Who we are
We are a UK-based charity headquartered in Ipswich, Suffolk, with multiple centres across the country. Our mission is to empower individuals living in extreme poverty in Africa to create their own livelihoods. We achieve this by sending trade tool kits filled with tools commonly used in skills training centres. These kits offer trainees an avenue to overcome poverty permanently and start their own sustainable careers.
We send approximately 17 containers loaded with refurbished tools collected from various locations in the UK to rural African communities each year. We currently send tools to six countries in Sub-Saharan Africa: Zambia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, and DR Congo.
Our efforts significantly impact the environment, preventing about 225 tonnes of tools from ending up in landfills in the UK annually.
Additionally, we provide diverse volunteering opportunities that foster community enrichment in the UK and create a secure environment for people to build friendships while making a positive impact.
Our Core Values
We are committed
to the poor.
We are called to serve the vulnerable and ultra-poor and work with those who share our compassion to alleviate their poverty and suffering.
‘For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore, I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother (and sister), to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’’ Deuteronomy 15:11 (ESV)
We are stewards of the Earth's resources.
We take great care to collect donated useable tools and save thousands of tonnes of tools destined for landfill every year. We practice good stewardship of all our resources, whether donated tools, financial gifts, or the opportunity to provide meaningful volunteer opportunities to people across the UK.
‘As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.’
1 Peter 4:10 (ESV)
We are partners.
We work with charities, churches and communities across the developing world who share our compassion to reach the neediest of people. We recognise that we are not called to work alone, but to seek out those with whom we can stand in our calling to alleviate poverty in Jesus Christ’s name through livelihood-creating tools.
‘And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.‘ Hebrews 10:24-25 (ESV)
We are Christian.
We follow the teachings of the Bible and the example of Jesus Christ.
“The second (commandment) is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:31 (ESV)
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Our Team
Trevor joined TWAM from a career in Health and Safety and health care management. He ably leads a large team of volunteers and one member of staff in preparing all our containers for dispatch. He also oversees our Health and Safety compliance.
Trevor Maynard
Ipswich Refurbishment Centre
Manager
Mike Griffin
Chief Executive
Mike joined TWAM from many years working with The Leprosy Mission in 2015. He has led TWAM through a period of significant change and growth.
He tells us, 'The mission of TWAM to place donated tools into the hands of trainee craftsmen and women in Africa is so simple, yet life-transforming. It is great to combine this with our green credentials. TWAM is a visionary work and I am very privileged to be a small part of it."
Paul Daley
Volunteering Coordinator
Paul looks after our volunteers, including leading our recruitment campaigns and processing all applications.
Lyn has been with TWAM since 2015 and oversees the exporting of all TWAMs containers. She prepares all the detailed documentation for the tools kits and liaises with our UK staff and volunteers, as well as our shipping agents and in-country partners.
Lyn Walker
Operations Manager
James Noble
Fundraising and Communications Officer
James joined us in June 2021 to begin his journey in fundraising. He currently runs our social media pages and studies all aspects of fundraising in his apprenticeship.
Albert joined us in 2023 to help us run our Rugby Refurbishment Centre.
Albert Lobodzin
Rugby Refurbishment Centre Manager
Sheldon Gower
Ipswich Refurbishment Centre Supervisor
Sheldon joined us as a volunteer when he was 16. He became our first-ever apprentice at 17 in January 2020. He quickly became an irreplaceable member of the team
Jonny Green
Head Office Manager
Jonny joined TWAM in 2020 and manages the day to day admin of TWAM, ably supported by a team of volunteers.
Linda Griffin
Prayer Coordinator
Linda prepares our quarterly prayer diary and collates prayer requests and information from across Africa. She is also our Country Coordinator for Zimbabwe.
Caleb Scotland
Rugby Refurbishment Centre Apprentice
Caleb joined us in 2022 to help in our Rugby Refurbishment Centre.
Jan joined the team in September 2016 and is responsible for all day-to-day finance matters.
Jan Brown
Finance Manager
How it all began
From small seed to giant mustard tree
In 1978 Jack Norwood, a deacon at Belle Vue Baptist Church in Southend was asked by the Baptist Men’s Movement (BMM) to head up a project making incubators. This was followed by a request for solar powered incubators and Jack went out to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) for a year (1981) to develop them. A teacher from Waterlooville, John Bennett became interested and from this partnership and Tools with a Mission was borne.
