ActionAid

readycle rec ct rea actionaid.org.uk

Action

QUESTIONS. IDEAS. INNOVATION. INSPIRATION. ISSUE 07 SUMMER 2011

Signed, sealed, delivered

Emma Thompson

Your Get Lippy messages reach across the world

an intimate diary of her time in Liberia

Acid attacks... ...a survivor’s story

Kenya Exclusive biofuel land rush causes backlash Pressure mounts on brewing giant SABMiller Plus... Win tickets and DVDs of new film, The First Grader

SUMMER1 11

EDITOR’S LETTER

readct rea cle recy

Action

This magazine is 100% recycled and we only use vegetable-based inks.

Please help us make it even more environmentally friendly by passing it on to friends or family when you have read it.

Something impressed you?

Annoyed you? Got a story to share with other readers?

Then tell us about it!

Action magazine ActionAid 33-39 Bowling Green Lane London EC1R 0BJ

Thousands of women worldwide are subject to lifedestroying acid attacks every day. Neela and Nahar from Bangladesh have been through hell, but have come through it and are helping others rebuild their lives.

Read their remarkable story on page 12.

I’ve made a rash decision.

I’ve signed up for the Great Ethiopian Run in November, in aid of my number one charity – ActionAid, of course. Running isn’t exactly my favourite hobby, but I thought this sounded like a great idea. Even the news that Sally Gunnell – yes, that Sally Gunnell – has joined the ActionAid team failed to scare me off.

Design: Neo Print: Brightsource Next issue: Autumn 2011

actionaid.org.uk

10

12 FEATURES 10 GET LIPPY How were your messages of support received around the world?

12 COVER STORY The horror of acid attacks in Bangladesh.

If you’ve been thinking about it, this is the time to sign up! You get me, Sally and more than likely some coverage in the next mag (if you don’t beat me too comprehensively). If you’re tempted, details are on opposite page.

16 YOUR WOMAN IS NOT A DRUM Emma Thompson and her adopted son Tindy visit Liberia.

Stephanie Ross Editor

4

NEWS

9

FACTFILE ON... ...Guatemala.

01460 23 8000 Email: action@actionaid.org ActionAid is a registered charity, number 274467.

16

Insightful and funny, Emma Thompson has done us proud with her diary from Liberia on page 16. I had trouble editing anything out. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.

20 FUEL’S GOLD A biofuel company wants Kenya’s land.

Local people prepare to fight back.

23 RWANDA, BEATRICE AND ME One competition, one winner, one life changing experience.

REGULARS

26 ACTION STATIONS What you’ve been up to, and what you can do.

Pressure m o on SABMil unts ler.

3

ACTION MAGAZINE

THAT’S ASDA PRICE Fears over conditions in Asda factories confirmed by latest research.

Workers at Asda’s four ‘showcase’ clothing factories in Bangladesh have reported being slapped, having their hair pulled and regularly working 60 hour weeks.

ActionAid’s research reveals that in just one of the factories – supposed to offer improved pay and conditions – nearly half of staff said they had suffered some kind of physical abuse, and over 60% said they were not allowed to use the toilet when they needed to.

Garment workers across Asia often work in difficult conditions.

PHOTO: MICHAEL HUGES/ACTIONAID

In another factory two-thirds of those interviewed said they had done a backto-back shift from 8am to 3am at least once in the previous month. An average worker in these factories earns just £33 a month.

“Asda urgently needs to commit to paying all its workers a living wage,”

says ActionAid policy officer Emily Armistead. “The company can afford this – it’s the equivalent of paying an extra 7.5 pence per t-shirt, and Asda is part of the Wal-Mart group which makes £43 million profit each day.”

The system Asda introduced into the model factories is known as ‘lean manufacturing’, and is aimed at increasing productivity. Asda claims this will also improve workers’ pay and conditions, and is planning to roll out the system to 17 more factories in Bangladesh, and then to India and China.

But, as our research shows, they have a long way to go before they have a system where workers are being treated fairly.

Action: read the full report and email Asda CEO Andy Clarke at www.actionaid.org.uk/asda

EARLY BIRDS GET THE WINE (AND COMEDY) After three successful years our celebrity comedy gala, Call my wine bluff, is on the move to the newly refurbished St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel, London.

This will be a great new setting for our highly regarded evening of top-calibre celebrities, wine, food and entertainment.

To celebrate the move, a limited number of early bird tickets are on sale at £195 or £1,950 per table – a saving of £100 or £500. This year’s Call my wine bluff, on Thursday 17 November, has a limited ticket run and we expect to sell out fast.

Action: book before 31 July to secure the deal. Email action@actionaid.org or call 01460 23 8000.

4

SUMMER 11

Last year’s Call my wine bluff in full swing.

PHOTO: MARK CHILVERS/ACTIONAID

Holland America Line, sponsors of Call my wine bluff 2011 and longstanding holders of the ‘Best Cruise Value Award’ is offering a 7-night Norwegian Fjords cruise, departing 6 or 13 May 2012, for a

special price of £799pp for Action readers.

For more information email Charlotte Mendoza at cmendoza1@carnival.com or call 0845 351 0547.

EMERGENCY

REFUGEES FLEE IVORY COAST Political trouble in Ivory Coast is causing a humanitarian crisis in neighbouring Liberia as more than 125,000 people flee over the border to safety.

The situation for refugees in Liberia is dire, with just one government-run camp and a heavy dependence on already resource-strapped local communities. ActionAid has distributed canned food, soap, buckets, cooking pots and other essential supplies to 4,800 refugees and is appealing for funds to do more.

Ten green bottles help get the job done.

PHOTO: MARK CHILVERS/ACTIONAID

PRESSURE MOUNTS ON SABMILLER Groundbreaking investigation by tax authorities in five African countries the result of ActionAid campaign.

Tax authorities in South Africa, Ghana, Zambia, Tanzania and Mauritius are set to join forces to scrutinise the tax strategies of brewer SABMiller.

The move follows the launch of our campaign, which revealed the multinational avoids millions of pounds of tax in Africa every year.

The innovative move is the first coordinated attempt to challenge a multinational corporation in Africa. “This is excellent news,” says Pamela Chisanga from ActionAid Zambia. “If it leads to the changes it should, I would count it as the single most important contribution we can make against poverty in Zambia right now.”

UK DENIAL After 5,000 of you contacted UK CEO Graham Mackay to support the campaign, the company responded with a denial of any wrongdoing.

SABMiller, “rejected ActionAid’s assessment that tax has been ‘lost’

actionaid.org.uk

due to aggressive tax planning.” But the company’s own accounts show that at least £40 million flows from its African and Indian companies to European tax havens, under the guise of management fees and royalties. They were unable to explain why local traders have been paying more corporation tax than the company’s brewery in Ghana, and failed to respond to any of our solutions, such as incorporating tax justice principles within their Corporate Social Responsibility programme.

“The fact remains that tax planning – ‘aggressive’ or otherwise – is normal practice at SABMiller and elsewhere,” says ActionAid’s head of economic development, Anna Thomas. “We hope the pressure from the UK and African countries will help push all companies into fairer ways of conducting their business.”

Seventeen-year-old Sahie Josiane and her three young brothers fled as rebels entered their village.

“We walked a very long distance and did not have money to buy food,” she says. “It’s even harder now as refugees in Liberia. Nobody has given us help, with the exception of what ActionAid is giving us today.”

Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to our appeal so far.

To continue distributing essential items, ActionAid Liberia urgently needs £25,000. Any extra funds will allow us to provide protection and psychosocial support for vulnerable women, children and elderly people.

Action: to donate call 01460 23 8023 or email action@actionaid.org Distributing ActionAid emergency supplies in Liberia.

PHOTO: ACTIONAID

Action: get the full story at www.actionaid.org.uk/schtop

5

ACTION MAGAZINE

new lic Makeds on pubss on n frie sport. Pa tran mag to yourranger. a st Afghan politicians Sila Wardak and Dr Habiba Sarabi on International Women’s Day 2011.

PHOTO: MARK CHILVERS/ACTIONAID

BITE SIZE Circus ring broken...

India’s Supreme Court has ordered circuses to stop employing children.

Circus workers claim training from a young age is crucial, but campaigners say children are made to perform dangerous stunts without safety nets.

The court ordered the government to raid circuses and return rescued children to their parents.

The long view...

A British inventor’s new glasses allow wearers to alter the prescription by adding fluid to the lenses, without an optician. Josh Silver has worked with the World Bank to develop plans to issue pairs to 200 million schoolchildren in developing countries.

Papa don’t preach...

Sophie Ellis-Bextor gets lippy for ActionAid. PHOTO: RANKIN/ACTIONAID

Get Lippy GETS RESULTS A wide range of events and your support helped make the 100th International Women’s Day a great success.

Thank you to the hundreds of supporters who sent messages to women we work with all over the world – turn to page 10 to see their reactions when your words were delivered to them on the day.

Here in the UK Joanna Lumley, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Beverley Knight, Annie Mac, Kathy Burke and Miranda Richardson all Got Lippy for ActionAid at a shoot with celebrated photographer Rankin, where they discussed the best and worst things about being a woman. Sophie thought becoming a mother best, while Joanna thought it was being able to multitask.

6

SUMMER 11

As for Kathy Burke, we couldn’t print her views! See for yourself at www.actionaid.org.uk/getlippy.

ActionAid also invited four extraordinary female politicians from Afghanistan to the UK. Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone met them to hear why her new post as Champion on International Violence against Women is so important.

They also took part in a discussion evening in parliament chaired by award-winning journalist Martha Kearney.

Action: turn to page 10 to see your Get Lippy messages delivered.

Say ‘I do’ on your big day for ActionAid (see back cover)

Managers of Madonna’s charity in Malawi spent £2.4 million on a school that will not be built. Auditors uncovered spending on cars and golf, yet building on the school had not begun. The scrapping of the scheme caused anger among local people who surrendered homes to make way for the 117 acre site.

Talk is good...

An indigenous language is about to die out because there are only two surviving speakers – and they are not talking. Manuel Segovia and Isidro Velazquez live a few hundred yards apart in Tabasco, Mexico, but have never got on. “They don’t have a lot in common,” says linguist Daniel Suslak.

A golden opportunity...

The IMF has raised a whopping £1.6 billion from the sale of gold. An obvious way to use the riches would be to cancel the debts of the poorest nations, something the IMF claims it can’t afford. The Fund remains tightlipped about how it intends to spend its new-found wealth.

MILLIONE ACHIEVES FIRST MILESTONE

PLAYING FTSE ActionAid demands tax transparency from 49 big name companies Despite it being a legal requirement, almost half of all FTSE100 companies do not publish details of their subsidiaries. Big names such as Arcadia (owner of Topshop and Dorothy Perkins) and Acromas (owner of Saga and the AA) were avoiding their legal responsibilities.

Children at Calvary Lutheran primary school, about to be rebuilt thanks to Millione.

PHOTO: CAROLINE THOMAS/ACTIONAID

Our sparkling wine with a heart, Millione, has now raised enough money to start work on two primary schools in Sierra Leone. Local communities are already getting their hands dirty as construction begins at the new schools, the result of which will help hundreds of children access quality education. We’ll bring you pictures as the work progresses in the next issue.

We aim to raise £1 million through Millione, enough to build 20 schools. Summer is the perfect time to indulge in this delicious sparkling Italian rosé, so you can do good while enjoying the perfect sunshine tipple!

Action: grab your summer supply at Asda, Morrisons, Sainsburys, Waitrose and Tesco. Visit www.oneinamillione.com for your nearest stockist.

EDUCATION: 1 BUREAUCRACY: 0

ActionAid formally complained to Companies House, which sparked articles in the media and an investigation by Business Secretary Vince Cable. The resulting pressure saw all 49 companies eventually comply with the law. It emerged that thousands of their subsidiaries are based in tax havens.

“This isn’t a minor technical issue,” says Martin Hearson, ActionAid’s tax advisor. “We think companies should be open and transparent, and the law requires them to list all their subsidiaries and the countries in which they’re based. It’s vital information that can help us study how British companies use tax havens and how they operate in developing countries.”

Children on their way to school in Narok, Kenya.

PHOTO: PIERS BENATAR/PANOS/AC TIONAID

ActionAid Kenya has helped slash the bureaucracy around birth certificates in the country, allowing orphaned children to sit exams and inherit property. Recent regulations made it mandatory to produce a birth certificate to enter national exams, causing an outcry because it left many orphaned children excluded.

Under pressure from ActionAid and others, the Kenyan government has now introduced a new system that allows headteachers to write to the authorities indicating an approximate date of birth.

actionaid.org.uk

7

ACTION MAGAZINE

ENERGY-DRIVEN SUPPORTERS Many thanks to everyone who helped us try to persuade the Department for Transport to scrap its biofuel target.

Biofuels are already having a disastrous impact on people in poor countries.

As thousands of messages poured in via text and letters, we took ActionAid Senegal’s Fatou Mbaye to meet politicians. Representing the voices of poor people in Senegal, she talked passionately about the ways in which the UK’s biofuel targets are making it hard for the communities she works with to make ends meet.

Let’s hope they listen. Watch this space for the outcome of the government’s consultation.

Action: turn to page 20 to read about the impact of biofuels in Kenya.

ACTIONAID CHALLENGES SHELL ActionAid has made a formal complaint to the Advertising Standards Agency about claims made by energy giant Shell in biofuel adverts featured in newspapers such as The Economist and Financial Times.

The adverts claimed that,”[biofuel] is one of the most effective ways of reducing CO2 from cars and trucks today.” But in fact, most biofuels actually release more greenhouse gasses than fossil fuels.

If we win, Shell will have to withdraw the adverts and it will become harder for energy companies to make misleading claims about biofuels being environmentally friendly.

YOUR TEXTS BIOFUEL COMPANIES ARE GRABBING LAND IN POOR COUNTRIES AND ARE A FAKE SOLUTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE. Becky, Bristol

BIOFUEL TARGETS ARE CAUSING DAMAGE TO FRAGILE ENVIRONMENTS & CAUSING MISERY FOR POOR PEOPLE WORLDWIDE. FEED MOUTHS, NOT FUEL TANKS. Robin, Paisley

BIOFUELS ARE NOT A SILVER BULLET, THEY ARE A SMOKING GUN HELD TO THE HEADS OF THE POOR. Helen, York

CHILD WORKERS FREED BY ACTIONAID INDIA Garment workshops on the outskirts of Jaipur, India, have been raided by police after ActionAid India received a letter from parents alleging their children were being unfairly treated.

