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2022-12-31-accounts

BLACKFRIARS OVERSEAS AID TRUST

Founded 1984 by Members of 9.30 Family Mass Congregation

ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS 2022 Registered Charity 288585

BOAT COMMITTEE

May 2022 to June 2023

Trustees (voting)

Chair Geraldine Johnson Chair’s Report; India (Sugandh) (May-Jan.) Secretary Anna Lucas Acting Chair (May-Oct.); Peru (Iquitos) Treasurer John Thanassoulis Treasurer Asst Treasurer Filomena Nave Regular Donations; Brazil René Bañares-Alcántara Ethiopia (Zizencho and Arekit) Mick Conefrey Zimbabwe Jenifer Dye Sierra Leone Helen Ghosh Acting Secretary (May-Oct.); Peru (Lima and Ayacucho) Ag MacKeith Annual Report; Nicaragua Rosaleen Ockenden Uganda (Butema and Kigumba parishes)

Committee Members (non-voting)

Katherine Backler Ethiopia (Mission of Hope); Peru (Amantani) Julie Lynch Bridson Myanmar, Philippines Rinaldo Caprotti India (Allapalli); Cameroon (from Sept.; overseen by Lucy Carpenter May-Aug.) Nicolette Michels Uganda (Cancer Trust) Bede Mullens OP (May-Oct.) Jamaica, Rwanda Thomas Mannion OP (from Nov.) Autumn Rowan-Hull India (Sugandh) (from Feb.) Gayna Wyles Publicity and Design

Italics indicate the projects for which members are responsible.

Everyone in the 9.30 congregation has a part to play in keeping BOAT’s large fleet of projects afloat. We are very grateful for the generous responses to our appeals for help and for our community's initiative, skill and hard work in raising funds in so many creative ways.

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CHAIR’S FOREWORD 2022

Dear Friends of BOAT,

It is a real honour to be making my first contribution to the Annual Report as Chair of BOAT. I was elected at the AGM in May 2022, but only took on the duties of Chair in November, with Anna Lucas very kindly staying on as Acting Chair in the interim. She has left very big shoes to fill after nearly a decade of service, vision and leadership as Chair of BOAT - always laced with just the right amount of humour when required! Guiding our charity through the darkest days of the pandemic is a particularly important part of Anna's legacy, for which we are incredibly grateful - most of all the individual projects we support. I am sure those of you reading this report will join me in thanking Anna for all she has done for BOAT and, in her ongoing role as Secretary of BOAT, all that she continues to do.

Although the most immediate effects of the global Covid-19 emergency were behind us by the middle of 2022, there is no doubt that many of the communities supported by BOAT continued to feel the negative impact of the pandemic, particularly as the cost of living crisis became increasingly evident. In response to this, the funds raised for the 2022 Lenten Appeal were used to provide additional aid to five of our ongoing projects so they could provide more meals for the children in their care given the ever-higher cost of food and other basic supplies and services. More details about this year's Lenten Appeal can be found in the report.

We also continued to support projects with ongoing annual donations of £4000 each. As careful readers of last year's Annual Report will recall, this includes an increase of £500 per year for each project beginning in 2021. The wonderful generosity of our supporters both in Oxford and beyond has meant that we have been able to sustain this higher level of funding over the past year. As you will see from the reports on the individual projects that follow, our partners around the world have made excellent use of the funds we have sent them, often in the face of severe personal, political, social, medical, economic and environmental challenges.

The individual reports speak of courage and hope even when confronting situations that are difficult for us to fully appreciate or understand. For example, Sister Winnie Apao, who oversees educational programmes for young students of the indigenous Subaaenen people in the Philippines, tells of the transformative power of the targeted literacy and leadership initiatives made possible by BOAT: 'It is our great pride to have students who graduated from high school and senior high school....They have learned many things....their world is opened up to a bigger world and dreams in life....Thank you very much for helping us to make a difference.' The impact of BOAT's donations is also attested to in the other projects we support, which do everything from providing counselling for victims of genocide in Rwanda and helping cancer patients and their families in Uganda, to building water tanks in Myanmar and funding meals for children attending a school in Kingston, Jamaica.

In 2022, BOAT began supporting a new project in Peru, a country where we have a sustained record of funding other initiatives, but which continues to have enormous needs in the face of very difficult local circumstances. Our new project grew out of the 2021 Lenten Appeal, for which funds were raised to supply solar-powered radios to children and teenagers in remote parts of Peru so they could continue their education during the pandemic. This initiative was overseen by Fr Miguel Fuertes Prieto, an Augustinian of immense energy and dedication who has worked in Peru for nearly forty years. As the Diocesan Administrator of the Apostolic Vicariate of Iquitos in the Amazonian zone of Northern Peru, he identified an urgent need to address the horrific consequences of women and young girls being sexually exploited, trafficked and subject to appalling violence in and out of the home. BOAT is proud to now be supporting Fr Miguel's Proyecto Mujeres Loretana for three years in the

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first instance. You can find out more about the situation in Peru and how Fr Miguel's team is making a real difference to the lives of vulnerable women and girls in the detailed report on the project.

While it is clear that our projects benefit enormously from BOAT's support, all of us involved in BOAT, both on the Committee and in the wider Congregation, also gain much from our engagement with the groups we fund. As an added bonus, BOAT's activities help to build our own community here in Oxford though meetings, presentations and fund-raising events. After too many months or even years of Zoom-only interactions, it was wonderful to be able once again to host cafés and the traditional Harvest Auction in person in 2022 - a few photos are included on these pages as a reminder of this important aspect of BOAT's activities (as well as of Geoff Emerson's auctioneering skills!). Thank you to everyone in the Congregation for contributing your time, enthusiasm and financial support to these events - and to the Dominican community, particularly Br Bede Mullens and Br Thomas Mannion, for making us feel so welcome.

Left: A still-life of autumnal bounty on the altar before being auctioned in support of BOAT in October. Right: BOAT's annual Harvest Auction was back in action, with delicious offerings and lively bidding!

I would also like to thank all members of the BOAT Committee who have made my first months serving as Chair such a pleasure. I have already noted Anna Lucas's contributions first as Acting Chair and now Secretary, but thanks are also in order to John Thanassoulis, who as our Treasurer continues to ensure that our finances are carefully and thoughtfully overseen. I am grateful as well to Helen Ghosh, who stepped in to serve as Acting Secretary for several months, and Filomena Nave, our Assistant Treasurer, who continues her dedicated work to recuperate Gift Aid, which this past year provided an impressive £16,500 for BOAT. Ag MacKeith's heroic oversight of the present Annual Report, on top of her work producing the cards sold in support of BOAT, also merits special thanks, as does the contribution of Adam Hodgkin, who once again has very kindly provided his time and expertise in examining our accounts. I am also grateful to Gilli Robbins for including notices about BOAT events and initiatives in the weekly 9.30 Congregation Newsletter and to Jenifer Dye and

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Joshua Dubin for lending us their collection of fine china for our cafés. (The coffee really does taste better!)

As always, my final and very heartfelt thanks go out to all of you reading this report for your ongoing support of BOAT in so many different ways and your belief in the power of making a real difference by funding local initiatives around the world that are often overlooked by larger charities.

Left: Cakes, fresh bread, Christmas biscuits and real mistletoe were donated to BOAT’s Advent Café. Right: Events like the Advent Café foster a sense of community, as well as support BOAT’s work.

