Christian Aid News 38 - Winter 2007

Where next for our climate campaign?

HIV: Why the drugs don’t always work

India’s poor march over land reforms

A force of nature

From floods to hurricanes: how Christian Aid is helping battered communities around the world to deal with devastating disasters

Issue 38 p01 CAN Cover.indd 1

Winter 2007

www.christianaid.org.uk 30/10/07 12:45:37

He lp 10 ,0 00 No one lives forever. But what you leave behind can be a little more long-term.

For example, a sub-surface dam costs £2,900 and provides water for 2,000 African

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families. Because the rain water is stored underground, it doesn’t evaporate. This means it lasts through the dry season and stays clean. It also leaves space for crops to grow

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and livestock to graze. And with locals trained to build and maintain the dam, they’re self-sufficient. If you’ve written a will, there is a cheap and simple way to add a PS

for Christian Aid (it’s called a Codicil). You may be gone, but you won’t be forgotten. To find out more, call Colin Kemp on 0207 523 2173, or email ckemp@christian-aid.org

UK registered charity number 1105851; company number 5171525 Northern Ireland charity number XR94639; company number NI059154 Republic of Ireland charity number CHY 6998; company number 426928

Editor’s letter

Christian Aid News is printed on 100 per cent recycled paper

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An audio version of this issue is available. Call 08700 787 788 for details

Villagers cross a flooded bridge in northern Uganda

Special report

Q 8 DEALING WITH DISASTER REGULARS

Q 28 INPUT Your letters and emails

Q 4 NEWS World Bank urged to pull plug on energy policy…Call for democracy in Burma…and peace talks in Afghanistan…Cut the Carbon marchers lobby PM

Q 30 THE LAST WORD Actress Greta Scacchi answers the questions

FEATURES

Q 16 CAMPAIGNS Verdict on the Cut the Carbon march plus: what happens next?

Q 20 COMMENT Film-maker Robert Beckford on the hidden costs of rice, coffee and gold Q 21 REFLECTION Christian Aid’s departing marketing and communications director Kate Phillips on the role of the activist Q 24 EVENTS Where to go and what to see, plus some ideas on fundraising challenges for 2008.

Q 26 DO THE RIGHT THING Getting the goat over Present Aid, and win an instant kitchen garden!

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Reuters/Antony Njuguna

ONE OF THE more sobering aspects of this job is hearing about the devastating impact of natural disasters around the world. And after a summer and autumn that has seen nature inflict everything from earthquake, to hurricanes to appalling floods on some of the world’s poorest communities, it is heartening to hear that, as ever, when people are in need Christian Aid and its partners are among the first to respond.

Heartening, too, to hear of the efforts being made in the field of disaster risk reduction, to help people cope with some of the inevitable calamaties that come their way. Building hurricane-proof chicken coops may not sound much, but when all about you is crashing to the ground, it’s good to know your livelihood isn’t crashing down with it. See pages 8-12.

This issue also reports on the posttsunami efforts to rebuild homes and lives for communities in Asia (see page 13) and on page 7 on the struggle – two years on – to help victims of the Pakistan/Kashmir earthquake.

We also discover what’s next for Christian Aid’s Climate Changed campaign; find out about the stories behind two of the paintings in a new art exhibition Children in Conflict; and hear how villagers in the Philippines are challenging a mining project that could devastate their land.

There’s also news of a huge new march – this time in India, where nearly 27,000 people are protesting over government land reforms – and a story from Zambia of the importance of food for those living with HIV. And much more besides.

So, to those wondering what else Christian Aid was up to while it was marching round the UK, quite a lot actually.

Roger Fulton, editor

Contents Winter 2007 Issue 38

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Q 8 SPECIAL REPORT: DEALING WITH DISASTER How Christian Aid and its partners have responded to a series of natural disasters. Plus: an update on the post-tsunami reconstruction work Q 15 SEAM OF DESPAIR Villagers fight plans for huge mining operation in Philippines jungle Q 18 CHILDREN IN CONFLICT Artist’s new exhibition highlights hope in post-conflict Angola Q 19 LIVING WITH HIV Why food and support is vital to make the drugs work Q 22 THE BIG PICTURE On the road as thousands march over land reform in India

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Christian Aid works with the world’s poorest people in nearly 50 countries, regardless of race or faith. We tackle the causes and consequences of poverty and injustice. We are part of ACT International, the ecumenical relief network.

Q Cover A boy pushes his bike through a flooded street in the northern Indian city of Mathura: Reuters/K. K.Arora Q Pictures Matthew Gonzalez-Noda Q Subeditors Lucy Southwood, Louise Parfitt, Jane Lewis Q Circulation Ben Hayward Q Design & production David Lloyd/Circle Publishing, 020 8332 2709 Q Christian Aid head office 35 Lower Marsh, London SE1 7RL Q Tel 020 7620 4444 Q Fax 020 7620 0719 Q Email info@christian-aid.org Q Stay in touch with us online > News, campaigns and resources www.christianaid.org.uk Q Christian and ethical service provider www.surefish.co.uk Q Children and schools www.globalgang.org Q Our campaigning and student website www.pressureworks.org

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Call for peace talks in Afghanistan Q AquAid’s £2 million boost Q news christian aid

Peace talks ‘way forward’ for Afghanistan THE UK government should encourage peace talks between the Afghan government and insurgency groups such as the Taliban to find a way out of the current stalemate, says Christian Aid. In a submission to the House of Commons International Development Committee, it said the government should explore new avenues for tackling the insurgency beyond the military option. Peace talks which represent all shades of opinion and help to reach a compromise among warring factions could bring Afghanistan the security and stability it needs.

The current conflict in the country – the poorest in Asia – is making it hard to do meaningful development work. Limited access to clean water, healthcare, electricity, housing and employment remain pressing problems.

The Department for International Development’s (DFID) objectives may clash with short-term military goals and it needs to work with other government departments to counter these, for instance by ensuring that international humanitarian law is upheld during UK military operations to minimise civilian deaths. Christian Aid also calls on the UK government to undertake a full review of the mandate for its Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) in Afghanistan – special military units that provide security and help with reconstruction in unstable nations.

‘We remain concerned by the ongoing involvement of the military in aid delivery. The development value of these projects is unproven and the use of the military in this way continues to have an impact on the perceived neutrality of humanitarian and development aid agencies,’ the submission says.

Christian Aid also cautions against a ‘knee-jerk’ response to the problem of opium poppy cultivation. The focus of international aid should be on tackling the lack of alternative ways for farmers to earn a living. Above all, countries should concentrate on strengthening the legal agricultural sector in opium-producing provinces and helping the Afghan government to tackle drug trafficking.

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AID BATTLE FOR ASIA QUAKE VICTIMS

£2 million boost for water works AQUAID, ONE OF the UK’s fastest-growing water cooler companies, has officially become one of Christian Aid’s biggest corporate sponsors, raising more than £2 million for our projects around the world.

AquAid donates 30p to Christian Aid for every 19-litre water bottle it sells. Established in 1988, this partnership with Christian Aid has been rolled out through all of the company’s 32 franchises across the country. The partnership was established as a result of managing director Paul Searle’s determination to create a company that made a difference and could offer hope to thousands of poor communities in Africa by giving them access to clean water.

Working with Christian Aid makes good business sense as well as being the right thing to do, according to Mr Searle. ‘By fighting for the cause we believe in, we’ve been able to expand year-on-year and increase our donations to Christian Aid. As a result we have been able to meet the needs of thousands of people and still the cause drives us to do more.’

As part of the partnership, franchisees of AquAid have had the chance to visit the projects they are helping to fund – checking out wells, pumps and irrigation-system projects across Africa in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. For many, it was the first time they had seen poverty first-hand and it brought home to them the challenges that remote villages face to get access to clean water.

Christian Aid director Dr Daleep Mukarji, commented: ‘The AquAid partnership has transformed the lives of thousands of people across the poorest parts of Africa. It gives me great hope to see a business so committed to helping tackle the problems of poverty.’

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ost Q Earthquake work challenges Q Teatime assorted

TALK BACK THE THINGS THEY SAY

Christian Aid/Asif Hassan/AFP

THE HARSH TERRAIN of the Himalayas, and a shortage of skilled workers is presenting a tough challenge to Christian Aid’s latest effort to support people still in need two years on from the south Asia earthquake, In Pakistan, more than 80,000 were killed in the earthquake on 8 October 2005, while 79,000 were seriously injured and 3.3 million made homeless.

Rebuilding between 400,000 and 600,000 houses in mountainous areas continues to be a huge task and will take several years.

To date, £5 million has been allocated by Christian Aid towards this work with most of the money going to the hardest-hit areas of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province and Pakistani-administered Kashmir. The money has funded seven partners in Pakistan and India including Islamic Relief and Church World Service (CWS).

Christian Aid’s latest project is in the remote tribal

area of Kala Dhaka, where £205,000 has gone to CWS to assist in building 190 houses for 1,520 people.

The selected families will be given materials to build earthquake-resistant housing with community assistance overseen by experienced civil engineers.

In partnership with Islamic Relief, Christian Aid is also funding a cash-for-work programme. The poorest beneficiaries receive money to clear rubble for reconstruction and renovate damaged roads while earning an income to support their families.

Work is also continuing in Indian-administered Kashmir, where 1,500 people were killed and 3,000 left homeless.

The £5 million was donated by the public to the Disasters Emergency Committee Appeal, to Christian Aid’s own Three Continents Appeal and from the Department for International Development .

Q Tsunami update, page 13

Farewell Kate Fundraisers CHRISTIAN AID is saying goodbye and good luck to marketing and communications director Kate Phillips, who is retiring, after 30 years with the organisation.

Kate, who was awarded the OBE in 2006 for her services to disadvantaged people, worked as a journalist before joining Christian Aid in 1977. In her time at Christian Aid, as well as editing Christian Aid News she has been head of media, and head of communications. In her current role, Kate has had overall responsibility for profile, publishing, fund-raising, campaigning and media.

She has represented Christian Aid on various boards and advisory committees, including Minority Rights Group International, Traidcraft and Health Unlimited. She is chair of the International Broadcasting Trust and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Q Moment of truth: Reflection, page 21

are no mugs!

THANK YOU TO all our tea timers, who made the Christian Aid Tea Time 2007 a huge success. It’s on target to raise around £250,000.

Tea Parties were organised by more than 5,000 dedicated supporters and we’ve heard that people participated not only across the UK, but also in Kenya, Sri Lanka, Haiti, Burundi, Spain and Italy!

Some people brought out their fancy china, others had mugs; some people drank Earl Grey tea and some had herbal. In Stroud they had homemade banana crunch cake and in Haiti they had samosas!

‘The Kyoto Protocol is a symbolically important expression of governments’ concern about climate change. But as an instrument for achieving emissions reductions, it has failed. It has produced no demonstrable reductions in emissions or even in anticipated emissions growth.’

Scientists Gwyn Prins and Steve Rayner, writing in Nature magazine ‘A dynamic agriculture-for-development agenda can benefit the estimated 900 million rural people in the developing world who live on less than US$1 a day, most of whom are engaged in agriculture. Countries must deliver on vital reforms such as cutting distorting subsidies and opening markets, while civil society groups, especially farmer organisations, need more say in setting the agricultural agenda.’

Robert B. Zoellick, World Bank Group President, commenting on the World Development Report 2008, which calls for greater investment in agriculture in developing countries

THE THINGS WE SAY ‘The report’s focus on commercial and export-oriented agriculture confines the majority of Africa’s smallholder producers to low-productivity and a subsistence lifestyle. Christian Aid and its partners, believe the recommended policies will exclude the majority of African farmers from development.’

Christian Aid’s response to the World Bank report ‘The review looks good for poor countries with DFID on track to meet 0.7 per cent by 2013 and their international aid promises made at recent G8s. The challenge is to make sure that more aid is spent wisely and effectively.’

Sally Golding, advocacy strategy manager, responding to the chancellor’s pre-budget spending review

THE THINGS YOU SAY ‘I have got used to most people living in a looking glass world these days – a world in which they believe what they want to believe rather than face reality – but I am deeply shocked to find that so many readers of Christian Aid News fall into that category.’