Posing as potential buyers, ActionAid staff traced the children and formally complained to the local government, who agreed to help in a rescue mission.

A 20-strong team of government officials, police, parents and ActionAid staff freed workers aged between 13 and 17. Many told how they had been badly treated, working up to 16 hours a day for meagre wages.

Legal actions against the employer were filed immediately. ActionAid India will continue to push the labour department to carry out more raids on workshops where children are known to be illegally employed, a common problem in India.

THE FIRST GRADER We have tickets and DVDs to give away to a new film exploring the life of the world’s oldest school pupil.

Naomie Harris and Oliver Litondo star in the First Grader.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF SODA PICTURES

8

SUMMER 11

In 2004, 85-year-old Kimani N’gan’ga (known as Maruge) started school. The Kenyan government was offering free primary education for the first time and Maruge was eager to learn.

He would become the oldest school pupil in the world.

The First Grader, directed by Justin Chadwick (The Other Boleyn Girl) and starring Naomie Harris and Oliver Litondo, tells Maruge’s unique story.

We have 10 pairs of tickets to be won to screenings at the Apollo Piccadilly Circus, London, plus 10 copies of the DVD on release.

Maruge had spent years in internment camps during the Mau Mau rebellion, but he was determined to educate himself – even travelling to New York with ActionAid in 2005 to demand education for all from the UN.

Action: to enter, email your name and address to action@actionaid.org

by Friday 15 July (tell us whether you prefer tickets or DVD), and first out of the hat get the prizes. Visit www.findanyfilm.com/thefirstgrader to find out where the film is showing near you.

FACTFILE ON...

GUATEMALA Population: 13.8 million Adult literacy rate: 25% ActionAid began work: 1996 Anything else? the President and his wife are divorcing so she can stand for election in September A 36-year civil war ended in 1996, with 200,000 people killed or ‘disappeared’. lliteracy, infant mortality and malnutrition are among the highest in the region and life expectancy among the lowest.

Crime and violence – especially the rape and murder of women – loom large over Guatemala: the murder rate is eight times that of the US. A massive 97% of crimes are unsolved.

Indigenous Mayans make up over half the population; most live in remote communities with little access to education or healthcare.

ActionAid focuses on women’s and indigenous rights, education, healthcare, food and farming. We help build selfsufficient communities through greater acceptance of the Mayan language and culture.

The ActionAid Guatemala team make their way to the isolated community of Icbolay to collect child sponsorship messages.

PHOTO: GREG FUNNELL/ACTIONAID

actionaid.org.uk

9

ACTION MAGAZINE

The power inside On International Women’s Day 2011 we brought you stories of women we work with and asked you to Get Lippy by sending them a message of solidarity. Thousands of you did, and we delivered them around the world. What did the women who received your words want to say back to you?

Nazziwa

Susan and Esther

Mina and Najila

Last November, 20-year-old Nazziwa’s husband attacked her with a machete because, after years of beatings, she tried to leave him. He cut off both her hands and slashed her face in front of her mother and baby daughter.

Susan also received your messages of support. She spent five years in captivity after being abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army. “I used to be stigmatised because of my time in captivity but...slowly we have won acceptance back into our communities,” she said. “These messages make me feel happy. They make me feel free.”

Mina, from Afghanistan, was married off when she was just six years old to settle a family dispute. Najila was also married off underage, and after running away has spent three and a half years in hiding. They sent their thanks through Nasima, who works for ActionAid Afghanistan: “Thank you very much for the messages of support that you have sent to us. It really means a lot that people like you are all extending your messages of support and solidarity to the women of Afghanistan.”

On International Women’s Day Nazziwa led a march of over 250 people in Mubende, Uganda, calling for an end to violence against women. Many marchers carried your messages of support.

Despite being shy, Nazziwa took to the stage to talk about women’s rights. “Don’t leave school to get married,” she urged.

“You must continue your education.”

And how did it feel to know people in the UK were thinking of her? “I feel so good getting the messages from abroad,” she said. “They give me strength. Although this happened to me I have hope. I am not afraid to speak to the crowd. They may feel bad for me but if I stay strong they will also be strong.”

out for an Over 8,000 women turned , India. pal Bho in y rall d cke ActionAid-ba ID RI/ACTIONA PHOTO: SRIKANTH KOLA

10 SUMMER 11

“The messages help us stand together in solidarity as women of the world and as women of Uganda,” says Esther, who was thrown off her land and had her house burnt down by a local politician.

“This will help us in fighting and demanding our rights.”

zziwa and Esther (l-r) Susan, Betty, Na their International on ges take your messa in Mubende, Uganda.

Women’s Day march OOT PHOTO: JAKE LYELL/SH

THE EARTH/ACTIONAID

Women in India wo mock padlocks to re chains and lack of free spee symbolise their ch.

PHOTO: SRIKAN TH KOL

Neela and Nahar We also delivered your messages to Neela and Nahar from Bangladesh, who have been subject to horrific acid attacks – read their stories on page 12. Hundreds of you sent messages to them, which we delivered just before the day itself.

“I feel so good, I can’t believe that so many people got to know about us and sent us messages,” says Nahar.

ARI/ACTIONAID

“We are so very happy that they have written to us. It’s a great feeling, truly.

I feel like working more and harder.

I feel I should continue my work. I am so happy and feel a power inside me is growing.”

The sentiment was echoed by Neela: “I also feel very happy and I can’t really explain in words. I know you are with me and I will expect you to be with me always. Thank you all!”

Elsewhere, this is how ActionAid marked the day...

Zambia... launched What Zambian women want, a campaign for equality on land, education and an end to violence... Thailand... national parade involving 37 women’s organisations; marketed goods made by women’s co-operatives in Bangkok...

Tanzania... 100 years, 100 women, 100 messages, 1 voice campaign...

Pakistan... 16 days of activism for land and legal status... Sierra Leone... launched three-year women’s right to land project...

Senegal... forums and press conferences on women’s access to land... Greece... Listen to her story: celebrities read true stories from women from developing countries; 30,000 supporters encouraged to hold storytelling events... The Gambia... women farmers’ rally makes demands of Ministry of Agriculture... India... rally attracts over 8,000 women; many wear mock padlocks on their mouths to symbolise a lack of free speech.

What you said to them...

I support you in your fight for the right of every living being to be able to live without fear, hunger, brutality and ignorance. May you feel the strength of all the women who are on your side.

Mora J Rolley

Your courage takes my breath away. As a father with three daughters I want women everywhere to be able to live fulfilled, happy lives without having to suffer the terrible traumas of these women.

David Murray

Don’t give up, even if you feel you can’t go on, your voices are being heard all around the world thanks to ActionAid and other organisations like them, and you are inspiring others to stand up for their rights every day.

Bex Sleap

Thank you to all these women who tell their stories, and to ActionAid for supporting them. I cannot consider myself, or any woman, free and equal when there are women facing violence and inequality anywhere.

Every day is International Women’s Day!!

Stay strong, look ahead, we can make this a better world!

Ali Wilkins

Hannah

I so admire your immense courage, and I hope that you can continue your wonderful work to help other women in your situation by speaking out.

Things will change, the world will progress and you will be remembered.

Tricia Boyd

ACTION Please support ActionAid’s work with women across the world: you will find a donation form on the letter with your Action magazine, or call 01460 23 8000 today.

Reading your messages in Mubende, Uganda.