BOAT’s Public Benefit

All charities, including smaller ones like BOAT, are required to report on the 'public benefit' they bring through their activities and to describe how they have achieved their objectives.

Our Purpose

Under our constitution as a registered charity, the purposes of BOAT are to 'provide support for the charitable activities of Christian parishes, organisations or societies, situated or working outside Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, in (i) the relief of poverty, and (ii) the advancement of education.' Everyone attending Mass at Blackfriars or giving to BOAT on a regular basis is regarded as a member of the Trust. The formal Trustees are a committee of ten people, elected each year at our Annual General Meeting. A representative from the Dominican community – Br Bede Mullens from January 2019 until October 2022, with Br Thomas Mannion stepping in from November – also sits on the Committee, as a link to the Priory which is home to BOAT.

The Benefit We Bring

We have paid due regard to the Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance. Under our Principles for Giving, updated at our AGM in 2007, we have a very clear set of criteria for the projects we support and for assessing the public benefit that support will bring. On the key principle that we want our funding really to 'make a difference', we aim to support relatively small-scale or grass-roots projects with regular grants of £4,000 in 2022. Some funding will be one-off , particularly in the case of our annual Lenten Appeal. But in most cases, projects will be funded for three years and then considered for renewal on a rolling basis.

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We always look for projects with some link to the 9.30 Family Mass congregation or to the Dominican Order. Although most projects we support have Catholic leadership or a strong Catholic connection, this is not a requirement, and we do not fund any form of proselytizing. We make sure that there is regular personal contact, partly so that we can identify priorities and needs quickly, but also so we can better help the Congregation and other supporters understand the challenges faced by the projects we support. We aim to help communities find long-term solutions to their needs, rather than shortterm fixes, even if, from time to time, we do give money to help with emergency situations. As you read through this report, you will see that our projects fall broadly into three areas:

Health: especially primary health care and preventive medicine;

Welfare: especially for children, people with disabilities, refugees, and victims of war, poverty and violence or exploitation of any kind;

Education: particularly practical skills, women’s education, and the provision of basic educational needs for children.

We are always looking for new projects to support both regularly and on a one-off basis. Thank you for putting BOAT in touch with so many dedicated people and please keep your suggestions for possible new projects coming in.

Geraldine A. Johnson Chair of BOAT

22nd May 2023

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Brazil

São Paulo da Cruz, Calvário Church

The Centre for Children São Paulo da Cruz (CCSPC), in the city of São Paulo, is a day centre for children and teenagers from low-income families. These are children aged six to 14 years who would otherwise spend a large part of the day unattended while their parents are at work. Unlike schools in the UK, schools in Brazil operate in half-day shifts, either morning or afternoon, and don’t provide meals. The CCSPC provides counselling and social and educational activities that complement state school education. Most important, the children receive two meals each day. There are regular talks and workshops for the families, who are encouraged to participate in the development of their children. Since the beginning of the pandemic the families have been receiving essential food parcels.

The manager, Dona Ida Oliveira, sends us very detailed reports. The following is an account of some of the activities in November 2022. The month started with Black Awareness celebration, with 20th November a special date to remember the fight to end slavery. On the 8th, Day of the Radiologist, the children learned about this important profession and how X-rays are used as a medical diagnostic. On the 11th, Children’s Cancer Awareness Day, there was a round-table discussion on recognizing cancer and preventing it. On the 18th, National Day of Combat of Racism, the children made Abayomi rag dolls, like the ones that were made by enslaved women. Throughout the month, reading, writing

and telling stories were, as usual, the favoured activities for all ages. The children opened the written time capsules they had made earlier in the year, and reflected on how their feelings and language had evolved. The Exhibition of Cartography showed children’s drawings and papier-mâché sculptures on the theme of local history.

A new activity in 2022 was caring for a small vegetable garden. The children discussed the importance of collecting rainwater. In Culinary, they learned about the benefits of eating apples. Life Can Be Colourful was a game that looked at aspects of life that is sometimes calm, good, colourful, but at other times rough, difficult, sad. In Ethics, the children played the game Labyrinth, a pedagogic activity to develop teamwork and motor coordination, and practise logic, direction, organization, planning and, responsibility. The 'radar' activity this month was a round-table discussion about the growth of Covid cases in Brazil and the importance of vaccinating children and adults. As Christmas grew closer, Art activities turned to making cards and decorations. The month ended with the children’s monthly evaluation of the CCSPC's functioning, when each child gave marks for respect, assiduity, cooperation, food, cleanliness, recycling, and pedagogic value.

Filomena Nave

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Cameroon

ARCH, Dibanda

ARCH (Associated Rehabilitation Centre for the Handicapped) provides support services to people living with disabilities with the aim of re-integrating them into society. The Centre is in the Anglophone part of Cameroon where the security situation and living conditions continue to deteriorate; the crisis in this region persists unabated since 2016.

The Centre provides:

Due to critical local conditions, it is a great success that the number of patients treated in 2022 has increased to just below 2,100.

The BOAT contribution has allowed ARCH to build a much-needed incinerator and support two desperate cases.

The old incinerator has been out of action for some time. Therefore, waste was disposed locally and was piling up at the back of the Centre. The new incinerator allows the disposal of a greater amount of waste and has a more advanced design that reduces the environmental impact of flue gases.

In August 2022 a two-year-old disabled toddler was abandoned at the centre. She

was given the name Theodora (God’s gift) and BOAT's support was used to purchase a wheelchair for her.

Fallon, a 15-yearold girl, in 2016 injured herself in escaping from

separatist fighters and needed an amputation. She had not been able to attend school. This year, she has been enrolled in her local Catholic primary school using the support from BOAT to pay her fees and all school materials. The next step for her is to be given a prosthetic leg.

All at ARCH send their gratitude and appreciation for BOAT's continued assistance. Lucy Carpenter

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Ethiopia

Zizencho and Arekit

Last year was a very difficult one in Ethiopia, with an armed conflict raging in the northern part of the country (the Tigray region bordering Eritrea). The war resulted in massacres, gender violence, blockage of all basic services, destruction of infrastructure, and looting. As a result, all schools in the Tigray region were closed during the conflict. A ceasefire was announced only last November but there are millions of people displaced in other Ethiopian regions and in Sudan.

The two schools that we support in the villages of Zizencho and Arekit are both in the Guraghe region south of the capital Addis Ababa, and thankfully they have not been directly affected by the war. Both schools are similar in size (around 550 students) and their educational offering (from kindergarten to Grade 8). Because of the excellent exam results in recent years in both schools, there is growing demand to start a high school in the region so that graduating pupils can continue their education. The schools are run by the local church, lay people, and the Bethany Sisters who have

made their lives in these communities and have continued to support them whatever the circumstances. The Zizencho school is run by Sr Prasantha and its Arekit counterpart by Sr Silvy. The photos show food being distributed at lunchtime in Arekit and a P.E. lesson in Zizencho.

BOAT sent its annual contribution via the Jean Grove Trust (http://jeangrovetrust.org.uk/) together with an additional £1,000 from the Lenten Appeal 2022 that supported BOAT projects through additional funding for food in schools and orphanages. Annual donations are used to fund free education, school uniforms, medical help, and food. While there is severe inflation in Ethiopia, depreciation of their national currency (Ethiopian birr) means that in real terms our contributions have approximately held their value. Both schools we support in Ethiopia acknowledged safe receipt of the donation and their gratitude for our support.

