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FIELD NOTES THE BIANNUAL NEWSLETTER FROM FIELDS OF LIFE www.FieldsofLife.org
SPRING / SUMMER 2015 ISSUE 4
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
CARRY JERRY CHALLENGE
CHANGING LIVES TRANSFORMING COMMUNITIES BUILDING HOPE
UPSKILLING UGANDA GIVE WATER, GIVE LIFE PRACTICALLY PERFECT STORY OF HOPE WATER IS LIFE MEET MAGGIE ... AND MORE!
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GIVE WATER, GIVE LIFE Welcome to our fourth edition of Field Notes. I have just returned from a memorable trip to Uganda and Rwanda. We hosted our 7th Annual Education Conference in Lira, Northern Uganda entitled ‘Servant Leadership’. We were delighted that over 90% of Fields of Life supported schools were in attendance to share good practice, fellowship together and learn from the excellent line up of speakers present in order to seek to improve school performance. I am delighted that many of the Fields of Life supported schools are amongst the top performing in their districts and some even at national level. It is always a joy to visit our water drilling teams. The commitment, dedication and desire of these guys to see communities access clean water is a real challenge to me. I am convinced that this work is vital in order to see young childrens’ lives saved and communities transformed by reducing the ravages of disease and death. As we break through the barrier of 500,000 people accessing clean water since we acquired our drilling machinery in 2009 we are committed to reaching 1,000,000 people by 2020. We need your help and ask you to join with us. On this World Water day, 22nd March 2015, we are launching a new campaign called ‘Water for Life’ where we are asking our supporters to save the life of one child every single month by committing to £4 per month to support this essential work. Please consider completing the Direct Debit form enclosed.
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We are also having an event called ‘Carry Jerry’ on Saturday 23rd May 2015. We hope you will consider joining with us and stand in solidarity with the vulnerable women and children who walk long and ardous journeys with many risks and dangers simply to get a drink of water. Please encourage your school, business, church, family and friends to get involved, have some fun and change the world for 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 of Life Charity Shop! It has been an exciting couple of years and we are extremely thankful to our faithful and committed volunteers who have donated stock to sell, volunteered their time and helped raise awareness. For those who haven’t had the opportunity to visit the shop we are located at 16 Railway Road, Coleraine and would love to see you. Please call in to say hello and check out our stock in store consisting of quality and branded items. How can you help? DONATE! We are always looking for new stock to sell in Practically 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 get the opportunity to meet new people, make new friends, become part of the Fields of Life team and learn new skills while raising money to support our work in East Africa. BECOME A PRACTICALLY PERFECT CHAMPION! Each quarter Practically Perfect will run various appeals for stock and we are looking for Practically Perfect Champions to commit to spreading the news amongst friends and family as well as within your church/school/business. Fields of Life will supply all Champions with posters and promotional material; all you have to do is help spread the word! We are very excited to announce that we will be opening our second ‘ Practically Perfect’ store later in 2015 which will be located in the North Down area. g
Keep checking our website www.fieldsoflife.org and social media pages to keep up to date!
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CLEAN WATER FOR 1 MILLION PEOPLE Clean accessible drinking water is a basic human right, essential to life yet over one eighth of the world does not have access to it. Many people suffer sickness and death due to waterborne diseases and valuable hours are lost fetching dirty water over long distances. Fields of Life is committed to addressing the vital need of supplying safe, clean water especially amongst the vulnerable and marginalised groups, mainly women and children and in 2009 purchased its own drilling equipment. The new rig drilled the first well in January 2010. We set an ambitious target to drill 1,000 wells within a 10 year period providing 1,000,000 people with clean water. This year, 2015, we are approaching our half way mark.
• Fields of Life purchased a second rig in early 2012 enabling our teams to drill up to 10 wells each month. • In 2014 our teams provided more than 100 communities in East Africa with access to clean water. • Each day last year, more than 330 people received access to fresh water. • Over 120,000 lives were saved through receiving the gift of clean water in 2014. • Since our first well was drilled in 2010, more than 500,000 people have received clean water. • Will you join with us this year as we step closer to reaching our target of providing 1 million people with clean water? g
Throughout 2015 we will be planning a number of events and campaigns to raise vital funds to further extend this work. We would love for you to join with us. For more information on any of our events or campaigns please contact helen.darcy@fieldsoflife.org for more information.
