Pew Sheet – 27th February 2022

The Rector writes   ‘Now that our society is opening up again (and now that I myself have fully recovered ) I’m delighted that I am again available to go to the homes of those who cannot come to church in order to celebrate Holy Communion with them. In fact, I begin with one such visit on Monday morning.  So if you cannot get to Church or if you know of someone in the parish who can’t get to Church and who mightn’t be reading this, please do get in contact me and I can arrange to visit.

As we transition back to ‘normality’ please have a close read of what the Revd Richard Dring has written inside this Pewsheet. As many of you know, Richard is our  ’Health & Safety Officer’ and I thank him and all of the ’Lead Response Group’  for the huge extra effort and work over the last 2 years which has helped keep us all safe. ’ 

 Pandemic changes

From this week the majority of restrictions will be lifted; we are moving from a pandemic to an endemic situation. Learning to live with COVID-19 will mean a significant change in emphasis; the responsibility will lie much more with the individual than the State.

We know that the COVID- 19 virus has not gone away and we now have to learn to live with it.  As the restrictions ease it is important that we all respect the choices made by others. A significant number of people will continue to wear masks, and may feel uncomfortable in crowded situations as well; there will also be many who will no longer  wear masks. These are all individual decisions and should be respected by us all.

These changes that are happening this week do not require us to immediately resume all our customs from pre pandemic times, such as handshakes and embracing each other; that will take time.

We should all allow people to move at a pace they feel comfortable with. This is in particular where will be a need for patience with each other as we gradually relax all restrictions. Let’s be aware of those around us and continue to help each other to feel safe.

Revd Richard Dring,

Parish Health & Safety Officer

Fair Trade Fortnight

21 February to 6 March 2022 – Choose the World You Want

Fairtrade stands for climate justice

Climate change hits those in low-income countries the hardest.

Increasingly extreme, unpredictable weather is destroying bananas, coffee, cocoa and other crops. That means farmers and workers who are already underpaid have even less to spend on essentials such as education, medical treatment and even food.   The climate crisis is not fair.. The wealthiest 10 percent of people produce 50 percent of emissions. But those on the lowest incomes face the consequences – more frequent natural disasters, extreme unpredictable weather and rampant plant diseases. That includes farmers and workers who grow crops like tea, coffee, cocoa and bananas. Many of the world’s lowest earning farmers and workers understand the climate crisis all too well – it’s making their lives harder every day. But unfair trade means they can’t even earn enough for basics, let alone the money to invest in adapting to climate change and sustainable farming techniques.

If you would like to know more about what you can do, then check out https://www.fairtrade.ie/climate-change/

Random Notes CDXV

The infant mortality rate in Tanzania is about 36 deaths per 1,000 live births. While this represents a decrease in infant deaths, it is still far too high. For example, in Ireland, the comparable rate is 2.8 deaths per 1,000 live births.   Part of the problem in tackling the high mortality rate in Tanzania and elsewhere is lack of data on the exact causes of death.  In 2016 I visited Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) as part of a research team from the INFANT centre based in Cork. KCMC includes a tertiary hospital with a catchment area of 1.5 million people. We had wide ranging discussions on what sort of projects would be beneficial to the population there. A birth registry was identified as one of those projects and, when we returned to Cork, we set about applying for funding.  We finally were successful in early 2021, when the Department of Foreign Affairs awarded us €350,000 to build a birth registry. Serious work on the project started in January of 2022. The project is led by a Principal Investigator in Cork and in Moshi, Tanzania. The Cork PI is a colleague in UCC’s school of Public Health. My role is to ensure all technical aspects of the project are delivered.   Because the grant is structured so that 50% of the funding goes to Tanzania, we have been able to hire a substantial research team in KCMC. This includes one medical doctor, one clinical researcher, three IT researchers and an assistant. Rather than all the work being done in INFANT, the objective is to transfer all the needed skills and knowledge to KCMC. This is essential to the long term sustainability of the project.

An initial version of the birth registry will be operational shortly. This means that any birth within KCMC and in the surrounding area will be recorded on an app on a mobile phone or tablet. This can be done even if no mobile phone signal is present. The app runs on cheaper smartphones that are locally available. The data gathered on the app is stored on a server based in KCMC itself. All the data

resides in Tanzania, as it should be.  The project as funded will run for three years and we are already identifying other funding sources. It will take several years to identify patterns in the data which can be used to devise strategies for driving infant mortality lower. None of this will happen overnight and in the long run there is 10-15 years’ worth of work here. We hope to apply this approach to recording infant births to other low to middle income countries. The ultimate ambition is to reduce infant mortality worldwide by being able to accurately and consistently compare detailed birth data across large populations. This has never been done before. Wish us luck!

See https://www.kcmc.ac.tz/ and http://www.kcri.ac.tz/.

SJFW

Monday 28th February 7:30pm

Register of Vestry Persons open for scrutiny and amendments in the Parish Hall

Ash Wednesday 2nd March 10:30am & 7pm

Morning and Evening Holy Communion Services in St Mary’s Church, Carrigaline

6pm – 7pm Prayer for Peace in St Mary’s Church, Carrigaline

Friday 4th March 7pm

World Day of Prayer Service in Our Lady & St John’s Parish Centre (behind the R.C. Church in Carrigaline) 

‘I Know the Plans I Have for You’ Jeremiah 29 1-14 is the theme this year and was prepared by the WDP committee in Wales, England & Northern Ireland. 

All welcome including men! 

Sunday 13th March 7pm

Choral Evensong in St John’s Church, Monkstown

(the first one in 2 years! Come along and support the Chamber Choir under the direction of Roger Ellis)

Wednesday 16th March  3pm

Mothers’ Union will meet at the Parish Hall for a cuppa and a flower arranging demonstration by Brenda Haubold ( née Poole). Also Hazel Sweetnam and Marjorie Garland will have their MU cards and small gifts for sale. We will have a raffle for Brenda‘s arrangements too. Look forward to seeing you there. (DW) 

St Patrick’s Day Thursday 17th March 10:30am

Service of Holy Communion in St Mary’s Church (Please note no Wednesday Service on 16th March)

Friday 18th March 10am till 12 noon

On this day of Remembrance and Recognition, the Churches will be open for 2 hours for private prayer.