René Bañares-Alcántara

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Ethiopia

Mission of Hope, Gode

Since October 2021 we have been supporting the Tamara project, run by Sr Mary Joachim and the Mission of Hope. The project is in Gode, a military city in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. Women and girls come to Gode to work in restaurants and are frequently coerced or compelled into prostitution. When they have children, it becomes much harder to leave prostitution or Gode, and they become trapped. Many become seriously ill with tuberculosis, HIV, or other sexually-transmitted diseases. Unable to earn money from prostitution, they and their children are left homeless.

Tamara offers women the opportunity immediately to leave prostitution; it provides them with healthcare, childcare, and training; it helps them rebuild their sense of dignity and significance. Women who are well enough use their new skills to make craft products. Tamara sets up individual bank accounts for each woman for the proceeds. Women who are terminally ill are cared for in the Tabor hospice, so that they may die loved and with dignity. Currently there are 33 adults and 22 children at Tamara. The picture shows the children, mothers, and a few fathers who work in the compound to support their families.

Gode is a difficult place to live. It suffers from the climate crisis and from extremely complex political and territorial disputes, which exacerbate the strictures of poverty. Challenges in 2022 included the breakdown of the water pump, flooding, and power cuts. On one occasion, the valve of the tower which stores the compound’s water broke, making the water inaccessible: ‘We just had to sit down and laugh…and joy brought a brief pause.’ The plumbing and electrical renovations and repairs are now complete and the new washing facilities ( see photo ) are an improvement.

There have been joys and grief. Helped by Sr

Mary Joachim’s advocacy, one of the women welcomed a new baby after an emergency caesarean. Not long before, another woman’s baby was stillborn. Cultural misunderstandings about giving blood nearly prevented the blood transfusion she needed, and amidst her bereavement she has been diagnosed with a heart condition. Sr Mary Joachim asks us to pray for her.

In 2022 the centre welcomed a social worker, Bethlehem, who has made a huge difference. The centre also piloted an English project: some volunteers helped Tamara’s Year 10 students improve their English, giving the students ‘experience of speaking good English and developing their reading skills and being encouraged to become the protagonists of their education.’ Sr Mary Joachim hopes that with some permanent staff the younger children could be helped with their English, as well as with numeracy and literacy in their own languages, but ‘at the moment the whole idea is a little precarious since we struggle to find fuel for the daily needs of the mission. But,’ she writes, ‘I suppose we have to face this one day at a time, to do all the good we can and leave what we can’t to the Lord!’

Katherine Backler

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India

Allapalli, Andhra Pradesh

Allipalli Mary Matha Boarding Home and School is located in the diocese of Eluru in the Indian region of Andhra Pradesh. More than five hundred children who are orphans or destitute are given free shelter, clothing, food, and education. The aim is to help the children build a bright future. They also help the large number of the ‘poorest of the poor’ present in the villages around the centre to improve their quality of life. The activities undertaken range from free health consultations and support to providing food and general assistance aimed at building productive, safe, and selfsufficient communities.

2022 has been a challenging year. The economic crisis has further reduced

the financial support received, already on a downward trend in the previous years due to COVID. Additionally, food prices and school supplies have increased substantially putting a serious strain on the running of the centre. Therefore, BOAT’s donation is more essential than ever. The main donation for 2022 had been used to buy notebooks and other stationery for 450 children ( see photo ). The extra amount received thanks to the Lenten Appeal in 2022 went towards buying breakfast and afternoon snacks for the children, which would otherwise have had to be sacrificed due to the rise in the cost of living.

The challenges for 2023 remain the same with the additional urgent need to boost the supply of clean and safe water for drinking, cooking and hygiene. [ Note: BOAT's 2023 Lenten Appeal focused on raising funds to provide a new water well for the Allapalli centre and nearby villages. ] Rinaldo Caprotti

India

Sugandh, New Delhi

Sugandh is a charity that helps support families living in some of the most deprived slums of New Delhi. BOAT's donations help residents access the government funds and programmes to which they are entitled by providing advocacy training; encouraging women to develop and finance small businesses through self-help groups and cooperative micro-savings programmes; organising skills training sessions for women looking to start their own businesses and develop sources of income that will benefit their entire families; providing crucial tutoring and enrichment programmes for children in both elementary and high schools so they can reach their full potential; and undertaking important health awareness initiatives that benefit the entire community.

One of the projects recently undertaken ( see photo) involves providing training in tailoring skills to young women from marginalised communities, thereby improving their quality of life and that of

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their families through empowerment and employment. Other initiatives include the information sessions for local women run by Sugandh staff member Kamal about how micro-savings programmes work and Sugandh's ongoing academic support for children from some of Delhi's poorest communities.

This past year, Sugandh also provided blankets to families in need. Families like that of Rukmani, who has use of just one hand due to a medical condition and whose husband is a labourer with a low and unreliable) income, received warm blankets during the cold season in Delhi.

In 2022, Sugandh's long-time Project

Director, Mrs Ralkapthangi (Thangtei) David took a temporary leave of absence, with Mr Kuldeep Singh stepping in to oversee her work. [ Note: in January 2023, Mrs David permanently resigned from her post after 17 years after deciding to emigrate to the US. A new Project Director, Mrs Maheshwari Deep, a qualified Social Worker with previous experience working at Sugandh, became Director. Also from February 2023, the BOAT contact became Autumn Rowan-Hall. ]

Geraldine A. Johnson

Jamaica

Christ the King Basic School, Kingston

BOAT began supporting Christ the King Basic School in August Town, Jamaica, in 2020. In April 2020, the principal of Christ the King arranged the teaching and feeding of 40 children, sometimes providing up to two meals per day for some of them. Parents pay 6,500 JMD (about £40) per term for their children to attend the school. In April 2020, the principal paid herself, two other teachers, and two cooks, as well as kept the school clean and buying food to feed 40 children, on £4,800 per year. Prior to BOAT’s support, this £4,800 represented the school's only income for the entire year. BOAT’s funding totals £4,000 per year, guaranteed for a period of three years, which, after review, may be renewed. Considering the school’s income, it is clear that BOAT’s support makes an enormous contribution to its success.

In the summer of 2022, I visited the school to see BOAT's work in action. The school is set in a community that has a warm, lively, and generous spirit, yet sadly faces the challenges of serious poverty and the threat of violence. It does all it can to support its students and staff and relies on the good will and generosity of the wider community. It was clear how much BOAT’s support is appreciated by this community, and how vital BOAT's contribution is to the school’s development. The majority of the funds received from BOAT over the past year supported the education and welfare

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of the pupils by providing meals for students and staff, relieving pressures on families in the local community, and improving health through better nutrition.

In addition to the ongoing needs of the school for help with resources, food, and staffing costs, the institution also requires funds to cover the cost of maintaining its infrastructure, including providing and maintaining paving, fencing, and windows, installing a new roof over part of the building, and painting the building as necessary. In addition to this, the school needs storage containers to prevent wildlife from interfering with school supplies and food, as well as filing cabinets for school records.

Thomas Mannion OP

Myanmar

Living Water Myanmar

'Water, with love, sustains all life.'

After a year’s hiatus which saw the building of water tanks slow due to COVID restrictions and military crackdowns in many parts of Myanmar, we are delighted to report that in 2022 BOAT resumed funding Living Water Myanmar (LWM), a project it has been supporting since 2017.

