Sydney Anglicans packing boxes in a Kingsgrove basement never imagined thousands of miles away their aid container would become the target of trade pirates.
Mission Aid Group (MAG) an auxiliary of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) NSW has learnt that some of the donations they packed at St Thomas', Kingsgrove were stolen en route to Tanzania on a routine shipment.
It is the first time in the group's 23-year history items have been stolen.
The shipment left Sydney at the end of November.
When it arrived at its holding wharf in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, there was difficulty clearing it for its long journey by truck to Murgwanza in the Diocese of Kagera.
Thieves broke into the container en-route.
"We were disappointed," MAG Chairperson Marie Dawson told supporters and volunteers in the committee's most recent newsletter.
"[But] we thanked God for his protection of the driver and guard and for their faithfulness and quick reaction, which prevented greater loss.
"This is a reminder to us all to pray not only for the provision of goods and finance but also for the transport of containers and distribution of goods."
MAG provides medical supplies, school and office equipment, clothing, blankets and other goods for 11 Dioceses in Tanzania, East Africa, where CMS personnel have been working for more than a hundred years.
MAG’s committee was formed after the war between Tanzania and Uganda in 1980 left the Anglican dioceses pleading for help for basic necessities.
It is composed mainly of retired professional members, some with missionary experience or affiliation, who are kept up-to-date with current field conditions by contact with missionaries.
Three containers are shipped each year to people who supervise the distribution to hospitals, schools, colleges and the poor.
Expenses are met by voluntary donations as government grants were discontinued several years ago.
Now the group is looking for more volunteers.
"This year we have lost some of our faithful volunteers who have served God regularly week by week in the depot," Mrs Dawson says.
"We thank God for them. Our need is for regular volunteers to assist in sorting and packing as there is always a steady flow of donations."
A shipment for the Diocese of Ruaha will be packed next Thursday, July 28.
To volunteer or for information about how to donate goods to the Kingsgrove depot, contact Barbara Smedley on (02) 9629 7456 or Jenny Nott on (02) 9958 8653.
