The Little Blossoms Project
We're currently supporting The Little Blossoms Project, which is a project within the charity ‘Love Support Unite Africa’ which was established in 2009.
LSU Africa is charity number: Tilinanu Orphanage (Registered UK Charity Number 113 320 8) and is a volunteer foundation set up in the UK to support the Tilinanu Orphanage.
Little Blossoms aim is to sustain the projects that have already been started and to help with future plans, which include another shelter for children at the existing foster home that has been established.
Lucy Bee has already been involved in various ways: we’ve donated some of our coconut oil for baby massage and it has also helped to prevent and treat ringworm in children, which causes infection and scarring; we’ve sponsored 5 children in the orphanage; we, along with several of our partners, have donated funds to build homes for teachers; and we’ve ran half marathons and scaled the Three Peaks to fundraise for a further home to be built.
As we’re fond of saying when talking about our coconut oil, a little goes a long way and it couldn’t be more evident in Malawi – every penny given, really does help to make a difference.
Update from Malawi April 2016
There are many planned projects that can only be carried out with our support. Gayle Berry from Little Blossoms explains:
1. Massage training with special needs children and in baby orphanages
Offering free training to medical staff and orphanage staff wishing to use massage as part of their treatment/care programme for babies and children. We would like to provide sensory toys for the special needs unit at ABC Community Clinic.
2. Foster Care Home for children using a sustainable clothing business
We are looking for funding to ensure that the foster home we have set up for children in Malawi continues to succeed and to expand the accommodation to help more children.
We have provided Margaret, our foster mum with a sustainable business to help feed, house and educate four local children living in poverty however we are looking for sponsorship for the four children to ensure that the project works if there is any short fall in the business income.
We hope to expand the foster home to accommodate more children next year and create a childcare facility there so that mothers can work in agriculture knowing that their babies are safe.
Lucy Bee has sponsored 5 children in Margaret’s Foster Care Home:
Pinfour Mathews, aged 14, has been living with his grandmother for seven years, after his mother was killed in a farming accident and his father passed away. At times, Pinfour would go up to three days without a proper meal. In November of last year, LSU Africa completed vital repairs to Pinfour’s family home, and also provided a neighbour with a small loan to start a tomato selling business, under the proviso that they would use some of the proceeds to feed and care for Pinfour’s grandmother, who is now blind and unable to care for her family. The LSU team will continue to supervise this business and check in on his grandmother, to ensure she is receiving proper care and is still in regular contact with her family.
Bright Fostal, aged 13, joined the care home as his grandmother could no longer afford to feed him. He had been living with his grandmother for the past five years after both his parents had died due to malnutrition and disease. Happily, he is now being cared for by the amazing Margaret and her husband Nixon, who are dedicated to giving their new family a loving home.
Neszarli Lafiel, aged 12. After her mother died five years ago, Neszarli’s father abandoned the family and has not been seen since. Raised by her grandmother, Neszarli has had to grow up very fast in order to help support her grandmother and her wider family. Due to her age and infirmity Neszarli’s grandmother has struggled to feed or clothe Neszarli and when Neszarli arrived at her new home, her only possession was the dress she was wearing. Neszarli is now finally able to attend school and have the future she deserves, whilst remaining close to her grandmother and the community she grew up in.
Brenda Longoti, aged 10. After his father’s death earlier this year, Brenda’s mother’s land was stolen and taken over by their neighbours. Unable to plant food and support her family, Brenda’s mother returned to her home village to re-marry. Brenda was shunned by his new family, who refused to support him and forced his mother to give him up. Thanks to Margaret and your support, Brenda finally has the loving home he has always wanted.
Namango Jambulaini, aged 9. Up until very recently, Namango had been living with her infirm grandfather. When she arrived at Margaret’s she had not eaten any food for five days, and was extremely weak. She now lives very close to her grandfather, who LSU continues to support, and is receiving the nutrition she so desperately needs.
3. Nurture Pack
We support new mothers in poverty through the provision of post natal care essentials in our Nurture Packs. We provide basics such as knickers, reusable sanitary towels, blankets and soap. This is made up of donations from the UK.
