Christian Aid Ireland Magazine | Issue 56 | Autumn/Winter 2019

ISSUE 56 • AUTUMN/WINTER 2019

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MANUAL SCAVENGING IN INDIA: Help women escape the worst job in the world

Homes for orphans of Angola’s war

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CLIMATE STRIKES WAR ON DRUGS HARMING WORLD’S POOREST

LEGACY OF LOVE in Kenya

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EDITORIAL

Christian Aid Ireland is the official relief and development agency of the Church of Ireland, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland, the Methodist Church in Ireland, the Moravian Church, the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), the Salvation Army, and the Irish Council of Churches.

Charity shops Cullybackey County Antrim

The shop at 69 Main Street, Cullybackey is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: 10.30am to 5pm Saturday: 10.30am to 1.30pm

It is a member of the ACT Alliance (Action

by Churches Together), the worldwide ecumenical network for emergency relief.

Garvagh

County Londonderry

Christian Aid is a signatory to the Dóchas Code of Conduct on Images and Messages. More details can be found on dochas.ie. Please send any feedback about images in this publication to lfagan@christian-aid.org

Rosamond Bennett Chief Executive, Christian Aid Ireland

Belfast 96 Beechill Road, Belfast, BT8 7QN Tel: 028 9064 8133 Email: belfast@christian-aid.org

Deborah Doherty Head of Church & Supporter Engagement

The shop at 85 Main Street, Garvagh is open Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9.30am until 4.30pm and on Saturday 10am until 4pm

FUNDRAISING LUNCHES Join us for lunch...

Every Tuesday: First Lisburn Presbyterian Church, Market Square, Lisburn Every Thursday: Hillsborough Parish Church

Dublin Canal House, Canal Road, Dublin 6, D06 FC93 Tel: 01 496 7040 Email: dublin@christian-aid.org

Dee Huddleston & Michael Briggs Church and Community Officers

Cork Hill View, Bandon, County Cork Email: cork@christian-aid.org

Andrew Coleman Church and Community Officer

NI Company no: NI059154 NI Charity Registration no: XR94639 NI Charity Commission no: NIC101631 ROI Company no: 426928 ROI Charity Registration no: CHY6998 ROI Charities Regulatory no: 20014162

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Edited by: Lisa Fagan with thanks to Paul Donohoe Written by: Deborah Doherty, Lisa Fagan, Helen Newell and Sian Curry Cover image: Geeta with her mother and 4-year-old daughter Priyanka. Full story on pages 8 & 9 Photo: Emily Garthwaite/ Christian Aid

1st Wednesday of each month: Armagh Road Presbyterian Church, Portadown 1st Friday of each month: Drumbeg Parish Church Hall, Dunmurry

Mission statement The work of Christian Aid Ireland is based on our Christian belief that everyone, regardless of their faith or race, is entitled to live a full life, free from poverty.

We believe in tackling the root causes of poverty, not just their symptoms. We believe that the world can and must be changed so that there is equality, dignity and freedom for all.

We are driven to make this change happen and to inspire others to make it happen.

Please visit our website at: christianaid.ie Like us on Facebook /ChristianAidIreland

Follow us on Twitter @ChristianAidIrl

Christian Aid Ireland

“ I alone know the

plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about a future full of hope ” Jeremiah 29:11 As she approaches retirement, Deborah Doherty reflects on her 24 years at Christian Aid.

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t the age of eight I was so shocked by the televised images of children affected by the Biafran War that I went around the neighbourhood asking for donations. I didn’t have a collector’s badge or permission from any authority to collect. I didn’t even tell my parents!

Amazingly, people gave me money, £2 14s 11d to be precise (I think that is around £2.40) and my Mum took me to the Christian Aid office on Botanic Avenue to hand over the cash. God’s plans for me were already set out on that path.