Bob Bromley, Input, see page 28 Christian Aid News

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World Bank energy plea Q Call for Burmese democracy

World Bank urged to ditch ‘failed’ energy policy CHRISTIAN AID has called for an urgent rethink of the World Bank’s approach to tackling the lack of electricity in poor communities.

Not only is the privatisation model it endorses failing to deliver more energy to the world’s poorest people, but it is also locking them into a dependence on polluting and increasingly expensive fossil fuels.

‘There is a large gap between the World Bank’s stated goals of promoting clean and affordable energy and the real life outcomes of the energy

policy it has promoted in several developing countries,’ said Andrew Pendleton, Christian Aid’s energy expert.

In Nicaragua, electricity privatisation was rushed through in 2000, with a promise to increase coverage and lower tariffs.

Seven years later, the small gains in coverage have been overshadowed by bills escalating by up to 400 per cent and daily blackouts lasting up to seven hours in many neighbourhoods. It is also heavily reliant on imported oil to generate electricity.

‘Given the catastrophic

outcomes of some of its policies in the energy sectors in poorer countries, the World Bank should urgently reform its approach so that it’s based on what works for poor people, not on the assumption that the market has all the answers,’ said Claire McGuigan, a Christian Aid economics expert.

Around the world, some 1.6 billion people have no access to electricity.

A further 800 million people lack modern fuel for cooking and heating.

They might have some electricity, but only

Call for democracy in Burma CHRISTIAN AID HAS called on the British government to use its influence to bring about lasting democratic change in Burma.

In a letter to foreign secretary David Miliband, Christian Aid urged the UK government to use all available channels to put pressure on the Burmese regime to resolve the current crisis peacefully. Christian Aid also calls on the Burmese government to release all political prisoners including those arrested in the recent crackdown and never again use force against peaceful protestors. Troops quelled demonstrations by monks and civilians calling for democracy in a number of cities including Rangoon, Mandalay and Sittwe in September and October.

Decades of military rule and economic mismanagement in Burma have resulted in an ongoing humanitarian crisis resulting in widespread poverty

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and barely functioning health and education systems.

Christian Aid supports partner organisations inside Burma as well as those working with Burmese refugees across the border in Thailand. It is also working with partners, the Burma Campaign UK and the Asian Human Rights Commission in Asia, which lobby the UK government, EU and Asia policy makers to take action on Burma.

Christian Aid believes that any longterm political solution in Burma must involve the pro-democracy movement as well as ethnic nationality groups, many of whom have taken up arms against the government in the past 60 years.

The recent crisis developed after the government announced fuel price rises in August. These had significant impacts as 90 per cent of Burma’s 50 million people live on less than US$1 a day, according to UN estimates.

enough for light bulbs and small domestic appliances.

It is part of the World Bank’s remit to address this problem. However, Nigeria is about to embark on an electricity privatisation process which bears a worrying resemblance to the Nicaraguan model.

The key problem is that building infrastructure to connect poor people living in remote areas to a national grid is rarely cost-effective for private investors, who require a return on their capital.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Neighbouring Costa Rica has become a world leader in renewable energy. In 2004, the country was generating 98.6 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources. At the same time Costa Ricans enjoy the lowest prices and highest electricity coverage in Central America.

Christian Aid/Sarah Malian

news christian aid

Now is the time for a ‘bit of a boost’ IN THE FIRST EVENT of its kind, 240 people gathered for Christian Aid’s Now is the Time weekend in Derbyshire in October.

Aiming for a festival feel rather than a conference, there were activities for all ages and a full programme including music, film, sport, worship and entertainment.

Guests could choose from a wide range of workshops, from hearing about Christian Aid’s development work in Jamaica, Angola or the Middle East, to getting tips on lobbying from an MP. Alison Peace, a volunteer from Milton Keynes, said: ‘I came for a bit of a boost and that’s exactly what I got. Being immersed in the issues for a whole weekend really helps you to focus again, and I came back bristling with ideas for what we can do in Milton Keynes.’

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Q Christmas appeal Q Standing ovation for marchers

A WORLD OF AID Snapshots of some of the work and issues facing organisations supported by Christian Aid

Put the meaning back into Christmas

Christian Aid/David Rose

‘ADD THE TRUE spirit of Christmas to this year’s festive to-do list’ – that’s the theme of Christian Aid’s upcoming supporter appeal.

With all the stress and commercial pressures around, the appeal is a way to remember what Christmas is really about, and remind ourselves that one of the greatest things we can do is give a gift to those less fortunate.

Around £1 million was raised last year.

Because Christmas is such a special time for children, this year’s appeal stories focus on them: showing the experiences of children in Zambia, Tajikistan and Lebanon. Sheyma, for example, (pictured left)

lives in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon and goes to a nursery run by a Christian Aid partner, but has no toys of her own.

As little as £6 buys a school uniform for a child in Zambia, while just £36 pays for a medical worker to care for disabled children in Tajikistan for a month. Alex Wood, supporter recruitment and retention officer, says: ‘We hope many people will show their support at this vital time of year.’

Anyone wishing to give can do so using the carrier sheet with this copy of Christian Aid News, online at www.christianaid.org. uk/christmas, or by post to Christian Aid, Freepost SN1457, Halifax Road, Melksham SN12 7BR.

Marchers lobby PM

Christian Aid/Duncan Lee

THEY WALKED 1,000 miles to spread the word across the UK that climate change is hurting poor people now; that government and companies must cut CO2 emissions.

And in the final days of Christian Aid’s Cut the Carbon march, we took that message to the heart of power before ending with a celebratory service at St Paul’s Cathedral.

In September the marchers met the prime minister, Gordon Brown, at the Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth. Mohammed Adow from Kenya and Rosalia Soley from El Salvador (below) told him how climate change impacts on their countries.

In London the marchers also took their message to the mayor, Ken Livingstone, and highlighted the role the City of London should play in ensuring that businesses commit to an 80 per cent cut in carbon emissions. The House of Bishops welcomed the marchers to Lambeth Palace, where the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, praised their efforts.

On the final day – 2 October – only one mile stood between the marchers and their goal of St Paul’s Cathedral. Despite the drizzle, 1,000 supporters turned out, crossing London Bridge, passing the London Stock Exchange and arriving at St Paul’s for the final rally and service. As they entered the cathedral, there was a standing ovation for those who had started their long journey in Northern Ireland on 14 July.

Q What an effort, what a result! Page 16

KENYA Participants in this year’s Christian Aid Gap Year scheme visited Kenya, where half met with partners working on issues surrounding trade and HIV, with the rest seeing groups dealing with climate change and HIV. The field trip gives the 17 ‘gappers’ the chance to see first-hand the kind of work Christian Aid partners do, and helps them to inspire other young people and students to support our projects and campaigns.

CAMBODIA Christian Aid is merging with Dan Church Aid in Cambodia to work more effectively with partners in this southeast Asian country. After years of violent conflict, Cambodia still faces challenges to rebuild society, fight poverty, tackle HIV and deal with rampant crime and trafficking. The focus of the new Christian Aid-Dan Church Aid alliance will be on HIV, preventing violence against women, and securing food and livelihoods for the poorest people.

ASIA Christian Aid has contributed to the first comprehensive view of the climate, environment and development challenges facing Asia, launched in November ahead of the climate change conference Bali. Up In Smoke, a report produced by the Working Group on Climate and Development features the sobering perspectives of many Christian Aid partners and other organisations. The report can be found on the International Institute for Environment and Development website, www.iied.org WORLDWIDE Christian Aid’s ambitious disaster risk-reduction project is now being rolled out into new countries. The £3 million project began in Honduras, Bangladesh and Malawi, helping communities vulnerable to hurricanes, floods and drought to develop ways to protect themselves. Work is now underway in new project sites in the Philippines and El Salvador, and activities will soon start in Mozambique.

This project is largely funded by the British government’s Department for International Development (DFID).

Christian Aid contributes £500,000.

Q See Dealing with Disaster, page 8 Christian Aid News

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Dealing with

DISASTER

The past months remind us just how vulnerable we all are to natural hazards. Dealing with natural disasters has always been an important part of Christian Aid’s work around the world. Here Christian Aid staff report on how this has been reflected recently in responses in Peru, the Caribbean, India, Bangladesh and Africa. We also catch up on progress in reconstruction work, three years after the 2004 Asian tsunami

Homes and harvests washed away

Africa

Caroline Wood reports on Christian Aid’s emergency response to the devastating impact of floods that have swept across a swathe of Africa

Above: Villagers cross the Amonmaka Bridge in a canoe in the northern Uganda town of Lira

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‘THIS HAS NEVER happened here. The elders have never seen anything like it. If the rains continue we will lose everything.’

Joyce Eribu is a programme manager for Youth with a Mission, a Christian Aid partner working in eastern Uganda – one of the regions to have been devastated by flooding that has affected large parts of Africa.

The rains began in the early summer and, as they got

heavier, Christian Aid received an increasing number of distress calls from partners across the continent.

More than 750,000 people have been made homeless or displaced in 18 countries with Uganda, Ghana, Sudan and Ethiopia among the worst affected. Homes and harvests have been washed away and thousands have had to seek shelter in former camps,

schools and town halls. Christian Aid was quick to release funds for emergency assistance in the above countries – which paid for plastic sheeting, jerry cans to collect and store clean water, mosquito nets and food.

But as the floodwaters recede, more serious long-term concerns will surface: in many countries the rains came before people had harvested. In Ghana, the worst-affected region in the north has lost a year’s harvest.

Food that is being brought in by traders is expensive and shortages are inevitable over the next 12 months.

In Mali, up to 200mm of rain accumulated in a few hours, destroying homes and crops.

Yacouba Kone from Christian

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Caribbean, Central America

Standing up to Dean and Felix Sian Curry reveals how, after this season’s devastating hurricanes, many farmers were happily counting their chickens 2007 HAS been a record-breaking year for hurricanes.

Experts had predicted that the annual Atlantic ‘hurricane season’ – which runs from June to November – would see more storms than usual, because of warmer seas linked to the El Niño weather phenomenon.

And this year’s hurricanes certainly packed a punch. Just a fortnight apart, in August and September, Hurricanes Dean and Felix battered the Caribbean and Central America, leaving hundreds dead or missing, and tens of thousands homeless.

Both Dean and Felix reached category five – the highest and most dangerous rating. Storms this powerful are extremely rare: to be classified as a category five, a storm must have sustained wind speeds topping 155mph.

This is the first year since records continued on page 10

Right: Clearing up after the storm

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Reuters/Carlos Barria

Reuters/Antony Njuguna

Aid’s office in the capital Bamako says: ‘In Bandiagara 20 dams and five bridges have been destroyed.

The dams are a lifeline for the people of the Dogon Plateau where there is a chronic lack of land for agriculture. All the market gardens are destroyed. Many elderly people say these are Mali’s worst floods since 1946.’

In Uganda the rains continue and the situation is set to deteriorate. The government has reported that more than 275,000 people have been affected in the east and north of the country, a region only just beginning to recover from the ravages of civil war. Roads have been swept away or rendered impassable and people cannot get to the main towns to seek assistance. Prices

for basic foodstuffs are rising as supplies grow scarcer.

The floods came just before the harvest in this part of Uganda – destroying 90 per cent of the crops. There will not be another harvest until February 2008, meaning those affected will need food aid in the coming months.

Christian Aid is responding in the region through partners Church of Uganda (TEDDO) and Youth with A Mission (YWAM).

Both have a long history of working in the region with people formerly displaced and living in camps because of the war between the Ugandan government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

Many of the camps were beginning to empty and both YWAM and TEDDO were working with families helping them to rebuild their lives. Now they report that the camps have started to grow again as people seek support and shelter in former homes they had been happy to leave.

Christian Aid is already funding projects that address the ongoing vulnerability of people living in a region ravaged by years of conflict and food shortages. These projects will now encompass flood recovery work and seek to ensure that people have sufficient seeds to plant and harvest over the longer term.

But Samuel Okiror from TEDDO, warns: ‘The weather is becoming more and more unpredictable. Farmers find it difficult to decide when to plant their seeds.

‘Such rains as we have had this year this were last recorded in 1961. Now crops have been swept away and left subsistence farmers totally destitute.’

All these countries are areas more used to preparing for drought than severe flooding.

Work has now begun in Kenya and Uganda to set up early-warning systems (either educating people to read natural signs of impending danger or receive MET office radio reports so they can relocate, and harvest their crops early if possible).