WILL YOU WALK 10,000 STEPS WITH US ON 23RD MAY 2015 ALONG THE NORTH COAST AND TAKE PART IN OUR CARRY JERRY CHALLENGE? 4
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NEVER TASTED CLEAN WATER
Lera Atar community received the gift of a borehole through the Fields of Life water drilling programme. 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 not tasted or even seen clean water. The consumption of contaminated water is a way of life for people in Northern Uganda, due to the fact that the region suffered insurgency for the past two decades. Many are now returning from the camps and are trying to resettle, but access to safe clean drinking water is still a big challenge. Fields of Life has been involved in changing lives and building hope through the provision of clean 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 from water borne diseases like typhoid, hook worms, diarrhoea and bilharzia for a long time. We would spend much time at hospital and a lot of the little money we could save from subsistence farming was spent on 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 a swamp. I joyfully receive this new water source with both hands as a gift from God. I believe we will no longer receive any cases of children being bitten by snakes and this will allow our pupils to go to school and 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 water source is why my children have been saved from all sorts of water borne diseases, and they will be able to attend school”. 5
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UPSKILLING UGANDA...
... PARTNERSHIP WITH SERC
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 underdeveloped region of Northern Uganda, where not everyone has even the opportunity for primary education. SERC is a top UK College promoting an inspirational, innovative and inclusive learning environment, which empowers and enables individuals and businesses to fulfil their ambitions and contribute to the prosperity of Northern Ireland. SERC currently has over 35,000 students and works with over 5,000 local businesses annually. Northern Uganda was a war-torn region devastated by the atrocities of the Lord’s Resistance Army. Today many areas still lack basic services. Fields of Life has been working there for more than 20 years building schools, drilling boreholes, providing sanitation and hygiene training helping to breathe new life into impoverished communities. Working in partnership with Fields of Life, SERC hopes to enrich, transform and inspire the lives of those living in Northern Uganda by providing an opportunity for students from Fields of Life schools to pursue a vocational education at a new purposebuilt Vocational Training Institute. Not all children from Fields of Life schools have the opportunity or academic ability to pursue a third level or further education and are often left with no options upon completing school. In Uganda the majority of girls don’t even complete primary education because of the demands of home, tending the garden, collecting water and caring for 6
siblings. By providing a Vocational Training Institute, students will be given the incentive and opportunity to continue their studies and gain skills to pursue a career, something many students in Ireland take for granted! In order to support Fields of Life and upskill the young people of Uganda, SERC aims to maximise the technical knowledge and experience of their staff to provide advice and guidance throughout the development of, what will be known as, the SERC Vocational Training Institute making it a centre of educational excellence. SERC will also help Fields of Life to raise the necessary money to build and equip the institute in a bid to Upskill Uganda and impact thousands of young people’s lives. g
To find out more please email upskillinguganda@fieldsoflife.org
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WATER IS LIFE IN SOUTH SUDAN One of the pledges made to our partners during the Fields of Life fact-finding visit to South Sudan in November 2013 was to drill six boreholes. We are delighted to report that despite nearly fourteen months of in-country conflict, a total of nine wells were drilled in January 2015. After a long delay because of insecurity, changing the drilling company and the nine-month long rainy season preventing travel by road, eight boreholes have been drilled in Ibba and one in Nzara another town west of Yambio, 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, the country’s capital, or Mundri and Maridi to the State capital Yambio. The county’s population is 41,869 made up of 21,545 males and 20,324 females, it consists of 5 Payams and 15 Bomas. The Diocese of Ibba is 170 miles north to south and 41 miles east to west. It has 4 Archdeaconries, 21 Parishes, 36 Churches, 32 Pastors and 315 Mothers Union members. According to the State Water and Sanitation authority, Ibba County has only 59 working boreholes while the adjoining counties of Yambio and Maridi have 339 and 249 respectively. This unquestionably highlights the great need for water in Ibba and in fact one of the four archdeaconries, located near the DR Congo border, had not a single working borehole.