4. Massage education
We are training young women in poverty in massage skills to help improve health and provide employment opportunities. We offer mentorship programmes and micro loans for women in business.
5. Other projects
Other projects which might work well would be to train someone in the local villages to check for ringworm and use Lucy Bee Coconut Oil to treat it by giving it out in small doses.
We are so grateful for this opportunity. It means so much to us as we are a small charity and we put all our donations straight back into our projects.
“A small amount goes a very long way in Malawi and it literally changes lives,” writes, Gayle Berry.
Please let your friends know about this and let's see how much we can all raise together for the benefit of this amazing charity.
Malawi Update April 2017
Some exciting news to share with our readers…… For every 1kg tub of our bath salts that’s sold, we at Lucy Bee, donate 15p to Love Support Unite (LSU). Unlike the rest of the products in our range, we’re unable to buy these salts as Fair Trade and so this is our way of ‘giving back’ and helping to improve lives.
We’ve made a retrospective donation of £2201 to LSU, which is being used to fund 8 sustainable farms in Malawi, to start with the first October rains. These will go a long way in providing food for families. Nina, from LSU advises, “Oliver will be doing the surveys, selecting the families in most need and starting training asap. “He will be doing a group permaculture training for these families, and Wiseman business skills workshops in the coming months so they are fully prepared. This is incredible news!” As always, thank you from the Lucy Bee team, to all of our customers and followers for your support – together we can all make a difference. 
May 2017 – Malawi update
Through various donations, including those from Amazon’s affiliate scheme, we’re thrilled to share the following news with you all, from the Charity in Malawi.
Some of these funds have been used to fund a sustainable farm…….
“Lydia farmed 4 acres, supports 10 people off this land, 8 children.
“She was unable to farm the land before as had no money for seeds. She used to walk up to 4 hrs to collect maize people had left on the floor at the mill, to feed her children.
‘She now has a bumper harvest to provide food for the family for the whole of the year, and pay her children's school fees! She also has surplus to sell to buy farm inputs for next year - not relying on a hand out.
“Because of you, LSU was able to provide Lydia with permaculture training, business training, farm inputs for this harvest, and famine relief whilst these crops grew. Her family will now have food security and her children education, Lydia has full ownership over her farm and can provide for her family.”
October 2017 - Malawi Update
Thanks to the wonderful support of Lucy Bee fans, we’ve donated a further £3421.36 to LSU. This represents the donation that we make for every tub of our Bath Salts sold plus commission paid to us through the Amazon affiliate scheme (see below for details) for the period April 2017 to 19th October 2017.
LSU advise that with your help, donations have been used to fund farms and means that 450 pupils of the Mkunkhu school have been “fed every day by the school kitchen. Profits from surplus crops pay for teaching materials, farming resources and labourers, making it fully sustainable.”
Our recent donation will be used to further support these sustainable family farms.
Through its support of the school, LSU are also able to help with other programmes such as Adult Literacy and Mother-Baby Wellbeing Classes.
All of this is made possible by the amazing support of our fans, for which we thank you.
January 2018 – An Update
With your help, we continue to support the charity Love Support Unite and their work in Malawi and the video below shows how we’re all helping to make a difference.
Did you know that we donate 15p from the sale of every tub of our Bath Salts to the charity and this has already funded 8 farms as below?
Thank you for your continued support.
April 2018
It’s great to see how the 15p donations from each sale of our Bath Salts are helping to make a difference in Malawi. So far, with your help, we’ve funded 8 farms which help to feed and empower families.
June 2018
A personal thank you from Nina, the founder of LSU, thanking Lucy Bee and our amazing customers for helping to improve lives in Malawi through the 15p donation we make on every sale of our Bath Salts.
January 2019
From sales of our Bath Salts between 19th October 2017 and 31st December 2018, Lucy Bee has donated a sum of £5869.50 to LSU. This represents a 15p donation for every box sold during that period.