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Christian Aid/Michael Paratharayil, Reuters/Carlos Barria

began that more than one Atlantic hurricane has hit land as a category five.

In Jamaica, Haiti, Nicaragua and Honduras, Christian Aid partners are involved in relief efforts. In the immediate aftermath they distributed food, soap, medicine, blankets, mattresses, cooking kits and school supplies. We sent over £210,000 to support this work.

Hurricanes are a regular, annual threat in this part of the world. That’s why Christian Aid has worked closely with local partners in recent years, helping communities better protect themselves from the storms and the floods and landslides that often accompany them.

Our disaster preparedness work doesn’t only focus on protecting lives and homes, but also on safeguarding poor families’ livelihoods. Otherwise, with hurricane strikes every couple of years, they just get punched back down again every time they struggle up off the floor.

Jamaica’s southeastern peninsula is particularly vulnerable, bearing the brunt of storms that gather force as they sweep across the Atlantic.

Before Dean, it was last struck by Hurricane Ivan, in 2004.

In St Thomas, residents are again picking up the pieces.

When Dean pummelled the region, some poultry farmers lost more than 80 per cent of

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“

My chicken coop and 75 chickens survived.

This will help me to earn a living in the coming days

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continued from page 9

Above: Esildia Laing, whose chickens survived the hurricane.

Below: Residents in Kingston push a cart in the rain, as Hurricane Dean passes close to Jamaica

their birds as their chicken coops crashed down. But despite the devastation, other farmers breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Thanks to remarkable hurricaneproof chicken coops, their hens – and therefore their ability to earn a living – survived the storm.

‘My chicken coop and 75 chickens survived,’ explains Esildia Liang, whose birds were safely installed inside her hurricane-proof coop. ‘This will help me to earn a living in the coming days.’

The innovative coops were provided with Christian Aid funding, through our partner the Women’s Resource Outreach Centre (WROC). After Hurricane Ivan, WROC started a project in St Thomas to help poor farmers recover and develop ways to better protect themselves from future storms. WROC’s poultry start-up provisions included chicks, chicken feed and instructions for building ‘model’ chicken coops, designed to withstand gale-force winds.

Hurricane Dean was their first major test, and they passed with flying colours.

When the worst happens, small precautions can make all the difference. Evacuation plans, emergency shelters, flood-resistant fruit trees, sandbag barriers and high-level seed stores – with each small change, a community builds up its resilience, like a growing protective shield.

India and Bangladesh

‘We saw my mother dying but could not do anything’ Asia specialist Anjali Kwatra discovers how Christian Aid partners are helping poor communities recover from floods in India WHEN HEAVY RAINS struck the Indian state of Bihar in July, 11-year-old Munna Paswan’s house collapsed, trapping his mother inside.

‘I will not be able to forget that night when water entered into our village and washed away our house,’ he says. ‘We had no time to save our belongings: our entire house collapsed and my mother got trapped inside. We saw her dying but could not do anything.’

As well as losing their mother, Munna’s family also lost its entire supply of rice when the rains flooded their village of Mansore.

Christian Aid partner organisation JUDAV helped them on a practical level, with emergency food packages, clothing and household items to replace those lost in the floods. Although they were still grieving for their mother, this made it easier for them to keep going and tackle the practical devastation.

Bihar was worst-hit in the floods that engulfed parts of north India and Bangladesh during this year’s monsoon rains. As water levels rose, villagers were forced to flee to higher ground in boats or on rafts made from bamboo and banana trees, abandoning their belongings and livestock.

Christian Aid partners in India and Bangladesh immediately

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Dealing with

DISASTER

Reuters/Munish Sinha, Reuters/Utpal Baruah

Main picture: A family on the roof of their flooded house waits for relief in India’s northeastern city of Madhubani Right: A villager rows a boat past huts submerged in flood waters in Bhakatpur, in the northern Indian state of Assam began distributing food, tarpaulins, water purification tablets, and oral rehydration salts to thousands of people who were made homeless. Four partners in India provided relief to 60,000 people; while in Bangladesh, eight partners distributed food to 40,000 people.

Rayappa Kancharla, Christian Aid’s regional emergencies officer, visited flood-hit areas in both countries. He says the long-term challenge is to help people whose crops have been destroyed by the floodwater.

‘Peoples’ ability to work and earn a living were completely shattered. Flood waters submerged fields and destroyed rice crops, leaving daily labourers with no source of income – even when the flood waters receded.’

Initial crop damage was estimated at US$200-500 million in Bangladesh alone; this will result in food shortages for

months to come. Floods are normal in Bangladesh, India and other south Asian countries during the monsoon season, but they are becoming more frequent, a fact some experts attribute to climate change.

Bangladesh will be one of the countries hit hardest by climate change. More frequent floods, river erosion and rising sea levels could reduce its landmass by more than a fifth, forcing millions of people to leave their homes and migrate in search of food, water and shelter.

Christian Aid, in partnership with the Department for International Development, is carrying out a two-year disaster risk-reduction project in Bangladesh working with communities to reduce their vulnerability to floods and cyclones. So far Christian Aid has allocated £785,000 for partners in India and Bangladesh working on flood relief.

PRESENT AID: Disaster kit, £10

This Christmas, give your loved ones a gift that someone else needs. A disaster survival kit containing rice, lentils, potatoes, matches and oil helped families who lost everything in devastating floods in Bangladesh. Choosing this gift means £10 will be donated to fund Christian Aid’s emergency and disaster preparedness work. See feature, page 24. Order online at www.presentaid.org Christian Aid News

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30/10/07 12:48:41

Dealing with

DISASTER

‘It was the longest three minutes ever’ Christian Aid partners in Peru are warning that quake survivors need to rebuild homes that can survive the tremors, reports Sian Curry

Peru 12

day, and freezing at night. At the mercy of the elements, tens of thousands of people urgently needed shelter.

Berta’s home is partly made of concrete and that section survived. The family immediately opened up their home to neighbours who hadn’t been so lucky. ‘We sheltered whoever needed it,’ Berta explains.

Health Houses are not the only Christian Aid partner working in Ica: we have another local partner there, Fepromu. With the government response focusing on Pisco, the worst-affected city, Christian Aid is targeting Ica. ‘The government isn’t helping us at all,’ says Berta. ‘Nothing, absolutely nothing.’

With two long-established partners already active on the ground, Christian Aid has been able to reach people who would otherwise have been overlooked.

Our partners were involved in emergency distributions from the start, helping to supply 5,000 families, as well as community shelters and soup kitchens. Relief packages included food, tools, cooking utensils, clothing and blankets. Our partners have also been helping poor families to formally register their losses, so that they don’t miss out on

Above: Earthquake survivors Betty Huallanca and Maximiliana de La Cruz cover their faces to protect themselves from dust while heavy machineries clear the rubble of destroyed houses

any government support that becomes available.

Once the relief effort was underway, partners were able to start addressing the huge psychological trauma that follows this kind of disaster. The earthquake was followed by more than 500 aftershocks over the next few days. Many people – especially children – remain very frightened. Some children have even refused to sleep under lightweight makeshift shelters, for fear that they will fall and crush them in the night.

By sending in clowns who entertain traumatised children, our partners are helping them to rediscover their confidence.

But Ica’s recovery will be long and difficult, and Christian Aid is concerned that government efforts are concentrated mostly on rebuilding infrastructure for business and commerce. Once again, the poor are left behind.

It’s vital, too, that reconstruction efforts ensure that people don’t rebuild their homes with exactly the same materials as before – if they do, the next quake will once again raze the city to the ground.

So far, Christian Aid has sent more than £90,000 to fund our partners’ relief and recovery work in Ica.

Reuters/Mariana Bazo

‘WE THOUGHT IT was the end of the world – we thought it was the end of mankind.’

Berta Ramos volunteers for Christian Aid partner Health Houses in the city of Ica, Peru. On Wednesday 15 August, Berta was with patients in the health centre when the ground began to shake.

The quake, 7.9 on the Richter scale, lasted three minutes.

‘They were the longest three minutes and the darkest night that Ica has ever seen,’ says Berta. ‘It was horrible… horrible.

It was an experience that nobody living here will ever forget.’

With her medical expertise, Berta was in high demand over those first few days and nights, pulling neighbours from the rubble, treating the injured, and distributing medicines.

The quake killed more than 500 people, and affected up to 450,000. As always in disaster situations, it was the poor, in their weaker houses, who were worst hit. The quake brought down more than 90 per cent of Ica’s adobe homes. It is only the poor who make their homes with adobe – a type of sun-baked clay brick. Wealthier families can afford to use concrete.

Though on the coast, Ica is a desert city – blisteringly hot by Christian Aid News

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As the third anniversary of the Asian tsunami nears, communications officer Rachel Stevens reports on how far the relief effort has come

Above: Earthquakeresistant homes being built at Kuala Bubon, Sumatra (see overpage)

ON BOXING DAY 2004 the most devastating tsunami since Krakatoa in 1883 sent 30ft waves crashing into the coastlines of 13 countries in south and south-east Asia and Africa. A quarter of a million people died; half a million houses were destroyed and 1.5 million people lost their source of income.

An extraordinary eight out ten British adults donated to the Disasters and Emergency Appeal (DEC) which raised a recordbreaking £400 million. As a member of the DEC, Christian Aid received £37 million from those funds and we raised a further £10 million through our own

appeal. This gave us an unprecedented £47 million to spend on tsunami relief – almost ten times more than any previous emergency appeal.

So, how has this money been spent? Thanks to you, by the end of 2007 Christian Aid will have spent more than £40 million helping half a million people to rebuild some kind of normal life in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. We split the funds evenly between the three countries working with 33 partner organisations to repair and rebuild 20,000 houses, to help 180,000 people back to work and to counsel 60,000 people to

continued on page 14 Christian Aid News

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Christian Aid/Tom Pilston

Tsunami: £40m later…

overcome the grief of losing so many loved ones.

We spent just over £2 million in the first three months. Our established partners in India and Sri Lanka were on the ground within hours, setting up camps, feeding people from street kitchens, reuniting families and burying the dead. In Indonesia, where we were not working at the time, we were able to respond through the Action

By Churches (ACT) network.

Over the following months we established around 20 new partnerships in all three countries and began to look to longer-term rehabilitation.

‘The size of the disaster meant we knew it was going to take about five years to respond,’ says Anthony Morton-King, tsunami programme manager. ‘By the end of this year our partners will have completed all of the major physical rebuilding work such as houses and livelihoods. Over the next couple of years they will concentrate on longer-term

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DISASTER

continued from page 13

Christian Aid/Tom Pilston

issues such as preparing communities for future disasters or raising awareness of HIV.’ One of those new partners has been Habitat for Humanity.

Christian Aid chose to support it because they move in and live side by side with each community until the last house is completed. Arwin Soelaksono, Habitat’s operations manager believes that this is key to rebuilding successfully. ‘It is the only way to gain the trust of the people who live there. Otherwise they think we will just walk away – or build something they do not want.’ Habitat for Humanity has built 1,240 earthquake-resistant houses with funds from Christian Aid over the past three years.

Six months into the response our partners in India alerted us that dalit and adivasis – the lowest of the caste system – were being excluded from the relief effort by the government. Many dalit families were being refused compensation for loss of income or denied new land to build new homes on. Even in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, the endemic prejudice against the lower castes persisted. Partners told us countless examples of dalits being turned away from emergency camps because the higher caste families did not

want to live side by side with them. We encouraged our 13 partners in India to focus their response wherever possible on dalits and adavasis as well as continuing their work with other fishing and farming communities.

Velammal, a 36-year-old dalit mother of eight explains the difference her new brick house with running water makes to her family: ‘This house means that we have confidence to stand up for ourselves. We feel like we are an equal part of society now.’

In Sri Lanka the response has been even more challenging.

When the waves crashed into the island state in 2004 they battered a coastline ravaged by 25 years of conflict between the government and the Liberation Tamil of Tigers Eelam (LTTE). The UN estimates that 25,000 people – many of whom were affected by the tsunami – were forced to leave their homes when fighting intensified between the two groups at the end of last year.

Despite these difficulties Christian Aid’s 14 local partners in Sri Lanka have continued working in the north and the east of the island building 2,500 houses and helping 60,000 people back to work despite the difficulties.

