Christian Aid News 41 - Autumn 2008

Issue 41 Autumn 2008 www.christianaid.org.uk

Bishops march against global poverty

As the food crisis takes its toll on the

poorest, Christian Aid calls for action

to roll back ‘the silent tsunami’

Development and aid: what would the politicians do?

Elections in Africa: why the voters must be heard

How much further can a little go?

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REGULARS■ 4 NEWS

Bishops march against global poverty... India’s schools launch climate campaign... Burma’s cyclone relief work continues

■ 10 CAMPAIGNSFlying the fl ag against coal-fi red plants – and are you ready for a Transformation?

■ 20 COMMENTKeeping a promise to the world’s poor: how the political parties line up on international development – and how Christian Aid assesses their policies

■ 24 REFLECTIONA Platform2 volunteer speaks up for the young people on the new scheme

■ 24 INPUTYour letters and emails

■ 26 DO THE RIGHT THINGAn ethical alternative to toasters – plus your chance to win Divine chocolate in our poetry competition

■ Cover An Indian family struggles to stretch their income to cope with rising food prices. Photo: Adam Ferguson ■ Pictures Joseph Cabon ■ Sub-editors Carolyn Crawley and Sophy Kershaw ■ Circulation Ben Hayward ■ Design & production Bonnie Coupland/Circle Publishing, 020 8332 2709 ■ Christian Aid head offi ce 35 Lower Marsh, London SE1 7RL ■ Tel 020 7620 4444 ■ Fax 020 7620 0719 ■ Email [email protected] ■ Stay in touch online News, campaigns and resources www.christianaid.org.uk ■ Children and schools www.globalgang.org

UK registered charity number 1105851; company number 5171525Northern Ireland charity number XR94639; company number NI059154

Republic of Ireland charity number CHY 6998; company number 426928Scotland charity number SC039150

Editor’s letterIF MEDIA REPORTS are to be believed, the impact of higher food prices on many

people in the UK is to send them shopping at Asda intstead of Waitrose, stocking up on essentials from Lidl and Aldi rather than M&S. Times are harder and bills are higher, and yes, there is genuine hardship. But, by and large, in the richer nations we can cope. It is in the world’s poorer countries that the impact of higher food prices really hits home. It’s here that there really is a food crisis. In many of these countries, meagre incomes are being stretched to breaking point – and beyond.

In Bangladesh, the price of lentils is so high, that many families can only afford to eat them once or twice a month. Think about it. Lentils. In Haiti, desperate families in one of the capital’s most notorious slums are now eating mud cakes to survive. In India, the motto of the family pictured on the cover should shame us all: ‘Eat less, if possible avoid eating.’

A new Christian Aid report, Fighting food shortages – Hungry for change, argues the case for urgent action to avert a global catastrophe. Read our summary, and meet some of the families struggling to survive, in our six-page feature beginning on page 12.

Elsewhere, we challenge the politicians from the Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem parties to tell us what they would do about international development. Rock star turned farmer Alex James samples life down on the farm in Burkina Faso. We also round up Christian Aid’s series of spectacular fundraising challenge events.

And fi nally, mitres off to the purple haze that was the sea of Anglican bishops joining leaders of other faiths in a London march against global poverty. PM Gordon Brown called it ‘one of the greatest public demonstrations of faith this great city has seen’. Read about it on page 4.

Roger Fulton, editor

■ 28 EVENTSWhere to go and what to do, plus a round-up of our challenge events

■ 30 THE LAST WORDA cup of tea and a chat with Tea Time favourite Anne Diamond

FEATURES■ 8 AFRICA RAISES ITS VOICEFrom Angola to Zimbabwe: the A-Z of elections in Africa

■ 12 SPECIAL REPORT: THE SILENT TSUNAMIAnalysis and frontline reports on how the food crisis is hitting the poorest families around the world – and what the rich countries must do to help

■ 18 IT USED TO BE A BLUR… …but now musician Alex James has a clearer picture of farming life in the developing world

■ 30 A BETTER LIFERebuilding homes and communities for tsunami survivors

ContentsAutumn 2008 Issue 41

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

Christian Aid News is printed on 100 per cent recycled paper

■ 4 DOING THE LAMBETH WALK

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STOP PRESS: Africa Food Crisis Appeal Millions omalnutrition. To respond to this crisis, Christian Aus by giving to the Africa Food Crisis Appeal at: w

Christian Aid News4

CHRISTIAN AID director Dr Daleep Mukarji joined more than 650 Anglican bishops from across the world in a London Walk of Witness for global poverty, dubbed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown as ‘the greatest public demonstration of faith this country has ever seen’.

Led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, the bishops walked from Whitehall, past Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament to Lambeth Palace, behind a banner telling global governments: ‘Keep the promise; halve poverty by 2015.’

Joining the archbishop were UK faith leaders from the Catholic, Jewish, Sikh and Muslim communities. Behind this group billowed a sea of purple Anglican gowns.

SOME 400 children from 50 schools in India took part in the launch of a Schools Climate Change Campaign in Chennai, India, in July. The event, organised by Christian Aid and its partner organisation SEEDS, kicks off a nationwide campaign to raise awareness among teachers and children in 10,000 schools across India about ways to reduce the impact of climate change.

Children and teachers are being asked to spread the message about conserving energy and learn about adaptation practices, such as better preparation for fl oods and cyclones.

‘This campaign is focusing on children because we feel they are best-placed to spread the message on climate change to their families and communities,’ said Rajan Khosla, Christian Aid’s programme offi cer in India.

The 400 pupils also took part in tree planting, poster painting and quizzes. Christian Aid staff and offi cials from the state government in Tamil Nadu also took part in the event.

India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world at present, but is also a country feeling the current impacts of climate change such as desertifi cation, more severe rainfall and fl ooding, stronger cyclones and glacier melt. Ironically, the country’s development is being fuelled by increasing carbon emissions.

‘Young people have a vested interest in the climate change campaign for it is their future at stake,’ said Robin Greenwood, head of the Asia division at Christian Aid.

‘If India’s young generation learns to adapt, conserve energy and use clean energy sources for future development, it will feel that it has played a huge role in building a safer future not just for India but around the globe.’

PM hails Anglicans’ march against global poverty

Turn down. Switch off. Recycle. Plant

The walk, organised with the Micah Challenge, an ecumenical coalition of which Christian Aid is part, was to pressure world leaders to get back on track with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – promises to work towards eradicating extreme poverty made eight years ago – and also to highlight the churches’ support in delivering development projects through their worldwide global network.