LWM is a charity founded in 2011 by Rosemary Breen that is committed to improving access to clean water for vulnerable people in remote villages in the Dry Zone of Central Myanmar. Coordinator Soya Toe and his team work with communities to assess which areas are most at risk from water insecurity. With help from local volunteers, they then construct and install water tanks and piping systems, usually in the grounds of

local schools or health clinics. Costing approximately $2000 each, the tanks collect rainwater during the monsoon season and in some cases, water from boreholes. The tanks – which belong to the community – ensure a stable source of water throughout the year and transform the lives of local people, who no longer need to travel great distances just for clean water and, in turn, have free time for other activities, such as building schools and going to school.

To date, LWM has constructed over 400 tanks, enabling approximately 30,000 people to have access to clean water. Rosemary’s aim is to reach 500 tanks in the next few years. BOAT’s donation in 2022 was used to construct three new 5000-gallon tanks in the Nyaung Oo township: two in Zade (Suti), a village with a population of over 1000 people; and one in Kyobindaw village.

Rosemary expressed her deep gratitude for BOAT’s support: 'You have changed so many lives… this whole project only works because of people like you.'

Julie Lynch Bridson

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Nicaragua

Guadalupe

With the support of BOAT, the Nicaragua Education, Culture and Arts Trust (NECAT), a UKregistered charity based in Oxford, has been working with its contacts in Nicaragua to provide meals for school children from low-income families living in areas suffering from extreme levels of poverty. The meals project has been running for over a decade. Although the project always takes the same form – the feeding of hungry children – it has moved between sites for various reasons. Its most recent base was at the NECAT ‘Learning Reinforcement Centre’ in Guadalupe.

The main project at the Centre is now early education for 2- to 5-year-olds following the Montessori method. BOAT funding ensures a healthy diet for 26 children, good for both body and brain. The families benefit too. Helping to plan the meals and prepare the food educates parents in healthy eating: they are shown how it promotes good health, academic performance and good muscle development, and absorb some rules of basic hygiene.

The children learn to like healthy

foods. Their vocabulary is enriched by new terms for food, ingredients and utensils. They practise grace and courtesy in their social relations in the dining room. The food offered includes seasonal fruits (watermelon, melon, papaya, orange, mango, pineapple, grapes, apples), and vegetables (corn, spinach, garlic, onion, sweet pepper, lettuce, cucumber, beets, pumpkins, carrots, tomatoes), cereals (rice, oats, barley, gourd seed, bread, wholemeal cookies, pancakes, corn flakes, etc.), nuts (raisins, plums, almonds), dairy (milk, cheese, cream, curd), and meats (chicken, pork, egg).

Age-appropriate cookery classes are taught, and children prepare various dishes – butter cookies, natural fruit smoothies, vegetable skewers, carrot cake, among others. The children enjoy these lessons (especially tasting the food), and develop motor skills in manipulating juicers, spatulas, graters, measuring cups, etc, while reinforcing patience and concentration. The school’s pupils include three children with particular problems. Two with Autism were persuaded to try new foods and to relish different smells and textures, and the child with Downs syndrome was introduced to natural drinks and lactose-free dairy products on the recommendation of her doctor.

Three paediatric evaluations of the children’s weight were carried out by Dr Perez over the year. Over the period, the 17 children in

normal ranges remained the same, and the five children who were malnourished were reduced to three. But obesity (a different kind of malnutrition) rose from four to six. Not a magic bullet, then, but a welcome resource in a place where life is very hard.

Ag MacKeith

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Peru

Amantani

Amantani is BOAT’s newest project; we have been supporting them since January 2022. The project works with young people and women artisans in the Peruvian Andes. It helps young people to access their rights to high-quality education and fair employment – in turn facilitating social development among Peru’s rural communities – and supports women handweavers to maintain financial independence through their craftwork, while fostering their cultural traditions.

Amantani’s ‘Ethical Trade’ project supports

women in Cora who use traditional methods and their own creativity to produce handwoven bracelets—and, as of this year, bag tags and hat bands! This year it opened eight new selling points in Peru and an online selling operation.

( Above left: An artisan shares her designs at a monthly meeting. Above right: An artisan at work. )

This year Amantani’s ‘Amazon Youth Project’ has delivered workshops to 400 secondary school students, developing their self-confidence and addressing their doubts and worries about finishing school. The project also trained teachers in positive discipline and child protection.

Tuition on Amantani’s Scholarships Programme is now fully back in-person after a period online, and its Paqari Wayna Youth Hub in Cuzco stayed open almost all year (barring a few days’ closure due to political unrest). This year the programme supported 66 students with a combined total of 330 hours of individual tuition. These students include five young women and a young man who became parents last year: their Amantani tutors, together with their partners and families, have helped them to continue their studies as they rise to the challenges of parenthood.

Katherine Backler

( Above right: Secondary school students developing teamwork skills at a workshop. Right: Young people in a workshop sharing ideas and opinions in a small group, in which all their voices can be heard. )

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Peru

Lima and Ayacucho

BOAT has been supporting the work of Columban Fr Ed O’Connell and the Warmi Huasi project in Lima and up in the mountains in Ayacucho province for decades. For communities facing multiple challenges, the need is still acute. The project supports children who would otherwise be at risk of violence and bullying, while their parents are working. It provides reading and homework clubs as well as enabling them to participate in local decisions about services for them and their families.

Fr Ed is a wonderful correspondent as well as an indefatigable community activist. ( The photo shows him at the construction of new facilities at one of his parish churches.) In his latest letter, he describes the current political and economic upheavals in Peru as the Government cracks down on public protest and the political elite face calls for new elections. But as he explains, that is not the only challenge the communities are facing. He writes:

'The number of cases of Covid in Peru up to yesterday [ December 2022 ] is: 4,424,906 and the number of deaths: 217,941 . Cases are now around 4,000 a day and deaths up to around 20 a day. The 5th wave of Covid has begun and most of the people hospitalized and dying are those who have not been vaccinated. The fourth jab is now available but quite a few people stopped after the second vaccination. We await news of a 5th vaccination, but it does not seem to be coming!

The Warmi Huasi project accompanies children and adolescents (C&As) at risk in the Lima districts of Carabayllo and San Martin de Porres and in the Province of Paucar de Sara Sara, high up in the Andes in the department of Ayacucho.

The 5 communal kitchens in San Benito, four of them run by the mothers of the homework clubs and the other by a local community leader, continue to function and are still very much needed. They serve now in the month of December 2022, 636 meals a day, mostly for children, adolescents and 31 senior citizens, and also 75 social cases. Numbers fluctuate as some parents find work and drop out whilst others out of necessity join.

Latest news from Ayacucho: We are now accompanying three primary schools, as they restart the reading clubs in their schools, supervised by teachers who have been trained by us. We have three more who started a new programme called 'reading box' where the school receives a box of 70 books and a reading plan for the teachers, to see how the children get on during 2022 with their reading. The prize is being named a reading club in 2023, if the reading comprehension of the students has improved. The two C&As committees in Pausa and Lampa meet and have their action plans for 2022. We are also working with two secondary school to improve the adolescents’ social skills, as alcoholism and teenage pregnancies are everyday realities.

