Bless others faraway, as your gifts bless those close to you!
• 20+ unique gifts
• Hens, Bee-hives, Fuel-saving Stove, Farm Tools & Seeds
• 5 gifts under $10
• All tax-deductible
• Bookmark Grace Card to light up Christmas Tree
• Thank you gift from Bethlehem
Find gifts from ‘Iman and her Eggcellent Idea’ book!
Tired of meaningless mass-produced throwaway gifts?
This Christmas, use ALWS Gifts of Grace to truly bless those you care about.
Each Gifts of Grace you choose represents the help you give someone in need through ALWS.
Food. Clean water. Tools. A business.
You receive a beautiful Grace Card to give as your gift, complete with a Bookmark that is also a Christmas Tree decoration
Gifts of Grace you choose has its very own Grace Sheet . This explains why your gift is needed, how it goes to work, and the Case Study of someone who can explain just how precious your gift will be.
Your Gifts of Grace are all fully tax-deductible.
First 500 orders receive a Christmas Tree ornament, hand-crafted from olive wood by a group of people with disabilities in Bethlehem.
Order by 5pm Friday 5 December for standard pre-Christmas delivery.
ORDER EARLY ... ... for your FREE Thank You gift from Bethlehem!
Why not share Iman’s story with a child in your life?
You may find it hard to imagine Iman’s life.
She’s 13 years old, and lives in Ethiopia. The community is so poor, Iman’s family often struggles for food and water.
It’s hardest for girls. A girl of Iman’s age may be taken out of school, to do all the jobs at home. They may even be forced to be married.
You can see why your ALWS Gifts of Grace are precious when Iman tells you her story. You can read her own words in the storybook Iman and her Eggcellent Idea. You’ll see why you are needed ... ... and then, in your Gifts of Grace catalogue, see how you can help. In Ethiopia, and places like Burundi, Somalia and Nepal too. You’ll find fishing nets, chickens and veggies to feed families.
You’ll see tools like hoes, sewing machines and solar water pumps to improve harvests. You’ll even be able to give fuel-efficient stoves and modern beehives!
For a child like Iman, perhaps your most precious Gifts of Grace gift is education.
This is a gift no one can take away. Education helps children recover from hurt, and gives them hope to dream big. Just like Iman’s dream to become a doctor so she can ‘heal sickness in my community’.
Your gift for a lifetime can start with a simple gift of paper, pencils and reading book ...
Too often in countries like Somalia, the extra needs of children with disabilities can be overlooked. Especially when families are forced to flee to Displaced Persons Camps. Supported by the Australian Government, you can help provide the assistive devices and specialised teacher training to make sure these children don’t miss out. One mother, Fatuma, responded to the help her daughter received by saying:
“We felt welcomed, and hope became a reality.”
Education is an effective way to help children recover from trauma. Yet in refugee camps like Kakuma in Kenya, teachers do it tough. Few resources. Long hours. Little pay. Your Gifts of Grace helps provide professional training for a teacher like Nyanine Wiyual Tiem, who has 150 children in her class:
“What makes me happy in the classroom is seeing my students grow. I enjoy it when they try their best. Even when they make mistakes, we learn together. It shows that these kids are gaining from me, and I am gaining from them too.”
“We only have enough textbooks for half the class. There is also a shortage of teachers.” Iman
When you see smiles like this, you can forget this young girl and her brother are refugees*. Now safe at a Refugee Camp in Kenya, you can bless them with an education – a gift no one can ever take away. The brother wants to be a doctor, while his eight-year-old sister wants to be a peace-maker after witnessing the conflict the family fled:
“I like going to school. I’m learning to talk English, and I’m able to know and learn a lot of things which will help me in the future. I want to be a police officer.
I will be arresting the thieves and the criminals.”
* Names omitted to protect the children’s safety
Your Gifts of Grace chickens are an egg-cellent gift. Simple to raise, they recycle scraps into eggs, for food and for sale. The poop they plop is perfect fertiliser to get kitchen garden veggies growing strong. It’s no wonder that in countries like Ethiopia, parents like Taju are egg-cited about the hope your help hatches:
“I then go to the kitchen to see if there is any food for the family. If there is not, I will prepare what is needed. Then the family will eat.”