Britain has fallen behind on its aid commitment, but has made a three-year plan to restore payments. Other EU and G7 governments have failed to recommit themselves to levels of funding needed to realise the MDGs – which cover issues such as child mortality, the spread of HIV and the

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s of people across Africa are facing extreme hunger and Aid has launched an emergency appeal. Please help www.christianaid.org.uk/emergencies

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INDIA A team from the Center for Dalit Rights, a Christian Aid partner working to promote dalit human rights in Rajasthan, was subjected to a mass attack on a fact-fi nding visit recently. The team went to Padasoli village after a family had approached them for help over an alleged encroachment on their land, and to investigate whether sand from their boundary wall and a dalits crematorium was being removed for use in a new road construction. The team was attacked by the dominant caste people, but with the help of one village leader they were able to escape from the village, although the family are now reportedly sleeping outside their house for fear of reprisals.

HAITI Our Haitian partner Objective Zero AIDS Promoters (POZ) was one of only 25 organisations worldwide to be honoured with the UN’s prestigious Red Ribbon Award at the XVIIth International AIDS conference in Mexico. The award recognises POZ’s outstanding contribution to HIV awareness, prevention and care in Haiti, especially its groundbreaking work with religious leaders from both the Christian and Vodou faiths.

ISRAEL Christian Aid partner Physicians for Human Rights exposed a recent policy of the Israeli security service, whereby patients from Gaza in need of urgent medical care outside the Gaza Strip have been pressured to provide intelligence information as a condition for accessing care. PHR will use their report, Holding Health to Ransom, to pressure the Israeli government on this issue.

BOLIVIA At the fi rst ever conference of its kind in South America, Christian leaders from the region committed themselves to support people living with HIV, to help fi ght stigma and prevent the spread of the virus. Christian Aid partner Instituto de Desarollo Humano organised the conference. The Catholic church and, increasingly, evangelical churches have a very infl uential role in society here. By speaking openly and showing their support they can improve the lives of thousands of people living with HIV.

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

provision of education. Action is also required to reform trade structures and resolve the continuing debt crisis.

At Lambeth Palace, the walkers streamed into the courtyard to hear impassioned addresses from Dr Williams and Mr Brown.

Dr Williams presented a letter written on behalf of the Anglican community, stressing the need for urgent action if the MDGs are to be fulfi lled. It also urged action to curb climate change – a core area of campaigning work for Christian Aid.

‘Because our faith challenges us to eradicate poverty, and not merely to reduce it, we should all be more alarmed that, with the halfway mark to 2015 passed, it is clear that most of these targets will not be met. The cause is not a lack of resources but a lack of global political will,’ the letter says.

‘Our leaders need to invest in and strengthen their partnership with the church worldwide so that its extensive delivery network for education and healthcare, alongside our faiths, is fully utilised in the eradication of extreme poverty.’

It said that a timetable for delivering the

goals needed to be drawn up by world leaders when they meet at a special UN meeting in New York in September. The letter went on: ‘And even if delivered, the goals risk being undermined – climate change is already hitting the poorest hardest and so we urge leaders to commit to ambitious cuts in carbon emissions appropriate to the size of their economy and historic responsibility.’

Gordon Brown recalled previous faith-based struggles against slavery and apartheid and urged a similar effort against global poverty. He warned that at current rates of progress, some goals would not be fulfi lled for another century. ‘One hundred years is too long to wait for justice and that is why we must act now,’ he said. ‘You have sent a symbol, a very clear message that poverty can be eradicated, poverty must be eradicated and if we all work together for change poverty will be eradicated.’

He urged the bishops to demand their governments hit targets so that every child is in schooling by 2015 and to invest in training of doctors, nurses and midwives so that ten million children no longer die ‘unnecessarily’ of avoidable diseases such as malaria. With political will plus new medicines, the world should also be able to take on the AIDS crisis, he said.

And to help the 100 million suffering from famine, he added, the bishops should also demand US$20 million for food aid and a review of agricultural protectionism to help people grow food for themselves as part of a ‘green revolution for Africa’.

Let it growHOPING FOR a better, fairer world, Christian Aid supporters last year donated money, left legacies, put envelopes through doors, marched, campaigned, lobbied, volunteered and took part in fundraising events.

Read about all this and more in our annual review 2007/08. Let it grow gives an overview of how Christian Aid converts your money, time and experience into positive change for poor and marginalised people all over the world.

To request a printed copy, email [email protected] or call 020 7620 4444. It can also be downloaded at www.christianaid.org.uk/annualreview

Keeping a

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world’s poor: what

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Let it growAnnual review 2007/08



Christian Aid News6

REBUILDING HOMES and getting farmers back to work are the urgent priorities for Christian Aid partners working in cyclone-hit areas of Burma.

Christian Aid is providing shelter materials for 180,000 people, trauma counselling for more than 150,000 people, water storage containers and purifying chemicals for around 100,000 people and medical and fi rst aid treatment for 50,000 people. One partner specialising in disability is providing shelter and mobility aids for up to 3,000 disabled adults and children. Another is rebuilding or repairing 49 childcare centres damaged in the storm on 2 May.

Many of the 2.5 million people affected by the cyclone are dependent on aid

DR DALEEP Mukarji, director of Christian Aid, has been awarded an OBE in recognition of a life dedicated to the alleviation of poverty. Dr Mukarji has spent his career working in the fi eld of international development and has been director of Christian Aid for the past ten years.

‘I am delighted to have received this honour, particularly as a non-UK citizen,’ said Dr Mukarji, who began his career working in a leprosy hospital in India. ‘Starting out as a doctor many years ago I didn’t expect to end up being the director of one of the UK’s largest development agencies. But I did realise much needed to be done to change the lives of poor people.

‘What has infl uenced my life has been a passion for justice and for alleviating poverty. In this I have had the opportunity at Christian Aid to work with fantastic colleagues and with very dedicated partners overseas. I believe this OBE acknowledges the contribution of many. I thank God for the wonderful opportunities I have had, not just to put my faith into action, but the privilege of leading this outstanding organisation.’

Dr Mukarji, who is married with three children, joined Christian Aid in 1998 and led the organisation through its sixtieth anniversary in 2005. He was in India when the 2004 tsunami struck and worked on the ground helping to distribute aid.

Dr Mukarji has been involved with all the major anti-poverty campaigns of the past ten years including Jubilee 2000 and Make Poverty History. In 2005 he was included on a list of the 100 most infl uential Asians in Britain.

Burma: partners step up cyclone relief work

because their source of income has been destroyed. Partners have set up schemes where survivors can earn £1 a day helping with clean-up operations, such as removing bodies from fi elds, cleaning ponds and preparing land for rice planting.