Our Church Youth Fellowship regularly made the soup for the annual Christian Aid lunch and although we used powdered soup and often burned it, our congregation still gave generously. I have had the opportunity to visit the many ‘soup and cheese’ lunches which our churches hold for Christian Aid. The wide varieties of soup on offer and the love and care which go into the presentation of these simple lunches is a credit to the wonderful volunteers who so faithfully give their time and talents so that many people can enjoy a modest meal and many more can benefit from the funds raised.

In 1980 I spent a year as a volunteer teacher working in a school in the Taita Hills, Kenya and it was truly an education for me and set me on a path to return to Kenya twenty years later to see the work of Christian Aid’s wonderful partners in Kenya and South Sudan.

The most rewarding part of this job has been meeting the partners and communities who show such remarkable resilience in the face of adversity

Autumn/Winter 2019

and who are truly committed to bringing positive change in their society. Sometimes Christian Aid has been the only partner supporting them and I felt proud to represent an organisation of integrity and care who understood the importance of enabling the most marginalised people to chart their own paths out of poverty.

My job has changed over the past 24 years and today I’m much more at my desk than organising events or getting out to meet our family of Christian Aid Week organisers, collectors and hard-working volunteers. Yet that is what truly sustains and encourages me, to engage with the huge network of supporters who give so generously and prayerfully. I am inspired by their commitment and enthusiasm to be a witness to the needs of others in their church and community.

Finally, I want to pay tribute to the many wonderful colleagues I have worked with over my long engagement with Christian Aid. They are my colleagues but also my friends and while I am looking forward to retirement, I will miss the craic!

Jeremiah’s letter to the community of exiles in Babylon is essentially one of hope and encouragement to have confidence in God’s ultimate plan. May we all continue to journey together for a future full of hope and a world free from poverty, injustice and inequality.

Deborah Doherty, Head of Church and Supporter Engagement, will retire in December after 24 years at Christian Aid Ireland.

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EMERGENCIES

South Asia floods

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his summer’s monsoon rains caused devastating floods, killing hundreds and affecting tens of millions across India, Nepal and Bangladesh. In the Indian states of Bihar, Assam and Kerala, Christian Aid has been working with local partners to hand out water purifiers, mosquito nets and other essentials. With Irish Aid support and working with its local partner, Christian Aid in Nepal disinfected hand-pump wells in the Taraj region, allowing 800 families access to clean water, as well as building hundreds of temporary toilets and bathing cubicles to prevent the spread of disease.

EMERGENCIES

Ebola outbreak

in Congo

the second deadliest in history

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he Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo has now claimed more than 2,000 lives over the past year. Only the 2014 outbreak in west Africa, which killed over 11,000 people, has proved deadlier. This vast central African country is already facing food shortages, political instability and violence, forcing many to flee their homes. Efforts to combat the spread of the infection have been hampered by mistrust of health workers, with some local communities blaming the spread of the disease on outsiders.

Christian Aid has worked hard with local faith leaders to rebuild confidence and overcome barriers hampering the response effort in North Kivu province in eastern Congo. We have handed out food rations to 40,000 people and built latrines.

We are also raising awareness of the need for handwashing to prevent the spread of disease as well as encouraging people to take the life-saving vaccine, and for anyone with symptoms to seek urgent treatment.

Eight million were affected by monsoon flooding in the Indian state of Bihar alone. Sumitra’s village was badly flooded, and she had no choice but to live in a tent on the roadside. Christian Aid provided clean water to Sumitra and her five children in the first weeks following the flood.

and remind us of our responsibilities towards them.

Every day there are people and places who experience disaster, conflict, drought and disease.

Make strong our resolve to somehow make a difference So that one day poverty may finally be ended, Amen 4

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he fires raging in the Amazon are accelerating the deforestation of one of the planet’s most important carbon sinks, adding to fears of a global climate catastrophe.

In August alone, there were more than 30,000 fires, with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s policies being blamed for the sharp increase in the pace of forest clearance.

