Angela Docherty has been involved from the beginning and her drive and passion have been instrumental in building the New Ways we all know. Here is some of what she had to say at the event:
“It’s hard to believe that it was over 25 years ago when I was first asked to help the Founders of New Ways – what struck me at the time was the huge task they had given themselves as a very small group hoping to achieve so much across such a large and as far as I could judge, desolate territory that was Turkana.
With the support of so many people we managed in just over a year in the summer of 96 to send just under £12,000 to fund our first project running the medical facilities at an orphanage in Nairobi in a slum area known as Kibagare. I like to think of it as the “power of small” – lots of people contributing – whether sponsoring friends, attending events and just generally supporting our plans which ultimately transformed the lives of those orphans who were in great need of basic medical support.
The key for New Ways has always been the amazing volunteer community committed to supporting the work of New Ways in London with a hand of friendship – a small group, like the founders, but most importantly, with connections to larger groups through their colleagues, friends and family. While I am currently the face of the charity, I couldn’t have achieved all the changes that together we have made mostly in Turkana without the support of so many committed and wonderful people of which you are all part.”
Angela went on to talk more about the power of small, the way the work has expanded over the years and the fact that we are seeing students in Turkana return as volunteers. More on all this can be found on our YouTube channel, not least the video on this link, which shows something of the range of the work…