An estimated 130,000 hectares of paddy fi elds need to be cleared of debris and salt water before farmers can re-cultivate the land. They need seeds, fertiliser and tools for the planting season, which ends in August. ‘Getting people shelter and enabling them to cultivate their fi elds are the top priorities,’ said Ray Hasan, Christian Aid’s Burma expert. ‘Once people can get back to work, they can start rebuilding their lives.’

Two engineers from a Burmese partner

visited India in July to meet with a Christian Aid partner there – to gain expertise in building cyclone shelters.

Partners are also still coming across communities in need of urgent help. One partner received a request in July for emergency food support for more than 50,000 people in 59 villages that are inland and inaccessible by boat. Very little assistance had reached them so far.

Price rises are making things even more diffi cult. The price of potatoes has increased by 85 per cent, while the price of thatch for roofi ng has increased by 600 per cent because of high demand.

Altogether Christian Aid has raised £1.8 million through its own appeal, including a generous donation of £100,000 from an entrepreneur and former investment banker, who wants to remain anonymous.

‘We were horrifi ed to hear of the events unfolding in Burma following Cyclone Nargis,’ he said, ‘and were impressed by the professionalism of Christian Aid, but the most compelling argument was simply that the scale of the disaster sits in stark contrast to the resources committed thus far by the international community.’

OBE for director

christianaidnews■ Burma update ■ Director honoured ■ Photos on show

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TALK BACKTHE THINGS THEY SAY‘Curbing climate change would cost no more than one per cent of global income per year – and the world can afford it.’Jeffrey Sachs, development economist

‘You must all show the leadership that you have always promised by taking and then delivering truly signifi cant greenhouse gas reductions.’Manmohan Singh, India’s prime

minister, chides G8 leaders for

including no numerical basis for their

‘vision’ of a 50 per cent cut in

greenhouse gases by 2050.

‘Goodbye from the world’s greatest polluter.’George Bush’s farewell ‘joke’ at the G8

summit

THE THINGS WE SAY‘This is an encouraging, if inadequate, development as it is the fi rst time that all the leading industrialised nations, including the United States, have accepted that targets are necessary. But the science says that global cuts of at least 80 per cent by 2050 are necessary. The G8 has to take the lead in ensuring the situation doesn’t dramatically worsen.’Christian Aid senior climate change

policy analyst Nelson Muffuh

comments on the G8 agreement to

halve carbon emissions by 2050

‘No deal at all is better than a bad deal when development is at stake. We applaud the stand that developing countries have taken throughout the talks in defending the livelihoods of the poorest and most vulnerable farmers. We hope that any future talks can place development fi rmly back on the agenda.’Matthew Coghlan, senior economic

justice advisor at Christian Aid,

responding to the collapse of the

world trade talks

THE THINGS YOU SAY‘Poverty is mentioned often and reference made to the causes, but nowhere is there even a passing comment about the problems caused by overpopulation.’Reader John Burton, Input, page 24

PHOTOGRAPHS FROM a Christian Aid project highlighting the impact of international trade rules on farmers in Ghana are part of a prestigious new touring exhibition which begins at London’s Royal Festival Hall this autumn.

Disposable People: Contemporary Global Slavery takes an in-depth look at the prevalence of slavery and injustice in the twenty-fi rst century through the lenses of eight internationally acclaimed documentary photographers, all members of leading photographic agency Magnum. All have a strong interest in human rights and a record for world-class photo-journalism.

Christian Aid’s section features the work of Ian Berry, who visited Ghana in 2006, to document the impact of current international trade rules on farmers,

From slave trade to trade slavetraders and poor communities as they struggle to sustain their livelihoods.

The exhibition begins at the Clore Ballroom, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London, from 27 September to 9 November. Opening times: 10am to 11pm daily. Admission free. See www.southbankcentre.co.uk/visual-arts

Future dates and venues10 Jan to 21 Feb 2009: The Gallery, Peninsula Arts, University of Plymouth28 Feb to 9 April 2009: University of Northumbria, Newcastle23 May to 5 July 2009: Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle1 August to 13 September 2009: New Art Exchange, Nottingham7 November 2009 to 9 January 2010: Aberystwyth Arts Centre

CHRISTIAN AID has announced the closure of internet access and email services provided by Surefi sh.co.uk.

Since 2001, the service, which originally launched as fi sh.co.uk, has raised more than £1 million for Christian Aid’s work around the world. However, it has been increasingly unable to compete with other broadband providers.

Surefi sh website editor Andy Jackson said: ‘It’s sad to see it go but Christian Aid has to sometimes make diffi cult decisions for the greater good, so that it can concentrate on other ways to raise funds, campaign for a better world and help those in need.’

A new service from Christian Technology has been launched as an independent affi nity scheme to offer ways of accessing the internet, including broadband, to raise money for Christian Aid. Full details can be found at www.surefi sh.co.uk

The Surefi sh website, with news and features about ethical living, culture, campaigns, faith, community, discussions and its fundraising internet search engine, will continue.

Surefi sh: one that got away

The power of advertising behind imported goods makes it diffi cult for local producers to compete


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Christian Aid News8

Africa raises its voiceWhile the experiences of Zimbabwe and Kenya show that elections can sometimes end badly, polls taking place across Africa this year will give voters the opportunity to have their say on how their countries will be governed and develop in the coming years. The process is signifi cant in many of the countries holding national and local elections. Christian Aid and its partners are supporting communities in many of these countries to ensure their voices are heard in free, fair and peaceful elections.

GHANA

Although Ghana’s last elections were praised internationally, peace cannot be taken for granted. Supported by Christian Aid, the Ghana Peace Building Network will be promoting peaceful and informed participation when the country holds elections in December and will be monitoring polling stations.

SIERRA LEONE

Sierra Leone’s 2007 elections – the fi rst since UN peacekeepers left the country after its decade-long civil war – were seen as an opportunity to embed democracy by ensuring the many people who felt disenfranchised were included in the process. Christian Aid partner Campaign for Good Governance contributed by working with the School for the Blind to train visually impaired voters in using a tactile ballot system. The National Electoral Commission used the system in polling stations throughout Freetown. Christian Aid partners also worked with female candidates to build their skills and ensure that women – among the most marginalised in Sierra Leonean society – are better represented in local government. Eighty-six women were elected, 22 more than in the last local elections in 2004.

Amid the political uncertainty in Zimbabwe, Christian Aid partner organisations are continuing to work. Partners involved in HIV and home-based care have been least affected. But their workload has been substantially increased by the huge numbers of people fl eeing to the cities from the rural areas.

Organisations that distribute food have been severely hampered by the government moratorium on their work. Agricultural recovery programmes aimed at alleviating extreme weather conditions, especially in Matabeleland, have also been disrupted by the political insecurity in rural areas.

