Local group’s ‘container of hope’ expected to arrive this week

Volunteers helping load the container to Mwanza earlier this year

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A container brimming with donations is expected to arrive at its destination in Tanzania this week.

The container was shipped out to Mwanza by local charity Reuse Littleborough on 3 February after months of collecting donations.

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/115942/reuse-littleborough-ship-container-of-hope-to-mwanza

Reuse Littleborough have been tracking the container since its departure, ahead of its arrival at the Forever Angels Baby Home. Messages to the children at the baby home were posted on stickers on the inside of the doors of the container before it left on its journey.

Speaking on Friday (20 April), Michael Bamford, who has flown out to Tanzania to help unload and sort the donations, said: “It now looks like it’s all sorted and ready to be loaded for the trip to Mwanza. It’s 720 miles, a two-day trip, but we don’t know if this will move over the weekend. I’m confident it will arrive by midweek.”

This is the second container sent to the baby home by the group. In 2016, Reuse Littleborough donated similar goods, and helped change so many children’s lives in the process. 

Since his arrival, Michael, who runs the group, has been making the baby home a brighter place for the children by painting old and tired outdoor furniture, plus nurturing some of the new arrivals.

Reuse Littleborough chose to support Forever Angels again, due to an upcoming ban on imports of used clothing entering Tanzania by 2019. New clothes have already been banned in Tanzania as part of the East African Community’s plan to boost regional trade of their diminishing textile industry. 

The group, which aims to reuse many every day items that would otherwise end up in the bin, has continued to supply goods to people in need from their premises at Stevenson Square, Smallbridge, where they have a mother and baby resource centre alongside a shop, open between 10am and 4pm on Saturdays.

The mother and baby resource centre currently occupies the space formerly used to store donations that have been sent to Africa.