Latest news from Lima: The four homework clubs are open and the reading club also, the latter twice a week in the Warmi Huasi Centre in San Benito. The Reading Club has just celebrated their 8th anniversary, with over 80 children participating. There was a puppet show, songs, dances and poetry all with the theme of care for the earth. The seven C&As committees are meeting and have their representatives on the Carabayllo COMUDENNA and also on the CCONNA (Advisory Council

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to the Municipality of Carabayllo). The Therapy Club meets twice a week, helping over 50 children who have minor disabilities with physio and speech therapies.

A big concern: In both Carabayllo and Ayacucho the children and adolescents have regressed in their development. After two years away from school, mental health is a serious concern. Time has to be spent on socio-emotional skills in the homework clubs and reading club, so as to encourage them to overcome their fears and give them confidence before being able to start their homework or reading exercises… Love and blessings, Ed'

We feel privileged to be able to support all this vital work, thanks to the generosity of the 9.30 congregation.

Helen Ghosh

Peru

Apostolic Vicariate of Iquitos

You will recall that, in 2021, our BOAT Lenten Appeal was directed at raising money to support Fr Miguel Fuertes of the Apostolic Vicariate of Iquitos in his endeavour to help children and teenagers continue their education despite the additional challenges brought about by the pandemic. We were able to send £7,500 to Fr Miguel which allowed him to provide approximately 485 solar-powered radios to some of the most isolated and vulnerable young people in his 'parish.' Fr Miguel’s 'parish' is in Amazonian Northern Peru and covers an area approximately the size of Scotland; parts of it are only accessible by river.

At that time, when our own 9.30 community was so fragmented due to lockdowns and restrictions, we were all struck by the energy, resourcefulness, and dedication demonstrated by Fr Miguel. He was tireless in his work to address the problems facing his flock in the middle of a declared state of emergency.

Peru, as we know, was very badly affected by the pandemic and currently has the highest number of Covid deaths per capita in the world, by some margin. This sad distinction comes on top of many other problems faced by ordinary Peruvians – one such being violence against women and girls, and this is the focus of this BOAT project, Proyecto Mujeres Loretana. ( The photo below shows a workshop on domestic violence.)

The Peruvian Government Ministry for Women and Vulnerable Communities was set up in 1996 to promote equality and inclusion. However, there is still much to do in a country where violence against women of all ages – including little girls – is the most common form of violence. Domestic abuse, trafficking, sexual abuse, kidnapping, femicide – the figures in Fr Miguel’s project proposal are very upsetting (and particularly when the

17

picture behind the figures is of women and children who are far from 'safe' in the isolation of their abusive homes).

Thus, in January 2022, 519 girls, teenage girls, and women were reported missing in Peru. Before the pandemic, on average, five women and girls were reported missing every day; therefore, January 2022 saw an increase of 234% in the number of desaparecidas . In many cases, a desaparecida is, in fact, a victim of femicide – except that no body has been found. In January 2022, 18 femicides were recorded, as were six femicide attempts and eight violent deaths (under investigation).

These figures are likely to be even greater due to the fact that there is no complete national register of the numbers of missing women and girls. Moreover, cases are not always reported to the authorities: Peruvians’ confidence in the police and judicial system is low – an understandable state of affairs in view of instances such as that of 21-year-old Judith Machaca and 14-year-old Noemí Escobar, whose bodies were found at the beginning of 2021 down a well belonging to the parents of a police officer who was subsequently charged with murder. The country’s military and political history is a further reason for suspicion (with women – especially indigenous women – still seeking justice for the rapes and forced sterilizations which they suffered during the government of Alberto Fujimori).

The country also has a problem with teenage and child pregnancies. Fr Miguel reports that, on average, every day in Peru there are four girls under 15 years of age who give birth as a result of sexual abuse. Trafficking for sexual exploitation is another one of the big challenges facing the country – and, again, women and girls are the main targets.

Fr Miguel and his

team have been tackling these problems directly since 2018. Through workshops and discussion groups, women and girls are taught about the following: self-esteem, Human Rights (women’s, children’s, and indigenous people’s), women as leaders, and women in business. There are also workshops for the wider community addressing the problems of violence against women and intrafamilial violence. Three lawyers are employed to give free legal advice on child maintenance payments, division of assets, protection orders, rape, assault, and other matters. ( The photo above shows a young mother receiving legal advice.)

The committee have agreed to support Proyecto Mujeres Loretana for at least three years (2022, 2023, and 2024). BOAT’s first donation went out in June 2022 and was immediately put to good use, as you can see from the photos. Between 18th July 2022 and 13th December 2022 there have been nine workshops, with 314 attendees, as well as two events open to the wider public. The office providing free legal advice has also operated every day of the working week.

Fr Miguel writes: 'We are immensely grateful for the care and interest you show for all who are in need in this part of Peru. May our Lord fill your lives with blessings.'

Anna Lucas

18

Philippines

Midsalip, Missionary Sisters of St Columban

BOAT has been supporting the work of the Missionary Sisters of St Columban in Midsalip for many years. Now under Sister Winnie Apao's leadership, the Mission provides ongoing support to the indigenous Subaanen people, helping them to access health care and education and in protecting their homeland from natural disasters and destructive farming practices. BOAT's funding specifically supports the Mission's educational programmes. The Mission operates seven pre-schools and provides literacy programmes and scholarships for selected high school and college students.

– In September 2022, the Mission's schools which are all recognized by the Department of Education - re-opened after the Covid lockdown. Approximately 150 pre-school students attend these schools, which offer culture-based learning in the local language. Sadly, malnourishment remains a constant threat amongst the pupils, made more acute by Covid and the cost-of-living crisis. Therefore, BOAT's

additional £1000 donation from our Lenten appeal, earmarked to support the Mission’s pre-school feeding programme, was particularly welcome on top of our annual £4000 donation.

In addition to supporting the Mission's pre-schools, BOAT's funding is also used to run literacy and leadership programmes for selected high school and college students from local barrios. Specifically, BOAT's donation helped 14 high school students and four college students with room and board, school supplies and school fees.

Sister Apao writes: 'It is our great pride to have students who graduated from high school and senior high school here. We are also happy to see the improvement of each student....They have started to appreciate and affirm their own culture...They have learned many things....their world is opened up to a bigger world and dreams in life....They give us and the outer world hope that our common home will be protected from human harm and the young Subaanen people will continue to take care of our common home. Thank you very much for helping us to make a difference. May God bless you all. On behalf of the Subaanen students, staff and teachers, I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for your continuous help and kind hearts. Rest assured of our constant prayers and remembrance.'

Julie Lynch Bridson

19

Rwanda

Network For Africa

Network for Africa works with communities devastated by war across the African continent. This charity helps the forgotten survivors of African conflicts who have been left behind after the fighting stops and disaster relief efforts move on. They provide training in specialised trauma counselling so survivors can tackle the long-term psychological consequences that often block their communities’ recovery. Network for Africa currently has projects in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and northern Uganda. In the last year, across all three countries, this charity provided counselling for 1,286 people with mental health issues and carers, treated 1,716 people at mental health clinics and trained 82 health workers.