Years of community work by some partner organisations has resulted in lower levels of violence in areas where people clearly felt empowered and insisted on their rights. One partner was among the few organisations allowed to monitor the controversial presidential run-off on 27 June.

The Zimbabwe Christian Alliance has been very active in the civil society movement to ensure a transitional government. It played a key role in the meeting of the churches of the Fellowship of Councils of Churches in Southern Africa, which issued a statement insisting on a transitional authority rather than a government of national unity and saying that the presidential run-off did not ‘refl ect the will of the Zimbabwean people’.

In a separate statement, the

Heads of Christian Denominations echoed these sentiments, saying: ‘The will of the people of Zimbabwe was not given authentic expression during these elections.’ Signatories included the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, a Christian Aid partner.

Meanwhile, as power-sharing talks between Robert Mugabe and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) continued in South Africa, Sebastian Bakare, the Anglican bishop of Harare, warned MDC leaders to be wary of the president’s intentions. Speaking at the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, Bishop Bakare recalled that in 1987 Mr Mugabe had signed an agreement with the then opposition leader, Joshua Nkomo. ‘It ended up with Mugabe swallowing up the other party and Mugabe is still in power today,’ said the bishop. He warned the MDC that ‘Mugabe is not there just to hand in power.’

William Anderson, Christian Aid’s country manager in Harare, said: ‘We remain committed to working in Zimbabwe. We are the only international NGO with an offi ce in the country which is outspoken on the issues of justice and oppression.

‘At a time when Zimbabweans have never been so poor and voiceless, Christian Aid’s mandate is to continue working alongside individuals and organisations who are praying for peace, acting for justice and, in some cases, giving their lives.’

Zimbabwe: our work goes on

Elections: Africa at the polls



can: frontline

KENYA

Violence following Kenya’s elections in late-2007 left at least 800 people dead and more than 250,000 displaced. Christian Aid partners IDCSS and Action by Churches Together’s Kenya Forum quickly responded, providing survival kits to families in some of the worst affected areas. On 28 February 2008, Kenya’s leaders signed a power-sharing deal, bringing an end to the violence.

THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Free and fair elections were held for the fi rst time in 40 years in December 2006. Local elections, a crucial part of the country’s journey towards democracy, will be held in mid-2009. For the electoral process to be legitimate, a signifi cant amount of voter education needs to be done to ensure that the electorate is able to participate fully. Christian Aid is calling on the UK government to reconsider its decision to channel all funding for voter education through the United Nations Development Programme, as the experience of the 2006 general elections shows that it is an ineffective mechanism for funding this work.

MALAWI

Malawi’s president claims that although some areas are facing food shortages, overall the country will have a surplus of maize. But Christian Aid fears that a crisis is looming. With elections planned for May 2009, there are concerns that the government may try to hide the existence of hunger while using food handouts to win votes.

ZIMBABWEThe political uncertainty continues, and Christian Aid partners’ work goes on. See story opposite

ANGOLA

In September, Angola will go to the polls for the fi rst time since its 27-year confl ict ended in 2002. See story on page 10


IN MAY, Bob Geldof publicly declared that Angola was ‘run by criminals’. The statement hit the headlines and shone an unwelcome spotlight onto a regime that oversees Africa’s fastest-growing economy. But with elections next month, such a spotlight can only be a good thing.

Angola’s 27-year civil war was Africa’s longest running confl ict, and these are the fi rst polls since the 2002 peace accords.

Much is at stake. With a booming oil industry, including signifi cant investment from UK companies, Angola is potentially a very rich country. But at present, it is failing its citizens. Despite their homeland now being classifi ed a middle-income country, a quarter of all Angolan children still die before their fi fth birthday. This gives Angola the worst wealth-to-survival ratio in the world.

In six years of peace, there has been little progress for Angola’s poor. That’s why next month’s elections are so important.

After 27 years of war, the government isn’t used to scrutiny. But building a functioning democracy in this war-ravaged state is just as important as physically rebuilding schools, roads and bridges. In fact, the latter is unlikely to happen at the speed it should without the former being in place.

That’s why, as Angola has moved from war to peace, the focus of our work there has shifted from humanitarian intervention in the forgotten, war-torn interior, towards pressuring the state to deliver what it could and should be delivering in a resource-rich country at peace. Today, more than half of our partners in Angola

can: campaigns

are human rights groups, political lobbyists, documentary makers and independent news broadcasters.

‘Angola is at a crossroads. Because this is the fi rst election since the end of the war, it’s the process itself that matters,’ explains Christian Aid’s programme manager for Angola, Rosario Advirta. ‘Free and fair elections, with robust debate, would be a major step in consolidating democracy and embedding the concept that Angola’s leaders must be accountable to Angola’s people. At the moment, Angola’s economic boom is mainly benefi ting the elite. That needs to change.’

But as the polls approach, the ruling MPLA party is taking dramatic steps to stifl e dissent. Christian Aid partners, especially those that are particularly outspoken and critical of the government, have faced regular threats and harassment, and the UN’s human rights offi ce has been forced to close. As the elections draw near, our partners are standing fi rm and shouting loudly in defence of democracy. And the more the government tries to silence them, the more important their work becomes.

Angola: oil giant at the crossroadsSiân Curry explains why the coming elections in Angola mark a defi ning moment for this oil-rich country

Below: people displaced by the building of new apartment blocks now live in shacks in their shadow

THOUSANDS OF Christian Aid supporters will be asked to sign up to a ‘Countdown to Copenhagen pledge’ – a commitment to campaign for a new international deal on climate change that works for the world’s poorest people.

The pledge will be launched this autumn during worship at nine ‘Transformation’ events across the UK, where we hope to inspire and train a new wave of Christian Aid activists committed to tackling the causes of global poverty. The grand total of pledges will be delivered to the Prime Minister next year to emphasise popular demand for a fair deal for the world’s poor in Copenhagen in December 2009.

Activists will be calling for the deal to enshrine poor countries’ right to economic development. It should require the developed world to make the lion’s share of carbon emissions cuts and to supply the funding and technology that developing countries need for clean development.

Paul Brannen, head of campaigns at Christian Aid, says: ‘Time and again, dedicated Christian Aid activists have been vital to the global movement for change, as the Fairtrade, Jubilee 2000 and trade justice campaigns proved. Their campaigning commitment is needed once more, this time to ensure climate justice for the world’s poor.’

Christian Aid’s ‘Transformation’ events will offer workshops on campaigning skills, such as how to lobby MPs and MEPs about the new climate agreement. There will be the chance to hear directly from people in the countries where Christian Aid works, and take part in activities for children and young people. The events will also include time to debate the causes of and solutions to international injustice with Christian Aid directors and local politicians and journalists.

