The Moviment Missjunarju Gesù fil-Proxxmu, run by Fr Gorg Grima, raised over Lm600,000 in 2003, of which Lm536,000 were spent mainly in Brazil, Kenya and Ethiopia.

"As a result of these donations, thousands upon thousands of children were fed every day, they received medicines when they needed them and many children started going to school," the movement said in a statement.

The group will also open a home for children with Aids in San Luis in Marinhao, Brazil, in March.

Two other homes are planned in Brazil, one in Ibimirimu and another in Pernambuco.

Another is being planned for Manjare in Ethiopia, which will be the first kindergarten for the Gumuz tribe.

The statement issued by the group showed the way in which the money had been distributed among institutes monitored by it: 92 of them in Brazil, 16 in Ethiopia, and 14 in Kenya, as well as others in Peru, Guatemala and Pakistan.

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