PHOTO: JAKE LYELL/SHOOT THE EARTH/ACTIONAID

actionaid.org.uk

11

ACTION MAGAZINE

Seventeen-year-old Neela (left) was attacked with acid when she was 14 years old.

PHOTO: NICOLAS AXELROD/ACTIONAID

more than

skin Horrific attacks in which corrosive acid is hurled in women’s faces or forced down their throats – melting skin and bone and often resulting in blindness – are a near daily occurrence in Bangladesh. Nosmot Gbadamosi investigates.

12 SUMMER 11

deep

BANGLADESH

“I spent six months in hospital.

I was so depressed because I was in a closed room and my whole body was bandaged up, so I couldn’t move. It felt like I was in a cage.”

Neela Khatun

Seventeen-year-old Neela Amina Khatun is one of more than 2,700 victims of acid attacks in Bangladesh over the past decade. “My husband was angry for a long time because he claimed a dowry but my family couldn’t provide one,” she says. Forced into marriage at 12 years old, Neela’s husband attacked her when she was just 14.

“His plan was to sell me in Saudi Arabia – when I refused he threw acid on me and he fled. The moment the acid was thrown I tried to cover my face with my hands. It was very painful, I was screaming and all the neighbours could hear and they came and took me to the hospital,” she says.

“I spent six months in hospital. I was so depressed because I was in a closed room and my whole body was bandaged up, so I couldn’t move. It felt like I was in a cage.

“The first time the bandage came off I didn’t see my face. But then after a few minutes I saw, and was just screaming ‘who is this, who is this, is it me?’ My whole face and arm were severely burnt.” Despite major surgery to reconstruct her face, Neela’s left ear remains completely destroyed.

Neela’s husband is now in jail, the result of a year’s campaigning by local charities including ActionAid. “I don’t want to think of him as a husband. When I think about him I don’t think that he is a human being,” she says.

actionaid.org.uk

Dishonour and disputes Bangladesh is one of the world’s major exporters of textiles, and even in remote regions the sulphuric acid used to produce colourful textile dyes is easy to get hold of. The country has become a hotspot for acid attacks – mostly on women – because of land disputes, refused marriage proposals and domestic quarrels.

A woman’s face is seen as sacred; to permanently scar it brings dishonour on her family. Her disfigurement functions as a public mark of shame, making it hard for her to get married or gain employment.

She becomes a financial and social burden on her family.

“I looked at myself and I fainted,” she says. “When I was still hopeful about my recovery I would go out on the hospital verandah for a bit of fresh air, but after I saw my face I stopped going out at all.

When [I got] back home I remember I would have meals after all the family members – I wouldn’t sit with them and eat together.

Both Neela and Nahar had to endure months of painful treatment, including three rounds of major surgery in order to rebuild their faces.

“I think it is worse than if you were to kill a human being,” says Nahar. “If you are a survivor from an acid attack you will always be reminded of your condition.”

“I have seen cases where the fight could have been between men. But when the attack was carried out, the wife of the man or maybe the daughter-in-law of the man is attacked,” explains Nurun Nahar, assistant officer in gender equality and women’s empowerment at ActionAid Bangladesh.

Nahar is herself an acid survivor, attacked when she was 15 because she rejected a local schoolboy’s advances. With help from ActionAid she founded the Acid Survivors’ Network (ASN) in 2007, a support group for acid victims.

Sixteen years after her own attack, Nahar’s memory of discovering the severity of her scars is still deeply painful.

Neela outside her home.

PHOTO: NICOLAS AXELROD/ACTIONAID

13

ACTION MAGAZINE

Treatment scarce Both Nahar and Neela received treatment at Dhaka Medical College Burns Unit.

Located in the capital, it is the only burns unit in the country, currently treating more than 250 patients in its 50-bed hospital.

“In acid burn victims, whatever treatment we do we cannot give them back their normal face,” says Dr Samantha Lal Sen, head of the unit. “The most affected are the eyes because people purposely aim for the face – the eyelashes are burned, the eyelids are destroyed and so the eye remains open.”

While an attack is not intended to kill – merely to disfigure – many incidents are fatal. “If you don’t treat it properly in the first 24 hours it is very difficult to save the patient,” says Dr Sen. “If something happens in the remote north or south of Bangladesh, these poor patients cannot get to Dhaka within 24 hours.”

Few who do make the journey can afford to pay for months of extended treatment – and only the ‘lucky’ ones who occupy the first 50 beds are eligible for state help.

Otherwise treatment – right down to the last painkiller – needs to be paid for.

Lack of convictions Of the 2,742 reported cases in the last 10 years, fewer than 450 have resulted in a conviction. In 2002, the Bangladeshi government passed two laws aimed at curtailing acid attacks. But eyewitnesses remain too scared to testify, and because of a lack of evidence the courts reject many cases. Trials are often lengthy and can take many years.

Laki is a 28-year-old acid attack survivor – one of many whose case has taken too long to come to trial. She was working in a garment factory when her husband accused her of cheating with her boss.

After months of arguments she moved out of the marital home. But in 2009 Laki’s husband confronted her in the street and threw acid, permanently disfiguring her face and hands. Despite pressing charges, her husband served just 18 months in prison while the case was being prepared. The defence kept appealing so the hearing was constantly postponed.

14 SUMMER 11

Nahar, who was attacked when she was 15, went on to help set up the Acid Survivors’ Network.

PHOTO: NICOLAS AXELROD/ACTIONAID

“The public prosecutor was playing a weak role and wanting more money,” says Laki. As a result the case was eventually dismissed. Her husband has now been free for five months.

Fighting back Through ASN, ActionAid Bangladesh has been working with district acid control committees to monitor the use and sale of acid. We also offer legal support in cases where none is given, with ASN lawyers trying to find loopholes that defendants may use as a way of getting the case dismissed. “We collect all the information about what happened. If there’s any problem in filing the case we assign a lawyer,” says Nahar.

ActionAid also regularly visits patients admitted to the burns unit to offer longterm psychosocial support, and runs awareness-building exercises with video presentations and folk songs in schools and community centres.

But the fight often starts before workers even reach the front door of the victim’s house. “When we try to get into the house of a victim, the problem will start outside.

We will not be welcomed by the neighbours. The community will think [the attack] was deserved, or maybe she did it to herself; these kind of ideas deter our activity,” says Nahar.

Having a celebration? Can we join in? (see back cover)

“When ASN first came to visit me, they asked me about my neighbours, if I have any problems with them,” says Neela.

“They also came to visit my parents and gave them support. I didn’t receive much help from the police and prosecutor, only the NGOs.” Neela is one of 260 members ASN has helped – and all have similar stories.

Johura, 35, was burnt with acid following a domestic dispute with her husband.

After she moved out of the marital home someone threw acid on her at night through an open window. Because she did not see the perpetrator, locals convinced her against pressing charges.

Her seven-month-old daughter was caught in the attack, suffering severe burns on her leg.

Another victim is 24-year-old Sheuli Khatun, who had acid thrown on her after refusing a cousin’s marriage proposal, causing severe burns to her upper body. After her case was dismissed by the courts through lack of evidence, ASN spent months working with Sheuli to help her regain her confidence and rebuild her life.

