Transcript
Page 1: Field Notes Issue 4 Spring Summer ed

CHANGING LIVESTRANSFORMINGCOMMUNITIESBUILDING HOPE

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

CARRY JERRYCHALLENGEUPSKILLING UGANDAGIVE WATER, GIVE LIFEPRACTICALLY PERFECTSTORY OF HOPEWATER IS LIFEMEET MAGGIE ... AND MORE!

FIELD NOTESSPRING / SUMMER 2015 ISSUE 4

THE BIANNUAL NEWSLETTER FROM FIELDS OF LIFE www.FieldsofLife.org

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GIVE WATER,GIVE LIFEWelcome to our fourth edition of Field Notes. I havejust returned from a memorable trip to Uganda andRwanda. We hosted our 7th Annual EducationConference in Lira, Northern Uganda entitled‘Servant Leadership’. We were delighted that over90% of Fields of Life supported schools were inattendance to share good practice, fellowshiptogether and learn from the excellent line up ofspeakers present in order to seek to improve schoolperformance. I am delighted that many of the Fieldsof Life supported schools are amongst the topperforming in their districts and some even atnational level.

It is always a joy to visit our water drilling teams.The commitment, dedication and desire of theseguys to see communities access clean water is areal challenge to me. I am convinced that this workis vital in order to see young childrens’ lives savedand communities transformed by reducing theravages of disease and death. As we break throughthe barrier of 500,000 people accessing clean watersince we acquired our drilling machinery in 2009 weare committed to reaching 1,000,000 people by2020. We need your help and ask you to join with us.On this World Water day, 22nd March 2015, we arelaunching a new campaign called ‘Water for Life’where we are asking our supporters to save the lifeof one child every single month by committing to £4per month to support this essential work. Pleaseconsider completing the Direct Debit form enclosed.

We are also having an event called ‘Carry Jerry’ onSaturday 23rd May 2015. We hope you will considerjoining with us and stand in solidarity with thevulnerable women and children who walk long andardous journeys with many risks and dangerssimply to get a drink of water. Please encourageyour school, business, church, family and friends toget involved, have some fun and change the worldfor someone!

In Christian partnership,

Richard

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In July 2015 we will be celebrating our two year anniversary at Practically Perfect, the Fields ofLife Charity Shop! It has been an exciting couple of years and we are extremely thankful to ourfaithful and committed volunteers who have donated stock to sell, volunteered their time andhelped raise awareness.

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For those who haven’t had the opportunity to visitthe shop we are located at 16 Railway Road,Coleraine and would love to see you. Please call into say hello and check out our stock in storeconsisting of quality and branded items.

How can you help?

DONATE!We are always looking for new stock to sell inPractically Perfect!

• Ladies Fashion and Accessories• Menswear and Accessories• Children’s / baby wear and toys• Handbags• Jewellery• Books, DVDs, CDs, Videos• Occasional Furniture• Homeware

VOLUNTEER!By volunteering with Practically Perfect you will getthe opportunity to meet new people, make newfriends, become part of the Fields of Life team andlearn new skills while raising money to support ourwork in East Africa.

BECOME A PRACTICALLY PERFECT CHAMPION!Each quarter Practically Perfect will run variousappeals for stock and we are looking for PracticallyPerfect Champions to commit to spreading thenews amongst friends and family as well as withinyour church/school/business. Fields of Life willsupply all Champions with posters and promotionalmaterial; all you have to do is help spread the word!

We are very excited to announce that we will beopening our second ‘ Practically Perfect’ store laterin 2015 which will be located in the North Down area.

g Keep checking our websitewww.fieldsoflife.org and social media pages tokeep up to date!

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CLEAN WATER FOR1 MILLION PEOPLEClean accessible drinking water is a basic human right, essential to life yet over one eighth of the worlddoes not have access to it. Many people suffer sickness and death due to waterborne diseases andvaluable hours are lost fetching dirty water over long distances.

Fields of Life is committed to addressing the vitalneed of supplying safe, clean water especiallyamongst the vulnerable and marginalised groups,mainly women and children and in 2009 purchasedits own drilling equipment. The new rig drilled the firstwell in January 2010. We set an ambitious target todrill 1,000 wells within a 10 year period providing1,000,000 people with clean water. This year, 2015,we are approaching our half way mark.

• Fields of Life purchased a second rig in early 2012enabling our teams to drill up to 10 wells each month.

• In 2014 our teams provided more than 100communities in East Africa with access to clean water.

• Each day last year, more than 330 people receivedaccess to fresh water.