Iman
“I know for children it is good to have more meals per day, but before we cannot afford this. Now, we have six chickens. They produce 40 eggs per week that we sell in the market to earn income.”
CHECK OUT CHiCKENs $28
When it comes to food for families, the best part about goats is not their milk or their meat – but their manure! In countries like Nepal and Burundi, this free organic fertiliser increases crop yield. This means more food for children, more money for household essentials, more independence for families. So, this Gifts of Grace may be G.O.A.T (Greatest Of All Time)!
This is the question Filifo asked as he struggled to feed his family in Indonesia. He often goes without food so his family could eat. You can provide seeds like chillies so families like Filifo’s can start their own veggie garden:
“When I see all those vegetables growing, and we sell the extra at market – this makes me very happy. Now, I want all my children to graduate from school, to get good jobs.”
This Gifts of Grace may just be your catch of the day. Flowing through South Sudan is the White Nile, home to food fish Tilapia. You can provide fishing line and net, plus training, so a family can feed themselves and sell surplus fish for extra income. One fisher reported:
“Before, I felt hunger would overwhelm my family. Now with the net I get many more fish! When my family have full stomachs, we say ‘God bless you’ to those who help us.”
Before having a secure water supply to irrigate his farm in Nepal, Cheechu struggled. He remembers, “I felt trapped, unable to provide for my family the way I wanted to.”
By helping provide a pump and piping, you can help farmers in this community grow chillies, potatoes and cauliflower. You can see what you can achieve in the words of Cheechu:
“I am proud of what I have accomplished. I never thought I could achieve this. My farming is not just feeding my family, it is changing our lives. Thank you!”
During COVID, we were reminded of the importance of thorough handwashing.
That same hygiene is critical every day for families living in poor communities in Burundi. Disease and diarrhoea can be deadly here, especially for children. Medical help is far away, and roads are often cut-off.
Your simple Gifts of Grace gift teaches children at school, and families at home, the basics of good health hygiene.
Ethiopia has suffered seven years of drought. Permanent canal and channel systems can carry what water there is to where it is needed most. What’s exciting is the community volunteers their labour to carry stones and dirt. They also learn the power of irrigation to improve their crop yield.
Abduramed led the community in building the channel you see here:
“Together we have built something durable that will serve the community for many years. We need more like this.”
ChANNEL KiNDNEss $ 112
When natural disasters happen, a deadly danger is lack of clean water. The minimum standard per person per day is 15 litres for drinking, cooking and washing. This should be available within 500 metres, and require queuing of no more than 30 minutes. So, you can see why your Gift of Grace of a jerry-can in an emergency response is a life-saving gift
Did you know that us Australians spent $1.82 BILLION on bottled water in 2024?
There’s something very special about Oda’s hoe. Your Gift of Grace not only provides the vital farm tool for her to cultivate her field in South Sudan ... you also help train the blacksmith who made the hoe! The hoe must work well because Oda planted 4kg of corn, and harvested 150kg! That’s not all she’s growing. Oda says: “I used some of the profit to rent a field for next season. I also bought things for the family – clothes, cassava, oil and salt. It helped us a lot. Thank you!”
In a country like Ethiopia, water storage is critical –especially after seven years of drought. The 1000 litre water tank you see here is used by a youth group to raise avocado, papaya and coffee seedlings, which they then sell. It’s hard work, so your Gift of Grace support to pay for water is a vital helping hand. Group leader, 16 year old Desju, says:
“When I see our seedlings become green, then I am happy. I am learning if I can change myself, I can change the village.”
“It makes me sad when drought comes. We plant crops in the community, but when drought comes, they die.”
Iman
In Nepal, forest mushrooms are the feature of many festivals. This gave Mamata the idea of starting a mushroom farm, along with other women in her community. You provide the seeds and tools and training, while Mamata grows and collects and cleans and packs and sells the mushrooms. Now, she – like the mushrooms – is thriving:
“I’ve learned that I have the capacity to grow mushrooms as a source of earnings and my own determination.”