A vital part of ASN’s work is helping the women earn their own living – in sometimes unexpected places. Twelve survivors are now working in beauty

FAST FACTS Around 70% of acid attacks are against women Attacks are committed mainly because of land disputes, with refusal or rejection related to love, marriage or sex the second-biggest cause In 2010, 153 people were attacked with acid in Bangladesh; in the same year, only 7 were convicted of attacks

Neela’s dressing table, with a photo of her taken before the attack.

PHOTO: NICOLAS AXELROD/ACTIONAID

The Acid Survivors’ Network deals directly with around 46% of all Bangladesh’s acid attack survivors

parlours. “Earlier, the survivors wouldn’t leave their homes. Now they are coming out. Through motivation workshops we have achieved this and they can speak for themselves,” says Nahar.

“Since being part of the network I have made friends, so I feel like I have many people beside me – this is the way I got my strength and mental peace,” says Neela. She is now at college and works part time as a district convenor for ASN. ActionAid is committed to educating and changing the mindsets of people who see this horrific use of violence as an easy way to settle disputes, and to tightening the law to make it much harder for perpetrators to escape punishment. “I dream a lot about the future,” says Nahar. “My mission is that across Bangladesh there will be no more acid attacks.”

ACTION Watch videos of Neela and Nahar at www.actionaid.org.uk/action. You can help amazing people like these all over the world: you will find a donation form on the letter with your Action magazine, or call 01460 23 8000 today.

ASN member Swapna Sen and Neela in their home town of Sirajganj, Bangladesh.

PHOTO: NICOLAS AXELROD/ACTIONAID

actionaid.org.uk

15

ACTION MAGAZINE

YOUR WOMAN IS NOT A DRUM. DON’T BEAT HER. ActionAid ambassador Emma Thompson and her adopted son Tindy visited ActionAid’s projects in Liberia earlier this year. This is Emma’s diary of their visit.

16 SUMMER 11

23-year-old Josephine M’Poole explains to Emma why girls face so much violence in her community.

PHOTO: ANASTASIA TAYLOR LIND/VII/ACTIONAID

LIBERIA

6 February

On way to Grand Cape Mount, one of Liberia’s 15 counties. Korto, ActionAid Liberia’s country director, tells me her story and it knocks me sideways. Born in a shantytown, she remained in Liberia throughout the wars. She watched people she loved being killed, including her father. Surviving by the skin of her teeth, she struggled for six years to get a scholarship to do her MA in Human Rights and Development.

Korto points out someone selling a whelk-like shellfish. “We call them ‘Kissmes,’” she says, “because you bite off the pointed end of the shell and suck the flesh through the hole. During the war they used to make all sorts of strange tortures. One of them was to make people swallow these whole. Swallow ten of these, they’d say, and we won’t kill you. But you’d be dead anyway.”

We arrive at our first appointment, with a female town chief. An old man, an exchief, sits listening with his hands folded over his stick. The present chief says one of the greatest problems for women is rape, which is endemic. Rape within marriage has just been recognised under law. The old man leans back and closes his eyes. I think he’s tired but am later told this is a sign of disrespect. He thinks the whole notion of rape within marriage is ridiculous and has withdrawn from the discussion.

Travel to Kanga. I meet Masa who is 33, with three children. She went to school until she was six but the war put a stop to it. The rebels killed her husband and raped her. Her child was two months old.

Then her mother was killed. She had two more kids by another father who left.

Masa is exhausted. She’s spent all day foraging for food in the bush and then the babies kept her up all night.

Emma’s adopted son Tindy (right) prepares for a game of football along with ex-child soldier Dennis Boima.

PHOTO: ANASTASIA TAYL OR LIND/VII/ACTIONAID

Exhaustedly she says, ActionAid helped her feel less alone. Encouraged her to take part in decision-making. “All I want,” she says, “is for my children to get an education.”

I find Tindy in a green football shirt, hired for the occasion, and the entire community walks down to the football pitch to watch the game and dance.

We spend an hour just having fun.

Later, I find out community leaders were more impressed by this than anything else. “We know already that you are interested in our difficulties,” they said.

“The fact that you are also willing to share our joys shows what different kind of people you are.”

We drive home in darkness.

I am slowly getting to grips with Liberian English. It involves dropping the ends off all the words – so, for instance, the phrase violence against women and girls translates as “violen, gain wom and gir.” I try it out on our driver, Ellis.

“Pardon?” he says.

Tindy shrieks with laughter.

7 February

We drive west to Gbapulo county.

Korto tells us there’s no free primary or secondary education here. Some schools use rocks for chairs, and the quality of the teaching can be very poor. The World Bank pushes girls’ education without considering the quality; most learn by rote and do not develop analytical skills.

17

ACTION MAGAZINE

At an ActionAid project designed to tackle violence against girls in education, I’m with eight girls, four of whom have been through the project and four of whom haven’t. Vera (22) and Josephine (23) are the oldest and the experts.

OK, says Vera, “here’s what prevents girls getting an education – pregnancy, stigma, traditional beliefs, early marriage, lack of parental support – and poverty,” she adds, as if that’s so obvious she doesn’t need to mention it.

“But here’s the real problem – Prisky, tell her.” Prisky is 15 and very beautiful.

“I had just taken my exams and asked my teacher for my grades. He said he’d failed me. I was shocked – I asked to see how he had marked my papers, and he told me to come to his house and he would give me my grades…”

Teachers trade good grades for sex.

Mostly, it’s the trained teachers who do this and if the school finds out, it will replace them with an untrained teacher.

So – not only do teenage pregnancies occur but the quality of education plummets. These girls are impressive.

Articulate and energised, they are the opposite of their four counterparts at the meeting, the girls who have not received any training. They do not say a word.

8 February

I’ve learnt the classic Liberian greeting.

You say “What news?” and they say “No bad news.”

[ActionAid CEO] Joanna and Korto come, still reeling, from a meeting with the minister for gender, a very powerful woman. She has informed them that, sadly, women still like to be beaten, as a sign of love. When Joanna challenges this, she says, “Well you people in the west like to tie each other up and do all kinds of stuff! I’ve seen it in the movies.”

Quick as a flash Korto says, “What movies exactly, minister?” This woman is the strongest arguer in the government for FGM (female genital mutilation) and the protection of that tradition. Clearly, something has to change.

18 SUMMER 11

We drive 2.5 hours to a village that boasts corrugated roofs, two new-looking water pumps and a church. Present also is Grace, the district commissioner.

We are led to a clearing of breathtaking beauty – a cathedral of towering palms overlooking a 200-or-so acre plot of cassava and sweet potato. We walk with a small round woman called Mamie Smith.

“This place used to be forest. There was no farming during the war, we just survived on relief. I did my ActionAid leadership project and found 35 women and seven men to join me farming. They need a lot of encouragement because it’s long, hard work. My husband won’t do it. He says there’s no point.”

“But he still eats the cassava when she brings it home,” adds Grace, drily. Mamie has a scar on her ring-finger. It was made by the bullet that killed her mother.

There’s an older man sitting on Mamie’s verandah – not the friendliest looking cove.

I slather on charm and congratulate him on his daughter’s skills. “She’s my wife,” he says, looking at me with some disgust.

9 February

The afternoon is spent with a group of women from all over Liberia – partners with ActionAid, some of whom have travelled three days to get here. The most revealing of these exceptional people is Annie.

There’s been a long discussion about the reasons for violence against women and girls, and it’s Annie who offers the most convincing analysis.

