Over the last few months three of our UK teams have been blessed to visit our ministry in Sierra Leone.
Please follow this link Sierra Leone visits to read more about baptisms on the beach, progress on the building of New Hope Academy, eye tests for nearly a thousand people in Lungi, Palm Sunday with real palm branches and joy in Jesus!
Pastor Michael and Alice in Sierra Leone found this little one abandoned on their doorstep, wrapped in rags, just before Easter. Read here how God has worked through his people to bring hope into a hopeless situation for this baby boy and his mother Sierra Leone baby
The video below shows some of the aid you have kindly donated being distributed in Izium by our Ukraine team.
Dear Friends and Supporters,
It is one year since the war began, when Russia invaded the peaceful nation of Ukraine, that we love dearly. The country has been damaged heavily, many thousands of lives have been lost, both civilians and troops. There was no reason for this wicked act, which has left people living in poverty and made millions of refugees.
But International Aid Trust has, with your help, been able to respond very quickly. Thanks to our wonderful teams on the ground in Ukraine, and our wonderful teams in the UK. So many of you have been working away to help people you’ve never seen, that’s your heart. God bless you all, you’ve made this all possible!
This war began with evil intent, but we responded in love and God has used that love to help hundreds of thousands of people. Up until now, we’ve been able to identify, collect, sort, pack and distribute over £10 million worth of aid, in less than a year, and that is down to you.
Our response to the need in Ukraine has only just begun really. Even if the war was to stop tomorrow and Russia was sent back to its own borders, which we pray will happen soon by the way; there will still be a huge rebuilding job to do, so please do continue to help us.
There are many other terrible situations in the world which we are also supporting, but think of these numbers in Ukraine, over half a million have been killed or injured, 270,000 Russian Military personnel alone.
But God’s love is bigger than all of that, we’ve sent out two trucks in the last ten days, from our warehouse in Hesketh Bank. Within four days they are at our warehouse near Kyiv and aid is very quickly being distributed. Every penny you give, every item of clothing or generator or food or medical supplies you donate, gets to the people who need it. Please keep supporting us, with your help we can do this, and we will see the victory.
God bless you all.
Bernard
Rev. Bernard Cocker
CEO and Founder
We are deeply saddened by the earthquake that has caused so much devastation in Turkey and Syria, and are praying for all those affected.
At this time we are not accepting donations of practical aid, but if you would like to make a financial donation, we will pass these on to the network of churches in Turkey whose communities have suffered so badly. This support is being coordinated by our friend Pastor Yurie in Kiev, Director of Foreign Relations.
Please visit donate here for ways to give and use the reference ‘Turkey’. Every penny given will get to cause.
We are excited that after travel disruptions over the last few years, our UK teams are able to visit our teams overseas!
Our CEO and Founder, Rev. Bernard Cocker will soon be visiting the ministry in Sierra Leone, accompanied by our chair of Trustees, Sandy Taylor, and also Jane Dawe and Paul Birkbeck, board members of GBA Logistics, who are the major sponsors of ‘New Hope Academy’, the secondary school we are building.
This visit will include the ground breaking ceremony at the building site. The provision of a free, Christian secondary school is a great cause for rejoicing for the local community in Lungi, look out for the photos and videos of the celebrations we will be sharing!
Vision Mission Sierra Leone
The International Aid Trust Vision Mission team, consisting of opticians Peter and Sheila and assistants Alison and John, are travelling to Lungi in the West African country of Sierra Leone from the 14th to 24th March, to conduct eye examinations and prescribe spectacles.
They hope to screen and examine hundreds of children at New Hope School, along with as many teachers, pastors and other adults in the villages as possible. They will arrange treatments for any ocular diseases if possible dependant on location and funding. Already in country are over a thousand donated glasses collected by International Aid Trust, that are sorted, measured and ready for using.
The team will stay in a local guesthouse and attend New Hope Church on Sunday to pass on greetings from our congregations in the U.K.
Sincere thanks to Rev. Bernard Cocker (Founder and CEO) and all the UK team for enabling this project to happen. They have done this as well as organising the collection and shipping of hundreds of tons of desperately needed aid to the Ukraine and collaborating with the many International Aid Trust missions throughout our hurtling world. This is all made possible by our loving saviour Jesus Christ.
Peter Booth February 2023
We have teams going to Sierra Leone over the next few weeks and are looking for specific items that can be taken –
1. PAIN KILLERS: Paracetamol, Ibuprofen etc.
2. LED FLASHLIGHTS & LANTERNS: various sizes for
security etc.
3. TECHNOLOGY (can be second hand):
LAPTOP COMPUTERS, EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES:
preferably 1 GB or larger. MOBILE PHONES.
4. POWER BANKS: The electricity supply is limited and
unpredictable (none at all in isolated villages).
5. CLERGY SHIRTS: 14.5” to 17.5” neck.
For more information follow the link below.
Thank you very much for kindly filling shoebox gifts They have brought so much joy to people in
Ukraine at an incredibly difficult time Despite continued and unpredictable attacks by Russia in
many areas of the country, the International Aid Trust teams have distributed shoeboxes and
shared their hope in Jesus, God’s greatest gift, to thousands of people whose lives have been
devastated by the war. Click on the link below to read more! Ukraine shoeboxes 2022/23
We are still collecting goods for Ukraine and the neighbouring countries – a list of the goods needed can be found here Ukraine – goods needed
This year, which has been challenging in so many ways, we are focussing on the words; “Light shines in the darkness” take n from chapter 1 verse 5 of John’s Gospel.
we do hope that you can join us in this journey.
