Since its birth, the Group contributed to a wide range of projects. During the period 2002-2018, these have included those set out below, though this list is not exhaustive. For the years 2017 and 2018, the DWG Project Report for each year that was distributed in paper form to parishioners, is provided below.
2002: £13,000 for the building of an upper storey to the parish house in Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka – the room is now used as a work room to teach sewing and craft.
2003: £5,200 to complete a classroom in Gbarnga, Liberia.
£3,800 to support Sister Joan Yates’ – a nun from our diocese – work in Kanyike, Uganda by funding a new medical centre (google Kanyike Project for more information as this work is ongoing).
£300 to the Missionaries of Charity to help their work in Latvia.
2004/5: over £13,000 to the Moyo Baby unit in Uganda to provide a solar electricity supply and towards staff wages.
2005: £5,000 to EducAid to build classrooms for its free schools network in Sierra Leone.
2006/7: nearly £5,000 for food for under 5s in Wau, South Sudan.
£3,200 given to Yambio, South Sudan for training kindergarten teachers.
2007: £6,000 was given towards the cost of a solar power electricity supply at the Redeemer Children’s Home in Uganda, thus helping its reconstruction after a Lords Resistance Army attack.
2007/8: £12,000 for the replacement of the Victorian orphanage roof in Kandy, Sri Lanka.
2009: £8,000 plus towards the building of latrines at a new school in Uganda.
2010: £4,700 to the Italian Hospital in Kerak, Jordan to provide healthcare to Iraqi and Palestinian refugees.
2010/12: £5,000 to build a crop store and over £3,800 to install water tanks at the Redeemers Children’s Home in Uganda.
2012-14: £15,600 to pay half the cost of rebuilding a home for disabled persons in Wau, South Sudan.
2014/5: £6,956 to the Arua water project in Uganda.
2016:
£2,000 to the Italian Hospital in Jordan for medical care for Syrian refugees.
£7,500 to a clean water project in Lira, Uganda.
£4,200 for operating table in paediatric ward, South Sudan.
£3,590 (for Stage 1) and £3,650 (for Stage 2) of refurbishment of Moyo Babies Home.
International Refugee Trust (IRT)
In the case of many, though not all of these projects, the Group provided financial support via the International Refugee Trust, a registered charity. IRT is a small charity, with four staff. It was founded in 1989 to help improve the lives of refugees, internally displaced people and returnees around the world, aiming to be ‘there when the big agencies move on.’ Its mission is ‘to support community based organisations in developing countries working in partnership with marginalised refugees, internally displaced returnees and those at risk of displacement. Together, we aim to achieve social and economic development through building resilient and peaceful communities.’ The IRT’s mission is closely in line with that of the DWG. Moreover, the DWG is able not only to choose the specific projects it supports, but also obtain direct feedback from the IRT and thus ensure that all funds are used to directly benefit those they are intended for. This accountability is strengthened by the permanent offer for parishioners to accompany IRT staff on their field missions, and periodic visits to the parish by the IRT chief executive. During his visit in November 2014, IRT chief executive Adrian Hatch spoke at each weekend mass to explain how the donations were being used and more broadly about the work of the IRT. His successor, Steve Smith similarly visited the parish and spoke at masses on 21 and 22 January 2017. See the IRT website for more information – www.irt.org.uk – including on its current projects in Uganda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Jordan.