“First of all they say women can’t cross a creek – they can’t cut down trees and make canoes and go on water. They say women’s ideas cannot go very far. Their ideas stop below,” and she cups her breasts. Everyone laughs.

“So,” she continues, “they say we are stupid. Then you must understand that men think they own us.”

There are many inspiring women here – several are HIV-positive. One young woman says, “HIV might kill you but the

stigma is just as likely to kill you slowly. You have to be brave. You have to speak out.”

She’s wearing a t-shirt that says, “Your woman is not a drum. Don’t beat her.”

10 February

Slightly enfeebled today. But when we meet a group of ex child-soldiers I’m immediately energised. Most of them were kidnapped from school, or picked up by opportunistic gangs of rebels during the war.

There’s an upbeat, articulate guy called Benjamin. “I was about nine when I was captured. I didn’t understand anything really – they trained me. Gave me little food. I didn’t start killing until I was 11.

They said we’ll kill you if you don’t fight.

We were saved by our age – they killed the older ones.”

They tell us the terms ‘ex-combatants’ and ‘ex-child soldiers’ are now being replaced with the term ‘war-affected youth’ in order to lessen stigma. There are about 60,000 in the country.

We have been talking for so long it seems the right moment to ask for a good Liberian joke. Onika’s offering goes like this: in hell, three presidents ask for a phone call each. The British prime minister rings his office, speaks for 2 hours and is charged 2 million pounds.

The US president rings his office, speaks for 4 hours and is charged 6 million dollars. The Liberian president rings his office, speaks for 6 hours and is charged 10 cents. “Hang on,” he says, “how come you charge them all that money for their phone calls and only 10 cents for mine?”

“Because it’s a local call.”

Everyone yells with laughter.

We have to leave and go meet the President.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is quietly spoken, dignified and – finally – humourous. We break every rule in the protocol book apart from slapping her on the back. But she listened with great humility to Korto, who spoke brilliantly about all we had seen.

There are 400 NGOs in Liberia.

Emma walks to market with Mamie Smith (right).

PHOTO: ANASTASIA TAYLOR LIND/VII/ACTIONAID

FAST FACTS Liberia is in west Africa, bordering Ivory Coast, Guinea and Sierra Leone Civil war raged from 1989-1996 and 1999-2003, killing 250,000 Ex-president Charles Taylor is currently on trial in the Hague for war crimes Liberia has Africa’s first elected woman president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

actionaid.org.uk

The budget for the UN agencies together (apart from UNMIL, the UN Mission in Liberia) is US $260 million. The budget for ActionAid is US$2 million. But a transparent two million – every cent is accounted for to Liberian local government, and Ms. Sirleaf is impressed. We leave feeling very grateful for the time and a happy Korto with an invitation to use the Presidential office more closely.

11 February

On the plane home I sit next to a Liberian woman who’s reading “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” Sensible choice.

ACTION Read more of Emma’s Liberia diaries at www.actionaid.org.uk/action

19

ACTION MAGAZINE

FUEL’S GOLD A proposed biofuel plantation in Kenya is threatening local communities as well as thousands of rare plants and animals. ActionAid is fighting the plans, citing evidence that the biofuel grown on the plantation could produce up to six times more greenhouse gases than the fossil fuels it’s meant to replace.

By Angela Burton.

“My people have lived here for generations… if the plantation goes ahead, we will become squatters on our own land.” These are the warning words of Joshua Kahindi Pekeshe, a tribal elder in the forest community of Dakatcha, Kenya. “We will lose our homes, farms and the only school our children have.”

The stakes are high in what has become an internationally publicised battle between the people of Dakatcha and Nouve Inziative Industriali, an Italian company that plans to clear 50,000 hectares of environmentally precious forest to plant jatropha – a crop whose oil would be used to produce ‘green’ biofuel for Europe’s cars.

ActionAid believes the Dakatcha case illustrates what has become a global land grab by international biofuel companies. In just five African countries, 1.1 million hectares have already been given over to industrial biofuels – all of it for export. EU companies have already acquired or requested at least five million

20 SUMMER 11

hectares of land for industrial biofuels in developing countries.

owns the land directly. What right do they have to take it from us?”

Community protests

The Dakatcha woodlands are the ancestral lands of more than 20,000 minority ethnic Watha and Giriama people, who rely on the forest for water, food and firewood.

The plantation will not only potentially displace tribes from their land, it will also destroy sacred burial sites.

But in Dakatcha, the community has fought back. Protests by local people and ActionAid pushed the Kenyan government to put the project on hold pending an environmental impact assessment – albeit one the government sees as a ‘technicality’.

Meanwhile, the company has submitted plans for a 10,000 hectare pilot project in the hope that ultimately an agreement can be reached for 50,000 hectares.

The community says it has not been properly consulted, or given its consent.

“Only a few of the elders were approached by the company, but they did not agree to it,” explains Joshua.

“The company took their introduction to us as consent to go ahead. We never agreed to it. This is a direct violation of our rights – we voted for the new constitution that says the community

Local farmer Henzanani Merakini says that since jatropha was planted next to her home, her children and animals have been barred from the land that previously they could freely walk and graze. If the plantation expands, she will be the first to be evicted from her plot, despite the fact that her family has lived in the area for about 200 years. “I can feel no peace because if the pilot project for the plantation is approved, I will lose my plot and I am going to be evicted,” she says.

“The jatropha company hasn’t offered me any alternative land or accommodation,

KENYA

Gertrude Kadzo holds her entire crop from three years of growing jatropha – 3kgs of seeds.

PHOTO: PIERS BENATAR/PANOS/ACTIONAID

and I have not yet been given any notice to vacate. The day they approve it is the day we will be evicted. It makes me very unhappy. I have no peace living nearby because I know what is going on there.

I feel like it is always disturbing my mind.”

But it is not just the loss of forests and livelihoods that causes grave concern – it’s also the fact that, far from producing a more environmentally friendly fuel, the biofuel produced from Dakatcha’s jatropha will result in greater carbon emissions than the fossil fuels it is meant to replace.

ActionAid’s research, done jointly with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Nature Kenya, revealed that emissions created by production and consumption of Dakatcha’s biofuel would be between 2.5 and 6 times greater than the greenhouse gases of fossil fuels.

The main reason is that the wildlife-rich Dakatcha forest – one of the last tracts of coastal forest in Kenya – stores massive

actionaid.org.uk

amounts of carbon in its vegetation and soil, all of which have to be cleared to make way for the plantation.

European targets So why the biofuel rush? The jatropha produced in Dakatcha is destined for Europe to meet new EU targets that demand member states meet 20% of their energy requirements and 10% of their transport needs from renewable sources by 2020. For transport, most member states plan to meet this almost entirely through biofuels – which is likely to double biofuel use in Europe by 2020, and increase demand for large tracts of land in Africa and India on which to grow them. In the UK, over 90% of our biofuels will be imported.

ActionAid Kenya’s David Barissa says: “In Kenya, where up to 10 million people risk going hungry, it is irresponsible to destroy people’s farms and homes simply to fuel cars in Europe.

The Kenyan government

Workers on the pilot biofuel plantation.

PHOTO: PIERS BENATAR/PANOS/ACTIONAID

especially has a responsibility not to short-change its own people.”

One of those short-changed by her own government is farmer Gertrude Kadzo.

Persuaded by the local government to plant jatropha instead of the profitable pineapple crop that used to earn her

21

ACTION MAGAZINE

The Dakatcha woodlands are home to large numbers of rare plants and animals.

