William Carson has enjoyed a number of roles with New Ways over the years…
My life with New Ways breaks into three distinct time periods. That first began in the 1990s when I met the Spanish founders in London through friends in Kentish Town. As a musician, I naturally gravitated to anyone who might offer me an opportunity to perform! And one of the earliest memories of New Ways was playing in the basement of a restaurant near Sloane Street for one of the very first events.
As I got to know the founders and those first volunteers better, I learnt more about the challenges they were attempting to address – in Turkana and in South America. And so began the second period in 2005 when I was in a position to provide operational support to New Ways by virtue of a generous benefactor who knew the charity was going to struggle to make headway without some element of administrative skills and input.
When I was no longer able to support in this capacity, so began my third period, in 2011, when I was surprised and privileged to be invited by Angela, our CEO with the blessing of the other board members to join the board as a non-exec director. This period also saw me make two trips to Turkana, almost 9 years apart, to witness the success of the projects I’d known only by documentation for so many years.
Looking ahead, having seen the remarkable and genuine progress in that 9 year gap, but also seeing what else is happening in Africa, the focus for New Ways to help communities thrive will be more urgent than ever, to bridge the gaps in access to technology and mobilization for people in Turkana, Malawi and South Sudan, no less than the ongoing help we try to provide for the basic needs of water, healthcare, agriculture and education.
William Carson