• Over 120,000 lives were saved through receivingthe gift of clean water in 2014.

• Since our first well was drilled in 2010, more than500,000 people have received clean water.

• Will you join with us this year as we step closer toreaching our target of providing 1 million people withclean water?

g Throughout 2015 we will be planning a numberof events and campaigns to raise vital funds tofurther extend this work. We would love for you tojoin with us. For more information on any of ourevents or campaigns please [email protected] for more information.

WILL YOU WALK 10,000 STEPS WITHUS ON 23RD MAY 2015 ALONG THENORTH COAST AND TAKE PART INOUR CARRY JERRY CHALLENGE?

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NEVER TASTEDCLEAN WATER

Lera Atar community received the gift of a borehole through the Fields of Life water drillingprogramme. The village is located in Adennokwok Sub County in Lira district in Northern Uganda.Mr Woro Patrick of the Lera-Atar village tells us their story:

“The biggest problem in the north of Uganda is access to safe clean water, in fact many areas have nottasted or even seen clean water. The consumption of contaminated water is a way of life for people inNorthern Uganda, due to the fact that the region suffered insurgency for the past two decades. Many arenow returning from the camps and are trying to resettle, but access to safe clean drinking water is still abig challenge. Fields of Life has been involved in changing lives and building hope through the provision ofclean water and this has been a blessing to all the families.”

Patrick explains, “My family has 7 children, 4 girls and 3 three boys. My family has been suffering fromwater borne diseases like typhoid, hook worms, diarrhoea and bilharzia for a long time. We would spendmuch time at hospital and a lot of the little money we could save from subsistence farming was spenton medication as a consequence of drinking water from an open well.”

Mr Cogan Okello, a leader within the village told us “Due to a lack of a safe water source for the village,accidents of snake bites were reported due to bushes covering the path and the water source being in aswamp. I joyfully receive this new water source with both hands as a gift from God. I believe we will nolonger receive any cases of children being bitten by snakes and this will allow our pupils to go to schooland the standard of living in my area will improve”.

Patrick finished by saying “My family had never tasted clean water before and now this new watersource is why my children have been saved from all sorts of water borne diseases, and they will be ableto attend school”.

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UPSKILLING UGANDA is an exciting new venture and partnership between South Eastern Regional College(SERC) and Fields of Life. The objective is to build and equip a new Vocational Training Institute in the under-developed region of Northern Uganda, where not everyone has even the opportunity for primary education.

SERC is a top UK College promoting aninspirational, innovative and inclusive learningenvironment, which empowers and enablesindividuals and businesses to fulfil their ambitionsand contribute to the prosperity of Northern Ireland.SERC currently has over 35,000 students and workswith over 5,000 local businesses annually.

Northern Uganda was a war-torn region devastatedby the atrocities of the Lord’s Resistance Army.Today many areas still lack basic services. Fields ofLife has been working there for more than 20 yearsbuilding schools, drilling boreholes, providingsanitation and hygiene training helping to breathenew life into impoverished communities.

Working in partnership with Fields of Life, SERChopes to enrich, transform and inspire the lives ofthose living in Northern Uganda by providing anopportunity for students from Fields of Life schoolsto pursue a vocational education at a new purpose-built Vocational Training Institute.

Not all children from Fields of Life schools have theopportunity or academic ability to pursue a thirdlevel or further education and are often left with nooptions upon completing school. In Uganda themajority of girls don’t even complete primaryeducation because of the demands of home,tending the garden, collecting water and caring for

siblings. By providing a Vocational TrainingInstitute, students will be given the incentive andopportunity to continue their studies and gain skillsto pursue a career, something many students inIreland take for granted!

In order to support Fields of Life and upskill theyoung people of Uganda, SERC aims to maximisethe technical knowledge and experience of theirstaff to provide advice and guidance throughout thedevelopment of, what will be known as, the SERCVocational Training Institute making it a centre ofeducational excellence. SERC will also help Fieldsof Life to raise the necessary money to build andequip the institute in a bid to Upskill Uganda andimpact thousands of young people’s lives.

g To find out more please [email protected]

UPSKILLINGUGANDA... ... PARTNERSHIP

WITH SERC

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WATER IS LIFE IN SOUTH SUDANOne of the pledges made to our partners during the Fields of Life fact-finding visit to South Sudan inNovember 2013 was to drill six boreholes. We are delighted to report that despite nearly fourteenmonths of in-country conflict, a total of nine wells were drilled in January 2015.

After a long delay because of insecurity, changing thedrilling company and the nine-month long rainy seasonpreventing travel by road, eight boreholes have beendrilled in Ibba and one in Nzara another town west ofYambio, Western Equatoria State, South Sudan.