Day-long ‘Transformation’ events will take place in Perth, Exeter,

Take the pledge: transform the world

Elections: Africa at the polls

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LEADERS OF the UK’s largest coalition dedicated to stopping climate change have warned Gordon Brown that a green light for a new unabated coal-fi red plant at Kingsnorth in Kent will lock Britain into decades of spiralling emissions, undermining the government’s ability to meet its climate targets.

At the invitation of the local community, leaders from groups that make up the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition – including Christian Aid, Oxfam, the Women’s Institute, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Greenpeace – planted fl ags in the ground at Kingsnorth to show Mr Brown the breadth of opposition. The coalition demands that he invests instead in renewables and makes massive improvements to energy effi ciency.

The move came as a new parliamentary report warned that

Lancaster, Belfast, London, Wrexham, St Albans, Birmingham and York in September and October. Families are welcome at the events, which will include lunch and a crêche. Christian Aid is suggesting a donation of £5 to £10 from each adult.

For more information and to book places, visit www.

christianaid.org.uk/getinvolved● Christian Aid News readers

have a chance to get the pledge campaign off to a fl ying start by completing and sending off the stitched-in postcard to the Prime Minister.

Right: Paul Brannen, head of campaigns, fl ies the fl ag for Christian Aid at the Kingsnorth rally

PM told: say no to Kingsnorth

government plans to develop new coal-fi red power plants are ‘failing to take adequate account of the environmental impact of coal’. Replacing old coal-fi red power stations with new ones, it says, locks Britain into a high level of emissions for many years to come.

In a letter to Mr Brown the coalition calls Kingsnorth one of the most important decisions of his premiership. Building new coal-fi red plants in the UK would send the wrong signal to countries such as China and India. Turning Britain into a low-carbon economy would prove that we can protect the climate – and keep the lights on.

Paul Brannen, Christian Aid’s head of campaigns, says: ‘Building a new generation of high-emitting coal-fi red power plants without the technology to capture CO2 from the outset will take us further down the path to climate catastrophe.’

Join the people mapCAMPAIGNERS FROM all corners of the UK will be converging on London in October for a spectacular Christian Aid photo-stunt to highlight the campaign over climate change.

On Wednesday 15 October we will be creating a ‘people map’ in central London – an event designed to maintain pressure on the government to take robust action on climate change.

Two representatives from every county and metropolitan area in England and Wales, plus a contingent from Scotland and Northern Ireland, will participate in a photocall, taking their place in a map of the UK to symbolise our united stand in putting pressure on MPs over the climate change bill. A delegation of campaigners will go on from the photo call to lobby MPs in Westminster.

This London ‘people map’ supercedes the Coventry event that had originally been planned for 15 October, and which was announced in the summer edition of Christian Aid News. The Coventry event has been rescheduled for March 2009 and will continue our call for a fair deal for the world’s poor at next year’s Copenhagen talks.

For more information about how you could represent your county in the ‘people map’,

email [email protected]


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Special report: the food crisis

FOOD: THE SILENT TSUNAMI

BANGLADESH

Soaring rice prices have sparked violent protests and private acts of desperation, with people withdrawing children from school, eating just one meal a day and selling possessions for

food. Imran Ali, 23, a rickshaw puller, said: ‘It is unbearable for me to see our children crying for want of rice. I cannot express my pain.’ Christian Aid partners are teaching farmers more sustainable techniques.

BURMA

In May 140,000 Burmese refugees living in camps on the border with Thailand were threatened with a 50 per cent cut in their already minimal rations. Christian Aid partner the

Fighting food shortages: a global struggleAround the world, Christian Aid partners are involved in helping those affected by worsening food shortages

For millions of the poorest people in the developing world, food has become unaffordable. And as prices keep on going up, the effects of malnutrition and starvation continue to rise. Andrew Hogg, author of a new report for Christian Aid, argues the case for urgent action to avert a global catastrophe and we report on how some families around the world are struggling to survive

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IT’S BEEN CALLED the silent tsunami – the global food crisis that is adding inexorably to hunger’s daily death toll. With 862 million people in the world already malnourished, rocketing food prices are pushing another 100 million into dire poverty.

Weakened by want, they too will be vulnerable to the diseases that prey on the hungry, and account for the 25,000 deaths that take place every day from hunger-related causes.

This is a crisis of man’s making, not nature. Last year, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), there was enough food grown to meet the nutritional needs of every person on the planet. A series

of circumstances has combined, however, to push global food prices to their highest level in real terms in almost 30 years, and cause acute shortages of staples in nearly 40 countries.

The FAO has warned that US$30 billion a year is needed to avert further shortages. As well as humanitarian concerns, there are security implications too. With food riots in more than 30 countries, the FAO fears the very real prospect of confl ict over food resources.

As ever, it is the world’s poor who are being hit the hardest. As much as 70 per cent, and sometimes more, of their already meagre incomes must now go on feeding themselves and their families. The plight of the very

poorest, such as slum-dwellers, the displaced, and those with HIV, is of particular concern.

As the international community struggles to fi nd a solution to the present crisis, a new Christian Aid report, Fighting food shortages – Hungry for change, says a fundamental rethink is needed of the way in which the international community seeks to infl uence agricultural and trade policies in the developing world.

For the prime long-term cause of the present crisis is that, in return for trade and aid, poor countries have been forced by wealthy governments and international fi nancial institutions to accept a raft of trade liberalisation measures that

Thailand Burma Border Consortium then received new donations, but it still faces a funding shortfall of US$3.5m (£1.75m). In the delta area, Burma’s main rice-growing region, some people are likely to need food assistance for up to a year. Steep price rises since Cyclone Nargis have forced poor people to buy less food. Christian Aid partner organisations have helped provide basic assistance to some of those affected by the cyclone

INDIA

In spite of an economic boom, the poorest have been hit hard by food bills rising by an average of 40 per cent. Poverty was already rife, with more than 300 million people living on less than US$1 a day and another 500 million on less than US$2 a day. Nearly half of all children are undernourished. At least 80 million people go to bed hungry. Christian Aid partners help farmers increase their self-suffi ciency by diversifying crops.

PHILIPPINES

Ministers adopted desperate measures to quell anger as rice prices surged 50 per cent between March and June. Hoarders were warned they could be imprisoned for life, troops were drafted in to deliver subsidised rice to poor areas, and restaurants were urged to offer customers half portions. Christian Aid partners work to strengthen the rights and incomes of the urban poor and of small farmers.

