Christmas approaches and it seems like another year will soon be over. A year dominated by division and uncertainty in the UK, where it’s easy to forget we’re not at the mercy of the weather in the same way as in Turkana. We have rain, they have (or don’t have) the rains. We have water and food without having to fight each other for it. We have our issues, as nobody can have failed to notice, but they’re on a different scale to those in sub Saharan Africa. Maybe the blessings are as well? I don’t know, but I did notice how full

of life Kenyans, and Turkana’s in particular, can be when I visited a few years ago.

So, this is the last newsletter of 2019, containing news and a few insights. I hope you find it useful, that you enjoy the festive season, and that 2020 is good to you.

Tony Earnshaweditor

The Fundacion Emalaikat, with whom we work in Lobur, have a Facebook page and a recent post gives a good flavour of life there. New Ways work with the Fundacion in agriculture, nursery schools and health. Here are some of the relevant comments

“We write to you while we contemplate the beautiful landscape that has remained after the rains. Indeed, as we predicted, malaria arrived and we have had a lot of work, but luckily in a green environment, with flowers and surrounded by animals who have been attracted by the grass, all those who migrated have returned, like the students, who have come from back to Lobur after their school vacation.’

‘In July we made a total of 11 mobile clinics and improved considerably on prenatal care. Our monthly talk focused on Malaria, due to the high number of cases we expected to have.

We have carried out the Polio campaign in cooperation with the Government, for four days, in which we focus on vaccinating children from 0-5 years old and subsequently we carried out a second campaign, this time against meningitis.’

Within our training activities, we have a talk on basic hygiene, which we give to the new participants of the Furrows in the Desert agriculture program.

“The same day we kicked off dealing with the expected malaria outbreak, with a pregnant woman with malaria, who requested our services from Natodomerí one of our new mobile clinic points, which is located north of Lobur, near the border with Ethiopia.We had to make two urgent transfers to Lodwar, the first was the case of an open fracture in an older woman who suffered a fall and who needed surgery. The second case touched us more closely, because it was the baby of a young couple of mission workers, two months old, with respiratory problems, and who, unfortunately, died on the road despite all our efforts.” Sadly, these are the realities of life in Turkana where the infrastructure is limited.

News from Lobur

Newsletter December 2019 www.newways.org.uk

Claudio Maranon, Professor of Terrain Engineering, writes ‘For more than ten years I have been going to North Kenya or Ethiopia with some regularity. The impressions I receive on each trip are always unique and always impressive. But beyond the power of the images and the intensity of the experiences on each occasion I have the privilege of witnessing first-hand the true richness of these trips.

If I remember correctly, it was in 2010 when I had the great fortune of accompanying Angel Valdivia to visit the Nyangatom area, south of Ethiopia, on the border with Kenya and with South Sudan.

The place is a transit zone for those fleeing the wars in southern Sudan, on the road to Ethiopia or simply in search of a better life. To the question of

What do you most need? They always responded: water, water, water is what we need most.”

While much has improved in that ten years, the basic issues remain. The northern most of the Nursery Schools we support, and the community in which it is situated are close to the river which forms the border between Ethiopia and Kenya. North of the river is Ethiopia, south is Kenya – but the river itself? The river is disputed, a source of water and a reason to fight. In an effort to lessen tensions, New Ways is working with local partners to build more infrastructure on the Ethiopian side and improve access to water.

As we come into the Christmas season and many of you are considering what to do, what we’d like to say here at New Ways is that small giving really does transform lives. We are more than willing to create a special Christmas gift for any project that you would be interested in to show the impact that small giving can have on the lives of others. For example, just 2p a day provides breakfast to one child at one of our nursery schools.

Would you like to give an alternative gift to someone this year? If the answer is yes, please get in touch with Angela at: angela@newways.org.uk and tell her what kind of gift you would like it to be. There is a range of possibilities - we sponsor children’s education, we are running two primary schools now, and we have nursery schools in three countries. As always, the importance at those nursery schools is that they provide the children with two meals a day so that they are healthy enough to enjoy their education. We do the same in our primary schools - a child cannot learn on an empty stomach so all of these things can make a difference. We also have to buy uniforms for the kids so there is a wide range of things that are very small but together can transform lives. If you are interested, please do get in touch. Thank you for your long term support of the charity.