Families in South Sudan survive on the food they grow. When floods, or conflict, or locusts come, hunger is a real threat. Through Farmers Groups, you provide farmers like Ociti with the seeds and training that can help them to become self-sufficient. Ociti explains:
“The group trained me how to make soil fertile, grow a kitchen garden, plant in lines and the importance of weeding. They also gave me seeds and tools. I am grateful. This helps us improve our livelihoods, and then we can grow as human beings.”
Helmi was 12 when her mother died from cancer. Already living with a disability, her life in Indonesia became even harder as she struggled with sadness and loneliness and being teased at school. When her Grandmother introduced her to sewing, Helmi could see purpose and hope. Your Gift of Grace can help provide a sewing machine and tailoring training to someone with a disability like Helmi, so they can dream as big as she now does:
“I would like my own business so I can help others. I want my journey to show them they also have strength within.”
In poor communities in Burundi, families like Pontien’s rely for food on what they can grow on their tiny plot of land. Fertiliser is essential, but too expensive. The answer? Goat poo. Fermented with water, it provides nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The result? Larger, better quality harvests. All for free, because of your Gift of Grace. Pontien says: “Before, we only ate once a day. Now we eat 3 times. I want more goats for lots of organic manure. We want our children to continue education to university.”
“I
Too many families in countries like Ethiopia have to rely on open fires to do their cooking. Women and girls spend hours collecting firewood. The environment is damaged. Smoky fires hurt health. You can provide a fuelefficient concrete stove. Haftam shares what your help means for a mum like her: “There are big savings in time and fuel. It helps our health, plus less firewood means less deforestation. It heats quickly, and is much more efficient.”
Nepal can drop to two degrees in winter. Home-build greenhouses can raise the temperature inside by 8 degrees, improving seed germination and fruit development. Women’s Farming Cooperatives can then grow vegetables year-round. Turmeric. Ginger. Cauliflower. Broccoli. Beetroot. Tomatoes. Onions. Potatoes.
You provide seedlings, and training in compost-making, organic pesticides, the use of greenhouse tunnels. The result? Fresh food for families. A reliable source of income. The encouragement of working as a group. Increased dignity in the community. What a harvest you grow!
Rebecca is a young mum in South Sudan, working hard to support her family. Last year, she joined a group of 15 people to cultivate land near a pool of water. They planted okra, lady finger and onions. The local team Gifts of Grace helps support installed a solar water pump to irrigate the crops. Rebecca shares what happened next:
sEEDs & sUN $14
“We had a successful harvest. The money I earned helps me support my family. Now, throughout the year, we can grow vegetables. This has supplemented our feeding and improved our life a lot. We are grateful.”
You’d never know it from their smiles, but these women from Nepal used to be bonded labourers – ‘slaves’. Now freed, you support them to build a business so they can be independent entrepreneurs. Processing spices like turmeric or coriander. Farming mushrooms. Crafting baskets. You provide training, literacy skills, and seed funds for a business. They bring energy and hard work. Together, that’s a recipe for success!
“I
Iman
When you’re poor, you can easily be ripped off by greedy money-loaders. That’s why when you help someone in South Sudan build a business, you also support them to join a Cooperative. The members pool and protect their profits, in a double-padlocked box like you see here. They then provide low-interest loans to each other to grow their business, invest in livestock, or pay for medical care. Supporting each other, savings soon grow – and so do the smiles!
My husband is very proud of me, and happy at what I am doing. But he is afraid of the bees. He says I am stronger than him.”
Haftam
What a honey of a gift! You provide a family in Ethiopia with TWO modern beehives plus training plus an extractor, a smoker, fork and chisel plus protective gear (mask, boots, overalls, gloves). The modern beehive has ten frames in an upper layer. Each frame can produce 2.5kg of honey, twice a year, in June and September. This is double what the old woven basket-in-a-tree beehive could. PLUS because the honey is extra pure, it commands a higher price in the market. In fact, bee-lieve it or not, your Gifts of Grace beehives can TRIPLE a family’s income. Don’t buzz off – buy your Beehives now!