Christian Aid will spend the remaining £7 million of appeal funds in India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka over the next two years.

Above: Surya Kamal from the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, shows off his new home, built with the help of Habitat for Humanity. ‘We never thought we would receive a house like this, I still cannot believe it,’ he says. Surya’s village felt the full force of the disaster. Around 500 people, about one third of the population, died in his village. Some neighbouring communities lost up to 90 per cent of people. ‘We buried 800 bodies in this area,’ remembers Surya

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Courage of the ‘three mothers’ Three women – known locally as the ‘Three Mothers’ – took matters into their own hands when the local government refused to allow them to return to their land in Kuala Bubon, on the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.

All 200 houses were swept away in the waves and the land was badly flooded. The government was concerned about its proximity to the sea, but the families that depend on it for their income did not want to move. ‘Our families have lived in this village for generations,’ says Nuryiani, 58, the eldest of the women (pictured above). ‘Our men earn a living by fishing here. It is where we want to be.’

The women took their campaign to the local government official, visiting his office every day.

‘We were like children begging’ says Husana, 37. ‘I told them that my great, great, great grandfather was a fisherman; it is our heritage and we cannot leave it.’

Christian Aid’s new partner for the tsunami response Yakkum Emergency Unit (YEU) supported the women’s campaign by designing earthquake-resistant houses, with customised cement stilts to protect the community from future. Each house cost £5,000 to build.

Exactly one year after the women began their campaign the government granted permission for YEU to build on the land. ‘My heart was as big as a mountain when the official told us we could have our land back,’ says Nuryiani. ‘YEU stood by us. They showed their commitment to our village and to our campaign. It means so much to us.’

The women, along with 600 other people from Kuala Bubon, moved into their new homes in September.

Christian Aid News

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can: frontline

A seam of despair RAMIL BALDO, a member of the Mangyan tribal people in the Philippines, does not want to move away from the sacred land where his ancestors have lived for hundreds of years.

But he will have no choice if a UK-based company goes ahead with its plans for a massive nickel mine, which local people say will also destroy the habitat of endangered species and increase the risk of catastrophic flooding of towns and farmland.

At least 5,000 Mangyans will be forced to move from the unspoilt mountains of Mindoro island – around 200 km south of the Philippine capital Manila – if Crew Development begins full-scale mining.

‘I have been here since I was born and I don’t want to leave the burial site of my fathers and grandfathers, which are sacred to us,’ says Ramil, 34.

‘We don’t have any place to go and we are very worried what will happen to us if we have to move. There is no other land for us. No money or compensation will make up for what we’ll lose.’

Getting to Ramil’s tiny village, which has no electricity or running water, involves wading across several rivers.

Environmental groups believe that cutting down trees on the mine site will make the rivers more prone to flood, carrying mine waste into lowland communities. The mountains are also home to rare and endangered species

including the tamaraw, or wild water buffalo, which will lose its natural habitat.

Crew plans to strip mine an area of nearly 100 sq km for nickel and cobalt, with reserves estimated to last for around 30 years. The company is currently carrying out exploratory drilling down to 15 metres below the surface, but it plans to start the project in 2011.

Local opposition to the mine is almost total – with politicians, farmers, tribal people, environmental activists and the Catholic Church all against it. In 2002 the provincial government passed a resolution banning mining for 25 years because of the environmental damage it would cause.

Governor Arnan Panalygan, head of the province of Oriental Mindoro, said papers were being drawn up to obtain an injunction against Crew Development.

‘The national government wants the mine to go ahead because it is national policy that mining will revive our economy. But mining in this country has a poor record and local communities bear the costs,’ he said.

Crew made public its plans to transport the extracted nickel in a slurry pipeline to a processing plant on the coast. Millions of tons of waste, plus any chemical residues, would then be pumped into the sea – a method called submarine tailings disposal, which has been banned in the US and Canada. It

Christian Aid/Anjali Kwatra

Asia specialist Anjali Kwatra reports from the Philippines, where a massive new mining project will displace 5,000 tribal people and wreak appalling environmental damage

Above: Mangyan villagers will lose their homes and farmland (top) will be destroyed by the mining plan would go into the Mindoro Strait, one of the Philippines’ most important fishing grounds where whales and dolphins feed. Crew now says it no longer plans to dump the waste in the sea, but would use land-based disposal, instead.

Ned de Guzmán, from Christian Aid partner Mahal – which works with communities who will be affected by the mine – said local people were being left in the dark about Crew’s plans.

‘There is no transparency from Crew or from the national government about what will actually happen, which leaves people here fearing for the worst,’ he added.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is strongly promoting mining as a way for the Philippines to benefit from much needed investment. However a Christian Aid report published earlier this year, A Rich Seam, showed international firms are negotiating such low levels of taxation that poor countries do not reap the rewards from valuable mineral and oil and gas deposits.

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2/11/07 14:15:05

What an effort, what a result!

NEVER BEFORE IN British history have so many people walked so far for justice. In marching from Northern Ireland to London, via Edinburgh, Birmingham and Cardiff our intrepid marchers wrote themselves into the history books.

As well as thanks to them we owe a big thank you to all those of you who helped make the march happen in so many different ways; cooking meals, providing beds, washing clothes, working out routes, organising meetings, writing articles on the march for church newsletters, etc.

Was it all worth it? I believe so.

The primary reason we organised the Cut the Carbon march was to gain local and regional media coverage for Christian Aid’s climate UK registered charity number: 1105851. Company number: 5171525. *Standard text rates apply.

Do us a favour will you? Write to your MP about that Climate Change Bill.

Millions of the world’s poorest people are already suffering because of climate change. In the Climate Change Bill about to go through Parliament, the UK will pledge to reduce CO2 emissions by 60% by 2050. But you have to ask/tell/beg your MP to make it at o least 80%. Scientists have agreed that the earth must not exceed an average temperature rise of 2 C, otherwise catastrophic climate change will be unavoidable. Drastic measures are needed. 60% isn’t drastic enough. You have to ask/tell/beg your MP to make it at least 80%.We make no apologies for repeating that. Text CLIMATExx to 84880* and we’ll send a postcard to your MP on your behalf, or go to www.christianaid.org.uk/climatebill to send an email yourself. Climate changed. Let’s cut the carbon.

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change campaign demands. Even a cursory glance at the cuttings file shows that we achieved ‘acres’ of coverage, including television. In an age when most people get most of their information through the media, Christian Aid has to be there.

I was particularly pleased with the consistency of the coverage which continually referred to the importance of increasing the ambition of the climate change bill currently before parliament and, in particular, getting the government to commit the UK to cuts in CO2 emissions of at least 80 per cent by 2050. Already we are starting to see movement on this issue from the government. In his conference speech at Bournemouth, the prime minister said: ‘I am asking the new independent climate change committee to report on whether the 60 per cent reduction in emissions by 2050 should be even stronger still.’

And Douglas Alexander, the new secretary of state for international development, referred to ‘Christian Aid’s groundbreaking work on climate change’.

We also recruited thousands of new campaigners, who will, hopefully, become climate change activists in their local communities.

The marchers also lobbied businesses along the route in the wake of our successful postcard campaign which saw around

Top: Actor Leonardo DiCaprio (left) sent his support to Christian Aid’s marchers, while singer Lemar joined the rally in Birmingham Right: many supporters took to the streets of London for the final mile to St Paul’s Left: newspaper adverts urging readers to lobby their MP over the climate change bill are part of an ongoing ‘call to action

13,450 cards sent to Barclays and a further 9,500 sent to International Power. During the march more than 50 MPs were directly lobbied including prime minister Gordon Brown, environment secretary Hilary Benn, and environment minister Phil Woolas. As the march drew to its climax we ran national newspaper adverts highlighting the danger that climate change presents for countries such as Bangladesh, and asking readers to contact their MPs and ask them to vote for an 80 per cent plus reduction in UK CO2 emissions. If you have not yet lobbied your MP you can still do so at www. christianaid.org.uk/climatebill You can also order postcards to lobby your MP on 08700 787 788, stock code F1454A.

Christian Aid/David Rose, Christian Aid/Brenda Hayward

Now that Christian Aid’s 80-day, 1,000-mile Cut the Carbon march finished, head of campaigns Paul Brannen assesses its impact – and looks ahead at what happens next – as the eyes of the world switch to a major climate conference in Bali in December

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can: campaigns

Well, I’m still on a march…

What’s it like being a Cut the Carbon marcher without a march? How hard is it to resume ‘normal’ service? Fraser Winterbottom reveals all

The march may be over but the campaign goes on. Politicians from 189 countries will soon be in Bali to open important UN talks on climate change. These are expected to last two years. Christian Aid is calling for emergency measures to tackle global warming by 2009. The UK and other rich countries must: set legally binding targets to cut their own emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, compensate poor countries for damage already caused by climate change and help poor countries to develop in ways that will limit CO2 emissions. ’We’re also urging people to email Environment Secretary Hilary Benn before he goes to Bali next month for UN talks on climate change. Go to www.christianaid. org/climate for details

So is that it, then?

It’s a strange feeling leaving the march after the intensity of the physical exercise, and 11 weeks of being at the whim of the weather, meeting new people, and being the focus of attention everywhere you go. The biggest shock has being going into church, back home in Buckinghamshire as my expectation of churches has changed. I expect to be greeted with tea, coffee, chocolate cake and the occasional meringue as soon as I walk in; shown a quiet corner for my sleeping bag; and asked to do a short speech. This change from ‘celebrity marcher’ to ‘ordinary Joe’ has been a real shock to the system.

You also go through a strange process – almost grieving, in a way – after living intensively for 24 hours a day with 19 other tired, but focused and fantastic people from all over the world. Losing the strong intimacy with the team, with all its ups and downs, highs and lows, seems strange and isolating. It’s difficult to describe to anyone who wasn’t there. The best bit, though, is striding out for a walk on a sunny autumn morning – a huge feeling of purpose, energy, and lightness comes back!

We will all keep in touch, share photos and visit. Maybe some of

us will do next year’s Christian Aid cycle ride together. The internet means the team hasn’t completely broken apart, but merely scattered across the globe.

So is that it, then? Well no, it’s not. I cannot describe it better than the catchphrase we often saw on the march – forget making poverty history, climate change will make poverty permanent unless we in the rich world act.

In the first days after the march, whenever people at my new job asked what I do, I would often respond without thinking: ‘Well, I’m on a march’. But maybe that’s not so crazy: we all need to continue on this march to change our behaviour and push our politicians for firm action. If we don’t see it through, we’ll be letting too many people down – those who fed us, supported us, marched with us, organised us, and most importantly, all the people who share this planet with us, who live far away and may not understand why the weather is changing. Not to ‘keep marching’ would be irresponsible.

PRESENT AID Smokeless oven, £38 This Christmas, give your loved ones a gift that someone else needs. A smokeless oven is literally a breath of fresh air – they replace traditional ovens, which fill people’s homes with lethal smoke. If you choose this gift your £38 will help fund sustainable power solutions to help meet poor communities’ energy needs See Do the Right Thing, page 24 Order online at www.presentaid.org

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30/10/07 12:53:32

can: children in conflict

The art of living

Christian Aid/Karen Hedges

War painter John Keane (left) depicts the lives of children in postconflict Angola in a new Christian Aid exhibition opening this month. Youth journalist Fiona Cowood reveals the stories behind two of the paintings EVERY DAY, Florinda Nguendalelie fetches water from a stagnant river near her new home in Betanha village, southern Angola. Captured here looking poised and peaceful, you might never guess the tragedy and upheaval 15-year-old Florinda has lived through. Now she features in Bridging Divides, one of 11 paintings by artist John Keane, on display in Children in Conflict, a major new exhibition.

John Keane met Florinda when he visited Christian Aid partners in Angola last year. He heard how she and her family were chased from village to village during the civil war, and how her father was shot dead by soldiers as they fled into neighbouring Zambia. After two years in a refugee camp, the family heard the war had ended and returned to Angola.

‘The journey was terrible because we had to walk from early morning until late at night,’ recalls Florinda. ‘At midday, the sun became too strong and we had to stop in the shade of a tree.

The hardest thing was that we had no food, but we had to keep walking.’

It took the family two months to reach Betanha – a new village

that was created in 2004, now home to many returned refugees and internally displaced families.

