Blythswood News
Number 81 Spring 2023
You have been changing lives
Thank you! By buying gifts from Blythswood’s gift catalogue you have been changing lives. Be encouraged as you read here how your support has made such a difference to people in need.
You helped Iqbal rebuild a home for his family after last summer’s floods in Pakistan (more).
You provided a cooked meal each weekday for Armando in Romania, giving him the encouragement he needs to persevere at school (more).
You improved the diet of Minka’s children in Bulgaria, giving them the protein they need to grow and thrive (more).
You enabled foodbank to come to the rescue of Leah, elderly, housebound and hungry, here in the United Kingdom (more).
And you let Bertrand hear a gospel broadcast in Burundi that set him free from a life of misery and changed him forever (more).
“Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. Matthew 25:40”
Thank you so much for being part of the ministry of Blythswood Care.
James Campbell
Chief Executive
You have been changing lives
Thank you! By buying gifts from Blythswood’s gift catalogue you have been changing lives. Be encouraged as you read here how your support has made such a difference to people in need.
You helped Iqbal rebuild a home for his family after last summer’s floods in Pakistan (more).
You provided a cooked meal each weekday for Armando in Romania, giving him the encouragement he needs to persevere at school (more).
You improved the diet of Minka’s children in Bulgaria, giving them the protein they need to grow and thrive (more).
You enabled foodbank to come to the rescue of Leah, elderly, housebound and hungry, here in the United Kingdom (more).
And you let Bertrand hear a gospel broadcast in Burundi that set him free from a life of misery and changed him forever (more).
“Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. Matthew 25:40”
Thank you so much for being part of the ministry of Blythswood Care.
James Campbell
Chief Executive
Helping grandma to feed the children
Mum suffers from schizophrenia and dad is an alcoholic but grandma is always there, to cook meals for them, to care for them and to make sure that the older two go to school. Their village home in northwest Romania is an unfinished house without adequate floors or ceilings and their parents’ inability
Help for families hit by floods
Iqbal Masih and his family suffered the total destruction of their home in Hyderabad, Sindh province, when the River Indus burst its banks last summer, causing one of the most catastrophic floods ever to hit Pakistan. Support from Blythswood’s disaster relief fund enabled partner organisation Life Through
Cooked meals essential to after-school programme
By the time Armando arrives at Blythswood’s after-school programme, he is starving. For this 12-year-old, the cooked mid-day meal provided by Talita Kum in Jimbolia, Romania, is a life-saver. At home he lives with his dad and three older brothers. His mother walked out on the family two years ago and then his
Free range chickens boost diet of family living in poverty
Minka is poor even by the standards of the Roma community in which she lives, in southern Bulgaria. With three children to feed and no husband to support her, she depends on welfare payments which equate to about £94 per month. A gift of chickens sponsored by Blythswood’s gift catalogue is providing some
Sometimes elderly people need foodbanks too
An elderly lady was referred to foodbank by a medical team in Edinburgh when they realised she was struggling to provide food for herself and was severely underweight. “Leah* had experienced a close bereavement in traumatic circumstances,” says Miriam Montgomery who manages Blythswood’s SE Edinburgh
Gospel broadcasts transform lives in Burundi
ISHIMWE. In the Kirundi language it means thanksgiving. It is the name of a weekly broadcast on Friday afternoons by a Christian radio station in Burundi supported by Blythswood Care. And it has become a reality in the life of Bertrand, who thanks God that he has been set free from destructive habits of drug
Talita Kum provides one-to-one tuition in a safe environment
Maria comes from a troubled home where she both witnessed and experienced violence. Now that her father has been restrained by law her physical bruises will heal quickly but the emotional damage may remain for much longer. The nine-year-old girl has difficulty in relating both to other children and to adults,
Only Jesus could forgive my sin
“I was a body builder, in the gym, lifting weights,” says Mimi, remembering how he became a Christian, nearly 30 years ago. “A friend there invited me and another man to go to church. It was a Baptist church, in Leskovac, where I am now the pastor. “At the same time I started started to attend the Orthodox
Sonia shares the one big story
When Sonia moved to the city where she is studying for a science degree, she stayed with her aunt. She went to church with her aunt’s family and was concerned to see that there was no Sunday School for the children. “I discussed it with my aunt and then with the pastor,” Sonia says “He told me that
Solar plant makes water safe to drink
Three villages in Sindh province, Pakistan, received a solar water plant, a device which uses the energy of the sun to distil water from a contaminated source, rendering it safe to drink. Blythswood partner organisation Life Through Sports (LTS) took the opportunity to improve the lives of these villagers after a young
Helping children to flourish in foster care
It’s chicken biryani! No wonder Khushi looks happy. The eight-year-old’s placement with a foster family by Blythswood’s partners in Mumbai, India, has ensured that she received three cooked meals every day for the past six years. The happy child is unrecognisable as the malnourished toddler who
Daniel Centre helps young people leaving care to find the way ahead
When Cosmin’s girlfriend walked out on him, he found he couldn’t pay the rent living alone. His jobs on building sites were always without contract, uncertain and paid by the day. And as a young person who had spent the first 18 years of his life in Romania’s care system, he had no family to fall back on. “Cosmin