And some insights from the Kenya/Ethiopia border

Fundraising - The Importance of Small

Fundraising InitiativesOur supporters come up with new approaches to fundraising all the time. This time we have two new initiatives – one from a New Ways director and one from the editor of this newsletter. Both involve creativity and offer a chance to help New Ways while enjoying a novel or a CD. More below.

Newsletter editor Tony Earnshaw published his first novel this year and used his book launches to also raise some money for New Ways amounting to £150 so far for water projects. Now you can help as Tony has offered donations whenever a New Ways supporter buys direct from him. The book, Blessed Assurance, can be purchased from Tony by emailing him on tonyearnshawwriter@gmail.com for £11 inc p&p. £1 of this will go to New Ways.

You can also get the book on Amazon of course, where it enjoys a number of 5 star reviews, but p&p pushes the price up, and New Ways don’t benefit.

So, what is the book about? It’s about four friends, two marriages and one underlying struggle. The conflict between principles and behaviour.

Tom, Pete, Anne and Liza share their stories and we see the influence of family and place as they move from Yorkshire and Sussex, via the suburbs, to the North Downs.

Tom and Pete share a faith and a calling but have very different takes on what that means, leading to misunderstanding and conflict. And their relationships with Anne and Liza are not always straightforward.

Puzzled by the importance of faith to the men, Anne and Liza find different ways of dealing with it. Tom looks for understanding outside the church, helped by Jonny Nower, former head of Nower Asset Management, now looking for a new role. Is this the answer? A spirituality outside organised religion?

This moving exploration of the lives and loves of four engaging characters wrestles with the important question of whether there is a role for faith in today’s society – and if not, what will replace it?

Williem Vincent is a singer and songwriter from Derry in Northern Ireland. We know him better as plain old William, one of our directors on the New Ways board!

This year, 2019, Williem performed at a private event in Ireland supporting none other than Van Morrison. It was a highlight in a career that’s included tours and events in the UK and the US, where he supported the wonderful Sarah McGuinness at the St Regis Hotel on 5th Avenue, New York.

Rising Slowly is Williem’s debut album. Recorded over a 12 month period in Bath and London, it is a collection of songs that reflects his broad range of influences, from Nick Drake and Syd Barret to Kate Bush and David Bowie. The album features Williem on vocals and guitar alongside a collection of artists on harp, strings, piano and backing vocals.

Blessed Assurance

Rising Slowly

Rising Slowly ctd...In this, its 25th anniversary year, Williem has offered New Ways an opportunity to raise funds through sales of Rising Slowly. 100% of sales (less post and packing) will go to help New Ways continue its critical work in Turkana, Malawi, Ethiopia and South Sudan. Williem commented: “I’ve had such a long connection to New Ways, right from the get-go, and I felt this was the best way I could help celebrate that. I’ve long ago recouped my production costs from sales and now this is an opportunity for me to give something back - and I think it’s a very fine album too!”

Angela added: “I’m delighted Williem has made this offer. It doesn’t matter how many we sell, every little helps with our work. I’ve been

supporting Williem as an artist for years and it really is a lovely recording, it will be a great gift for anyone who loves discovering new music.”

You can listen to a selection of tracks and purchase the album here http://williemvincent.com.hostbaby.com/buy/rising_slowly___williem_vincent/ for £10.99. The CD features a photo-booklet with reflections from Williem which tracks the year of production, and the cover and CD present the beautiful work of artist Jane Townsend, from her Moon Series.

With such a landmark year, this is a perfect way to help support New Ways and we are grateful for all sales received.

The Three Peaks ChallengeA group of hardy New Ways supporters will be tackling the three highest peaks in the UK in the summer of 2020 – and there’s still time to join the team. The aim is to raise £12,000 for water provision in Turkana by overcoming the three highest mountains in each of Wales, England and Scotland. The group will meet in Wales for dinner and stay overnight before taking on Snowdon and then being transported up to the Lake District. After dinner and a restful night in a hotel the next challenge will be the ascent of Scafell Pike before moving up to Scotland for a night’s sleep and the final ascent, the highest of all, Ben Nevis. It will be a fantastic challenge as well as help raise money that will provide water for those in great need in

Turkana, Northern Kenya.

For more information, or to support, contact Roger Price Haworth on pricehaworth@icloud.com .