Bolsonaro was elected in 2018 after promising farming

and ranching interests that he would sweep aside protection measures to allow greater commercialisation of the rainforest.

Christian Aid works to support the indigenous and other forest communities who call the Amazon home, helping them resist the forest clearance and the advance of megaprojects - agribusiness, mining and hydroelectric dams - that threaten their way of life. Many have paid

with their lives, like Dilma Silva Ferreira (45), an activist from our partner MAB, the Movement of People Affected by Dams, who was murdered on 22 March 2019.

In September, Christian Aid launched our Amazon appeal, inviting supporters to send a message either to the UK Prime Minister or the Irish Taoiseach, demanding urgent action to protect the Amazon and its indigenous people. Please visit caid.ie/amazon to add your voice.

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Loving God, open our hearts to the needs of our neighbours everywhere

and life lived in all its fullness.

AMAZON FIRES

A woman washes her hands before receiving food rations in the South Lubero area of North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Christian Aid Ireland

wo years ago, violence in Myanmar drove 600,000 Rohingya from their homes to seek safety across the border in Bangladesh. Christian Aid works with local partners in refugee camps, providing clean water, food, shelter, soap and other essentials. Many Rohingya lost family members and witnessed unimaginable horrors. Christian Aid is helping children recover from trauma and grief by opening safe spaces in the camp where they can learn, play and receive emotional support.

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Since August 2017, Christian Aid has assisted more than 123,000 Rohingya refugees, providing food, clean water, shelter and dignity kits.

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REBUILDING LIVES

REBUILDING LIVES

FROM STREET CHILDREN TO SCHOOL CHILDREN

by Sian Curry

With the support of Christian Aid Ireland, former street children in Angola have managed to find a home and send their children to school for the education they were denied.

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our-year-old Manuel Cassinda sits and plays contentedly with the sand, emptying and refilling a plastic bottle. It’s the kind of play you see in any infant classroom, but Manuel hasn’t started school yet, so he wasn’t among the hundreds of children who lined up outside their primary school this September in the coastal city of Lobito, Angola.

But Manuel’s neighbour, five-year-old Emilio Tchilala, was there. His dad, Evaristo, is still enjoying a morning routine that now includes a school run. Getting Emilio ready for school each morning is the highlight of his day: “It’s something I never got to do myself,” he explains.

Evaristo’s own father, a soldier, disappeared early one morning in 1992, and Evaristo never saw him again. He didn’t get on with his stepfather and ended up living rough, sleeping under buildings or in stairwells, and knocking on doors to beg for scraps of food from people’s bins.

“It was very sad, especially at first,” he remembers. “It was very difficult. We lived very badly. We were humiliated, we were tortured, we were ignored. Many things happened to us. We used to sniff petrol to bear the cold of the night, otherwise it was unbearable.”

Manuel’s dad, Rafael, has a similar tale to tell. His father died when he was five, and by the age of ten, Rafael was living on the streets. Money for food came from washing cars, and nights were spent huddled beneath cardboard boxes. “My life on the streets was a life of suffering,” he says, simply.

Evaristo and Rafael were just two of many. More than 800,000 children were orphaned, abandoned or lost during Angola’s 27-year civil war. The fighting finally ended in 2002, and Angola’s children of

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Christian Aid Ireland

conflict have grown up. Many are now parents themselves, seeking to give their children the chances they never had. But when babies are born into homelessness, their future looks bleak.

When Rafael’s first child arrived, he and his wife were living in a makeshift cardboard shelter. His joy at becoming a dad was counterbalanced by the practical challenges of caring for a newborn with no roof over their heads.

“The difficult thing was when the rain beat down on our boxes.

When you’ve got a baby less than a year old, that’s hard.”

Today, after more than twenty years living rough, Rafael and his family no longer need to fear the rain. They finally have a home of their own, complete with a bathroom and electricity.

