Remembering Lorna

Written by Amber Shotton, SIDCN Chair of Trustees

In July, our SIDCN community was deeply saddened by the loss of Lorna Barker, one of our regular members, volunteers, supporters and friends, who passed away following a battle with cancer.

Over the past three months, Lorna has been very much in our thoughts. As a network, we continue to remember her with deep affection and gratitude for all she gave to SIDCN and the wider community.

Lorna was a constant and generous presence in our network, in the Friday morning meets, in the Education Forum and in offering ideas to the whole organisation. She turned up, she contributed, she spoke with honesty, care and graciousness. She organised, and time and again she was someone anyone could turn to for steadiness, perspective and good sense. A network like ours runs on the quiet commitment of people who give more than they take. Lorna was very much one of those people.

Lorna also played an important part in SIDCN’s early conversations about radical change. She featured in one of our first Radical Change Podcast episodes and was always a powerful advocate for shifting power, ethical partnerships and more honest storytelling. We can still hear her passion, wisdom and insight in the episode “Autonomous Partnerships and ethical storytelling”. Listening back recently, I felt deeply grateful that we had captured some of her voice, her values and her love for this work in one of those early recordings.

Her working life was a lesson in conviction and courage. She stepped away from a corporate career to help build education and health programmes in Zambia, and later led Jinja Educational Trust in Uganda.

At the heart of her work was a simple but profound belief: that every child deserves the chance to learn, to grow and fulfil their potential.

That belief shaped not only what she did, but how she did it, and what she encouraged others to expect of themselves and the systems around them.

She brought that same clarity and commitment to SIDCN. Lorna understood that small charities are stronger when they stand alongside one another, share learning generously and challenge the wider sector to do better. She gave her time, her thinking and her encouragement freely, helping to make that spirit of solidarity real.

For some of us, the news came as a huge shock; others were more aware of Lorna’s health. But even through illness, she continued to reach out to me and to other members, checking in, offering insight, asking thoughtful questions and looking for ways she could still support people. That generosity, even when she was facing so much herself, says a great deal about who she was.

We will miss her voice in the room, her challenge, her warmth and her steady belief in what small charities can achieve when they work together with courage and integrity.

An in-memoriam donation page has been set up by another SIDCN member, for those who would like to make a donation to JET and share their appreciation for all that Lorna gave to SIDCN, to the wider international development community and to the children and families whose lives she worked so hard to support. In addition, her team at JET have also kindly shared their tribute to Lorna here to share with the community.

We continue to send our love and deepest sympathies to Jerry, to Lorna’s family, friends and colleagues at JET, and to everyone who knew and valued her. She was a friend, a colleague and a member of our community whose presence we will always miss.