The bridge in the painting is an important symbol of peace and reconciliation in the region. For 27 years the only way to cross the river was to wade or swim across because MPLA forces occupied one side and UNITA the other.

Since the end of the war in 2002, Christian Aid’s partner IECA has helped to reconstruct the area and the bridge represents the programme’s success. The bucket Florinda carries is also part of IECA’s work, distributing starter kits to families who have returned to Angola with nothing.

As the country celebrates five years of peace, Keane’s paintings show how young people continue to be affected by the aftermath of conflict. He was inspired to paint another picture, Back to Basics, after meeting children like Eduardo Chilwila, who has only just started school at the age of 13.

Eduardo and his family spent the war years constantly on the run.

‘Soldiers would chase us,’ says Eduardo. ‘Once we hid in the river to escape. We lived like that for one or two years – I was always afraid that I was going to

PRESENT AID: Basketball, £8 This Christmas, give your loved ones a gift that someone else needs. In countries where there has been long-term conflict, Christian Aid partners ease tensions by bringing together warring factions to play basketball. If you choose this gift your £8 will help fund training and educational projects.See Do the Right Thing, page 24. Order online at www.presentaid.org

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die and I was always hungry.’

Now Eduardo is helping to build his school and dreams of becoming a teacher when he’s older. In a country where almost half the population is under 15 and life expectancy is only 41 years, children like Eduardo and Florinda show that the most important legacy of conflict must be hope.

Clockwise from top: John Keane’s Bridging Divides; Florinda, the girl who inspired him; Keane’s Back to Basics

Children in Conflict is showing at Wolverhampton Art Gallery from 24 November 2007 to 16 February 2008, Monday to Saturday, 10am-5pm. Admission is free. During March it will be at Flowers Central gallery, 21 Cork Street, London. An online gallery, tour dates and more background information on the paintings will also be available from 24 November at www.christianaid.org.uk/conflict

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Warning: do not take on an empty stomach

can: Focus

Millions of people with HIV lead full and active lives, thanks to antiretroviral drugs. But in the poverty-stricken countries of sub-Saharan Africa, the pills should be issued with a warning: make sure you are guaranteed a healthy diet and have people to support you. Report by Sarah Filbey has lost five children to HIVrelated illnesses. Now 66, elderly by Zambia standards, he struggles to support eight young grandchildren. He provides love and pastoral care, and grows maize in a small field to feed them.

Her older sister: Beatrice, 16, is terrified when Vestina gets ill. She attends workshops to learn how to care for

vital food supplements for people on ARVs. The carers also allocate fertilisers and seeds to help Vestina’s grandfather grow more crops, and give him supplementary sacks of beans and maize.

One school counsellor: most schools in Zambia have a counsellor who provides emotional support and ensures that all children

people with HIV, to prevent transmission, and to deal with the stigma and discrimination so often associated with HIV. Three volunteer caregivers: members of Vestina’s community (and one a health worker). They visit weekly and take Vestina to hospital when her grandfather can’t.

Without them, Velentino would not have known to register Vestina as HIVpositive with the World Food Programme, which provides

living with HIV take their medication properly.

It takes the commitment of governments to make lifesaving drugs available to those living with HIV. But if these drugs are to work, it takes the care and support of a community to ensure that food is available.

Velentino testifies to the reason his granddaughter is alive and well today. ‘When the care workers began providing food there was a

Picture: Christian Aid/Sarah Filbey

MORE THAN TWO million people living with HIV in poor countries now receive antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), compared with 1.3 million a year ago, according to the World Health Organisation – a momentous achievement, but it’s not enough.

When people are poor and can’t afford a balanced diet, the drugs often don’t work as well. Without adequate food, people can experience side effects which may prevent them from taking their ARVs regularly. And if ARVs aren’t taken properly, the body can quickly develop resistance to the medication and the drugs will no longer work. This means that different, often more expensive treatment will then be needed. So how can Christian Aid support our partner organisations to ensure the drugs work first time around?

We might ask Vestina, a young girl from Kapiri Mposhi, Zambia. At 14, she is only as tall as an average nine-year-old. Vestina is living with HIV – the legacy of her parents, both now dead. Bouts of HIV-related illnesses, including TB, have affected her growth, but she is now on ARVs and they are working. Her health has improved dramatically since our partner, the Archdiocese of Lusaka (ADL) began supporting her family.

It takes six people to make Vestina’s pills work: Her grandfather: Velentino

great improvement in her condition. Now she often goes a whole month without having to go to the hospital,’ he explains. ‘Without the home-based carers we would have lost her.’

Christian Aid supports this holistic approach to HIV through many communitybased partners across Africa; ADL is just one example.

Rachel Baggaley, head of Christian Aid’s HIV unit, says: ‘The introduction of free ARV therapy across Africa is crucial to combating AIDS. But nutritious food must be made available for users to stay healthy, and on their medication. Christian Aid is helping local partners to develop innovative, low-cost ways to increase abilities to attain a balanced diet and an income in communities where HIV is rife.

‘This World AIDS Day, 1 December, we should celebrate achievements made to date. But we must continue to strive to find ways to ensure the drugs deliver the promise on the label.’

Christian Aid has supported ADL’s HIV work since its establishment in 1996, and is providing around £26,000 this year for their work with orphans and children affected by HIV. This is part of a five-year project, involving four Christian Aid partners and co-funded by USAID.

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30/10/07 12:54:54

Opinion

The Great African Scandal Broadcaster and theologian Robert Beckford recently undertook an emotional journey to Ghana to film a Channel 4 documentary, The Great African Scandal – a damning indictment of the West’s economic policies towards Africa. Here he writes about the hidden costs of rice, chocolate and gold...

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clear a new rice paddy. They talked about how Ghana used to be self-sufficient in rice, partly due to the help offered by government in the form of grants and subsidies. Such was the success of

“

I did wonder whether it is in the West’s interest to keep Ghana, and many other nations like it, in this role of economic dependency

the rice industry, that there was even a colloquial saying ‘as rich as a rice farmer’ that signified their prosperity – and Ghana’s rice farmers were supplying at least 50 per cent of all Ghana’s needs.

But as I looked around me, ‘as rich as a rice farmer’ was definitely not how it felt any more. IMF and World Bank policies – macroeconomic, free-market driven – have been visited upon African countries in various incarnations for more than 25 years.

In Ghana’s case, this meant a stop to state subsidies while at the same time opening its rice markets to foreign competitors.

No surprise, then, that cheap rice flooded in – much of it subsidised

“

OVER THE YEARS I’ve always tried to do my bit for African development – campaigning against apartheid in South Africa, supporting the Jubilee Debt Campaign and the fair-trade movement. And as a theologian, justice and the ongoing fight for change are central to my writing, teaching and film-making. In 2005 I made a programme called The Empire Pays Back – a calculation of the cumulative financial benefit of the slave trade to UK plc over 200 years.

This year, with Christian Aid’s support, I travelled to Ghana to make a film for Channel 4 in this its 50th anniversary of independence. My goal was to live on the average national daily income of ‘a dollar a day’ – and try to understand what the forces are that keep Ghana poor when, on paper, it should be an African success story – rich in minerals, fertile, a stable democracy and free from conflict.

My journey began in the hot dry north – in the small rice-farming village of Gbirima. I joined the men in their backbreaking effort to

Above: Robert Beckford in Ghana

by foreign governments – and Ghana’s indigenous rice industry collapsed in the absence of government protection or support.

So, villages like Gbirima were left devastated and impoverished. And there was more human tragedy as families lost their young daughters to the cities in search of work.

Going in search of two of the Gbirima village girls I found them working in slum areas, risking their wellbeing, somehow surviving in a place where no young woman should have to find herself trying to make a living.

Was this the net result of IMF and World Bank policies drawn up in Washington for Ghana’s poor?

And nor are foreign businesses setting a shining example of how to make trade work for the poorest. Our film looked at Ghana’s two prime commodities – gold and cocoa. Ghana has been Europe’s main cocoa supplier for more than a century, and with chocolate sales as high as ever, I struggled to see where the benefits of this longstanding trading relationship might be.

Those cocoa farmers fortunate to

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Picture: courtesy Channel 4

Did you see Robert Beckford’s film? Do you share his view? Write to the Editor, Christian Aid News, PO Box 100, London SE1 7RT or email canews@christian-aid.org

be included in the fair-trade system see real benefits but for the rest it’s a very hard life. We discovered that only three per cent of Ghana’s cocoa beans are purchased at the fair-trade price. I was left wondering: ‘Who is really profiting from the cocoa industry?’

It’s certainly not the cocoa farmers.

Gold offered no better a story.

We witnessed shocking conditions in the gold mining areas where people are forced to live with dangerously high levels of pollution around the mines and where poverty drives men to mine illegally. And in Accra, the former Ghanaian finance minister told me that the country received as little as three per cent of the profits from these mines.

And so I wondered about Ghana’s ‘independence’. I asked myself how, when bodies like the IMF and World Bank, or international businesses have such widespread influence and control, could Ghana exercise any economic independence at all? Its need for loans – and aid – has meant its room for manoeuvre has been profoundly limited. I did wonder, too, whether it is in the West’s interest to keep Ghana and many other nations like it, in this role of economic dependency?

As someone who campaigned for the end of apartheid, I believe that a new African struggle is now needed – a new war of ‘economic’ independence. And my experience made me appreciate at first hand why trade justice is so important in this effort.

This is why I will be working with Christian Aid over the coming year to engage more and more supporters who can work with us to see trade justice succeed.

Q Dr Robert Beckford is Reader in Black Theology and Popular Culture at Oxford Brookes University. He is also a regular broadcaster with Channel 4 Religion. The Great African Scandal was broadcast on Channel 4 in September and received favourable reviews in many national newspapers.

Reflection

It’s been a priviledge Christian Aid’s marketing and communications director Kate Phillips is retiring after being with us us for some 30 years. Here, she offers some lingering thoughts…

IT WAS ENTIRELY appropriate that the friends and family of Dame Anita Roddick decided to remember her on what would have been her 65th birthday with an annual day of activism. Dame Anita died at the age of 64 after suffering a brain haemorrhage but her vision of a world that worked in everyone’s interest gave inspiration to many people whose humanity had been wronged.

At Christian Aid it’s the activists that you remember, people doing their bit in different ways – quietly, questioningly, courageously – to redress simple wrongs.

It’s the activists who make humanity tangible as they live out their beliefs, often in the most difficult circumstances.

The week I joined Christian Aid in September 1977 was the week Steve Biko died. An acclaimed student leader, almost certainly destined for greatness in a new South Africa, instead a victim of violence in a police cell.

So many Christian Aid partners and allies during the anti-apartheid struggle – the likes of Desmond Tutu, Frank Chikane, Joe Seremane – were publicly vilified, poisoned, exploited or imprisoned long before they were ever publicly recognised as heroes.

It is worth remembering that as we contemplate some of the great conundrums and injustices that we face today. Wrongs that need righting and that sometimes seem impossible.

And the levels of complexity, if anything, get worse. In a recent article Rageeh Omaar reflects on the fact that we are all supposed to be part of this great, inter-dependent global village. Yet in terms of outlook, views and belief, peoples and societies have never seemed more divided.

Post 9/11 there can no longer be a war in a faraway land of which we know nothing.

It is part of our national interest and selfinterest now to know what is going on and why. But do we? As Rageeh Omaar puts it in IBT’s Reflecting the Real World: ‘Is Darfur simply another horrible story

of bloodshed in a remote corner of Africa….or is it also one of the first civil conflicts of our age borne out of conflict over scarce resources as a result of environmental degradation and the effects of global warming? Is Zimbabwe simply another African example of the tyrannical rule of a despot driving his economy and people into the ground in order to remain in power? Or is it about good governance, the failure of regional organisations like the African Union to criticise one of their own, and why the West threatens tyrants in some countries but not in others?’