BANGLADESH A FAMILY OF FIVE

Income: £11.62 a weekProportion spent on

food: £8.54 – roughly 73 per cent

What they buy:

2kg rice50g lentilsVegetables/spinachEdible oil/vegetable oilOnion, garlic, tamarind and spices

‘People used to say a Bangalee lives on rice and lentils,’ says Reena, 32, a button- fi tter in a garment factory, who lives with

her rickshaw-puller husband, Nannu, and children, Nurunnahar, 13, Pannu, six, and Toma, three, in Dhaka. ‘But the price of rice has doubled in the last six months and with it, the prices of oil, vegetables and even potatoes, the cheapest item in the market. The price of lentils is so high that, like meat, we can only afford it a few times in a month. I take money from one source to pay the next. It is a life running on borrowing. But for how long?’

As much as 70 per cent of poor families’ incomes must go on feeding themselves

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have had a ruinous effect on their ability to feed themselves.

These include the removal of protective tariffs from agricultural produce, leaving markets open to heavily subsidised food exports from richer nations. Local farmers and agricultural businesses have found themselves undercut,

and have gone out of business.Poor countries have also been

forced to reduce subsidies for local producers and lift price controls. In addition, agricultural boards, which would once have bought up surpluses to hold stocks in readiness for shortages, have been closed down, along with the state banks that used

to provide loans for agricultural production. With the opening up of markets, donors and corporations have promoted cash crops (fl owers, tobacco or biofuels) for export, which have taken over the most productive land and squeezed out domestic food producers.

The United States’ growing demand for biofuels is having a particularly devastating impact on Latin America and the Caribbean, two areas which have relied heavily in recent years on imports of maize from the US because of trade liberalisation. Today, surplus US maize is turned into ethanol, now blended into more than 50 per cent of the petrol sold in the US.

Although the intention of encouraging cash crops has been to raise the incomes of marginal producers, such crops have reduced agricultural diversity, and left countries reliant on the cheap imports of staples from abroad. Investing equally in staple crop production would have reduced the risk of food shortages and enhanced opportunities for development, but investment in food production in the developing world has slumped in recent years.

Twenty years ago, some 20 per cent of foreign aid spent by rich countries went to help agriculture in the developing world. By 2006 that fi gure had fallen to less than three per cent as health and education projects took precedence. Spending by many poor countries, meanwhile, is massively tilted towards urban

SRI LANKA

Many people now spend about 80 per cent of their incomes on food and at least two million families are not getting the minimum amount of rice they need. Since March 2007 rice prices have risen by up to 80 per cent. Christian Aid partner the Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform (Monlar) is working to build a consensus between academics and NGOs about how politicians should tackle the crisis.

TAJIKISTAN

Research funded by Christian Aid has revealed the impact of climate change, with crop failures and an increase in animal and plant diseases. Last winter was the coldest for 30 years. Electricity, gas and water were rationed, and bread prices doubled. An invasion of locusts followed. Unrest is increasing, especially in remote areas. Christian Aid partners are helping farmers diversify and adopt new farming methods.

GUATEMALA

Even before the food crisis, Guatemalan children were among the world’s most malnourished. Almost 60 per cent of people are poor and 21 per cent endure extreme poverty. Since food prices began rising, even many with a regular income cannot make ends meet. Christian Aid partners include Bethania, which runs a health centre with a specialist infant-malnutrition clinic in the poorest area of the country.

INDIA A FAMILY OF SEVEN

Income: £8 a weekProportion spent on food: £4.15 – about 56 per cent (rest on electricity and rent)

What they buy:

10 small potatoes 10 small onions¼kg of lentils/ pulses9kg of wheat fl our (used to be 15) to make chappatisGreen chilli (occasionally)Meat (chicken or mutton) – once every two months

Security guard Vinod, 40, his wife, Manju, 35, who works as a maid, and their children: Anitham, 13, Rachna, ten, Sewa, nine, Nitin, seven, and Ajay, three, live in a camp near New Delhi for migrants from the countryside, and eat only to survive. There are days when they eat chappatis using only raw onions and green chillies. Before, twice a month, they had the luxury of buying either chicken or mutton, but that has been reduced to once in two months. Vegetable prices have shot up and now they can only buy potatoes and onions. Their motto is heartbreaking: ‘Eat less, if possible avoid eating.’

Countries have been left reliant on the cheap imports of staples from abroad

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areas. Five years ago African heads of government committed to allocate at least 10 per cent of their budget to agriculture and rural development by 2008. Data from 24 countries this year shows that just six have reached that target. Average rural investment among the 24 was 6.6 per cent.

Other factors exacerbating the present food shortages include extreme weather conditions caused by global warming – the droughts and fl oods that have hit harvests hard in a number of countries. The sharp rise in the price of oil has pushed up transport costs as well as the costs of fertiliser, seeds, pump irrigation, food processing and other agricultural necessities. Hedge funds moving in to speculate in food commodities have also forced prices up, as has the decision by some major food-producing countries to limit exports during the present crisis to protect their own stocks.

A growing demand for meat among the emerging middle classes in some parts of the world has also had an effect as livestock requires feed.

In some countries, population growth has contributed to worsening poverty, while another factor accounting for shortages has been the steady movement of people from rural areas to towns and cities, where they are very unlikely to be able to grow their own food.

Christian Aid believes that nothing less than a pro-poor revolution in agricultural thinking

HAITI

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. Some 2.4 million Haitians – a quarter of the population – cannot afford the minimum calorifi c intake recommended by the World Health Organisation. Mud cakes – which sell for 1.3p each – have become the staple diet in one of the capital’s most notorious slums, Cité Soleil, as the cost of food soars beyond a family’s reach. The global food and fuel crisis has hit

Haiti harder than perhaps any other country. ‘Food is available but people cannot afford to buy it. We could have starvation in the next six to 12 months,’ says Prospery Raymond, Christian’s Aid’s country director. Meanwhile, Haitian president René Préval has praised Christian Aid partner Veterimed for its work in organising small farmers to transport and market milk, generating jobs and income – and reducing the country’s reliance on milk imports.

