News Update - January 2022

Happy New Year from Tools with a Mission!

Happy New Year from TWAM to all of our generous supporters. Thank you so much for continuing to make our work possible. In case you missed it, we sent 14 containers full of livelihood-creating tools to Africa last year. You can read more about the tools that we sent last year here.

We’re currently preparing our first container of the year which will be heading to Zambia. It’s always incredibly encouraging to see the tools as they keep coming in and our volunteers and members of staff who are busy making sure that all the requested tools make it to Africa safely.

We’re looking forward to seeing what 2022 has in store for TWAM as we continue with our plans to open the new Midlands centre. We were all very excited to welcome Nigel into the team last week. He is the new Midlands Refurbishment Centre Manager who you may have seen in our Christmas appeal. We’re so lucky to have Nigel on board to help us with this ambitious project.

Thank you for all your support, I hope you continue to be inspired by the impact that it has.

James Noble, Fundraising Apprentice

Kawempe Youth Development Project

Kawempe is a sub-county on the outskirts of Kampala, the capital of Uganda. The area is home to many disadvantaged communities that struggle with an incredibly high youth unemployment rate of around 85%. It has the highest crime and HIV transmission rates of all the divisions of Kampala, making it an incredibly tough place to grow up in.

Living in such a challenging environment, many have no hope of ever improving their situations and finding a job, turning to crime, gambling, and alcoholism instead. However, some people realise that in order to transform their lives, they need to take the first step.

That is exactly what the Kawempe Youth Development Project represents: a decision by members of poor communities to take their future into their own hands to improve the lives of their families, and of everyone in the community.

Once the project was up and running, they needed some tools and machines to train with. That is where TWAM came in. We sent them 6 sewing machines for use in tailoring classes, as well as carpentry workshop kits, including pillar drills and industrial lathes, allowing them to set up their own carpentry workshop.

They chose these two skills, carpentry and tailoring, because they are the most useful trades for men and women in poor African communities. Women often turn to tailoring to secure lucrative contracts to make school uniforms for local schools or sell their clothes at local markets. Men will usually choose carpentry as it allows them to take on a wide variety of projects, and they often make furniture that is sold to schools as well.

For the tailoring course, locally-appointed leaders choose women who they think will most benefit from the training. Those who are invited on to the course have not been able to finish their education, so their career prospects are very bleak. They train 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 11 months, including 3 months of revision where they can catch up on parts of the course that they haven’t quite grasped.

Their dedication and commitment to completing the training is a testament to their hard-working spirit. The demand for these courses is so great that they are planning to build a bigger training centre and offer this transformative training to even more people who need it.

Kawempe Carpentry Workshop

Here is Eddie, a trainee on the carpentry course, telling you about his experience with the Kawembe carpentry workshop:

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“I finished school when I was 18, but there was nothing for me to do afterwards. I couldn’t find work and did nothing for 3 years after I left school.

I knew that I couldn’t live like this forever, so I decided to try to find some real work. I grew up in Kawempe, so I heard of the carpentry workshop.

I saw people making furniture and realised that carpentry is a great job, it was something that I wanted to do.

I approached them myself and started my training. This course has changed my life and given me the chance to earn a living. I can feed myself and my family, I couldn’t do that without these tools.’’

The Kawempe Youth Development Project is a truly inspiring example of a community-driven push to transform the lives of those who are not given the opportunities that they need. It is a true display of the power of community, and the power of tools, and it is made possible by your support.

Could you help to provide a carpentry kit to a poor
community in Africa?

There are always more communities that need our help, and there are always people who are desperately trying to transform their own lives, they just need the tools to do so.

£40 would cover the costs of collecting and refurbishing all the tools required for a carpentry kit. That's one family, and even one community, transformed. Can you think of a way to make a bigger impact with just £40? We certainly can't.

Peter Stebbings Memorial Charity Grant

We’re very happy to announce that we have received a very generous £20,000 grant from the Peter Stebbings Memorial Charity. You can read more about this on our blog at twam.uk/stories

You could make a difference with TWAM.

As we progress in our mission to send 1 million tools to Africa every year, we’re going to need all the help we can get.

If you would like to assist us in our mission, there are many roles that you can choose from, including tool refurbisher, tool collector, van team member, amongst others.

If you’re interested in joining the TWAM team, head to our dedicated volunteering website timefortwam.uk, or contact our volunteer coordinator Paul Daley at pauld@twam.uk or 01473 210220.

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Thank you for your support.

Without you, none of what we do would be possible. Let's continue to transform even more lives together in 2022.