PHOTO: PIERS BENATAR/PANOS/ACTIONAID

FAST FACTS Kenya’s land laws are complex – some are outdated, obscure and highly technical; others are contradictory About 50% of Kenya’s land is agricultural Kenya’s main crops are maize, potatoes and sugar cane Nearly 80% of Kenyans live in rural areas, with nearly a quarter dependent on agriculture

“The Kenyan government especially has a responsibility not to short-change its own people.”

David Barissa, ActionAid Kenya

22 SUMMER 11

150,000 Kenyan shillings per acre, she soon discovered she could make no income from it at all.

“It has made me poor,” she says. “I had about 20 cows when I started growing the crop but I have had to sell them to pay for my children’s education. I am worried I might not be able to educate my children fully.” In a cruel twist of irony, the community’s EU-funded school will be forced to close if the plantation clearance goes ahead – all to provide fuel for EU cars and power stations.

“I want to tell the biofuels company and the Kenyan government that the Dakatcha woodlands are not a good area to plant jatropha. I was much better off when I was growing pineapples. If we are evicted to make way for the plantation, my community will have no place to go.”

International action ActionAid Kenya has been campaigning against the plantation for a number of years and wants the project scrapped.

“Our report will provide ammunition against those who try to portray biofuels as green,” says ActionAid’s biofuels expert, Tim Rice. “ActionAid has consistently argued that biofuel targets and subsidies in the EU are driving an industry that is unsustainable – both environmentally and socially. These targets must be scrapped.”

And if the plantation threatens livelihoods and natural habitats, it is not without personal danger, too. “Since speaking out publicly against the plantation I have received death threats,” says Francis Kagema, Regional Co-ordinator of Nature Kenya, and contributor to the research. “These started during the public hearing of the environment impact assessment report.

“I spoke at length about the negative issues, including the economics, the environment issues, the hydrology of the area, the planning, the process that was not followed. This made me a lot of enemies.”

It’s a battle that those living in Dakatcha know they need international help to win, and the widespread coverage of ActionAid and its partners’ report – across Europe, Africa, Asia, America and the Middle East – is helping make people aware. “I am praying to God that we will succeed in saving our land,” says Joshua Pekeshe. “We want to live in peace.

But we need assistance because the company is big, the government is big and we are just a community.”

Action Watch our video from Dakatcha and take action at www.actionaid.org.uk/action.

RWANDA

Rwanda, Beatrice and me.

Beatrice and Jean do the family’s washing.

PHOTO: GREG FUNNELL/THE GUARDIAN/ACTIONAID

When Jean Woodhouse entered an ActionAidsponsored competition in the Guardian she didn’t expect to win.

But win she did. This is her account of a truly unique prize: her first-ever visit to a developing country – four days living with a Rwandan family, immersed in their lives and our work.

actionaid.org.uk

It is sunny and warm when we land in Kigali. The city looks like Tuscany, all red roofs, tall trees and hills. I’m met by people from ActionAid and my interpreter, Jolly, a lively, educated young woman. I’m surprised by how clean everything looks. The scenery as we wind our way through the hills is so beautiful it gives me a lump in my throat.

It’s getting dark as we arrive at the house. It is made of wattle and daub with a swept dirt floor. Our hostess Beatrice is self-assured with a lovely smile. Her husband Joseph is reserved. We meet the children: Christine, 17; Emirith, 15; Bienvenue, 12; Eriea, 10; Sandrine, 7; and Valance, 4. The couple also look after three orphans.

We sit down to help Beatrice peel potatoes for dinner. Then she straps Valance to her back, picks up an axe and chops firewood. I try to help but it’s hard. I like Beatrice.

She looks into my eyes even though we speak through an interpreter.

We are both mothers and I think that gives us an immediate bond.

Her experience of life must be so different to mine. She has no bathroom, no cooker, no washing machine or any of the consumer items deemed necessary for modern mothers. But she shines. She’s a woman in control. Her home is welcoming us. I don’t like it much though. We sleep on a grass mat in a cell-like room with a tiny shuttered window, and at night I am convinced there’s a rat. But at least I have a sleeping bag – the kids sleep with just blankets.

23

ACTION MAGAZINE Jean helps Beatrice (lef t) and friends out with a bit of farming.

IAN/ACTIONAID PHOTO: GREG FUNNELL/THE GUARD

community sees them as strong and they are treated at the local health clinic.

A woman stands up and tells me her name is Lucy. She is thin and small in purple blazer and cream blouse. She wears patent shoes and reminds me of my mother-in-law in Belfast in her mass outfit.

Lucy’s story is horrific. She saw both her parents killed in the genocide and was gang raped. She was just 15. Pregnant with twins, she fled to the Congo. When she returned she found out she was HIV-positive. She was rejected by her family but found the co-operative and it helped her recover her dignity.

Colour and warmth The day dawns with lots of chatter and we head straight to the school, where the children sit tightly packed on wooden benches. I try to join in their English class, but I think I confuse them more than I help them.

Later we go to Beatrice’s co-operative farm. They grow potatoes, and there’s a group of women in colourful cloth wraps, ploughing with heavy hoes. I think they’re fabulous, such fun and so warm to me.

It makes me think of my girlfriends back home in Manchester.

It’s such a beautiful place with lovely warm people and yet abject poverty.

Little kids in rags, thin, they have so little.

It makes me want to empty my bank account, hand things out. But we are followed like the Pied Piper and no one asks me for anything.

Balloons, bubbles and balls I give some balloons, bubbles and bouncy balls to Beatrice’s children, and later I see their father Joseph playing joyfully with a balloon – he thanks me and tells me he has never had a game that brought him close to his children before.

I’m followed by a little girl who doesn’t look like she gets much to eat. She lifts up her torn sweater and pulls out a little bit of popped balloon and strokes it before

24 SUMMER 11

putting it back. Later in the yard a storyteller comes with his guitar to sing songs about broken marriages. This same little girl leans against me, holding my hand. I am nearly moved to tears. Beatrice tells me her mother has gone to the next town. The little girl goes home alone.

When we go down to the stream to do the washing, the children of the village follow. They look so dirty – Beatrice tells me they only have the clothes they are wearing. I want to undress them and add their torn clothes to our pile.

The stream, a mile from the house, is where Beatrice used to get all her water, but ActionAid has put some water butts at the school by her house, so she only has to come to do the washing.

I am not easily moved. But I sobbed from my guts listening to her story.

Belly laughs at bedtime And so, homeward bound. Homeward reflections. I see Beatrice washing Valence in a bowl. The rhythms of the women dancing. Peeling potatoes with the family in the dark. Belly laughs at bedtime.

I’m not claiming to have done any more than peek through a small window to experience Shingiro with Beatrice and her family. It was moving. It was sad. It was funny. It was much more. You couldn’t fail to feel the fizz and bubble of the people I met or appreciate that they live it hard.

It was amazing. I am privileged.

A story to tell My emotions are stirred by a visit to an ActionAid-supported HIV co-operative.

The women sing us a greeting song, they smile and dance, and look so strong. We learn that they weren’t always so strong; they were sick, destitute and outcast. People didn’t want to touch them or eat with them for fear of contracting HIV. Their leader, Jacqueline, explains how they got together and asked ActionAid for support, then built this house, where they meet and gain income by renting out rooms. They also grow maize and mushrooms to sell. Now the

I’m getting married in the morning... (see back cover)

Lucy tells her story at the HIV co-operative.

