On Saturday 12th September 2009 at St Philomenas School, Hadleigh Road,  Frinton-on-Sea there is a Table Top Sale between 10am and 12 noon.

Benin Christian Support have a table on which we will be selling lots of \'goodies\'. Other attractions are a Bouncy Castle and a B-B-Q.

Penny and Gill will be there so please come and have a chat and see if we are selling something you need.

Next Saturday 8th August 2009 we will be at the Frinton Mission in the large marquee on the Greensward.

Please pay us a visit and see what goodies we are selling for the work of the charity.

I know there are some lovely cards for sale made by a local lady so if you need a birthday card etc please look at what we have, at the same time you will be helping our work with children and families in Benin West Africa.

Deniz, Debbie and some of the other committee members will be very pleased to have a chat.

On the 14th July 2009 the new Oxygen Machine supplied to the Peniel Clinic saved the life of Grace N'kodo aged 2yrs.

She had been brought into the clinic by her mama where it was found that she was suffering from anaemia and malnutrition,  plus another complication which caused her to fit and stop breathing.

With the new machine and the quick working of the nurses she has recovered and is pictured in the latest addition of our Newsletter with her mum, as the treatment was being administered and a few days later sitting on her Grandmothers lap.

The good news is that the money has been sent out to Benin to purchase the Oxygen machine for the maternity department of the Peniel Clinic.  Many thanks to all of you who have made this possible in such a short space of time. We are continuing to appeal for donations in order to pay for the medicines which have been supplied to the poorest of the poor people who are unable to contribute anything towards the cost.

We have just been made aware of the possible closure of the Peniel Charity Clinic in Benin, due to two things. Firstly this clinic is mainly a maternity and children’s clinic and because the clinic tries to help in supplying medicines and treatments to the poorest of the poor families very often these families are not able to pay anything towards the help they receive. The clinic used to get free medicines from the French but all supplies have now dried up and they rely on gifts of drugs etc from charities like Benin Christian Support. For the year 2008 the clinic is owed 523,300 cfa in unpaid bills which translated to English pounds is about £725. Obviously they will not be able to recoup this money as you cannot expect to get money from people who have none. Secondly the Health Authorities have now said that all maternity clinics have to have a machine called Obus d’oxygene . The problem being there is no funding available for them to be able to buy this machine and it’s accessories for which the cost is 381,690 cfa about £530. We have verified this cost with the company that supplies these machines, in fact we have a copy of their proforma invoice. We are appealing to readers to help with this project if at all possible. Whatever you are able to give, in these hard times, would be gratefully received and BCS will get it to the clinic swiftly in order for them to be able to continue treating some of the most vulnerable people in the world. .