BEEhiVE –BEEUTiFUL! $375
When you build a house with a family in Burundi, you provide a safe place so children grow up healthy and strong, and create a base for a family like Francois’ to build a business. They gather mud to handmake bricks for their 5 x 7 metre home. You provide training plus roof trusses plus window-frames and doors plus nails plus corrugated iron for the roof. Francois has big plans for the new house:
“I’m going to live here with my wife and son in this new healthier house, and use the old house for crop storage and goats.”
$1,050
“I used to grow maize using traditional techniques. The quantity I harvested was minimal - only 50kg. Last year, thanks to modern agricultural techniques, I sowed 6kg of corn and harvested 800kg. I was able to buy a goat after selling the harvest.”
Francois
“We choose ALWS because of its ‘at the coal face’ approach. We selected the Burundi Farm Partnership because of its multifaceted impact on the immediate and long-term welfare of the Burundi farm families. What a privilege it is to assist in this way!”
Colin and Judy Lewis
Imagine trying to feed your family from what you can grow on half a hectare.
You have few tools. No knowledge of modern farming methods. And extreme weather threatens what little you can produce. This is what farm families like Francois’ face in Burundi right now.
You can join a Burundi Farm Partnership and support 20 of a community’s most at-risk families for farm success, and security for their family.
You provide practical help to:
• grow enough food to feed their families
• store seeds to plant for next season
• sell surplus to buy household essentials
• expand and diversify their farm business.
Your partnership investment provides:
• certified seeds – beans & maize
• hoes, shovels, machetes, pick-axes, rakes
• wheelbarrows • fertiliser
You support training in modern farming:
• ploughing techniques
• seeding methods
• organo-mineral fertilisers
• pest and disease control
• market gardening
• composting and mulching
• reforestation
Your investment blesses 100+ people:
Because your ALWS Burundi Farm Partnership supports a Farm Group of up to 20 families, your investment directly impacts more than 100 people! Your commitment, and their hard work, with the support of the Australian Government, supports families to protect themselves from hunger and build an independent future.
To find out more, simply call: 1300 763 407
$5,200
Together, you grow a ‘supermarket’ of crops:
• corn • beans • bananas
• plantains
• vegetables
• legumes
• fruit
• cereals
• coffee
Too often, children with disabilities can be overlooked or forgotten in places where poverty is hurting people. Families simply don’t have the resources to provide the support their child needs to achieve their full potential.
Your Gifts of Grace can provide the tailored care and support a child needs to achieve their potential.
For Grade 4 girl Joselyne in Burundi, it was a ‘4WD’ wheelchair to make sure she doesn’t miss school.
For other children, it may be a Braille machine, a teacher trained in disability support, physiotherapy to restore movement.
Joselyne’s mum, Beatrice, is happy to share the blessing you bring:
“I would like to thank you for the way you support children with disabilities, like my Joselyne.
Before, it was very difficult to get her to school. We had to load her on a bicycle and push her all the way. Now, this chair will help her continue at school.
Thank you for being here and giving us the support we need.”
Each Gift of Grace shows how your donation can help people in ALWS-supported projects. Should ALWS receive income beyond what is needed in these projects, those funds will be used for similar work in other areas.
Information in this communication is based on data correct at time of writing, and may change. Funds and other resources designated for the purpose of aid and development will be used only for those purposes and will not be used to promote a particular religious adherence or to support a political party, or to promote a candidate or organisation affiliated to a particular party, or to support welfare activities as defined by DFAT. For more information, call ALWS: 1300 763 407
Your donation is managed efficiently
ALWS works hard to keep ‘overheads’ (fundraising and administration costs as defined by ACFID Code of Conduct) as low as possible, while maintaining effectiveness, accountability and sustainability. In 2024, these ‘overheads’ were 17.28%. The 5 year average is 16.04%. A copy of the most current ALWS Annual Report can be viewed at alws.org.au or requested: 1300 763 407
Your privacy is important
ALWS collects personal information about you in order to process your gift. A copy of the ALWS Privacy Policy is available at alws.org.au If you don’t wish to receive further news from ALWS, simply call 1300 763 407 or write to alws@alws.org.au
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Ho, Hoe, Hope
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Open House
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Pipe Up for Pump
Saving Together
School Start Set
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Washed & Wary
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