PHOTO: GREG FUNNELL/THE GUARDIAN/ACTIONAID

FAST FACTS

Beatrice’s husband Joseph and children have fun with the balloons Jean brought.

PHOTO: GREG FUNNELL/THE GUARDIAN/ACTIONAID

Slightly bigger than Wales, Rwanda borders Burundi, Tanzania, DRC and Uganda Between April and June 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in a 100-day genocide Paul Kagame has been president since 1994, but his recent re-election brought accusations of repression Rwanda is Africa’s most densely populated nation and has more women MPs than any other country

TAKE ACTION Read the full diary at www.actionaid.org.uk/action. If you’d like to get to know some of the people we work with, why not take part in a First Hand Experience? Call 01460 23 8000 for more information or visit our website.

actionaid.org.uk

25

NOT SO ROTTEN NOW

PHOTOS: COURTESY OF NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY, KRISTIAN BUUS/ACTIONAID, AMY SCAIFE/ACTIONAID, ROB VERHORST/REDFERNS/GETTY IMAGES AND ACTIONAID.

ACTION MAGAZINE

We have to admit, we didn’t see this one coming.

BBC1’s The One Show interviewed co-author of our Calling time tax report, Richard Brooks, alongside Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten).

The erstwhile advocate for anarchy in the UK backed our arguments for tax justice: “There’s no clear law is there? Everything can be shifted by clever accountancy and everything gets lost and confused.”

Rock on! This is exactly the point we’ve been making – rotten accounting equals rotten practices.

MAMIL WATCH

THE GRUMP GETS IT

“I am a MAMIL,” says 44-year-old Charles Pease with disarming honesty.

“A Middle Aged Man in Lycra – and as part of my mid-life crisis I decided to do a marathon.” That’s the spirit!

True to his word, Charles ran the London Marathon in April, in a respectable 4 hours, 23 mins and 50 seconds and some fetching lycra.

Busloads of people flock to Thriplow’s Daffodil Weekend – a good old fashioned village fete and flower festival. Each year, ActionAid’s South Cambs group gets stuck in as the group’s co-ordinator opens her garden to the public, while Trevor – the Grumpy Old Man – cajoles passers-by to make a donation to either a bear (stuffed), a chimp (stuffed) or himself (grumpy, unstuffed). And the winner is...

HOB the Huge Old Bear Amunike the Chimp Grumpy Old Man

£231.68 £242.89 £375.60

Overall this year’s team have raised £45,000 and counting – thanks to everyone who made it such a success.

SKY-DIVA! A four-minute interview on Radio 1 with Edith Bowman? It would be an impressive coup for a professional diva but it was our young supporter Aliceja who got this great slot. She wangled the interview just moments before ActionAid’s inaugural mass skydive in March. Aliceja was one of 12 young people who jumped 10,000ft.

You’ve all been out and about raising money for ActionAid. We salute you !

WA N T DO YOU NGE TO CH AOR LD? THE W k cover) e bac (Then se

GIVE AS YOU EARN? Payroll giving is a tax-free way to give to ActionAid, which means your money goes further – every pound you donate costs you just 80p. To sign up for payroll giving or to sponsor a child through your payroll, speak to the payroll department of your company to see if they have a scheme in place and if they don’t, ask them why not! action@actionaid.org or 01460 23 8000 for more info.

26 SUMMER 11

t a little If you wan action, e piece of th e and m o c why not join us...

WHAT’S COMING UP IN YOUR AREA?

AND NOW, AN UNDERSTATEMENT “Sometimes you just have to throw yourself out of your comfort zone,” says Lee Hughes in possibly the understatement of the year. He’s going to cycle almost 20,000 km to New Zealand, walk 3,000 km, and then paddle 1,600 km down Canada’s longest river, all in aid of ActionAid. Phew. That’s quite a lot of kilometres outside our comfort zone.

“I have sold everything I own to raise the money needed.

I wanted to do something that would enable me to give back.” Amazing effort Lee!

ActionAid supporters are doing all sorts of amazing things all year round. Here are some great local events you can support – and meet other ActionAiders at the same time.

AVON

Strawberry tea and hand-made jewellery, knitted toys, homemade cakes and jam, 25 June, The Ferns, Deadmill Lane, Lower Swainswick, Bath KENT

Art auction to raise money for post-flood Pakistan, 24 July, Nucleus Arts Centre, Chatham

SQUARE MILE’S FINANCIAL HEART

Coffee morning and bring and buy sale, 28 June, Deal Town Hall

A little bit of charm goes a long way in the City of London. Twenty-five students from Sussex, Nottingham, Strathclyde and Atlantic College used their charm – and ActionAid stickers, sweets and our ever-more famous Blue Monster – to persuade generous city workers to part with £3042.06.

Stall with plants, cakes, bric-a-brac, jam, 16 July, Deal Town Hall NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Benefit gig with Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, 28 June, the Roadmender, Northampton. Also featuring Sam Duckworth and local bands in memory of ActionAid supporter Beccy Taylor

Meanwhile Northumbria students raised over £20k at RAG week. How much?! They hosted a quiz night, balloon launch, black and white ball, auction and gig night. One of three chosen charities, we’re really chuffed to receive such a great donation.

Huge thanks to all!

YORKSHIRE

Tombola and book sale, 19 June, Sutton Park, Keighley Social walk with coffee and cakes, 10 July, Cowling, North Yorkshire

YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU

ActionAid collection at Monks Cross shopping centre, 25 June, York

Do you ever open up Action mag and think ‘I wish they’d do a feature on the country I’m interested in’? If so, let us know! Perhaps you sponsor a child somewhere you’d love to know more about that hasn’t been mentioned? Or you’re interested in the work we do in a particular place because of a personal connection?

Fundraising stall with food at St Crux Church, 5 July, York

Email action@actionaid.org and tell us the country and why you want to see it featured, and we’ll try to make it happen.

actionaid.org.uk

Street collection in Beverley, 2 July, and Cottingham 16 July Book club 10 June and 8 July (monthly), Hull (contact us for more details) Find out what’s coming up near you at actionaid.org.uk/whereyoulive.

Do you have an ActionAid event or fundraiser planned for September to December? Email us the details (doesn’t matter what area) and we’ll advertise it in this column for you: action@actionaid.org

27

It’s your big day.

Ask for something priceless.

Education.

Clean water.

Housing.

Healthcare.

If you already have enough toasters, kettles and saucepans to last a lifetime, why not ask family and friends to donate to ActionAid instead of giving a gift on your wedding day?

Your donations could help provide safe water, healthcare, education and a regular supply of food to some of the world’s poorest people.

How does it work?

Just set up a page at www.myactionaid.org.uk, where it’s easy to add photo galleries, blogs and information about your day, and friends and family can donate securely. Or collect cheques and donations and send them into us via in the post.

We can provide wedding cards for friends and family with further information about our work.

And afterwards we’ll send a certificate with the total amount you raised for ActionAid. An ActionAid gift list suits any occasion: weddings, civil partnerships, birthdays, anniversaries… You can tailor your www.myactionaid.org.uk page to suit your needs.

For your free information pack or to find out more, please call 01460 23 8000 email action@actionaid.org or visit www.actionaid.org.uk/celebrations