Ibba can best be described as a drive-through town.People rarely stop on their journey to and from Juba, thecountry’s capital, or Mundri and Maridi to the Statecapital Yambio. The county’s population is 41,869made up of 21,545 males and 20,324 females, itconsists of 5 Payams and 15 Bomas. The Diocese ofIbba is 170 miles north to south and 41 miles east towest. It has 4 Archdeaconries, 21 Parishes, 36Churches, 32 Pastors and 315 Mothers Unionmembers.

According to the State Water and Sanitation authority,Ibba County has only 59 working boreholes while theadjoining counties of Yambio and Maridi have 339 and249 respectively. This unquestionably highlights thegreat need for water in Ibba and in fact one of the fourarchdeaconries, located near the DR Congo border, hadnot a single working borehole.

David Gough (Fields of Life, International DevelopmentManager) relays a story from the South Sudan visit, “Aswe walked to see some of the Diocesan projects on theoutskirts of Ibba, we came upon a boy drawing waterfrom a dirty pool on the track. Some of us spoke to himto discover that the nearest borehole was one mileaway and that he was bringing the water back for hismother to cook dinner. Unfortunately this is all toocommon in water scarce communities in impoverishedremote rural locations of South Sudan.”

Bishop Wilson Kamani of Ibba continues, “The eightboreholes are truly wonderful news, my people havebeen suffering for too many years with little or noaccess to water.”

Thanks to a number of extremely generous donorsFields of Life has been able to drill a total of nine wells,using a local drilling company, three more than weoriginally planned bringing fresh, safe, clean drinkingwater to over 10,000 people.

g To find out more about our work in SouthSudan please email: [email protected]

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MEET MAGGIE“I am Margaret, fifth born of seven, three sistersand three boys in my family. My mother could notsend me to school because she had to take careof the family. My father had no interest and placedno value on our education. He thought there wasno point of educating a girl if she was to getmarried anyway. This made our life very hard aswe had to struggle to make a living.

I went to live with my aunt who tried to send me toschool but it was not easy. Through all thestruggles, I made it to secondary level with goodgrades as I always wanted to be a social worker.

My aunt got to hear about a Fields of Life schoolthat was supporting children like me who could notafford to pay tuition. I got sponsored through Fieldsof Life and was given scholastic materials, fees anda peace of mind that I wouldn’t drop out of school.This whole experience turned my life around and Icould feel that it was going to be different.

It doesn’t matter how small or big the contributionfrom a donor is, it makes a big difference for a childto go to school. The change affects a whole community.I was able to go to University and graduate.

I believe I am a testimony to my family and the girlchild out there, because there is hope for them tohave a better future regardless of what our cultureand perception is for a girl child. Being involvedwith I AM GIRL means a lot to me because I believewe can make a great difference as educating a girlis educating a nation.”

The I AM GIRL project was launched in October 2014and aims to address the frightening statisticssurrounding girl retention at school in Sub SaharanAfrica. Only 1 in 5 girls make it to secondary school

and in Uganda, a staggering 71% of girls drop outof school before completing Primary 7 and 85% donot complete secondary school.

The I AM GIRL project is committed to ensuring girlsare empowered to complete their education and togrow into strong, healthy young women and that intime their children will have the same opportunities.The project aims to educate both girls and boys,women and men, within our school network in EastAfrica to address the challenges faced by younggirls today.

g For more information on how you can CherishA Girl and Change Her World, please contactHelen D’Arcy on [email protected].

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GOD,S TIMING

IS PERFECT!

As Christians we accept God’s timing is perfect. It is. After supporting anorphanage in Kenya for several years the time progressed when we handedthe reins to a larger organisation. A gap appeared in our lives.

We then heard of Fields of Life through our Rector, whoinformed us a children’s choir would soon be touringIreland. Having already witnessed God’s hand workingin East Africa, it was the perfect opportunity tocontinue with something close to our hearts. Throughfriends, who were helping with the choir visit, weasked to sponsor a child. Our prayers were answeredwhen we were offered Doreen, who was a member ofthe Ugandan choir. We received an information pack(which still sits proudly on display in our house)containing a photo and some details of Doreen.

We then attended one of the first concerts in a smallchurch in Ballyhalbert, County Down. We satpurposely towards the front awaiting a glimpse of ournew daughter. The concert was unbelievable but wewanted it to be over so we could meet and hugDoreen. That first hug was such a joy and so special.The joy and love grew even greater as we hostedDoreen in our home for that night.