Life is very different. Unlike his older brother and sisters, Manuel has spent his early years safe in a family home, rather than at the mercy of the elements.

Rafael and Evaristo, and their families, now live in breezeblock houses in ’16 June’, a unique community for former street children. It is the first neighbourhood Rafael Cassinda reads to his son, Manuel Photo: Omunga/ Donaldo Sousa

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of its kind in Angola and is named after the International Day of the African Child.

The local government built the 16 June community after years of campaigning

by Angolan children’s rights group Omunga, supported by Christian Aid Ireland and Irish Aid - the Irish Government’s international aid programme.

Over time, Omunga trained up homeless young people to lead the campaign themselves.

Christian Aid Ireland often works in this way, empowering the poorest and most vulnerable to make their voices heard in the corridors of power.

“We had to fight to get these houses built, it was a real struggle,” explains Evaristo.

“Omunga has been like a father to us. They opened our eyes. If it weren’t for Omunga, everyone in this community would be wandering around with their heads completely empty.”

An empty head is anathema to Evaristo. It is clear that both he and Rafael place a high value on education, despite their own very limited schooling. “I can write a bit but I can’t read much,” says Rafael. Then he adds,

with pride, “but the children can.” And this, as he knows, is the key to everything. With education, his children will have the chance to build a better life.

But getting a school place is not straightforward for boys like Emilio and Manuel. School enrolment depends on children having legal identity documents.

After decades of war and displacement in Angola, many don’t. It is estimated that over three million children under five are still not registered.

Officially, they don’t exist.

Unable to read or write well themselves, most former street children struggle to manage government paperwork.

So Omunga has been on hand to guide them through the process of registering themselves and their children.

Now that he has identity documents, Manuel will be able to join his siblings and Emilio at school next year. When every child starts school, it’s a big moment – a rite of passage. But for children like Manuel and Emilio, it’s much more than that.

With a safe home and a school place, they will have foundations that their fathers were denied.

This generation will have the chance to break the cycle of homelessness and suffering.

“I want their childhood to be better” says Evaristo. “My hopes for my children are that they become people who contribute to society, to help Angola grow.”

From someone who spent so many years surviving on the margins of Angolan society, Evaristo’s aspirations are both generous and poignant. He simply asks that his children should not be denied their chance to contribute.

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HUMAN RIGHTS

HUMAN RIGHTS

Photos: Christian Aid/Emily Garthwaite

Help mothers escape the worst job in the world

Geeta (centre) works as a manual scavenger, like her mother (left). She hopes to escape her situation and provide her daughter with an education and a better life.

£57/€65 Since becoming a tailor, Ranjita (centre) can afford to send her youngest daughter Soniya (right) to school for the first time. Manual scavenging is considered a hereditary occupation so by helping mothers break out of it, our partner is protecting their children too.

With the help of Christian Aid’s partner, Arun, Ranjita has escaped a life of cleaning human excrement by hand and is now making a living as a tailor.

Now aged 30, Ranjita began manual scavenging - cleaning human excrement from latrines and sewers by hand - when she was just nine years old. But thanks to a Christian Aid supported programme, she is now living a life of dignity, working as a tailor.

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anjita is a Dalit, the people previously known as ‘untouchables’, the most discriminated group in the Hindu caste system. Dalit women and girls are especially oppressed, and many are forced by local communities to take on the task of removing untreated human waste, which they often do by hand, in exchange for a few rupees and some stale bread: “They would drop the bread on the plate I carry, they didn’t even hand it to me. They treat us worse than animals.”

Although manual scavenging is technically outlawed in India, there are still around 1.2 million people forced to do this dangerous job, and nearly all are female. Without support, women and girls find it difficult to break the generational cycle of manual scavenging.

Ranjita was determined to create a new life for her family and protect her daughters 8

would drop the bread on the plate “ They I carry, they didn’t even hand it to me.

