While we would admit that our visit to the Turkana region of Kenya was a real adventure and a great success, it also served to highlight why we wanted to raise funds for the project in the first place.
You will already know something of the work in Kaikor, but to see the reality on the ground really brings it home and will leave us with a lasting impression of real need.
It goes without saying that villages with no permanent structures or water supply really need help. The project looks after 12 main village centres, 4 of whom have no water supply. Water suddenly becomes very valuable when you have to walk several miles to collect it.
The project has drilled wells for many of the villages they cover, but even those have a limited supply that is difficult to allocate to all the essentials of cooking, cleaning and latrines as well as trying to maintain a basic level of agriculture.
As well as the water situation, the projects main priorities are helping to feed and educate the younger children and, if all goes well, there are plans to expand the provision to cover the mothers as well as their children.
Your past help is very much appreciated and we can assure you that it is being put to very good use.
Once again, thank you for your past help and we hope that you will keep the project in mind for the future.
John & Jan
First of all, many thanks for your generous donations to date.
Our second (and final) fund raising event, the Casino Night, was held in Jury's Inn, Jamaica Street, Glasgow on the evening of June 4th.
Everyone who attended said they thoroughly enjoyed themselves and the firm running the casino said they had never seen so many people getting involved so enthusiastically.
Both of the holidays and the painting attracted strong bids in the auction and we raised almost £2,000 on the night and helped us to exceed our target.
The brief introduction from Fr. Albert no doubt helped everyone understand the importance of the work New Ways does and we know that all money raised will be put to good use.
Jan and I will keep you informed of our progress with the project and we hope to be able to share our experiences with you all at once we have returned.
We will be in Kenya from August 13th to September 3rd. The actual village is called Kaikor, near Lake Turkana.
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Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they will never sell them on or send you unwanted emails. Once you donate they will send your money directly to New Ways and ensure that Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. In that way I can raise even more and also save time and cut costs for New Ways.
So please dig deep and donate now.
As you will know from our letters, Jan and I have volunteered to assist at a two week seminar in Northern Kenya where we will be helping to train nutritional rehabilitation workers. The seminar will take place in the last two weeks of August.
Running marathons, walking great walls or cycling vast distances is not really our forte, so we thought that we would donate our time and effort as well as your money!
One benefit of organising a trip for just the two of us is that we will be able to meet all the costs ourselves, so that 100% of your donation will go directly to New Ways. We will be paying for all flights and other expenses personally.
INTRODUCING NEW WAYS
New Ways is made up of people from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures. We are based in the UK but have members in Europe, Africa and the U.S.A.. What we share in common is a commitment to use our talents, time and energy to help communities suffering deprivation, and bring new opportunity to some of the world's poorest people.
Since 1994, New Ways has been working to support health, education, water and agricultural development projects in Africa, predominantly in Turkana, Northern Kenya. Our focus is on projects that are sustainable and provide a basis for the long-term development of a community or region, mostly in areas that are particularly deprived. Children are key to the success of developing countries, and the majority of projects New Ways supports are aimed at improving the quality of life for children and young adults.
PROJECTS
New Ways typically supports small and medium-scale long-term development initiatives. These are projects that help to provide the basic needs of life - clean water, a decent level of nutrition, basic healthcare and sustainable agriculture - the basic necessities any community requires in order that it can grow. We also believe that education is vital to the development of such communities and support student sponsorship programmes in Kenya covering a range of educational needs.
KAIKOR
One of our most ambitious projects is in the Kaikor region of Turkana where we are supporting the setting up and running of nine nutritional rehabilitation centres. Begun in 2006, not only were water resources needed for each location, but staff were also required to manage and administer the centres - and to help educate the children attending the nurseries. In order that they can do this effectively, our partner organisations in Kenya who deliver the projects we fund have established a rolling training programme that provides the basic instruction that the staff need to fulfil their responsibilities and duties.
EDUCATION
On a regular basis, the caretakers and their assistants (totalling 18 people) who run the centres receive in-service training through the fortnightly visits from the monitors of the project. They also get to discuss ad hoc problems and any difficulties which may arise from time to time.
As part of their initial training the caretakers' undertook a formal intensive workshop in which they probably learned more skills than they had learned in their life to date. Some of the topics covered during those two weeks included:
Administration and Management in an inclusive setting. Planning, organization and resource Management. Participative learning approaches, behaviour change and communication. General methods and approaches to facilitate learning/school readiness activities. Health Education. Micro teaching and self evaluation. Early communicating skills. Materials display and assessment.
Every year this workshop is held for the caretakers, including the assistants, so that they become more knowledgeable and ready to manage and satisfy the needs of the small children on whom the project is focussed.
This is the workshop at which Jan and I will be helping.
OUR PARTNER ORGANISATIONS
Our overseas partner organisations have a long-term commitment to the areas in which they work. We have established strong relationships with them so that we also have an intimate knowledge both of the conditions and issues they face, and of the projects that we support. We support these projects with the funds we raise from grant-making organisations, private donations and from events that we organise throughout the year. While we are non-denominational, most of our funding goes to our main overseas partner organisation, the Missionary Community of St Paul the Apostle (MCSPA). The MCSPA has been based in Turkana, Kenya for more than 20 years and it is this long term and relatively permanent base in the field that has helped build trust and confidence with local communities that then work with MCSPA to identify the best project initiatives for each community in their locality.
Once again, thank you for your generous support.