Needless to say we became choir ‘groupies’ for theremainder of their tour spending as much time aspossible with Doreen.

Since that experience, back in 2009, we havecontinued with our sponsorship and have followedDoreen’s progress though her education, thanks toregular letters from her through Fields of Life.

Doreen has now graduated from university and is ateacher in a primary school. To say we are proud ofour daughter and her achievements would be anunderstatement. Her love for us brings joy to ourhearts. Her love for God is even greater.

Without Fields of Life none of this would havehappened. We will be forever thankful. God’s timingis perfect, to Him be the glory.

Anne and Maurice Langley

g If you would like to experience some ofthat love and joy Anne and Maurice have youcan sponsor a child by phoning 028 3839 0395and ask for Jeanette or [email protected]

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NEW RECRUITS FIELDS OF LIFEADVOCATES

Stephen Johnstonhas joined theorganisation as aplacement studentfrom the Universityof Ulster Coleraine.Stephen is a 3rd yearstudent studyingGeography andduring the first half

of his placement spent 3 months working inRwanda. Stephen has joined Fields of Life for a6 month period until July 2015 as a FundraisingAssistant.

Russell Rahmanjoined the Fields ofLife Child Sponsorshipdepartment in April2014. Russell workspart-time as ChildSponsorship Assistantand continues tomake a valuablecontribution as ourChild Sponsorshipprogramme grows.

Fields of Life have many active and dedicatedvolunteers who have served Fields of Life faithfullyfor many years. It is our desire to tell more peopleabout the work of Fields of Life and to engage newaudiences to partner with us as we seek totransform the lives of vulnerable peoplethroughout East Africa.

A Fields of Life Advocate will be a main contact forFields of Life within local Churches; businesses;schools; youth groups and will have theopportunity to raise vital support. Advocates willbe given appropriate training by Fields of Life staffand will be provided with all the tools, resourcesand information necessary to be able to effectivelycommunicate and share our story.

g To find out more about becoming anAdvocate for Fields of Life in Northern Ireland orRepublic of Ireland please contact Helen D’Arcyat [email protected].

As a Fields of Life Intern you will be one of themain contacts for Fields of Life within localchurches and schools and you will have theopportunity to raise vital support. You will beresponsible for distributing and sharinginformation about the work of Fields of Life andour various projects. Please [email protected] for more information.

INTERNOPPORTUNITY2015 2016I

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WHAT WILL YOUR LEGACY BE?Fields of Life is committed to seeing meaningfuland real change occur in the lives of wholecommunities in East Africa. It is our desire toempower those living in extreme poverty and to helpthem help themselves.

By leaving a gift in your will to Fields of Life, youwill be helping to raise up the change makers ofEast Africa.

Fields of Life appreciates that when making a will itis important to provide for your loved ones first –your family and friends. However many often findthat even after they have done this, they wish toleave something to a worthwhile cause that is closeto their heart.

By leaving a gift in your will to Fields of Life, smallor large, it is a wonderful opportunity to join in ourmission and bring hope to vulnerable andmarginalised children across East Africa.

COME AND SEE!Throughout the year Fields of Life co-ordinate and leadFive Day Fact Finding Trips (Thursday to Monday)enabling people to travel to Uganda to see our work onthe ground.

You may be interested in funding a specific project orwould simply like to learn more about the differentprojects we are involved in and see our team in action.

The five day trip (2 days travelling and 3 days on theground) is ideal for those constrained by time and canonly spare a few days away. This trip will give you aflavour of life in Africa and the life-changing work ofFields of Life.

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Fields of Life is committed to sharingthe Christian faith by collaboratingwith local communities andchurches in East Africa to bringabout positive change through theprovision of quality education, cleanwater, health promotion and othercommunity based projects.

OUR MISSION CONTACT US

Charity Number UK: XR 18278 ROI: CHY 13573

NORTHERN IRELAND (HEAD OFFICE)FIELDS OF LIFE25 Carn Road, Craigavon, Co. ArmaghN. Ireland BT63 5WGTelephone: +44 (0)28 3839 0395Email: [email protected]

REPUBLIC OF IRELANDFIELDS OF LIFETreetops, Brides Glen RoadShankill, Dublin 18, IrelandTelephone: +353 1 282 7777Email: [email protected]

Find us on Facebookwww.facebook.com

Follow us on Twitter@FieldsofLife

CULTIV8 Rwanda team dates have been confirmed: 21st July – 1st August 2015.If you are interested in finding out more information or joining the team pleasecontact [email protected] or visit www.fieldsoflife.org. ww

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RWANDA

2015

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