BURKINA FASO

Food price increases of up to 65 per cent are devastating in the world’s least developed country. A 2006 survey found a third of under-fi ves were stunted and almost a quarter emaciated. The World Food Programme currently supports 490,000 of the 14 million population. Christian Aid’s partners train farmers to adapt to climate change. See feature, page 18

GUATEMALA A FAMILY OF FIVE

Income: maximum £7.61 a weekProportion spent on food: £4.60 – 60 per cent (used to be 40 per cent)What they buy

10 eggs2kg tortillas¼kg salt½kg coffee4kgs sugar (in coffee)

Leonarda, 27, and Edilberto, 21, have three children: Bretsi, six, Rony, fi ve, and baby Jose, two. They live in Puerto San Jose, on Guatemala’s Pacifi c coast. Edilberto earns his living by cutting down coconuts

– climbing the trees to cut them down by hand. In Guatemala, maize prices have risen 30 per cent in the past two years. Edilberto says: ‘We’ve had to stop buying milk for our two-year-old baby. What we earn at the moment isn’t enough to feed ourselves properly, nor to buy medicines for our children. Normally we eat just twice a day – we don’t have enough for dinner anymore. Even though I’ve never earned much, we used to be able to afford a bit of meat and chicken now and again. But nowadays all we can afford to eat are tortillas, eggs and beans.’


Nothing less than a pro-poor revolution in agricultural thinking is required

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is now required to prevent food shortages recurring with remorseless regularity.

Earlier this year, the UK government quietly signed up to a remarkable document – the Synthesis Report of the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development. The report, initiated by the World Bank in partnership with a number of UN agencies, assesses formal science and technology, but also draws on local and traditional knowledge, and ‘recognises the different needs of different regions and communities’.

The result is a radical jettisoning of much of the ‘one size fi ts all’ trade liberalisation philosophy against which Christian Aid and other development agencies have

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Food prices in Kinshasa, the capital, have roughly doubled since last December, leading may people to cut the number of meals they eat. In some parts of the east, the region worst affected by a war that has raged since 1996, almost one in fi ve people suffer from acute malnutrition. Christian Aid partners include organisations trying to rebuild lives and livelihoods in vulnerable and isolated communities.

EGYPT

At least 11 people have died in queues for subsidised bread in Egypt since February this year – most from exhaustion, but one person was shot dead and three wounded in a brawl for a place in a queue. Christian Aid partners include an organisation helping small-scale farmers unite in co-operatives to sell their produce directly to market. Partners have also helped fi shermen campaign for their

rights and raised awareness about sustainable fi shing practices.

ETHIOPIA

UNICEF warned in June that some 126,000 children were so severely malnourished they faced death, and a further six million were in danger of malnutrition. The Ethiopian government and humanitarian organisations have said 4.6 million people need food aid. An assessment by Christian Aid and

KENYA A FAMILY OF SEVEN


food: £2.53 – about 50 per cent

What they buy:

3 packets of maize fl our 3kg rice 2kg sugar 2 cabbages Tea 4kg maize2kg beans280 litres water

Boniface Mumo, 55, a cobbler, lives with his wife, Jane, and fi ve children, in a slum district of Kibera. They have to skip a meal – usually lunch – to be able to meet other expenses. They say the increased food prices have also affected families emotionally. There is frequent quarrelling between wives and husbands on what food to buy and in what quantities.

Food crisis: a silent tsunami


Opening national agricultural markets to international competition before basic institutions are in place can undermine the agricultural sector

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long campaigned. It includes the following admission. ‘There is growing concern that opening national agricultural markets to international competition before basic institutions and infrastructure are in place can undermine the agricultural sector, with long-term negative effects for poverty, food security and the environment.’

This recognition has come too late for many poor farmers. Having confronted the issue, however, the report goes on to detail the various ways in which past wrongs can be put right.

Important options include increasing small-scale farmers’ access to land and economic resources, and to urban and export markets, as well as providing them with access to microcredit and other fi nancial services.

With the proportion of women in agricultural production as high

as 70 per cent in some countries, the report also calls for them to have greater access to education, information, science and technology, and credit schemes.

Christian Aid urges the UK government to push for this document to become the template for a fundamentally new approach to agriculture in the developing world.

In championing the rights of small-scale farmers, Christian Aid is not romanticising the life of the rural poor. Rather, we are recognising a body of evidence that suggests small-scale farms are often more productive than large-scale operations.

With so much of the world’s population, particularly in poorer countries, dependent on small-scale farming for survival, those following this way of life should be supported and encouraged – not penalised.

its partners in two southern regions found a ‘critical need’ for food aid and agricultural supplies. Together with partners, we will supply seeds and fertilisers to 41,050 households.

KENYA

The violence that followed last December’s elections left more than 1,300 people dead, caused 500,000 to fl ee their homes and devastated farms in the Rift Valley Province – Kenya’s

‘grain basket’. By March, only 10 to 20 per cent of land there was ready for cultivation. Soaring farming costs – the price of fertlisers, for example, has trebled this year – have added to farmers’ problems. Food prices are expected to remain high into 2009. Christian Aid partners include Northern Aid, a Muslim organisation that helps pastoralists who have lost their way of life as a result of drought, which has compounded the crisis.

MALAWI

Dry spells and fl oods since the start of the year have damaged and in some cases destroyed harvests. The price of fertiliser has doubled in a year, and a subsidy programme is failing to reach those that need it most. The price of fuel has also soared, increasing the cost of transporting food around the country. The situation is potentially so serious that Christian Aid has been carrying out a vulnerability assessment.

HAITI A FAMILY OF SEVEN

Income: (mother and daughter combined) £13 a week Proportion spent on

food: £11.50 – 88 per cent

What they buy:

5kg rice1 gallon soya oil3 litres of milk2¼kg beans500g salamichilli sauce400g tomatoes

4kg spaghetti3 peppers5 fl at bread

Nathalie Fanfan, 25, has to feed six family members on what she earns working with Christian Aid partner Aprosifa, teaching art to young people at risk of violent lifestyles. ‘I cannot spend more than that. We have decided to cut two of our three meals a day. We now have just one.’

HONDURAS A FAMILY OF SIX


food: Virtually all, plus a little on school materials

What they buy:

18kg maize (for tortillas)2¼kg beans10 eggs1kg rice½kg butter1¾ sugar½kg saltFruit and vegetables from the garden

The family, 40-year-old farm labourer Eugenio, his wife, Maria, 28, and children Marvin, 11, Bairon, eight, Jessica,

fi ve, and Lesbia, three, don’t eat meat or drink milk because they can’t afford to. They supplement their income by growing maize and beans and a few other fruit and vegetables. ‘We eat everything we harvest – there’s nothing left over to sell. And we spend all our income on food and school things for the children. We can’t afford meat or milk,’ says Eugenio.

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More information and pictures at www.christianaid.org.uk/foodcrisis


‘Christian Aid News18

BURKINA FASO ranks 174 out of 177 on the UN’s developing nations index. It’s about as poor as a country can be. Recently it’s as if Africa has become just a big place where bad news comes from, a vast disaster area. We are encouraged to engage with it out of guilt or pity and I had only prepared myself for the downside. I really wasn’t ready for the devastating beauty of the place. That’s what overwhelmed me from the moment I arrived. Sure, it’s awful as well. I saw a dead body lying in the road and I don’t know what could be worse than that, but

never forget Africa is overall a source of more good news than bad.