BOAT's support focuses in particular on Network for Africa's support for the survivors of genocide in Rwanda. Of those aided by this charity, 88% have reported that their mental health interferes with their ability to work. In addition to the ongoing counselling programme, in March 2022, 49 participants were recruited to an entrepreneurship training programme. They all received training to build their knowledge and confidence of income-generating activities, including understanding all aspects of the business cycle. More specifically, the training programme included lessons about savings, developing and writing business proposals, how to work with financial institutions, market analysis, customer care, competition, and marketing. The participants all wrote business proposals, which they presented to the Income-Generating Officer for feedback and advice. Once the participants complete their year’s counselling and entrepreneurship training, they will hopefully have secured a loan for their new businesses, which has the potential to improve the lives of the participants and their families. BOAT’s contributions specifically help to support the entrepreneurship element of Network for Africa's programme in Uganda.

Thomas Mannion OP

Sierra Leone

Koindu

2022/23 is the fifth year in which BOAT has supported the ‘Smile with Us’ orphanage in the northeastern Kailahun district of Sierra Leone. Founded and run by Mary Sesay, the orphanage takes in local children. Historically, many of the children’s parents had died from AIDS and the orphans would be unable to find support from family or other sectors of the community because of the stigma attached to their parents’ illness. Although this is still the case, the orphanage also takes many children who have been abandoned for other reasons, and are subject to abuse or neglect in their domestic settings. Many have multiple needs, including impaired vision and hearing problems. The children’s two greatest needs are food and water. However, the orphanage is in fact the children’s ‘whole world’, so it is a place where not only do they receive nourishment, medical attention and clothing, but also where their academic, social and physical needs are met. Due to its reputation, and that of its staff, for the support and attention the orphanage gives to its children, the number of children placed there continues to grow.

Sierra Leone is a desperately poor country and abandoned or orphaned children are among the most vulnerable groups in that country. The orphanage struggles on a daily basis to provide the basics for the children who live there, such as food and medicine. Recently, the situation has become more difficult as a result of sky-rocketing food prices. Our money makes a real and fundamental difference

20

to the lives of these children. The photo shows them outside the dining room with rice and other provisions bought with BOAT funds.

In previous years our money has helped to build a well and a dining room, to furnish the dining room, and to fence off the orphanage compound. Our donations continue to provide food (notably staples like rice), cutlery, medical supplies (and the payment of medical bills), uniforms, textbooks, pens, exercise books, extra lessons (for those taking public exams), Monitors’ allowances,

transport costs, Christmas entertainment and breakfast each day. The orphanage’s emphasis on education has enabled the children to achieve well educationally, continuing to obtain excellent results on external exams, and one of the pupils has been awarded a place at one of the best schools in the country. The children have also been cultivating a cassava farm with some of the funds sent in October 2022.

Our donations have also enabled the orphanage to introduce games (a school quiz competition) and sport (including football, volleyball), as well as outreach picnics, as regular features of orphanage life, allowing the children to improve in health and confidence.

The main challenge now is the lack of a library or other resource centre for the teachers to do their research and prepare their lessons. The teachers are not government-funded but volunteers, and the orphanage is not a school approved by government, so relies upon donations for this kind of support. In the last year, other humanitarian organisations have not responded positively to requests for assistance. Also, the well project hit impenetrable rock, although the children have been able to access fresh water throughout the rainy season (save in March). Now the orphanage is looking to install a solar pump, but requires significant funds if it is to proceed with that project.

BOAT communicates via a WhatsApp group and we receive information particularly from Tamba and Tim, the social workers involved with the orphanage.

We have continued to give the social workers a small remittance as they do an awful lot of unpaid work for the orphanage, but their wages (from the Sierra Leone government) continue to be both very meagre and paid only intermittently. Just to give an outline of what they do: they visit the orphanage regularly, bringing food and clothing supplies for the children; they supervise building works, as well as hiring workers and obtaining quotes; they accompany Mary Sesay to pick up abandoned or abused children; they offer a huge amount of personal support and mentoring for the children; they also support the children in their studies and examinations, and run workshops. Without their support, the orphanage would be in a very precarious position.

We were very sad to learn that Kabba Kailie, one of the support workers, died suddenly at the end of December 2022. He was a great support and will be greatly missed. We send our heartfelt sympathy and good wishes to all who knew and loved him, both at the orphanage and in the local community.

Our UK link to the Smile with Us Orphanage is Penny Boreham, a producer, presenter and writer, who works for the BBC World Service. Penny has longstanding links in Sierra Leone and knows the orphanage well.

Jenifer Dye

21

Uganda

Cancer Trust

Every year the privilege of reporting on our support of Uganda Cancer Trust (UTC) is a humbling experience. The individual stories of adults and children who are helped by UCT are both immensely sad but also uplifting. The work of the team provides such vital work and it is hugely powerful to read in last Autumn’s report of the impact of UCT in numbers. Over the previous year and a half UCT identified and supported: 102 patients with food and nutritional help, children as well as adults; 12 patients with transport to travel home after discharge or for follow up reviews; four patients with medicines not accessible from the hospital pharmacies; and two patients with investigations that have included Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) – a service not provided by the hospital. The number of children being helped by UCT is increasing. The photo above shows a volunteer in the crowded ward, with the parents of twins, one of whom has cancer.

Last year we reported on the important uses to which UCT funds are put, paying not just for ‘Cancer Treatment’ but also laying out ‘Comfort Funds’. The Cancer Treatment fund provides additional financial support to patients who are unable to meet some of the costs for investigations and medicines that are not available at the hospitals (Mulago and Kirudu) and Uganda Cancer Institute. These patients are identified by the volunteers who make the assessments and hold discussions with the clinical team. Working together, they identify and recommend the support needed for a particular patient. The team also work with the primary teams on the wards for the patients to get waivers for some investigations like CT scan, or blood tests where possible.

The ‘Comfort Fund’ provides support for patients and families in need of: food/additional nutritional support, transport either back home or for follow up visits, toys for paediatric patients, soap etc. These too are identified through the volunteers/social workers and recommendations for support made. The team has also used this fund to enable potentially treatable cancer

22

patients from Adjumani district, identified through their partner the Peace Hospice there, to have access to appropriate investigations and travel costs.

Fundamentally BOAT funds pay for Liz Nabirye ( see the photo above) the amazing nurse who provides vital clinical work and staff training. Liz also gets involved in important research. Volunteers are the backbone of Uganda Cancer Trust, and our monies have made it possible for them to do this vital work – for example by paying for their travel and their lunch.

To close this year’s report, we need to acknowledge some of the key factors affecting UCT going forward. The Covid pandemic is still around although in smaller numbers than previously reported. The team have returned to their normal social life and all have received vaccinations as part of the nationwide vaccination campaigns, although Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are still in place. More recently inflation is providing a challenging context and our support continues to be critical.

Nicolette Michels

Uganda

Church of Christ the King, Butema Catholic Parish, Hoima

Father Sebastian continued with the final year of the plan for the new classroom block and solar lighting. More timber needed to be bought to complete the work. Window glass had to be bought to replace the windows broken by thieves during the period when the school was empty. Schools were closed and the pupils had to stay at home in their villages for a long period in 2021 due to Covid regulations. Once the construction work and repairs were completed, the classrooms were equipped with 54 desks, the major expenditure of this year’s grant.

BOAT’s extra contribution of £1000 for foodstuffs in July 2022 was gratefully received, as food was scarce and expensive. Father Sebastian says that hunger is still rampant in the parish. In July 2022 he was able to buy 200 kgs of rice, ten bags of maize and five bags of beans and plant an allotment area 40 feet square with potatoes. The potato plants in the allotment are still producing potatoes and there are plans to continue planting potatoes in the future.