They treat us worse than animals. ”

£282/€319 could replace 100 dry toilets with flush toilets and help eliminate the need for manual scavenging.

caid.ie/Christmas-appeal

from the same exploitative work. She joined a self-help community run by Christian Aid’s local partner ARUN where she learnt about her right to escape her situation and applied for a government compensation grant. This enabled her to set up her own tailoring business to earn a living and support her family.

ARUN has reached out to millions of manual scavengers over the last decade, enabling women to receive training to become tailors so they can make a life free from poverty and degradation.

Ranjita can now rent a room rather than living in the slums. And for the first time, she can afford to send her youngest child, Soniya, to school. Ranjita is proud to have escaped from degradation to a new life of dignity.

“My children and I are happy now I am earning and I am no longer like an animal.”

Christian Aid Ireland

could provide three women with skills training, like tailoring, to enable them to set up their own businesses.

Father God, remind us that you came in Christ to bring good news to the poor and hope to the oppressed.

Cleanse our world of everything that demeans and diminishes, and through your transforming touch make all things new.

Amen

As a Dalit, the most discriminated group in the Hindu caste system, Geeta is forced to work as a manual scavenger, removing human excrement from latrines and sewers by hand.

Autumn/Winter 2019

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CLIMATE CHANGE

CLIMATE CHANGE

CLIMATE STRIKES

UK and Ireland commit to go carbon neutral

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n June, Ireland committed to cut greenhouse emissions to ‘net zero’ by 2050 as part of its new climate action plan, finally bringing it into line with the UK and its EU neighbours.

Scientists have warned that we risk the earth’s temperature rising beyond safe levels unless the planet goes carbon neutral by this date.

Christian Aid had previously described Ireland as the climate ‘laggard’ of Europe, as one of only five EU countries to miss its 2020 targets for carbon reduction.

But concerns remain that the plan doesn’t go far enough, as Jennifer Higgins of Christian Aid Ireland warned: “The plan is over-reliant on switching to privately owned electric vehicles by 2030, rather than investing in public transport and cycling, while the cost of ‘retrofitting’ houses or adding solar panels remains unaffordable for many. And there appears to be little appetite in Government for tackling the emissions from farming, especially the beef and dairy sectors.”

The targets were introduced in response to sustained pressure from Christian Aid and others in the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, and the electoral success enjoyed by pro-environment parties in May’s European elections.

DID YOU KNOW? • •

The average person in Ireland generates as much CO2 as 303 Burundians.

It would take 212 Burundians to produce as much CO2 as the average UK person.

The figures are based on a new Christian Aid study, which found that the average Burundian emits just 0.027 tonnes of C02 per person.

The richest 10% of people produce half of the world’s carbon emissions, while the poorest half contribute only 10%.

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HSBC told: stop funding climate change I

n April, Christian Aid supporters dressed as chimney sweeps protested outside the HSBC branch on Royal Avenue, Belfast ahead of the company’s AGM in Birmingham. They were campaigning against the bank’s policy of funding new coal-fired power plants in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam – three of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries.

Christian Aid Ireland’s Chief Executive Rosamond Bennett travelled from her home in Islandmagee to attend the mass lobby at Westminster, urging MPs to back deep cuts in carbon emissions.

Meanwhile, parliamentarians from Northern Ireland backed the UK Government enshrining into law the commitment to go carbon neutral by the middle of the century.

Christian Aid supporters were heavily involved in urging MPs to back the law change.

On June 26 supporters gathered in churches around Northern Ireland to hold calls with three MPs - Lady Sylvia Hermon, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and Ian Paisley Jnr - urging them to back deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

On the same day at Westminster, Gregory Campbell, Nigel Dodds, Jim Shannon and David Simpson attended a ‘mass lobby’ of MPs when 15,000 people from across the UK, including many Christian Aid supporters, demanded urgent action on climate change.

