Margaret and Sandy Lindsay: the willpower to change lives

Retired teachers Margaret and Sandy Lindsay have been supporting Christian Aid for over 30 years and make a donation every month by direct debit. In 1999, they were among a group of supporters to visit the charity’s projects in Malawi where one experience made a huge impact on them both:

The community was about to have a source of clean water, and the children would no longer be at risk of contracting water-borne diseases.

The villagers had formed a cooperative and each family was paying the equivalent of 3p a month into a fund to cover the costs of maintenance and repairs to the pumping mechanism. The villagers’ obligation to make this small payment stayed with Margaret and Sandy and when they returned to school, they began collecting copper coins in Christian Aid moneyboxes on their desks. Sandy continues:

“We explained to all our classes what we were doing and the importance of clean water which we take for granted. Pupils began to bring in any coppers they’d gathered. We led assemblies to emphasise this to other children. I would have lifted coppers off the corridors and, when questioned by pupils asking if I was badly paid, explained why I was doing this.”

In total, they raised £700 in copper coins.

Outside of school, Sandy and Margaret began sharing their stories from Malawi, giving talks to church and community groups to inspire others to support the charity’s work with the poor. They’d promised Christian Aid they would give talks for 2 years but it was 5 years before they eventually stopped, by which time they’d given almost 50 presentations.

Margaret explains their decision to leave a gift in their Will to Christian Aid: “That visit confirmed our belief in what Christian Aid is doing. We saw the impact of Christian Aid’s work and the difference it’s making. We don’t have any children, so it made sense to leave something to the causes that matter most to us.”

She credits the former minister of her church, First Larne Presbyterian, with sparking her interest in the work of Christian Aid:

“When Lambert McAdoo came to First Larne, he gathered a nucleus of Christian Aid supporters around him and began fundraising. When we joined the church, he encouraged us to become involved.”

For many years, they helped organise an annual sponsored walk in Larne, and every May during Christian Aid Week they collect house-to-house in the town. Is it their faith that motivates them? Margaret is unequivocal:

Warm, energetic and fun-loving, Sandy and Margaret are an inspiration, sharing their teachers’ pension with their global neighbours, bringing hope to people living in poverty. They no longer stand at the front of a classroom each day, but Margaret and Sandy Lindsay have much to teach us all.