The headmistress of the school reports that the children’s health improved greatly once they returned to classes after the end of Covid restrictions, because of the food provided. Those children suffering from chiggers (tropical fleas) are shown how to use a pin to remove them and taught to wash daily with soap.

Karungu Convent, Kigumba

Sister Clemensia reports that the work on the classroom block of the Infant Jesus nursery school was completed in 2022. There has been a further rise of up to 30% in costs of building materials and of transport Labour costs have risen similarly. Unfortunately, some of the work that had already been undertaken was found to be sub-standard and cracks appeared. Sister Clemensia was advised to construct a trench, to serve as a water channel, all round the classroom block, to prevent water entering under the veranda and affecting the foundations of the building.

23

Much of the window glass needed replacing and the fascia board round the building was cleaned and painted with undercoat emulsion and top coated with weather-guard paint. The upper walls outside were also painted with white undercoat and cream and maroon weatherguard paint. The two classrooms were painted. Sister Clemensia’s plans for the future are to have solar panels installed to provide lighting on the three buildings at Karungu: the nursery school, the health centre and the convent house.

Rosaleen Ockenden

Zimbabwe

African Mission

BOAT has supported African Mission for several years now. Founded by a Consultant Anaesthetist, Ray Towey, they have two principle focuses: medical training in Uganda and educational work at Fatima Mission in Zimbabwe.

Fatima is a large mission in central Zimbabwe run by Franciscan priests. It includes several schools and a residential home for disabled children. The home opened in 2011 with six children and now looks after 19 disabled children and three blind adults. BOAT's contribution has helped African Mission pay the school fees and the living costs of the children and adults, as well as helping to fund the building and equipping the schools, providing them with basic computer equipment and musical instruments.

In an attempt to increase selfsufficiency, Fr Jeya, the main local priest, has recently run a number of projects including organising and maintaining several fields where they grow crops such as sugar beans and maize and a green leafy plant called chomolia . Next year they are also hoping to build a set of chicken runs and a piggery. The photo shows the students planting maize .

African Mission is a small but very

effective charity, for whom our contribution really does make a difference. Zimbabwe remains a desperately poor country, but their work has helped both improve people's lives and bring them hope.

Mick Conefrey

24

2022 Lenten Appeal Project

Meals for Children

In previous years, the Lenten Appeal has focused on a single project. However, in 2022, it was felt that the world-wide cost of living crisis, coming on top of the ongoing challenges of the global pandemic, meant that many of the projects supported by BOAT were struggling to meet even the basic needs of their communities. This was particularly concerning for projects that served children. In response, it was agreed that the 2022 Lenten Appeal would raise funds to provide additional meals for children in BOAT-supported schools, orphanages and other organisations.

In addition to very generous donations to the Lenten Appeal by members of the 9.30 Mass and other supporters, funds that had accumulated from donations for the weekly coffee and biscuits were also added to the Lenten Appeal. This meant that a total of £5000 could be donated to five projects. Each received an extra £1000 to help feed the children in their care or with whom they were engaged.

The projects selected for these one-time donations included two schools in the villages of Zizencho and Arekito south of the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, the Allapalli Children's Centre in Andhra Pradesh in India, the Columban sisters' schools in Midsalipin in the Philippines, an orphanage in Koindu in Sierra Leone, and a church-run school in Hoima in Uganda.

Geraldine Johnson

Boat Christmas Cards

This year, these raised £1,008, more like our usual total than last year. Used cards flooded in early in the year, and the team was glad to resume normal Friday morning sessions. This year we stuck the boxes as well as filling them – we would welcome more hands to do this. Many thanks to those who created and packaged the cards, as well as to Joshua Dubin and Jenifer Dye who generously funded the costs.

Ag MacKeith

25

Reserves policy and risk management

The Trustees’ policy is to maintain reserves of approximately £24,000. This sum is sufficient to meet emergencies by covering the outlay for the entirety of two projects. It provides a buffer so that even severe changes in our financial conditions can be cushioned for the projects that we support.

Risk management

In the light of the Trustees’ desire to deliver funds to good causes as expeditiously as possible, any surplus cash is held on a bank deposit until needed. The Trustees monitor the level of cash held and would review this policy if the levels of cash held were to increase significantly.

Trustees’ responsibilities in relation to the financial statements

Law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements that give a true and fair view of the state of affairs and the charity's financial activities during the year and of its financial position at the end of the year. In preparing those financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 1993. The Trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity, and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

By order of the Trustees

Signed: Geraldine Johnson

Chair, for and on behalf of the Committee of BOAT

22nd May 2023

26

Treasurer’s Report on the Statement of Financial Activities for the Year ended 31 December 2022

I am yet again humbled by the generosity of our donors and excited at the large sums we have been able to distribute to good causes. As you will see from the accounts which follow, in 2022 we received over £83,000 in donations and from events like after-mass cafés. This is a phenomenal sum of money. And I am delighted to report that during 2022 we sent out just shy of £84,000 to good causes around the world. All of these causes are to support one of our core aims: health, welfare, education and community building in some of the least fortunate parts of developing countries.

I am also proud to report that, as we are all volunteers, our costs are solely the bank transfer charges, and a small fee for printing the annual report for governance purposes. So, of the resources that came into BOAT in 2022, only 0.6% was lost to costs – that is around one half of one percent!

In 2022 we supported 19 projects around the world: In Africa (e.g. Sierra Leone, Uganda, Ethiopia), Asia (e.g. India, Myanmar, Philippines) and Latin America (e.g. Peru, Nicaragua, Brazil). We were also able to respond to the crisis in food prices around the world by giving a number of our schools £1,000 extra support where feeding their children was becoming really difficult. This was the subject of our Lenten Appeal.

All this would not be possible without the strong support of all of our donors, many of whom attend the 9.30 mass at Blackfriars, Oxford. To foster this communal spirit, we have been delighted to get back to in-person events. The Harvest Auction, Christmas Café and Mothers’ Day Café have all been super successful. We have received generous donations of bread from Yinghui and Ludovico Carraro, the sale of which has raised as much as one of these events on its own. I have therefore decided to separate out bread sales in the report. And, of course, the hard work of the card-making team and Joshua Dubin who sells them to raise awareness of BOAT should also be celebrated.

Finally, thanks are also owed to Filomena Nave who prepares the application for Gift Aid from HMRC. This year we secured around £16,500 through this route which is a very welcome sum.

In conclusion, thank you to all of our supporters. BOAT is generously funded and in turn funds many projects generously. You can read about the good works we support in this annual report .

Signed: John Thanassoulis

BOAT Treasurer

1st February 2023

Further Reference and Administrative Information

BOAT address: Blackfriars Priory, 64 St, Giles, Oxford. OX1 3LY Bankers: Lloyds Bank, Carfax, Oxford. OX1 4AA Charity Number: 288585

27

Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of the Blackfriars Overseas Aid Trust (“the Charity”)

I report on the accounts of the charity for the year to 31 December 2022 which are set out on the following pages 27 to 32.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under Section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (“the 2011 Act”) and that an Independent Examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

Basis of independent examiner’s report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes considerations of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the accounts.

