Hawkins Tribe

Having lived in a lovely thatched cottage in a beautiful village in Devon for 10 years, the Hawkins Tribe decided to make some changes as they wanted to make a difference in the world to those living at the bottom of the ladder. So in 2004 they moved to South Africa for the start of an amazing adventure. Five years later they have returned to England and have settled near family in Plymouth.

Andy continues to be involved full time with poverty and the pursuit of justice on behalf of the world's poorest.

Lyn, Hannah and Rebecca are all enjoying being back in England as we start the next chapter of our journey.

It's difficult to try to sum up the last 5 years in Africa - but here's a short story which I've found useful in trying to explain.

Imagine a couple of friends taking a walk along a river bank when one of them spots a baby floating down the river - drowning. One of them jumped in and quickly rescued the baby, but moments later they spotted another and another. They would do all they could to rescue as many babies as possible, calling friends to help urgently - but at some stage, it would be a good thing to go up river and try to stop the babies going into the water in the first place.

That's a fair summary of where we at right now. The last 5 amazing and wonderful years have, metaphorically, predominantly been filled with pulling babies from the water.

It would be possible for us to do that for the rest of our lives - but now is the time to go upstream and do something to make a difference there.

In some ways, the most difficult decision has been to leave friends in Africa who are still involved daily at the river - but getting up river is something that has to be done - we guess like someone who has to leave the battle and ride off to get the cavalry to come and help.

So what will the future look like? Well part of me will still remain 'at the river'. I will be investing approximately 20% of my time working with www.viva.org - they are based in Oxford and work in over 40 countries around the world - affecting just over 1 million children. The work they do networks projects around the globe to work together better in order to collectively achieve more. But the majority of the time I will be going upriver - addressing global poverty and trade justice issues. This will be with www.globalpovertyproject.com - (they were part of the Make Poverty History campaign) - please check out both websites if you can.

Together we can make a difference - and even though I'm not actually in Africa right now, I need your help and support more than ever - to be able to mobilise more of us around the world to help those in need. The great news is that the more I investigate and research doing this, the more convinced I am that this big problem of global poverty really is one that we can do something about - if we just work together.

In the coming couple months I will be in contact again to let you know how you can help. In the meantime, I want to say a 'BIG THANKS' for your support while we were in Africa - and to encourage you to keep on walking this journey in any and every way you can. YOUR finances, YOUR prayers and YOUR friendship and support have already made a difference in Africa over the last five years by enabling us to do what we have done for others.

YOUR money not only helps to support us as a family but also continues to support many other families in Africa - including over 15 families who's parents all work at Bell Valley Initiative - they look after child and granny headed households - with Sindiswa who you will have seen many times in our newsletters - so we encourage YOU to continue YOUR support - for them as well as us.

Our prayer is that the next chapter of our lives will not only continue to serve those by the river but will also enable us to go up river, being more strategic and mobilise resources and support that will impact even more. Without your continuing support, none of this will be possible. But together, WE can make EVEN MORE of a difference.