Agherton Parish’s special gift to Fields of Life

Monday January 4th 2021

Celebrations at the Kakuny Well in Uganda.

Parishioners and friends of Agherton Parish in Portstewart had a special gift to give on Christmas morning, donating a cheque for £9,000 to Fields of Life.

The money was raised after a series of online harvest broadcasts in October.

In 2019, the parish raised £6,500 to build a well in Eastern Uganda. As the coronavirus pandemic tightened its grip on life on the north coast, the parish responded to an appeal to build Agherton Well No. 2. The appeal was to bring the necessity of clean water to a village also suffering the effects of Covid-19.

The gift of clean water.

The rector, the Rev Malcolm Ferry, said: “The appeal was launched after parishioners saw the success of last year’s well and the impact it had on the small community.

“The amount raised surprised us all and the news on Christmas morning that we could indeed build another well was celebrated by everyone. The initial appeal was to try and reach the £6,500 needed to build the second well so, when we smashed the total, there was a real sense of achievement that even with the lockdown and restrictions the generosity of the parish was evident.”