Christian Aid Ireland

n 20 September, Christian Aid’s staff and supporters stood in solidarity with schoolchildren by joining in the global climate strikes in Belfast and Dublin. Inspired by 16-year-old Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, young people have been holding monthly street demonstrations in Belfast, Dublin and Cork, calling on governments to slash carbon emissions.

In August, Christian Aid’s Church and Community Manager, Dave Thomas met the organisers of the Belfast street protests to lend our support: “Many of the children on strike are too young to vote so have no say in who forms their governments. Like the poor communities around the world already suffering from the effects of climate change, young people will bear the brunt of our failure to act.

“The phrase ‘out of the mouths of babes comes wisdom’ has its roots in the eighth Psalm.”

Ellie Crawford attends Methodist College, Belfast: “This is beyond borders and beyond creeds. We should all be in the fight working towards a better future.”

Climate campaigner training Worried what climate change means for poor countries and future generations?

Don’t be a climate worrier, be a climate warrior!

Come along to our climate campaigner training day to be equipped with the knowledge and skills to speak and act for climate justice.

Saturday 9 November 2019, 9:30am til 2pm St John’s Orangefield 397 Castlereagh Road, Belfast, BT5 6AB A light lunch will be provided: suggested donation £5 To book your place, email: Vicky on vflanagan@christian-aid.org

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Organisers of the Belfast youth climate strikes meet Dave Thomas of Christian Aid Ireland. L-R, Ellie Crawford, Anna Kernahan, Dave Thomas, Conor MacRandal and Joyce Lo. Ellie, Conor and Joyce attend Methodist College, Belfast while Anna attends Victoria College, also in Belfast.

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MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH

PEACE BUILDING

‘War on drugs’

Karol Balfe

hurting the world’s poorest Eradicate the poverty, not the illicit crops: Christian Aid’s message on reducing drug-growing.

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new Christian Aid report warns that illicit drug cultivation thrives in countries emerging from war and that a new anti-poverty approach is needed to tackle drug production and build peace.

Co-authored by Karol Balfe of Christian Aid Ireland, the report argues that government crackdowns, including armed attacks and the deliberate eradication of crops, destroy livelihoods and violate the human rights of people who are already living on the margins.

In the Philippines, for example, 27,000 people have been killed since the state launched its offensive against gangs and drug growers. And aerial fumigation - spraying cancer-causing chemicals on crops - damages people’s health and their environment. Meanwhile, the worldwide production of opium and cocaine is at an all-time high.

Ms Balfe explained: “When some of the world’s poorest people are denied basic rights such as access to land, credit and social protection, it’s no surprise they turn to cultivating illicit crops to survive. But it’s a mistake when they’re criminalised.”

The report finds that governments should focus their response on the poverty that drives people into drug cultivation, and that eradicating crops is simplistic and ineffective.

some of the world’s “ When poorest people are denied basic rights such as access to land, credit and social protection, it’s no surprise they turn to cultivating illicit crops to survive. But it’s a mistake when they’re criminalised.

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And instead of measuring the ‘reduction in hectares cultivated’ or ‘kilograms of drugs seized’, they should choose indicators such as access to health and education, a reduction in the number of people living in poverty and access to jobs, as well as a respect for human rights, and a reduction in violence as measures of success.

The report’s authors explain that drug economies thrive in places emerging from war.

Afghanistan, Colombia and Myanmar all saw a huge expansion in drug cultivation following ceasefires and the signing of peace agreements. “This is not a coincidence,” said Karol Balfe.

“Peace agreements are more likely to build sustainable peace if they address marginalisation and exclusion, particularly in forgotten borderlands.

“There is no easy answer to this. But any potential solution must include the needs and views of those for whom this is a daily reality. They are the real experts in resilience and survival.”

Christian Aid Ireland

THANK YOU for standing with the mums and babies of Sierra Leone

Jebbeh Konneh with baby Asumana. Jebbeh’s sister died in labour. But a health centre built with Christian Aid’s support enabled Jebbeh to give birth safely.

