Christopher and I spent yesterday evening at the House of Lords. To be fair we were invited rather than summoned, but what were we doing there???

Read on to find out:

It was great to have Tim Robertson from Compassion UK speaking at Welcome Church a couple of Sundays ago. Between us, as a church, we sponsor 265 children through Compassion – mostly in Togo. You can read more about that amazing work by clicking this link. If you want to sponsor a child please let me know; we have a few child profiles from Togo available, so please just ask.

Invitation from an MP

Because of our church’s connection with Compassion in Togo, Christopher and I received an invitation from Tim Farron MP (no politics on here please 😉) to attend an event at the House of Lords in celebration of all that has been achieved through the ‘Different Path’ appeal. The event was to mark the three year point of this initiative, and reflect on all that’s been achieved. It was also a chance to visit the House of Lords, which is an impressive place.

Different Path

‘Different Path’ was a UK Government “matched funding” appeal to support child survival in Togo through Compassion UK. As a church we raised £40,000 pounds for this in 2019 as part of our building project. This money was matched by UK Government Aid to make it up to £80,000.

Overall the appeal raised more than £2.2m and has saved and improved many lives by providing vulnerable mums with medical support, health screenings, hygiene supplies, nutritional supplements and education. This all helps to protect women during pregnancy and ensure that their babies have a healthy start in life. The Different Path appeal has now exceeded all of its targets, which is an amazing result; I’m glad we were able to be part of it.

Some Highlights

Some highlights of our visit:

• We met Koffi Ahonon, the National Director of Compassion Togo, who is both a really nice guy and an impressive leader
• We saw The Speaker’s State Coach, which was made in the 1600s but appears to be in better condition than my car
• We watched a live debate from the Strangers Gallery in the House of Lords (not as lively as one might hope … 😉)

We also took a selfie or two along the way 😀😀

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