GO Mamelodi...

Hi All,

Through listening to Q102, I've learned how big a part giving back is to the Cincinnati community. In fact it is a large part of what makes me proud to be from Cincinnati. I am writing because I'm hoping Q102 listeners can help out with this worthy cause. A couple of years ago, my church (Crossroads Community church), teamed up with a church in South Africa in the city of Mamelodi to help the people of Mamelodi, and has been sending work groups for the past two years to do things such as building homes, planting gardens, providing medical services, etc.

Mamelodi is a large township comparable in size to Cincinnati, just outside of Pretoria, the capital city of South Africa. Due to the past injustices of apartheid, Mamelodi is one of the poorest places in South Africa. Most of the residents have never had medical care and many do not have adequate clothing. The township of Mamelodi has many orphans due to the AIDS virus taking many of their parents. The AIDS proliferation rate in Mamelodi is around 40%. Many of the residents are also hungry and suffer from malnutrition.

Another work team is going again this November. Through discussions with the Medical Team and others, I found that the following items are always in short supply there:

1) Vitamins (this is the number one line of defense for keeping people alive who either suffer from AIDS or malnutrition).

2) Items typically found in First Aid Packs such as:
A) Band-Aids
B) Antibiotic Ointments
C) Gauze pads
D) Unsterile Gloves
E) Ibuprofen / Tylenol

3) New or gently worn shoes. The first year we sent a team, they treated a child with a laceration on his foot. He was barefoot and the wound had become infected. After treating the wound, one of the American teens that was there, gave up a pair of his shoes to the boy, so that his foot would not get dirty and re-infected again. A while later another barefoot boy came and started cutting his foot with a piece of glass, just because he thought he could get a pair of shoes this way.

4) Old, but still functioning eye glasses, reading glasses, or sun glasses. (There is an optometrist on the Medical Team that goes every year and matches prescriptions of glasses to the people he examines).


Donations can be dropped off at Crossroads church, 3500 Madison Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45209.
513-731-7400
Please bring donations in bags or boxes marked “Go Mamelodi.” The deadline for donations (so that we can bring them with us on the trip), is October 25th.
Please know that I am writing this as a personal appeal, and not as any official request from Crossroads. I just believe that the need here is bigger than any one church or charitable organization can handle.

Thanks so much!

Sincerely,

Stuart Rayner