A small yellow pamphlet has some insights here. The Kairos Document was probably the biggest ‘theological’ seller of the 20th century. It came out at the most troubled time in South Africa’s troubled history in the mid-80s – a national state of emergency, sanctions, people detained, missing, restricted, deported or killed, a divided church. It was written by Christian activists reflecting with people in the townships on this moment of crisis and what it meant to be Christian in the midst of violence. But it also addressed this notion of ‘a moment of truth’ when there is no place to hide or avoid the truth – for individuals or institutions. And where in such circumstances people get the inspiration to keep going. ‘Most oppressed people have a sure hope that liberation will come but hope needs to be confirmed. Hope needs to be spread. The people need to hear it said again and again, that God is with them and that “the hope of poor is never brought to nothing”’ (Ps9.18) Knowing what to do for good, where the poorest and most powerless are concerned, is the rub. And it continues to concern Christian Aid every moment of every day with every fibre of its being.

Sharing that challenge with so many people who continue to act with conviction and with hope has been a privilege and a joy.

For more information go to www.iamanactivist.org Christian Aid News

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2/11/07 14:15:38

‘We won’t leave our land even if they take our lives’

As Christian Aid’s Cut the Carbon march came to an end, head of media John Davison joined thousands of poor Indians in a new march, not over climate change, but in protest at government policies on land reform THEY ARE PEOPLE seldom spoken of – the rural poor, landless and tribal people of India – at a time when their country is being hailed as a new economic super power.

But now they are demanding to be heard, in one of the biggest non-violent protests since Gandhi chased out the British.

This time the target is the Indian government, and its intransigence on land reform. Campaigners – including Christian Aid partner Ekta Parishad – say that the plight of some of India’s poorest is getting worse not better, as the land they rely on for food and income is increasingly taken over for industrial development and mining.

Janadesh 2007, as the campaign is known, saw 25,000 marchers walk for 28 days from Gwalior to Delhi, last month. At the same

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time a group of 28 protesters staged a hunger strike outside the capital’s Gandhi memorial.

They want the government to form a land plan for the country, a strategy to address rural poverty and a fast-track legal process to solve land disputes – which can currently drag on for years.

Among the marchers were Mani Ram and his fellow villagers from the Sarguja district of Chattishgarh state. He says that his village and four others are being threatened by plans to build a 100-megawatt power station on 950 acres of land they currently cultivate for rice.

Some compensation was offered when the scheme was first announced three years ago – on the basis that if they refused the land would be taken anyway. But they did refuse, and are still refusing – despite sometimes

violent intimidation.

‘We are still on that land,’ said Ram. ‘We won’t leave it, even if they take our lives.’

Such an air of defiance was evident as I joined the protesters at the old exhibition site in Gwalior – the assembly point for the march.

Groups of men and women, chanting and flying banners, marched in from the railway station as they arrived by train from all over the country. Here they crowded into a vast white tent and were organised into groups of 1,000 for the long way ahead. They listened to speeches of support and anger; everywhere there were stories of threats and intimidation from government officials, of ‘powerful people’ trying to seize small plots of land from adivasi (tribal) and dalit communities or denying the

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claims of the landless. There were stories about the more recent impact of special economic zones – land simply acquired by the state for industrial development.

The man behind the protest is P V Rajagopal, from Ekta Parishad, which has spent three years building up to this event. Janadesh – which means ‘people’s verdict’ – has also attracted many dalit and adivasi organisations from all over India and gained support throughout the world.

‘The government talks only of industrial development and dismisses agriculture. But 73 per cent of India’s population depends on agriculture. What are they to do?’ asks Rajagopal.

‘Development cannot only be for the benefit of the richest people, it must be for all the people – starting with the poorest. First agricultural and land reform; then the rest.’

Rajagopal has been working with India’s poorest people since the early 1970s, when he set up a

Gandhian ‘ashram’ community in the then-lawless Chambal region – made famous as the home of Phoolan Devi, the ‘Bandit Queen’.

Despite being threatened and badly beaten, he stayed on, and eventually persuaded 600 outlaws to surrender their weapons and accept a non-violent life.

More recently, Ekta Parishad’s work has led to almost 350,000 people being granted land rights in Madhya Pradesh state.

Visiting the Chambal area with him in the days before the march was like travelling with a pop star.

At every village he was welcomed with garlands and gifts from poor people and farmers supporting his brand of militant non-violence.

‘You see only the good side of my work. There is another side,’ said Rajagopal. ‘Whatever we ask for – land or a fight against corruption – it is always against vested interests. Many people hate what we do.’

In the village of Berhai, high in

the forest region of the Chambal, I saw what drives Rajagopal to continue building such support for the landless movement. The poverty here is shocking, and the talk is not of consumer goods but of getting enough to eat. One small boy said that he had had only a cup of buttermilk and a little maize all day. Many children looked severely malnourished.

But the people of Berhai also joined the Janadesh march, having saved a handful of rice and one rupee a day for two years in order to be able to make the trip.

‘We will put our life into Janadesh,’ said a young man, prostrating himself before Rajagopal. ‘But can you please make sure we have enough to eat in the future?’

Christian Aid/Simon Williams

can: the big picture

Top: Thousands of marchers crowd into a vast white tent at the launch of Janadesh Above: P V Rajagopal, of Christian Aid partner Ekta Parishad, addresses the media Christian Aid News

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Events

Are you up for the challenge?

From a long-distance bike ride to a unique ‘partner experience’, Christian Aid’s events team has launched a vibrant new range of fundraising events for next year Cycling Oil your bike, dust off your lycra and sign up for the Londonto-Paris bike ride.

Covering 300 miles in four days, you will cycle through beautiful valleys and rural villages. And although you’ll spend six to eight hours in the saddle each day, there’ll be plenty of opportunity to sample the local cuisine and culture. Parisians will think the Tour de France has arrived a day early when the Christian Aid team ride up the Champs Elysées and around the Arc de Triomphe to a champagne finish at the Jardins du Trocadero by the Eiffel Tower!

Q London to Paris bike ride, 23-27 July Register for just £99 and commit to raising a minimum £1,100 in sponsorship.

Walking Everyone knows that walking is good for you, but now you can make a difference to people’s lives while you get fit and healthy. Travel back in time 2,000 years with the Hadrian’s Wall challenge, while raising funds for Christian Aid’s work in the developing world. Starting at Lanercost Priory in Northumberland, you

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Above: Regina, 17, on a camping trip in the Karatag valley, south of Dushanbe, run by Zumrad. The trip gives children like Regina, who is in care, a chance to experience life outside the capital will walk 25 miles over three days, following the only remaining sections of the wall. Along the way, you can admire ancient monuments, beautiful scenery and the skill of the Roman engineers who built this famous landmark, now a UNESCO world heritage site.

Q Hadrian’s Wall trek, 4-6 July Register for £99 and agree to raise £500.

If you want to delve even further into the work of Christian Aid, don’t miss this unique chance to discover the work of our partner Zumrad in Tajikistan. This ‘partner experience’ event combines the physical challenge of a trek through the mountains, with the

chance to learn how climate change is affecting poor people in Tajikistan, and you will be contributing to the success of Zumrad’s ethical tourism initiatives.

Q Tajikistan partner experience, October 2008 Places are limited, so register for £199 to secure your place and then commit to raising £2,500.

training and nutrition and how to boost your fundraising. You also get a FREE running vest and an invite to a post-race reception – with masseurs and foot spas to soothe those aching feet!

We’ve also got places in the BUPA London 10,000, the BUPA Great Manchester Run – a 10k run and the BUPA Great North Run, the UK’s largest half-marathon.

Q Flora London Marathon, 13 April; BUPA Great Manchester Run 10k, 18 May; BUPA London 10,000, 26 May; BUPA Great North Run, 5 Oct 2008 Register from £50 and agree to raise a minimum sponsorship, depending on the race.

Team challenges Whether it’s a challenge with friends or a team-building exercise with work colleagues, what could be better than tackling it together? The Three Peaks Challenge involves climbing Ben Nevis, Snowdon and Scafell Pike in 24 hours, while in Race the Tide you will walk 30 hours along the ancient route of St Cuthbert’s Way to reach Holy Island before the tide comes in!

Q Three Peaks Challenge, 14-15 June; Race the Tide, Sept 2008 To register

Running Whether you go all out and run the London Marathon, or just do a local 10k run, every step you take will help people work their way out of poverty.

We have 12 places in the 2008 London Marathon. Commit to raising a minimum of £2,000 and we’ll support you all the way, with advice on

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visit www.christianaid.org/aboutca for regular updates of events around the country

for each event costs £175 per team and teams must commit to raising at least £2,500.

DIY-it Finally, if you want to stage an event of your own, we’d love to hear from you! Whether you attempt a 24-hour unicycle challenge, as Sam Wakeling of Aberystwyth did – thanks, Sam! – or you simply organise a few friends to go on a walk round the local city centre – we’re here to help with fundraising tips, tools for publicity and resources to brand the event.

Sign up now!

Places go quickly, so get in touch with the events team now! By phone: 0207 523 2248; by email: events@christian-aid. org; online: www. christianaid.org.uk/ getinvolved.

Q 17 November Climate Change Conference Murrayfield Church Centre Edinburgh 9.30am-4.30pm Hear how climate change is affecting people living in Kenya, and how the church is responding. Christian Aid’s eco-village will be on show.

Contact 01312 201254 or email Edinburgh@christian-aid.org Q 17, 24 November Harvest of Hope Powerful song, moving images and real-life stories, inspired by encounters with Christian Aid partners in Senegal.

Contact Penny Haynes, on 01202 840764 or email phaynes@christian-aid.org 17 November – Dorchester Baptist Church 24 November – St Paul’s Church Q 18 November My Three Angels Millgate Arts Centre, Delph 7.30pm The Saddleworth Players present a charity performance of Samuel and Bella Spewack’s Christmas comedy My Three Angels.

Tickets are £10 including supper.

Contact Margaret Boocock on 01457 873985.

Q 25 November Charity Pub Quiz The Village Inn, Alcester Road, Moseley Teams of four to six welcome. £5 per head. Proceeds towards Christian Aid work in Malawai.

Contact Rev Dr Peter Hansell on 0121 449 2243.

Q 1 December World AIDS Day Service Crypt Canterbury Cathedral, 7pm World AIDS Day Service to be held in the Crypt at Canterbury Cathedral with Dr Rowan Williams.

Contact Helen Simpson-Wells, on 01273 470504 or email HSimpson-Wells@christianaid.org Q 1 December ‘Positive’ St Luke’s Church, Watford 7-10pm An awareness-raising youth

event for World AIDS Day, with guest speaker Jane Machira, from Christian Aid in Kenya, and music from Thebandwithnoname.

Tickets free.

Contact Sarah Clay, on 01865 246 818 or email sclay@christian-aid.org Q 3, 6 December The Great BIG Christmas Sing Join hundreds of people singing traditional carols at this special event. Proceeds will go towards Christian Aid’s work helping the poorest communities in the world.

3 December – The Pavilion Theatre, Exmouth, 7.30pm Contact Julia Fuell on 01395 222304, or email jfuell@christian-aid.org 6 December – University Church, Oxford, 6pm Contact Jenny Ayres on 01865 246818, or email jayres@christian-aid.org Q 4 December Christmas Then and Now Sheffield Cathedral, 7.30pm

With Noe Sebisaba from Burundi and the Sterndale Singers.

Contact Katherine Hogg, on 0113 244 4724 or email khogg@christian-aid.org Q 12 December Christian Aid Coffee Morning Uppermill Methodist Centre Saddleworth Coffee morning with homebake and fair-trade stalls.

Free entry.

Contact Rosie Partington, on 01457 838543 or email rosie2007@tiscali.co.uk Q 13 December Advent Reflection Whalley Abbey, Clitheroe 10.30am-3.30pm With former Christian Aid North West team leader Romy Tiongco, who returned to the Philippines to plant trees and ended up running successfully for mayor after a friend was murdered, despite being at risk himself.

Tickets £22.

Contact Linda Tiongco on 01925 241222, or email ltiongco@christian-aid.org

Q 19 January 2008 Hope Rising Exeter Cathedral 10am-4pm Climate Challenge Festival organised by the Devon Christian Climate Change Coalition. Speakers include Ann Pettifor (Operation Noah), and Daleep Mukarji (director, Christian Aid).

Contact Julia Fuell on 01395 222304, or email jfuell@christian-aid.org Q 3-20 March 2008 Development: What Next?