Jebbeh Konneh was eight months pregnant when she told us her story. Her sister Fatmata had died in labour. In Sierra Leone where she lives, ten women die every day giving birth.

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uring Christian Aid Week this May, we shared with you the stories of some courageous mums in Sierra Leone, the world’s most dangerous country in which to have a baby.

Jebbeh told us of her fears for herself and her unborn baby.

So we were delighted to hear the good news that Jebbeh had given birth safely. “I feel relieved with joy and happiness after giving birth to a bouncing baby boy. With the help Christian Aid gave me, my child and I are healthy. The new clinic gives us hope. I thank you very much.

I am happy, and very glad.”

With your help, Jebbeh’s community built a new health centre in Sawula village, equipped with maternity beds and solar lighting to help women deliver at night.

Women like Jebbeh now have the dignity of giving birth safely. They can live to see their babies grow and thrive.

In Ireland, over 3,000 volunteers and 300 churches stood together with poor communities around the world to raise money for Christian Aid. Whether you served

3,000 volunteers and 300 churches “ Over stood together with poor communities

around the world to raise nearly £500,000

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soup, poured coffee, knocked on doors or took part in a sponsored walk, thank you for being part of Jebbeh’s story.

During Christian Aid Week in May, Helen Newell (pictured wearing a red hoodie) walked in solidarity with the mums of Sierra Leone to the maternity hospital in east Belfast where, in December 2017, she’d given birth to her daughter, Orla (pictured front right in her buggy). Helen, who is Christian Aid’s Senior Church and Community Officer, was joined by her friends for the event which raised £400 for our work to end poverty overseas.

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SUPPORTER FUNDRAISING

LEGACY

Life-giving legacy

Ballybay ‘bighearts’

A Dublin woman who grew up without her father is keeping families together in Kenya - by helping mums survive childbirth - all thanks to a gift she left in her Will. Lisa Fagan spoke to Lindsey, daughter of the late Betty Abbott.

Sheep’s Head Hike Presented during our annual RTÉ church service, Ballybay Presbyterian Churches, County Monaghan received a diamond award to recognise their 50 years of fundraising for Christian Aid.

Worthington’s are worthy winners A law firm based in Newtownards and Belfast has been named the top fundraiser in Northern Ireland after taking part in a charity will-writing campaign. Worthington’s Solicitors raised £2,390 for the Will Aid scheme by waiving their fee for writing Wills, instead asking clients for a donation to go to one of the nine Will Aid charities. Mark McMahon from Christian Aid presented them with a certificate to thank them for their achievement. Will Aid will run again in November 2019. Find out more at www.willaid.org.uk

Almost two hundred walkers took part in the annual Sheep’s Head Hike in sunny west Cork in September, raising around €5,000 for Christian Aid’s work overseas.

A Sheep’s Head Hike calendar for 2020, containing stunning photographs of Christian Aid’s annual trek along Ireland’s favourite walking route, is available to purchase at a cost of €10 plus €2 postage and packaging.

Email your name and address to cork@christian-aid. org or call 089 610 8764

Kerry camino

L-R, Rachel Toner and Catherine Cooney from Worthington’s Solicitors receive their certificate from Mark McMahon of Christian Aid Ireland.

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We are hoping to run a Kerry camino hike to raise funds. With breathtaking views over the Atlantic ocean and the mountains of Kerry, the 58 km route can be completed over 3 days (4 nights), from Tralee to Dingle. Please email Helen at eventsireland@ christian-aid.org

Christian Aid Ireland

“Mum was practical, hard-working and generous. Generous with her talents and resources but also with her time - she was a great listener and took a keen interest in our lives. She was supportive of our plans and pursuits, always very engaged and enthusiastic - never critical of any of her family.”