David Gough (Fields of Life, International Development Manager) relays a story from the South Sudan visit, “As we walked to see some of the Diocesan projects on the outskirts of Ibba, we came upon a boy drawing water from a dirty pool on the track. Some of us spoke to him to discover that the nearest borehole was one mile away and that he was bringing the water back for his mother to cook dinner. Unfortunately this is all too common in water scarce communities in impoverished remote rural locations of South Sudan.” Bishop Wilson Kamani of Ibba continues, “The eight boreholes are truly wonderful news, my people have been suffering for too many years with little or no access to water.” Thanks to a number of extremely generous donors Fields of Life has been able to drill a total of nine wells, using a local drilling company, three more than we originally planned bringing fresh, safe, clean drinking water to over 10,000 people. g
To find out more about our work in South Sudan please email: david.gough@fieldsoflife.org 7
MEET MAGGIE
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“I am Margaret, fifth born of seven, three sisters and three boys in my family. My mother could not send me to school because she had to take care of the family. My father had no interest and placed no value on our education. He thought there was no point of educating a girl if she was to get married anyway. This made our life very hard as we had to struggle to make a living. I went to live with my aunt who tried to send me to school but it was not easy. Through all the struggles, I made it to secondary level with good grades as I always wanted to be a social worker. My aunt got to hear about a Fields of Life school that was supporting children like me who could not afford to pay tuition. I got sponsored through Fields of Life and was given scholastic materials, fees and a peace of mind that I wouldn’t drop out of school. This whole experience turned my life around and I could feel that it was going to be different. It doesn’t matter how small or big the contribution from a donor is, it makes a big difference for a child to 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 girl child out there, because there is hope for them to have a better future regardless of what our culture and perception is for a girl child. Being involved with I AM GIRL means a lot to me because I believe we can make a great difference as educating a girl is educating a nation.” The I AM GIRL project was launched in October 2014 and aims to address the frightening statistics surrounding girl retention at school in Sub Saharan Africa. Only 1 in 5 girls make it to secondary school 8
and in Uganda, a staggering 71% of girls drop out of school before completing Primary 7 and 85% do not complete secondary school. The I AM GIRL project is committed to ensuring girls are empowered to complete their education and to grow into strong, healthy young women and that in time their children will have the same opportunities. The project aims to educate both girls and boys, women and men, within our school network in East Africa to address the challenges faced by young girls today. g
For more information on how you can Cherish A Girl and Change Her World, please contact Helen D’Arcy on helen.darcy@fieldsoflife.org.
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, GOD S TIMING IS PERFECT! As Christians we accept God’s timing is perfect. It is. After supporting an orphanage in Kenya for several years the time progressed when we handed the reins to a larger organisation. A gap appeared in our lives. We then heard of Fields of Life through our Rector, who informed us a children’s choir would soon be touring Ireland. Having already witnessed God’s hand working in East Africa, it was the perfect opportunity to continue with something close to our hearts. Through friends, who were helping with the choir visit, we asked to sponsor a child. Our prayers were answered when we were offered Doreen, who was a member of the 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 small church in Ballyhalbert, County Down. We sat purposely towards the front awaiting a glimpse of our new daughter. The concert was unbelievable but we wanted it to be over so we could meet and hug Doreen. That first hug was such a joy and so special. The joy and love grew even greater as we hosted Doreen in our home for that night.
