It had been most exciting news when we got a phone call on 17 April 2009 directly from the Grand Magistry of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in Rome informing us that they had chosen our photo from Blessed Gérard's Pre-Primary School & Crèche, which they had found on our homepage, to represent the Medical and humanitarian activities of the Order on one of three stamps in this series (stamp issue No. 395).
We agreed most happily and gave the
necessary copyright.
That was easy as Father Gérard himself had
taken this picture.
The postage stamp was finally issued on 23 September 2009.
The official "bulletin" of the Order of Malta describes the stamp as follows:
The Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard, named after the
founder of the Order, is the relief organisation of the Order of Malta
in South Africa. Founded
in 1992 at Mandeni (north of Durban) along the
South African East Coast it has its seat at
Blessed Gérard's Care
Centre, a multi-purpose institution, which is especially dedicated to
the fight against AIDS. Apart from activities of
Disaster Relief and
interventions in case of severe emergencies, the
Brotherhood of Blessed
Gérard promotes diverse
health programmes with particular attention
towards prevention against the spread of HIV. It provides free
treatment
with antiretroviral medication for needy patients and
educational
bursaries for quite deserving students, has
different programmes of
prevention, care and
help for the children. Since 2002 a
palliative care
department for chronic patients and the terminally sick is operational. South Africa / Whebede Pre-Primary School & Crèche The Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard opened a pre-primary school & crèche in 1995 for the children of Whebede, a rural community of the Mangete Parish in the Diocese of Eshowe. Whebede is to be found about 100 km from Durban, along the coast, and is a very poor area afflicted by unemployment. The centre, which was initially aimed at accommodating 30 small guests, looked after 58 children in 2008 offering the services of a crèche, pre-primary school and nutrition. |
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Data di emissione: 23 Settembre 2009
Valori: francobollo da € 1,40 Soggetto: € 1,40 asilo nido e scuola materna a Whebede (Sud Africa) Confraternita del Beato Gerardo - Corpo di Soccorso del Sovrano Militare Ordine di Malta. Formato francobolli: serie mm 40 x 48 Dentellatura: 14 Tiratura: dodicimila serie complete Foglio: da dodici esemplari Stampa: offset. I.P.Z.S. SPA - Roma Carta: fluorescente non filigranata Fotocolor: Foto Padre Gérard Tonque Lagleder, O.S.B. per asilo nido e scuola materna di Whebede (Sud Africa) |
Date of issue: 23
September 2009 Value: stamp for € 1.40 Motif: € 1.40 Crèche and Pre-Primary School at Whebede (South Africa) Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard - Relief Organisation of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Stamp format: serial mm 40 x 48 Dentation: 14 Volume: 12000 complete series page: with 12 stamps Printers: offset. I.P.Z.S. SPA - Rome Paper: fluorescent non watermarked Foto: Father Gérard Tonque Lagleder O.S.B. for the crèche and Pre-Primary School of Whebede (South Africa) |
Our educator Zanele Zikhali colouring in with our children
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta
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Mail stamped with Sovereign Order of Malta stamps can be
sent to the countries listed below, provided it is posted at the
Magistral Post Office, Via Bocca di Leone 68, Rome.
Countries where there is a postal agreement in force:
Argentina
Austria Belarus Benin Bolivia Bulgaria Burkina Faso Cameroon Canada Cap Verde Central African Republic Chad Chile Comoros Congo (Democratic Republic of -) Congo (Republic of -) Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Czech Republic Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Gabon Georgia Guinea Guinea Bissau Honduras Hungary Italy Ivory Coast Lebanon Liberia Lithuania Madagascar Mali Montenegro Nicaragua Niger Panama Paraguay Philippines Poland Portugal San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Slovakia Slovenia Somalia State of the Vatican City Togo Uruguay |
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Official website of the Order of Malta
Le attività umanitarie dello Smom
Blessed Gérard's Pre-Primary School & Crèche
is a project of
Blessed Gérard's Care Centre
established by the
Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard
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Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard
This page was last updated on Tuesday, 15 January 2013 12:50:19