Born in Kilkenny, the only child of a bank manager, Betty’s dad died suddenly when she was just eight years old. With nowhere to live, Betty and her mum came to Dublin to live with Betty’s aunt and uncle and their daughter who was also an only child. Despite her loss, she had a happy childhood, growing so close to her cousin that they viewed each other as sisters.

Betty worked as a bank clerk until her marriage in 1953 to Gerald, an insurance official, when the marriage bar forced her to quit her job. But after the

birth of her children, Brian and Lindsey, she embraced her new role as a stayat-home mother. Lindsey remembers the ‘warm nurturing environment’ she created and her love of baking, sewing, knitting and reading. Betty was active in her church in Rathgar and later in Shankill where she enjoyed being part of the Mothers’ Union, baking for cake sales and parish fundraisers, many of which helped to support families around the world.

Lindsey recalls that her mum’s instinct for generosity continued until the end: “Mum was always asking ‘Is there anything I can do for you?’. Even towards the end of her life, when we were helping her with basic tasks, she was still asking ‘Is there anything I can do for you?’”

Sadly, Betty passed away in 2013 at the age of 90.

Her first great grandchild in due in autumn 2019.

The impact of Betty’s gift

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lmost 5,000 miles away from Dublin, in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, young women look forward to the birth of their babies in very different circumstances. The slum settlement of Huruma is a melting pot for thousands of people from across Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda and Somalia.

Jobs are scarce in the slums and there aren’t enough health clinics to service a large population.

Without proper maternity care, many mums and their babies do not survive childbirth.

Mrs Abbott’s €50,000 legacy, coupled with financial support

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from Christian Aid in Great Britain, enabled our partner, the National Council of Churches Kenya, to attract additional funds, including from the government of Kenya, to build a new hospital. Construction is now complete and the hospital is fully operational.

Christian Aid Ireland Chief Executive, Rosamond Bennett toured the hospital in September 2018 and afterwards met with Betty’s family to share photographs and stories from her visit. Lindsey seems sure that her mother would approve of how her money had been spent:

Staff and patients at Jumuia Hospital, Huruma district of Nairobi, Kenya.

“The hospital is a continuation of her life’s work. She gave her whole life to our family and even though she’s gone, she’s still supporting families - keeping mums and babies alive, keeping families together.

She would be very happy.”

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A legacy led by love - a gift in your Will to Christian Aid

At Christian Aid, everything we do is led by love.

Growing numbers of people are being led by love to leave a gift to Christian Aid in their Will. By joining them, you could ensure that your dedication to ending poverty lives on after you are gone.

Dublin supporter, Betty Abbott, left a gift in her Will to Christian Aid and this provided the catalyst for a new hospital in a slum area of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Her legacy is helping mothers and babies to survive and thrive after childbirth. Her daughter said: “She gave her whole life to our family and even though she’s gone, she’s still supporting families - keeping mums and babies alive, keeping families together. She would be very happy.”

Find out how to leave a gift in your Will.

For more information about how you can leave a lasting gift to the world, please visit caid.ie/gifts-in-wills.

To get your free Guide to Gifts in Wills, or to speak to us about leaving a gift in your Will, please email giftsinwills@christian-aid.org or call 028 9064 8133 (Belfast) or 01 496 7040 (Dublin).

Name: Address: Postcode/Eircode: Telephone: Email: Christian Aid will never share your details with any other organisation for marketing purposes. If you are happy for us to contact you by email or telephone, please provide these details above. We will use these details for campaigning and fundraising purposes. By providing them you consent to receive marketing from Christian Aid by these methods. For further information on how Christian Aid processes your personal data, please see our privacy policy at caid.ie/privacy.

Please complete the form, cut it out and return to: Christian Aid Ireland, 96 Beechill Road, Belfast, BT8 7QN or Christian Aid Ireland, Canal House, Canal Road, Dublin 6, D06 FC93.

Registered charity nos.: 20014162 (ROI) & NIC101631 (NI)