As John became involved he extended his interest as he discovered that tools were badly needed and soon involved pupils from his school collecting all kinds of agricultural tools. Under his supervision the pupils cleaned, renovated and painted the tools ready to go to Zaire. They organised a “sponsored event” to get the money with which to ship them, and that was the first Tools with a Mission shipment sent to Zaire (now DR Congo).
This idea began to formulate in John’s mind, and he decided that there must be others in the same situation trying to pass on skills to people who badly needed them, but with little in the way of actual tools. John suggested the idea to the Baptist Men’s Movement who adopted the idea and launched Tools with a Mission in 1984.
From garage to barn
Initially, it operated out of a double garage and shed in Bexleyheath but after just five years the work had to look for larger premises.
In response to an article in the Baptist Times, Bill and Beryl Dewhurst offered the use of a barn on their farm on the outskirts of Ipswich. Thurleston Lodge Farm became the new home of TWAM and a regular work team was established. Initially, it was monthly, then weekly and soon daily.
Space was again soon at a premium and it was at this point that rented premises had to be sought in order to obtain the kind of space required. TWAM moved into Perry Barn, in Sproughton, just outside Ipswich which had 2,300 square feet of warehouse space, plus the luxuries of heating, toilets and a canteen area. TWAM was now growing at a rate that was unimaginable in the early days.
By this stage, the output had increased dramatically, due to the fact that all operations could now be carried out under the one roof. It was decided to register as a charity in 2004. TWAM quickly established itself as an interdenominational charity, gaining support from all the major denominations as well as many secular organisations. In spite of additional storage space being created by using two 20-foot containers and a Portakabin to accommodate the office staff, operational space quickly became a premium.
From barn to warehouse
After much prayer, the TWAM board were led to take a twenty-year lease on a unit, on Hadleigh Road Industrial Estate in Ipswich. This gave just over 6700 square feet of floor space, which increased by a further 1000 square feet when a mezzanine floor was added over the workshop area.
Just two years into the lease the owner offered TWAM the opportunity to purchase the property, which we were able to do for £270,000. Appeals raised over £185,000 with a bank loan covering the remainder. This was quickly paid off.
Since then TWAM has continued to grow with the addition of workshops in Coventry, Kenilworth, Penarth, Halstead and Cowdenbeath. These were all volunteer led and contributed to the signifcant growth in the output of tools and containers sent to Africa.
TWAM was soon sending tools to countries in Africa and Eastern Eurupe and by the early 2000's had settled on DR Congo, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
2015 saw the begining of signigfficant growth for TWAM as new staff were recruited and the mission began a refocus. Over the ensusing years TWAM focused on DR Congo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe with 18 containers a year being despatched to these countries containing around half a million individual tools. Ipswich was revamped, the van fleet increased and modernised and overseas teams established.
The growth was acheived with the support of a number of independent workshops standing with TWAM and making offering a huge support. These included Tool Aid Ringwood, Medway Volunteer Group, Tools4Africa, Sheffield and Tendring Tools4Africa.
The next major step in our history
In 2020 Mike Griffin (CEO) and the Board of Trustees agreed a five-year strategic plan that would see an ambitious goal to double the output of TWAM and the amazing impact of our tools. The goal was to reach one million tools sent to Africa every year.
To achieve this, it was agreed to take the tough decision to close the smaller centres and commit to opening a large Refurbishment Centre in the Midlands capable of matching the output of Ipswich and sending up to 18 containers of tools a year. Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, our truly heroic volunteers accepted the decision to close Penarth and Cowdenbeath and emptied their centres and handed them back to the landlords. Kenilworth closed, but reopened as an independent workshop under the leadership of St John's Church in Kenilworth. As of June 2021, the volunteers in Penarth have set up their own charity and are looking for premises to reopen as an independent workshop.
2022 was an amazing year for TWAM as it saw the opening of the second major Refurbishment Centre alongside Ipswich. At 12,500 sq. ft, it is the largest centre TWAM has ever had. The centre was identified in December 2021. Its manager, who initially worked out of our Coventry site, joined us in March 2022, and we took possession of the building in August 2022. This prompted the closure of our small Coventry site with most of our volunteers transferring with us. Click to download the PDF of the 'journey of a building' which was a talk given by Mike Griffin our CEO at the Commissioning and Dedication service on 4th September 2022.
In line with this significant growth, TWAM is expanding into new countries starting with Malawi and Tanzania in 2023.
