Fields of Life is an inspirational charity that does incredibly important work in East Africa. This month, insideKENT spoke to head of fundraising, Debbie Cameron.

What is it that Fields of Life does, and why is it needed?

Fields of Life is an international development charity dedicated to bringing about positive change for people living in extreme poverty in East Africa through the provision of quality education, clean water, health promotion and other community based projects. Based at the Kent Science Park, our work reaches across Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and South Sudan.

At Fields of Life we strive to bring about positive change. Given the opportunity to go to school, children develop skills to enable them to break out of the poverty cycle. And access to clean safe drinking water, we believe is a basic human right. Helping others to help themselves, changing lives and building hope.

What is the charity’s history?

Fields of Life was founded almost 24 years ago by the Reverend Trevor Stevenson and his wife Ruth who spent several years living in Luwero, Uganda in the early 1990s. This area was known as the ‘killing fields’. Trevor and Ruth both realised that to bring about real change in a country which had experienced genocide and economic devastation was to provide the next generation with an education, so that future generations of Ugandans would be the positive catalysts for change and the former killing fields of Luwero would become Fields of Life.

How do you raise money?

We run a child sponsorship programme and for just £17 per month a child will receive a quality education, a school uniform, a meal every day and more importantly the opportunity of a future, one where they have choice and can grow to become change makers within their communities. Water is vital for life and our water for life programme at £4 per month will provide a child with clean safe drinking water. These regular donations are a vital source of income generation.

A couple of exciting joint ventures include Brymec who are looking to fund three boreholes. Peter Vardy has just launched the One Child campaign with the goal of providing 5,000 children with an education, Parenta are hosting a rally to fund their fifth nursery school, and the WellGood campaign have helped fund 21 wells.

Are there any upcoming events that our readers can get involved with?

We have a few truly exciting events coming up this year and everyone is welcome to join us. We’ll be heading off from Maidstone to Monaco on 21st June 2017 on the Parenta Trust Banger Rally: Five Days, 2,000 miles, eight countries – navigating through some of Europe’s most exhilarating roads in a car worth £350. If you are looking for a more physical challenge then the Sahara Desert Trek in November 2017 is a must!

What are your ultimate aims?

East Africa is a very special place, a place where love, laughter, friendship and compassion are in abundance. In all of my trips to Uganda I have never been asked anything more than ‘what is your name?’ The opportunity to be able to share a little of the passion that I have for this incredible charity and to inspire individuals, families, churches and businesses to become engaged with and support our projects has to be on top of my agenda.

www.fieldsoflife.org