Let every breath That I take in Breathe out Glory to God

(Harbajan Matharu 2009)

When I was asked to write about myself I felt uneasy about it.  However then I thought I would focus on one aspect of my life that would bring God the greatest glory.  Before I do that I want to say that God forgives sin.  For myself I have done wrong things in my life but the question is what does God have to say about those things that I have done wrong.  God says “he forgives my sins -every one” (Psalm 103, The Message Bible)

A free meal service on plates at the weekends

I want to turn back the clock to about 15 years ago.   I wanted to serve God in my life which had meaning and purpose for me.  I started to provide a cooked meal on a plate for a close friend named Enid Mary Dansey, who had cancer.  Shortly afterwards she died. 

The Enid Mary Dansey Meals Service was born out of compassion and love.  It was a free meals service at the weekends for the following, those people who:

  1. were terminally ill
  2. who had no financial means
  3. were in a crisis situation and needed a meal

To put the project into action my first aim was to hire a kitchen at the weekends.  I hired a kitchen at a local catholic church.  Father Dominic allowed me to use the kitchen at the weekends at a very cheap rate. 

The idea behind providing food on a plate was that I believed that a lot of elderly people in our society ate out of containers.  I saw that by providing food on a plate I would be restoring a person’s sense of dignity and self worth. 

Initially when the project started I was very much on my own.  I would cook, deliver meals on plates, and then wash up.  Shortly afterwards a close friend Stewart joined me and he would help me on Sundays.  Kath Ryder, a parishioner at the church, also helped us by washing up and doing other tasks for us.   We were delivering meals to the most needy people in society, and they were mainly elderly, those who were terminally ill, and those who had self neglected themselves through alcohol.  We were not just a meal service, but we befriended the people that we gave meals to.  Sometimes we were the only contact that they had over the weekend.  

After four years of cooking meals, delivering them and then washing up, the project was taking a different corner.  The meals service came to an end.  Now the Enid Mary Dansey Meals Service became known as Food Aid.   We were providing food parcels and food for the most needy people in society.   This was done mainly in the evenings and at weekends. 

By Harbajan Matharu(servant of Jesus)

“I think the meal service was unique in our Parish outreach. We were very grateful for the cooker you bought which has been used up to this year for parish events and by Anawim for giving cooking lessons to marginalised women and providing them with cooked food each week. Your meal service to the neglected and terminally ill was recognised by those who saw it including myself as very worthwhile and needful. We appreciated your generous service financially and in time and some of our parishioners supported you in one way or another during those years.”

Fr Dominic.

Harbajan has been supporting the work of Father Dan in Uganda for the past two years.

Dear Harbajan,Thank you so much for your help. Thank you for your enduring support. Just about your friend’s inquiry, we are in Northern Uganda in the region of West Nile, the District of Nebbi. We are not running an orphanage. Most of these children actually have parents but simply too poor to have steady meals. Some are refugees and so don’t have the means as they have no jobs and no land for any serious cultivation. So feeding is always their greatest challenge. We step in to only do what we can, as the money we operate on cannot undertake the running of a proper orphanage with all the services such a home would require. We just provide the food and they go back to their homes. We don’t go into other costs an orphanage might require such as water bills, electricity bills, payment of staff, etc. The people who cook for these children are simply volunteers doing it for free. We thank you for all the support you give to make it continue to happen.

Regards,

Fr. Dan Oryema