Last week, we received some photographs from Bishop Isesomo of North Kivu Diocese in DR Congo, showing how the diocese has been using some of the funds received through the CMSI Covid-19 Response Appeal. £1000 was transferred to North Kivu last month, some of which has been used by the Mothers' Union for a mask-making programme to support local health clinics. We give thanks for the example of our partners in North Kivu Diocese. Despite their own daily challenges, God's peopl

CMSI has moved its Belfast Office to Sir Thomas & Lady Dixon Park in South Belfast. The final move from Dargan Road was completed on 17th June and the new office is now fully operational. This move has been a long time coming. Last summer, CMSI agreed the sale of the offices in Dargan Road and identified the Lady Dixon property as a suitable location for new offices. After many months of false dawns and delays, the move was finally set to begin on 24th March. Then, on the eve

We recently heard from Mama Mbambu, who leads the Compassion For Children In Distress programme in Butembo, North Kivu Diocese, DR Congo. Over several years, Church of Ireland link parishes have generously supported the development of facilities for the babies and children in Mama Mbambu’s care. Many of these children, abandoned or left homeless due to the ongoing insecurity, have been reunited with relatives or placed in families. However as fast as children can be found per

For those living in Kayole informal settlement in Nairobi, the last couple of months have been particularly tough. Closed borders make food more expensive, crop destruction by plagues of locusts make food scarce, flooding in other parts of the country makes water supply in the city even more unreliable than usual. Years of living on ‘just enough’ means there are no reserves for hundreds of families on lockdown in Kayole. The Urban Development Programme (UDP) of All Saints’ Ca

CMS Ireland will hold its Annual General Meeting at 2pm on Tuesday 30th June 2020. The meeting is accessible remotely via Zoom. This gathering is open to all members of CMSI ('CMSI Stars'). Invitations have been sent to all those on the current register of members. To find out more about membership of CMSI – or to sign-up as a member – please visit the membership page of the CMSI website. The AGM provides an opportunity to look back over the past year in the life of CMSI, as

Lynn Wilson is a CMSI volunteer who for the past few years (before lockdown) has been providing regular clerical support to the staff team in the Belfast Office. Lynn is also the CMSI parish rep for St Mark's, Dundela, which has a long-established partnership link through CMSI with the Urban Development Programme (UDP) of All Saints' Cathedral, Nairobi. Lynn writes: Last week I was blessed to be included in a conversation by Zoom, linking me in Belfast with Linda Abwa in Ball