Schumacher College, Dartington, Totnes, Devon A one-, two- or three-week course for development professionals, academics, researchers and concerned individuals, examining ways NGOs and government are attempting to change the way aid is delivered. Among the visiting teachers are Christian Aid director, Dr Daleep Mukarji, and Clare Short MP. Contact Jon Rae, on 01803 865934 or visit www. schumachercollege.org.uk

Christian Aid Advent Services of Hope Q 28 November8 December Music and reflections for World AIDS Day 28 November – Derby Cathedral, 7pm Guests include Christian Aid director Dr Daleep Mukarji and Noe Sebisaba of Burundi partner CNEB. Contact Lucy Waldron on 01530 417522 or email lwaldron@christian-aid.org 28 November – Portsmouth Cathedral, 7.30pm Guest speaker Jane Machira, HIV officer for East Africa Contact Penny Haynes on 02380 706969 or email phaynes@christian-aid.org 29 November – St Andrew’s URC, Bournemouth, 7.30pm Contact Penny Haynes, as above.

29 November – St Paul’s Covent Garden, London, 7.30pm Esperança! Service with a Brazilian flavour.

Contact Rubita Ajanthakubar on 0207 523 2105 or email rajanthakubar@

christian-aid.org 29 November – Church of St Michael and All Angels, Sunderland, 6.45pm With Jan Simmonds, North and East team leader, John Bell of the Iona Community and Noe Sebisaba from Burundi.

Contact Newcastle @christian-aid.org 30 November – Cathedral Church of St Mary, Middlesbrough, 6.15pm, Other details as above.

Contact Newcastle@christian-aid.org 30 November – Holywood Parish Church, Belfast, 8pm With Alf McCreary and Zimbabwe partner Mrs Sibo Ncube, and the Renaissance Singers.

Contact Deborah Doherty, on 028 9038 1204 or email ddoherty@christian-aid.org 2 December – Christ Church, Fulwood, Preston, 6.30pm Contact Christine Medd on 01524 64730 or email CMedd@ christian-aid.org

3 December – St Mattthew & St James Church, Mossley Hill, Liverpool Contact Becky Hurst on 01925 241222 or email bhurst@christian-aid.org 3 December – Bath Abbey With Jane Machira and Matthew Reed.

Contact Elizabeth Perry on 01935 850849 or email eperry@christian-aid.org 3 December – Bath Abbey With Jane Machira and Matthew Reed.

Contact Elizabeth Perry on 01935 850849 or email eperry@christian-aid.org 4 December – Kendal URC, 7.30pm With Rev James Matara.

Contact 01925 241222 or email warrington@christian-aid.org 6 December – Lancing College Chapel, West Sussex, 7.30pm Candlelight service with the Lancing College Choir and Dr Daleep Mukarji.

Contact 01273 470 504, or email southeast@ christian-aid.org

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Do theing right th

We are doing the right thing

Getty Images

Goats, ducks, pigs, cows – and now water buffalo… Christian Aid’s international director Paul Valentin explains how – and why - we fund livestock projects in developing countries through our Present Aid scheme

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FOUR YEARS AGO Christian Aid launched its Present Aid scheme showcasing a range of fun and quirky gifts that support a variety of overseas projects, while enabling supporters to embrace the ‘less is more’ concept by giving loved ones a virtual Christmas present while their money can actually be used in the fight against poverty.

Goats and other livestock quickly became bestsellers but organisations such as the World Land Trust and Animal Aid have accused Christian Aid of being irresponsible by sending livestock to impoverished countries suffering from desertification and drought and accused the animals of adding to global CO2 emissions.

First, Christian Aid does not ‘send’ animals to any country.

All animals are sourced locally, putting money into the local economy, and we only fund animals in areas where partner organisations think they are appropriate.

All Christian Aid-funded projects have to meet basic environmental and sustainability criteria. It would be irresponsible of us to encourage animal production schemes in ecologically fragile areas and we have challenged a number of animal-restocking schemes after drought/famine crises.

Moreover, the raising of animals is rarely, if ever, funded as a standalone activity. We do not increase the number of animals just because we sell more as virtual gifts. Goats or other livestock bought from the gift catalogue refer only to ‘offsetting’ existing animal distribution programmes that are part of integrated development programmes. If you buy a goat through Present Aid, we don’t promise that your money will buy a goat, rather that it will go towards agriculture and livestock projects.

Livestock provide an excellent alternative source of food and income to families struggling to survive the global decline in the value of cash crops and drought. Animal manure is used for growing crops and cheap bio-fuel.

Many animals provide milk, which gives

important nutrients, particularly for children in areas where dietary options are limited. Milk also provides a reliable source of daily income for small producers. Many of the goats in the projects benefiting from the Present Aid scheme are raised in a controlled environment where they are kept for milk production. Many children in poor countries owe their good health and even their school fees to the fact that the family has one or two dairy goats.

We are also asked why we campaign on climate change while funding livestock projects, when a survey published by the United Nations last year stated that 18 per cent of global CO2 emissions come from livestock?

The figure quoted in the UN report Livestock’s Long Shadow refers predominantly to the industrial livestock sector. The report states that ‘an estimated 80 per cent of growth in the livestock sector comes from industrial production systems.’ But it goes on to say that ‘for many poor farmers in developing countries livestock are also a source of renewable energy and an essential source of organic fertiliser for their crops.’

Christian Aid does not dispute that large-scale industrial livestock farming harms the environment, and, indeed, works with indigenous communities affected by deforestation and logging, due to large-scale cattle-ranching and soybean plantations in countries such as Brazil and Bolivia. When we fund livestock projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America we do so only on a small-scale subsistence level.

During the Cut the Carbon march, some animal-rights protestors charged that Christian Aid was dishonest in demanding a reduction in carbon emissions while we still support the raising of animals as part of development programmes. Marcher Mohammed Adow, from northern Kenya, met with some of the protestors and pointed out that entire societies, including his own, are totally dependent on the raising of animals for their survival. He acknowledges the crisis in pastoralist societies but his reaction to the notion that the raising of animals by human beings is the root of the problem was: ‘These people challenge my right to exist.’

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‘PLEASE, ABSOLUTELY NO PRESENTS…’ ‘BUT IF YOU insist…’

Committed Christian Aid supporters David and Mary Purser from Chandler’s Ford, near Southampton, were hoping their wedding guests would insist. So, in their wedding invitations they asked guests to contribute to Christian Aid’s work with children orphaned and affected by HIV in Zambia, saying: ‘We are in the extremely fortunate position of having more than we need in every way. There are so many people in the world who have nothing.’ The idea raised £4,000 and in their thank you letters the couple shared news about the children being supported by Christian Aid partner the Catholic Archdiocese of Lusaka (ADL) and three other Zambian partners.

GETTING EDGY THE EDGE, an iconic new building proposed by the Eden Project in Cornwall, has been shortlisted for the Big Lottery Fund’s Living Landmarks: The People’s Millions, to be shown on ITV. Up against three other projects, the Edge would be a model of cutting edge architecture and technology, built to the lowest carbon footprint and designed to last.

Visitors would explore how climate change might affect everyday life in the coming century, experiencing desert, oasis and water gardens.

But to get the go ahead for the project, Eden – Christian Aid’s partner at Grand Designs Live and Towards the Edge – needs to win public votes. Christian Aid supporters can vote at www.theedge.org

WIN an instant

kitchen garden

DID YOU THINK that your vegetable patch was just for summer? Not so! Just as our quest to cut carbon must continue, so do the possibilities of growing your own food, thus reducing food miles, trips to the supermarket and packaging.

We have teamed up with an amazing company called Rocket Gardens to help five lucky readers on their way. Rocket Gardens are a family-run company based in Cornwall whose mission is to get more people across the UK growing and eating their own organic vegetables.

They help you to get started by delivering complete growing kitchen gardens in a box direct to your door. They do all the hard work: all you have to do is pop lots of little plants in

the ground, pots or window boxes. The gardens come complete with a planting plan and growing guides.

Rocket Gardens also sell a range of Instant Kitchen Garden gift vouchers – perfect Christmas presents for friends or family. These super eco-friendly, healthy, tasty gifts will provide a productive vegetable or herb garden from spring through to autumn.

If you quote Christian Aid (code: CA02) when you buy a voucher, Rocket Gardens will donate ten per cent of the cost to Christian Aid’s climate change work.

Five lucky Christian Aid News readers could each win an Instant Kitchen Garden gift voucher worth £39.99 – to give as a gift or to create a lovely garden for themselves.

TO ENTER the draw please send your name and address to Rocket Gardens Competition, c/o Christian Aid News, PO Box 100, London SE1 7RT or email pressoffice@christian-aid.org putting Rocket Gardens in the subject line. The winners will be the first five names drawn after the closing date of Friday 7 December Q Rocket Gardens is also running a campaign called ‘Dig for their Future’, which is encouraging schools and children across the country to grow their own organic vegetable gardens. For more information on the schools campaign, or to look at their instant vegetable, salad and herb garden selections, visit www.rocketgardens.co.uk or call 01209 831468.

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Inpuatil your m

It Urban poverty? ing act really is a juggl

fighting Trade justice: s to cut the string

an aid When humanitari on becomes a weap

Hotting up

Providing a lead

Met view

By greatly increasing consumption of energy and goods, globally unsustainable development has been practised in Christian countries of the industrialised West for more than 100 years. Carboninduced climate change is only one of many disastrous consequences. During those years the churches have turned a blind eye, even when repeated warnings have been sounded. At last, thankfully, Christian Aid has provided a lead in facing the challenge to cut carbon.

Although we can all help reduce waste and emissions, the Climate Changed campaign recognises that only the governments of the world can prevent the disastrous consequences of climate change by rationing the burning of fossil fuels to less than a quarter of present consumption by 2050.

John David, Swanage

As a senior climate researcher in the UK for over a decade I hope I can address recent readers’ concerns with some authority. Whilst I agree with David Archer (Input, Issue 36), that we should not ‘dilute the message with unjustifiable assertions’, some broad statements are justified. It is a fact that the following points are now beyond any credible scientific dispute: • Climate change is real and is caused largely by human activity.

• Although natural factors (such as solar output) play a part, increasing greenhouse gases (predominantly CO2) are by far the biggest cause.

• Impacts of climate change – such as flooding from rising sea levels, or loss of water supply due to melting of mountain glaciers – will affect many millions of the world’s most vulnerable populations.

It is also true that many important uncertainties remain associated with regional climate variations and the exact magnitude of the impacts of climate change. There are also other factors which must be borne

Climate change – and Christian Aid’s Cut the Carbon campaign – continues to dominate our postbag, along with readers’ responses to Philip Moore’s letter in the last issue of Christian Aid News about Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Here is a selection of views

Best foot forward

– 500 miles to go: 500 miles gone Cut the Carbon Christian Aid’s message marchers take their on the road

Issue 37

Autumn 2007

d.org.

www.christianai

8/8/07 1

Final nail For any readers still with any lingering doubt over the issue of climate change, Martin Durkin’s letter (Input, issue 37) must surely hammer the final nail into the coffin of their denial. Martin yet again demonstrates that he has no understanding of the scientific process of peer review, or of logical thought in general. Martin’s twisted logic that Christian Aid’s ideology is somehow unChristian would be laughable were it not so serious an allegation. It is not humans that are the problem, Martin, but some of their actions.

If we all lived simpler, zerocarbon lives, like er, Jesus, then we would not be in the perilous situation that we are today. Let us waste no more time. Anthropogenic climate change is the number one issue facing our world. It is also an issue of social justice, since it is primarily caused by the rich, yet will impact the poor the hardest. It is therefore entirely appropriate for Christian Aid to adopt it as its primary campaigning issue, and I support you wholeheartedly in this.

David Rochester North Yorkshire

Lot to lose I’m glad you printed Martin Durkin’s letter – it proved what I suspected: like many Channel 4 documentaries, his film was driven by political rather than scientific

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considerations. As to his question, ‘Who to believe?’ – to put it succinctly, we have a lot more to lose if global warming is a reality and we ignore it, than if we address it and it isn’t real.

Patrick Hanley Warrington

which I wholeheartedly support. However, I was then horrified to see your adverts for Tea Time, with pictures of tea bags. I stopped using tea bags about 20 years ago when I heard that a forest the size of Greater London was cut down each year just to provide the paper for tea bags. This is a totally unnecessary use of our limited resources and I would encourage all readers to stop buying teabags, get themselves a tea pot and rediscover the joys of loose tea – fairly traded of course!

