TEARFUND works through churches and Christian agencies to open up brighter futures for the world''s poorest communities, and to see lives and situations transformed by God''s love through the generosity of Christian people. It also responds to world emergencies, providing vital supplies of aid and medical equipment to disaster areas, and supplying food and shelter through local organisations to avoid delays.
Gordon and Brenda Wilkinson are the South East Reps, and also sell Tearcraft goods at local events. They have also sold almost 3000 copies of their book, ''Recipes for Disaster''. See them for a copy - they also make excellent Christmas presents, all in aid of Tearfund!

Brenda and Gordon Wilkinson, both Tearfund volunteers from St. John''s Church have compiled a book of recipes from 25 countries where Tearfund operates, in aid of the charities relief work. Recipes for disaster. relief and development is brimming with tasty starters, mains and desserts from 25 countries across four continents. The Wilkinsons had the idea while eating rice and beans for two weeks on a Tearfund study tour to the Honduran rainforest. €˜This book has taken us on an inspirational journey as we set about collecting recipes from friends, contacts at Tearfund and Tearfund partners overseas,’ says Gordon. €˜Most recipes are delicious €“ I love the Burundian green banana and the Bengali fish in mustard sauce €“ but one or two are deliberately bland, to show what life is like where food is limited. €˜You can choose a recipe and pray for the people Tearfund is helping, afterwards or as you say grace,’ says Gordon. Each recipe works for home or church meals, and comes with information about the country it’s from and how Tearfund is working there. To order your copy email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or send a cheque for £7 to B Wilkinson at PO Box 78, East Grinstead RH19 2YW. Of your £7, at least £5.50 will go to Tearfund.

Representatives: Gordon and Brenda Wilkinson 01342 311516

Tearfund’s Created gifts

Sociological studies suggest there are typically just six degrees of separation between any two randomly selected people. In other words – through a chain of friends and acquaintances and their friends and acquaintances – just six steps separate a city trader in London’s Canary Wharf and a nomad in the plains of Mongolia. Tearfund’s Created range of fairly-traded craft goods reduce those six degrees to one.

Times may be difficult financially, but by buying your Christmas gifts from Created you will be investing in communities that really need our help.

In Peru, for example, a member of the Taype Textiles Cooperative said, ‘It’s exciting to know that the work of our hands is being enjoyed by people far away from here. The money makes such a difference – and we want to be able to sell even more.’

Supported by Created partner Manos Amigas, five men and 80 women work in the cooperative. Using a blend of alpaca and sheep wool, the women knit hats, scarves and gloves – items that have quickly attained best-seller status.

The women live within an hour’s walk of the cooperative centre, but they knit at home so they can take care of their households and livestock. They only speak the indigenous Quechua language, and their work is inspired by their pre-Inca culture. They have a few modern tools to help them, but the techniques they use have been passed down for generations.

Manos Amigas is just one of eighteen partners that Created works with in eleven different countries. Last year, more than £1 million worth of handcrafted goods were sold: creating safe and dignified employment for hundreds of craftspeople, as well as improving life for their families and communities.

You can see artisans at work by visiting  www.youtube.com/createdgifts, or you can view the catalogue at www.createdgifts.org.

In 2004, Gordon and I visited craft workers in Thailand and it was good to see for ourselves the difference that the income makes to their lives. In January, 2012 we are going to visit groups of workers in Sri Lanka and southern India near Chennai, so we look forward to telling you about it.

Please take a catalogue from the back of church, place an order and make that link with someone across the world. Your Christmas gift could bring much more than happiness to the person who receives the gift - it could help a family to send their children to school or a village to install an electricity supply or a source of clean water.

Please join with us to give thanks for the wonderful support that we have   received for our cookbook, Recipes for Disaster... Relief and Development. We have now reached our target, which was to raise £25,000 from sales of the   cookbook. Thank you to everyone who contributed recipes or tested them for us and especially to Jon Toogood who  donated his design talents and turned it into a publication of which we could be really proud.

For further information, please contact Brenda or Gordon Wilkinson