Independent examiner’s statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

Signed: Adam Hodgkin

5th February 2023

28

Blackfriars Overseas Aid Trust Statement of Financial Activities for year ended 31 December 2022

INCOMING RESOURCES
Donations
Events and Sales
Bank Interest
Total Incoming Resources
RESOURCES EXPENDED
Costs of Generating Funds
Fundraising
Charitable Activities
Governance Costs
Total Expenditure
NET RESOURCES
Incoming/Outgoing
Total Funds Brought Forward
Total Funds Carried Forward		 Unrestricted
Funds
£
72,612
2,659
-
75,271
222
74,500
255
74,977
294
45,270
**£45,564 **		 Restricted
Funds
£
7,951
-
-
7,951
-
8,955
-
8,955
(1004)
1,455
**£450 **		 Total
2022
£
80,563
2,659
-
83,222
222
83,455
255
83,932
(710)
46,725
**£46,015 **		 Total
2021
£
90,401
1,473
-
91,874
-
75,815
245
76,060
15,814
30,911
£46,725

The notes on pages 29 to 32 form part of these accounts.

29

Blackfriars Overseas Aid Trust

Balance Sheets as at 31st December 2022

Current Assets
Cash at Lloyds Bank
Net Current Assets
Total Assets
The Funds of the Charity:
Restricted Income Funds
Unrestricted Income Funds		 2022
£
46,015
46,015
£46,015
450
45,564
£46,015		 2021
£
46,725
46,725
46,725
1,455
45,270
£46,725

30

Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31st December 2021

1 ACCOUNTING POLICIES

General

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice, Accounting and Reporting by Charities (SORP 2005) issued in 2005.

Income

(2) Interest income is included in the accounts when it is received.

Expenditure

All grants to partner organisations and other expenditure are included in the accounts in the year they are paid.

Unrestricted Funds

Unrestricted funds are donations and other incoming resources received for the objects of the charity without a specified purpose and are available as general funds. From time to time the Trustees may establish Designated Funds out of the Unrestricted Funds to meet contingencies.

Restricted Funds

Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donor. Expenditure which meets these criteria is charged to the fund, together with a fair allocation of management and support costs.

2 DONATIONS

Donations received under Banker's Order (unrestricted)
Donations received under Banker's Order (restricted)
Other Donations (unrestricted)
Other Donations (restricted)
Tax Recovered under Gift Aid		 2022
2021
£
£
56,102
54,201
890
1,000
2,659
1,473
7,061
9,154
16,511
26,046
£83,222
£91,874

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3 EVENTS AND SALES

EVENTS AND SALES
Harvest Auction
Christmas café
Card Sales
Mother’s Day café
Bread sales		 2022
2021
£
£
650
-
353
350
1,008
758
332
-
317
-
£2,659
£1,108

4 CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES

Grants (Unrestricted) to Overseas Projects

Grants (Unrestricted) to Overseas Projects
2022 2021
£ £
Nicaragua, Leon 4,000 4,000
Jamaica, Kingston School 4,000
Jamaica, Christ the King School 4,000 -
Uganda, Cancer UK 4,000 4,000
Uganda, Fr Sebastian 4,000 4,000
Cameroon, Arch 4,000 4,000
Ethiopia, Jean Grove Trust 4,000 4,000
Uganda, Sr Clemensia 4,000 4,000
Philippines, Columban Sisters 4,000 4,000
Zimbabwe, African Mission, Dungu 4,000 5,500
Peru, San Benito, Br Ed O'Connell 4,000 5,000
India Sugandh 4,000 4,000
India, Operatori di Pace 4,000 4,000
Rwanda, Network for Africa 4,000 4,000
Myanmar, Living Water 4,000 -
Brazil, St. Paolo 4,000 4,000

32

Grants (Unrestricted) to Overseas Projects(cont.)
Ethiopia, Mission of Hope
Lenten Appeal (Peru, Apostolico Iquitos)
Sierra Leone
Peru, Amantani
Peru, Iquitos, Fr Miguel
SUB-TOTAL
Grants from Restricted Funds
Kenya Education
Lenten Appeal
Myanmar Living Water
Iraq
Operatori di Pace
Sierra Leone
TOTAL		 4,000
4,000
-
101
2,500
4,000
4,000
-
4,000
-
£74,500
£66,601
2022
2021
£
£
1,000
1,000
5,000
7,400
1,455
-
-
515
1,500
-
-
300
£83,455
£75,815

5 COSTS OF GENERATING FUNDS

Cost of Printing the Annual Report 2022
2021
222
-

6 GOVERNANCE

GOVERNANCE
Bank Charges 2022
2021
£255
£245

7 TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND EXPENSES

No remuneration was paid or was payable for the year directly or indirectly out of the funds of the charity to any member of the committee or to any person known to be connected with any of them.

33

8 RESTRICTED FUNDS

Balance at January 1
Incoming Resources
Expenditure
Balance at December 31
9 GENERAL FUNDS
Balance at January 1
Incoming Resources
Expenditure
Balance at December 31
Represented by:
Current Assets		 2022
2021
£
£
1,454
515
7,951
10,154
(8,955)
(9,215)
£450
£1,454
2022
2021
£
£
45,270
30,396
75,271
81,720
(74,977)
(66,846)
£45,564
£45,270
£46,015
£46,724

34

Registered Charity No. 288585

A Standing Order for regular donations, which can be cancelled at any time, greatly helps BOAT. We need more people to give regularly so we can predict over a year how much money we can send to our projects overseas.

BLACKFRIARS OVERSEAS AID TRUST (BOAT)

HOW TO SET UP A STANDING ORDER

Beneficiary Name: Blackfriars Overseas Aid Trust

Beneficiary Account Number: 00087533

Beneficiary Sort Code: 30-96-35

Beneficiary’s Bank: Lloyds Bank plc, 1 High Street, Oxford OX1 4AA.

GIFT AID DECLARATION (FOR REGULAR OR ONE-OFF DONATIONS)

Boost your donation to BOAT by 25p of Gift Aid for every £1 you donate, at no extra cost to you.

Just tick this box ☐ Yes! I would like to Gift Aid this donation and any other donations I make in the future or have made in the past 4 years to BOAT.

I am a UK taxpayer and understand that if I pay less Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax than the amount of Gift Aid claimed on all my donations in that tax year it is my responsibility to pay any difference.

PLEASE USE BLOCK CAPITALS

Title: .............. First name(s): ..................................... Surname: ........................................... Home Address: .............................................................................................................. ................................................................................. Postcode: ......................................... Signature ..................................................................................... Date .......................................

Please notify BOAT if you:

If you pay Income Tax at the higher or additional rate and want to receive the additional tax relief due to you, you must include all your Gift Aid donations on your Self-Assessment tax return or ask HM Revenue and Customs to adjust your tax code.

Please return to: The Gift Aid Treasurer, Blackfriars Overseas Aid Trust (BOAT), c/o Porter’s Lodge, Blackfriars, St. Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LY. Alternatively, you can email it to: boatblackfriars@gmail.com

IF YOU ARE HAPPY TO FOR US TO CONTACT YOU ABOUT BOAT’S ACTIVITIES, PLEASE

TICK THIS BOX ☐ Please see the BOAT website at tinyurl.com/BOATOxford for an explanation of why and how we use your data, and your rights in respect of that data.

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Blackfriars Overseas Aid Trust Registered Charity No. 288585

c/o Blackfriars Priory

64 St Giles Oxford OX1 3LY

tinyurl.com/BOATOxford

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