A small, but significant step we can all take.

Jen Larner Diss, Norfolk

Joys of real tea I was very interested to read all the letters regarding the climate change campaign,

in mind such as disaster relief, population increase or conflict over resources. Many issues interact – of which climate is an important one – and no single issue should be considered in isolation.

However, the broad picture and the need for prompt and decisive action are far from uncertain.

Readers with a specific query can email the Met Office Hadley Centre, Hadley@metoffice.gov.uk, where one of the expert climate researchers will try to give an authoritative answer.

Chris Jones Exeter

What next?

I agree with Colin and Val Weedon (Input, issue 37).

Once an organisation moves away from its core values problems start. Now you’re jumping on the global warming bandwagon, what will be next – campaigning against airport expansion?

There are many organisations campaigning on global warming. Leave it to them.

Aidan Magill London

Who decided?

Climate is changing and carbon could have a slight influence but you seem to accept that it is the main or only cause. Who in the organisation has decided that carbon is the cause and why have you just dismissed the alternative scientific opinion?

Has there been a debate?

Who agrees and who disagrees? Was it a close-run decision? Did your executive have all the data from both sides of the argument? Is the organisation democratic? Do we have any say in such fundamental decisions? I am worried that the money my wife collects is being wasted on expensive newspaper adverts asking people to

Christian Aid News

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Inspired? Enraged? Send your views to the editor.

Christian Aid News, PO Box 100, London SE1 7RT or email canews@christian-aid.org Enquiries or requests for information should be sent to Supporter Relations at the address on page 3 contact their MPs rather than doing real good in this world.

I have advised her not to collect until you reconsider your priorities.

Steve Drew via email Paul Valentin, international director replies: Responding to climate change has involved wide consultation and involvement across the entire agency and around the globe. We did not start with climate change but arrived at it through a process of witnessing, listening, learning, sharing and studying.

Andrew Pendleton, senior policy officer, adds: Christian Aid is not making the assumption about carbon; it is the consensus among the world’s climate scientists, we have merely accepted the consensus. The UN’s IPCC report (2,000+ of world’s foremost scientists) confirmed with greater than 90 per cent certainty that climate change is due to human activity. The ability of the communities in which we work to cope is breaking down because whatever they tend to get (drought, flood, hurricane) is happening more often and with greater intensity. The debate about the human influence of the climate is now settled. What’s needed is decisive action.

Moore not merrier The shocked letter from Philip Moore (Input, Issue 37) denying the oppression of the Israeli occupying forces highlights the uphill task we have of bringing the appalling suffering of the Palestinians to the world’s attention. I think CAN does a fantastic job highlighting suffering around the world and showing people how things really are.

Rupert Gude via email

Frustrating Philip Moore’s letter is deeply frustrating. Of course there are some Israelis who have suffered due to their country’s illegal occupation of Palestine – some indeed are conscript soldiers I have met who are forced to obey immoral orders. But to criticise Christian Aid for stating that Israel has been occupying Palestine for 40 years, demonstrates an ignorance both of international law and the realities on the ground.

During a recent visit I saw how the occupation affects ordinary, decent Palestinians.

I had dinner with one family whose house has been demolished four times by the Israeli army – once with tear gas being thrown at the children. I visited Hebron and joined some venerable Palestinian women in being herded through a checkpoint at gunpoint by Israeli soldiers young enough to be their grandsons. Overall, I was shocked at the sheer scale of the Israeli theft of Palestinian land and their blatant attempt to confine Palestinians to walled ghettoes. Mr Moore implies that Christians are called to stand up for Israel.

What nonsense! Prophets such as Isaiah and Micah showed that it is a Christian duty to stand up against

injustice, wherever it is found.

Christian Aid is right to highlight the poverty of the Palestinians and should be applauded for its campaign against the Israeli occupation which is the cause.

Dr Stephen Leah York

Christ’s message My support for Christian Aid has been based on being concerned both for the Palestinians and the Israelis and I hope that continues. However the suffering in both countries – and there are two countries – will not end until Israel withdraws from Palestine. Palestine has been occupied by Israel for 40 years and the sweeping unsubstantiated statements

by Philip Moore will never change the fact. Unlike him, my biblical teaching is to follow Jesus Christ whose message is simple: help the oppressed. At this moment in time it is the Palestinians who are the oppressed – a view shared by many Israelis.

Andrew Jack via email

Saddened I was shocked and saddened to see that well-meaning Christians like Philip Moore still believe that it’s the

Christian Aid goes shopping Your item Shop shape (News, Issue 37) is behind the times.

The good people of Sedbergh are by no means the first to run such a shop. Here in Havant we have been running an annual bargain shop in St Faith’s Parish Hall for over 20 years. This year we sent up over £8,400 to headquarters.

Jennifer Moore-Blunt, Christian Aid Secretary, Havant There has been a Christian Aid Week shop in Wooler every year for about 10 years and this year it raised over £6,000!

Judith Sadler, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne We in Exeter also organise a shop during Christian Aid Week, started 30 years ago by a remarkable lady – Jane Woodman. It regularly raises £2,000!

Doreen Hart, Exeter Editor’s note: Any more for any more?

Israelis who are ‘oppressed and suffering’. All evidence shows that the opposite is the real situation.

The state of Israel was created in 1948 by the slaughter and eviction of thousands of Palestinian Christians and Moslems.

Modern Israel is supported and funded by the most powerful nation on earth, is armed to the teeth and is the only Middle East country allowed its own nuclear programme. Israel has created a brutal apartheid system (condemned also by many Israelis) which Desmond Tutu has described as far worse than the apartheid endured by black South Africans.

Rose Reeve Durham

Face up to reality I have got used to most people living in a looking glass world these days – a world in which they believe what they want to believe rather than face reality – but I am deeply shocked to find that so many readers of Christian Aid News fall into that category. It was bad enough when there was a flood of letters claiming that global warming is a myth – it is not an absolute certainty but you only have to look around you to see the evidence – but to see a letter claiming that Israel is the victim of the Middle East troubles is really too much.

To deny that the Palestinians have suffered at the hands of Israel is equivalent to denying the Holocaust.

Christians should not shrink from standing up to people or organisations who twist things round to fit their prejudices, even if those people or organisations are themselves Christians.

Robert Bromley Lancing, West Sussex Christian Aid News

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Final Word

BLOWING THE WHISTLE Actress Greta Scacchi joined Christian Aid’s Cut the Carbon marchers in Cardiff to support our climate change campaign.

Here she leaves her footprint on Christian Aid News What would you save if your house was on fire?

I was thinking of objects but, on further reflection, perhaps it would be my children.

What makes you cry?

I’m a cry-baby, so there are many things. To give a serious answer, the big questions of injustice and suffering.

Where is the most remarkable place you have ever visited?

The mountains of Kashmir in India have such an exotic beauty.

Which book or song do you most wish you’d written?

Joni Mitchell, I don’t know which one. It would be something on the Blue album. [Starts singing what turns out to be All I Want.]

Who would you choose to be shipwrecked with?

I’d get someone like Robinson Crusoe.

If you ruled the world, what is the first law you’d introduce?

Make love not war!

Who would play you in a film of your life?

Hopefully, me! I would be livid if the part went elsewhere.

Christian Aid/Neil Bennett

What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done – and would you do it again?

The great thing about doing something scary is overcoming your fears. When Kevin Spacey

asked me to do the 24-Hour play at the Old Vic a year ago, I realised two things: I was petrified, and I had to do it. And yes, I’d do it again.

Have you ever met an angel?

I’m an actor, and so I’m very much in the discipline of seeing all qualities in all people at different times in their life. So I think all human beings have that capacity to be angelic.

What miracle would you like to work?

I would like everything under the sea to be put back to how it was before people messed it up.

What’s your favourite food?

If it’s well done, Thai food.

Which living person inspires you most?

I’m always knocked out by other people’s strength. Anyone who sticks up for the underdog with will or energy inspires me.

What was the last text message you received or sent?

It was to my teenage daughter Leila. Text messages are a handy device for arguments – you don’t get interrupted.

What talent do you have, or think you have, which has so far been hidden from the general public?

I can wolf-whistle really loudly. In my first job – which was an episode of Bergerac – I was required to do a whistle and I practised and practised. By the time I perfected it, it was too late (they had to dub it in the show) but now I defy anyone to have a louder whistle than I do.

Greta Scacchi is one of Britain’s most successful actresses of the past two decades. Her films include White Mischief, Heat and Dust, Presumed Innocent, Robert Altman’s The Player and the forthcoming adaptation of Brideshead Revisited with Emma Thompson and Michael Gambon.

On television, she has appeared in Daniel Deronda, played Margaret Thatcher opposite Damian Lewis in Jeffery Archer: The Truth and is to star in Miss Austen Regrets. An environmentalist of decades’ standing, she spoke at Christian Aid’s Cut the Carbon rally in Cardiff in September.

DECK THE HALLS A Hertfordshire church will be turned into a forest next month for a fundraising Christmas Tree Festival.

St Nicholas’ Church in Harpenden will again host the Christmas Tree Festival from 12-17 December. Last year the church was filled with 70 trees, which had been decorated by local groups, including schools, churches, charities, bell-ringers, and uniformed organisations. The lights were switched on by Christian Aid’s director, Dr Daleep Mukarji, at a gala opening evening. This and a series of concerts, a visit from Father Christmas, and programme sales helped raise £12,500 for Christian Aid’s work.

This year’s festival is set to be bigger, with 100 trees. Money raised will be given to a various charities, including one of Christian Aid’s partners in Nicaragua, SOPPEXCCA,

30

which was set up to help small coffee producers with training and credit following Hurricane Mitch in 1998. They now supply coffee for the international fair-trade market.

Funds raised in Harpenden will pay for continuing assistance to the communities where they are already working and extend the benefits into new communities.

Sue Bentley, chair of the organising committee, commented: ‘The success of last year’s Christmas Tree Festival surpassed everything that was hoped for. Now we’ve fingers crossed for even better this year.’

Information is available from Christian Aid’s Oxford office, or on the festival website: www.christmastreefestival.co.uk

Christian Aid News

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You get a credit card. He gets an income.

Every Christian Aid credit card account opened raises £15 for Christian Aid. A further £2.50 is received when the card is used within the first six months, and then 25p for every £100 spent using the card.

The first £15 alone could provide seeds to cultivate sunflowers which can make oil to sell, generating an income for a farmer like Antonio Sugar in Mozambique.

Why not phone for an instant decision today?

0800 002 006 Mon to Fri 8am-9pm, Sat & Sun 9am-6pm

Please quote

67132

when you phone

The Christian Aid Standard credit card 0% on purchases and balance transfers,* fixed until six months after account opening %

APR Typical/Variable

Christian Aid/Adrian Arbib

18.9 working with:

A balance transfer fee of 2.5% of transfer value is applicable during promotional rate periods only (minimum £5).

Applicants must be UK residents aged 18 years or over. *Excludes balance transfers from other credit cards issued by The Co-operative Bank. Credit facilities are provided by The Co-operative Bank p.l.c.

(Registered No. 990937), Head Office, P.O. Box 101, 1 Balloon Street, Manchester M60 4EP, are subject to status. The Bank reserves the right to decline any application or offer a card product that differs from those advertised. Interest rates are correct at time of going to press 10/07. Calls may be monitored or recorded for security and training purposes. The Co-operative Bank is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (No. 121885), subscribes to the Banking Code, is a member of the Financial Ombudsman Service and is licensed by the Office of Fair Trading (No. 006110).

Christian Aid UK registered charity number 1105851, company number 5171525.

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Help a child this Christmas, wherever they are.

Saida is a young, disabled girl who lives with her six brothers and sisters in Tajikistan. Her father died in the civil war, and her ageing mother struggles to get by on their small income. Life’s certainly not easy for this family, but you can help.

Just £36 will pay a medical worker for a month at a centre run by a local, Christian Aid-funded partner organisation. That means Saida and two of her brothers,who are also disabled, can play with other children and get essential food and support.

Come on, it’s Christmas. Give online today at www.christianaid.org.uk/christmas, send a cheque to Christian Aid, PO Box 100, London SE1 7RT, quoting ‘Christmas appeal’or call 020 7523 2258.

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