April 2019 Update and Thank You from LSU
As many of you will know, we’ve worked closely with the charity Love Support Unite over the last couple of years and, amongst other things, have donated 15p for every sale of each of our Bath Salts. The following has only been made possible with your help and support in choosing Lucy Bee Bath Salts over other brands.
Though we’re now supporting the St Francis Hospice in Romford, during 2019, it’s wonderful to receive an update and thank you from Nina Pulford, the founder of LSU, and to see the ongoing benefit of our and your donations, including how these have helped two particular ladies, Margret Bandison and Lucy Saulosi.
Meet Margret Bandison. Aged 69, Margaret cares for 7 children living on less than £24 per year, that's 6p per day!
Margret has been feeding her family through working in fields being paid in maize. Thanks to donations from Lucy Bee, Margret has been able to join Love Support Unite's Sustainable Family Farm programme, Adult literacy, and Mother and Infant health! Her hard work and sheer determination have transformed her family's life.
Margret's farm estimates show she will be able to feed her family every day of the year, she will have surplus to sell to buy next years inputs and not be reliant on outside aid. She is able to send her children to school and support their learning, able to read medical and farming information. She is able to care for her children doing infant first aid, sanitation, and baby massage. She now has better nutrition, knowledge, and enterprise enabling her to give her children a better start to the life every child deserves.
From Nina, founder of LSU, “I’m here in Malawi and wanted to share with you the biggest thank you. I've just visited our sustainable farm beneficiaries that you have helped. We are looking at farm estimates of 100% success rates, even though due to floods and drought, farming has as always been challenging!
“Each family will harvest in June, but visiting the fields our estimates show that every single family has enough maize to feed their children every single day for the whole year. Incredible as these families were identified living on less than $1 per day, caring for 6 or more dependants. In the worst cases eating only once in 3 days during 'famine season' November - April. They have enough not only to provide food and nutrition to their children but to sell surplus soya and groundnuts to buy farm inputs such as seeds for next year! They don't need aid; their family farm is self-sustainable.
“They are also able, with the surplus sales, to send their children to school, helping to break the cycle of poverty. Able to improve their lives by buying a mosquito net to protect against malaria and hospital bills wiping out their savings. In addition, they are able to pay back 50% of the value of their interest-free seed loan, to be given to another family living in poverty in the area.
“Each family was given the interest-free seed loan, permaculture, agriculture, and business training and adult literacy classes, delivered from Love Support Unite. They have weekly mentoring and now have farm groups, to support each other. We also operate 10 medical outreaches per month enabling these areas to have access to life-saving medical care, malaria tests, and treatment, (seeing over 29,801 patients since 2016) and mother and infant health initiatives, improving the standard of life.
“You have not only helped empower the families, but you have also given them education, enterprise, food security, they are not reliant on aid. This start-up will keep on giving, now another family will benefit from the same funds in 2019. We are forever grateful to you for making this happen. Change is happening because you gave these families a chance.
“You are part of the positive change happening in the world - Sustainable Development Goals. 'SDG 2.1 By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular, the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round'.
“For me it’s the personal connection meeting the families that really helps understand what a difference you can make, I hope these stories give that to you.
“Thank you thank you thank you.”
Meet Lucy Saulosi, shown here. At 48, Lucy cares for 6 children, and two orphans. She left school in STD 3, and has been working in other peoples' fields, been paid in maize, not money, so she could feed her children.
For 5 months of the year, Lucy was able to find work helping other people harvest, and the family was living off less than 70p a day. Thanks to donations from Lucy Bee with Family futures, her family is now food secure. Her farm estimates show she will have enough in her own harvest (for the first time) to feed every child every single day, even in famine season. Lucy has enough surplus to sell to send her children to school and buy seeds for next year. She will also be able to repay 50% of the interest-free seed loan this year, to be given to another family to start the programme - the programme keeps on giving.
Lucy has also had access to LSU's adult literacy programme, helping her to run the business. She can now read and write for the first time and support her children's learning, even reading a book in English. This knowledge has given her access to high breed maize and fertilizer. The sales of her soya have enabled 6 children to go to school! What an incredible lady!
