also provide children with a nutritious lunchtime meal - in some cases representing the only good meal of the day. The current building is nearly derelict and is totally inadequate for the 300 pupils (who have to attend in shifts for only part of the day). The architect's plans for the new school include classrooms, a hall and teachers' accommodation all of which will enable 400 pupils to attend the school througout the year, including the rainy season.

We believe in supporting a charity where you can make a real difference, just by being our customer. This is why 5% of all our gift vouchers sold will be donated to our new school building project.

Throughout the coming months we will be updating this page to let you know how the project is developing. We hope to be able to second members of our team to visit the school and help with the building work, bringing back first hand experience and photos of the work in progress. Our first trip to Mozambique is planned for October when the foundation stones for the new school will be laid.

If you would like to know more about the Nema organisation and its ongoing projects or to make a donation to the charity, please visit the website at www.nemafoundation.org