Since that experience, back in 2009, we have continued with our sponsorship and have followed Doreen’s progress though her education, thanks to regular letters from her through Fields of Life. Doreen has now graduated from university and is a teacher in a primary school. To say we are proud of our daughter and her achievements would be an understatement. Her love for us brings joy to our hearts. Her love for God is even greater. Without Fields of Life none of this would have happened. We will be forever thankful. God’s timing is perfect, to Him be the glory. Anne and Maurice Langley g
If you would like to experience some of that love and joy Anne and Maurice have you can sponsor a child by phoning 028 3839 0395 and ask for Jeanette or email jeanette.gibson@fieldsoflife.org
Needless to say we became choir ‘groupies’ for the remainder of their tour spending as much time as possible with Doreen. 9
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NEW RECRUITS FIELDS OF LIFE ADVOCATES
Stephen Johnston has joined the organisation as a placement student from the University of Ulster Coleraine. Stephen is a 3rd year student studying Geography and during the first half of his placement spent 3 months working in Rwanda. Stephen has joined Fields of Life for a 6 month period until July 2015 as a Fundraising Assistant. Russell Rahman joined the Fields of Life Child Sponsorship department in April 2014. Russell works part-time as Child Sponsorship Assistant and continues to make a valuable contribution as our Child Sponsorship programme grows.
INTERN OPPORTUNITY 2015 I 2016 10
Fields of Life have many active and dedicated volunteers who have served Fields of Life faithfully for many years. It is our desire to tell more people about the work of Fields of Life and to engage new audiences to partner with us as we seek to transform the lives of vulnerable people throughout East Africa. A Fields of Life Advocate will be a main contact for Fields of Life within local Churches; businesses; schools; youth groups and will have the opportunity to raise vital support. Advocates will be given appropriate training by Fields of Life staff and will be provided with all the tools, resources and information necessary to be able to effectively communicate and share our story. g
To find out more about becoming an Advocate for Fields of Life in Northern Ireland or Republic of Ireland please contact Helen D’Arcy at helen.darcy@fieldsoflife.org.
As a Fields of Life Intern you will be one of the main contacts for Fields of Life within local churches and schools and you will have the opportunity to raise vital support. You will be responsible for distributing and sharing information about the work of Fields of Life and our various projects. Please contact info@fieldsoflife.org for more information.
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WHAT WILL YOUR LEGACY BE? Fields of Life is committed to seeing meaningful and real change occur in the lives of whole communities in East Africa. It is our desire to empower those living in extreme poverty and to help them help themselves. By leaving a gift in your will to Fields of Life, you will be helping to raise up the change makers of East Africa.
Fields of Life appreciates that when making a will it is important to provide for your loved ones first – your family and friends. However many often find that even after they have done this, they wish to leave something to a worthwhile cause that is close to their heart. By leaving a gift in your will to Fields of Life, small or large, it is a wonderful opportunity to join in our mission and bring hope to vulnerable and marginalised children across East Africa.
COME AND SEE! Throughout the year Fields of Life co-ordinate and lead Five Day Fact Finding Trips (Thursday to Monday) enabling people to travel to Uganda to see our work on the ground. You may be interested in funding a specific project or would simply like to learn more about the different projects we are involved in and see our team in action. The five day trip (2 days travelling and 3 days on the ground) is ideal for those constrained by time and can only spare a few days away. This trip will give you a flavour of life in Africa and the life-changing work of Fields of Life. 11
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OUR MISSION
CONTACT US
Fields of Life is committed to sharing the Christian faith by collaborating with local communities and churches in East Africa to bring about positive change through the provision of quality education, clean water, health promotion and other community based projects.
NORTHERN IRELAND (HEAD OFFICE) FIELDS OF LIFE 25 Carn Road, Craigavon, Co. Armagh N. Ireland BT63 5WG Telephone: +44 (0)28 3839 0395 Email: info@fieldsoflife.org REPUBLIC OF IRELAND FIELDS OF LIFE Treetops, Brides Glen Road Shankill, Dublin 18, Ireland Telephone: +353 1 282 7777 Email: info@fieldsoflife.org
RWANDA
2015 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 please contact claire.andrews@fieldsoflife.org or visit www.fieldsoflife.org.
Find us on Facebook www.facebook.com
Charity Number UK: XR 18278 ROI: CHY 13573
www.FIELDSofLIFE.org
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