I wasn’t sure what to expect in Burkina Faso. It’s a country that doesn’t have weather in the sense we have weather. It has a climate. It is very hot and dry for half the year, and then it is very hot and wet. The effects of climate change are already being felt out on the plain. It’s gradually getting hotter and the wet season is getting shorter. Practically everyone here is a farmer and because they have been forced to adapt, they’re actually leading the way in

sustainable farming practices. At Zongou I saw a new reservoir, built

by townspeople, which has transformed 100 acres of savannah into an idyllic market garden. Successful farms in the western world do have a certain grandiose majesty. There is something beautiful about the scale of intensive farms, in the way that a skyscraper is beautiful – slightly austere, but still magnifi cent. But the human scale of the succession of tiny precious gardens in Zongou was of a different order, the closest thing to paradise I’ve ever seen.

Rock musician Alex James found fame with the group Blur before turning his hand to farming. Recently, he travelled with Christian Aid to Burkina Faso, to see how new techniques are helping farmers there adapt to increasingly unpredictable extremes of weather. Here, Alex offers his impressions of one of the world’s poorest countries

‘Burkina is as close to paradise as it is to ruin’

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CHRISTIAN AID IN BURKINA FASO

Since Christian Aid began working in Burkina Faso in the 1970s, its climate has become increasingly dry. As traditional crops fail to yield enough for communities to meet their needs, our partners are helping small-scale farmers to adapt by integrating new methods of farming including market gardening, soil conservation and the use of improved seeds. This approach builds communities’ resilience to changes in their climate, and helps protect the fragile environment.

Christian Aid also works through its partners SOS SIDA and SEMUS to raise awareness of HIV, ensure those living with the virus receive care and support, and reduce stigma.

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Christian Aid News

circle. They are a handsome race: tall and slender with the perfect poise that develops from carrying heavy things on their heads. The women walk like they are wearing high heels, but most of them had bare feet. Some of them had their children tied on their backs as well as boulders on their heads, but now the work was done. The younger girls had formed another circle and were clapping along to a different melody. It was an enchanting scene, a cacophony of bright overlapping sounds and colours. Trees, the likes of which I’d never seen before, stretched to infi nity in all directions on the plain, not like a forest, though, more like parkland on a grand country estate. Things couldn’t have been more perfectly organised if Capability Brown had come here and done a number. The heat, nudging 45ºC, made everything seem even less realistic. That and the hypnotic beauty of the varying shapes and patterns of the trees against the red, fl at landscape, and the singing, all added up to the strangest Wednesday for a while. ‘They are saying they want to make you a chief,’ said the interpreter.

Then it seemed even less likely that I was awake. I fetched my guitar and sang the fi rst two verses of The Windmill in Old Amsterdam for them, which they liked. ‘You must come back,’ they told me, and I promised I would.

Down the road a little old lady invited me into her house, shooing away a guinea fowl that ran out with one hand

and gesturing me to come inside with the other. I assumed they were quite a well-to-do family as she told me, through the interpreter, that her eldest son had four wives and she had 60 grandchildren. There was a wall around the household buildings enclosing a number of clay bedrooms and thatched grain and bean stores all shaped like turrets, and shady areas to sit in.

We sat on the straw mat that she slept on at night, surrounded by big friendly pots. There was no plumbing, electricity or healthcare – there is not one ambulance in the whole country and the average life expectancy is only 47, mainly due to HIV – but the downside wasn’t immediately obvious for now. For the time being, a world without minutes or cash seemed idyllic. Of course these people need help sometimes, but it’s not the fi rst thing that crosses your mind.

Had she heard of David Beckham? I asked, trying to fi x how far I was from home. It had taken a day of aeroplanes and half a day’s drive on rough roads in a 4x4 to get here, 100 miles north of Ouagadougou. ‘No.’ ‘What about Elvis Presley, Blue Suede Shoes?’ Even the interpreter, who was from the capital, didn’t know who I was talking about now.

Later we planted some peanut seeds – tiny little drops in the vast landscape with its huge weather conditions – and as we eked out Allie’s compost over the peanuts I heard myself saying a prayer.

IN THE COUNTRY

Following his trip to Burkina Faso, Alex James spent a day at the Royal Show in July visiting Christian Aid’s Farming for the Future garden. He used the setting as a backdrop for radio and TV interviews, including Radio 4’s On Your Farm; he also recorded interviews for Midlands Today, Premier Radio, Smooth FM and Carbon Free TV. His visit has also been featured in Geographical magazine

Opposite: Alex helps tribeswomen carry rocks for dry-stone walling Left: meeting farmer Karore Elier

Although it’s all as close to paradise as it is to ruin, there is hope. We walked through endless tiny gardens sprouting rice, bananas, aubergines, cabbages. I couldn’t imagine anything more lovely.

A 78-year-old man called Allie showed me his fertiliser beds. He’d dug two swimming pool-sized pits with a pickaxe and a shovel and fi lled them with a gigantic terrine of layers of animal dung, straw and vegetable waste to produce a weapons-grade organic fertiliser. I helped him make a demi-lune, a semi-circular vegetable bed, scooping out the soil from the inside to form a ridge around the edge to help trap the rain when it arrives.

The demi-lunes are one element in the larger process of adapting to climate change in Burkina. Making the most of decreasing rainfall is the key. Out in the savannah, near the town of Gourcy, I helped the tribeswomen construct low dry-stone walls to stop rainwater from running away.

When we had fi nished, the women started singing, shuffl ing their feet rhythmically, walking around in a big

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Right: Douglas Alexander on a visit to Bangladesh. Far right: Nick Clegg in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

With the credit crunch, higher oil and food prices and lower house prices stoking up anxiety and hardship at home, there is a danger that the problems of the developing world will slip off the agenda. But the food crisis and successive natural disasters have highlighted the dire plight of the world’s most vulnerable countries. Progress on reaching the Millennium Development Goals has stalled. What should the UK and the world’s richer nations be doing now? What are the key development challenges? Over the following four pages senior politicians from the UK’s three national parties give their assessment – and Christian Aid assesses the assessors…

THE GOVERNMENT VIEWDouglas Alexander MP, secretary of state for international development

UN SECRETARY General Ban Ki-moon has called for 2008 to be a year of action for development. He will host a meeting in September, at the suggestion of the British government, to look at how the world can fulfi l the promises made to the world’s poor in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

World leaders attending that meeting will be able to point to real progress, helped by the increases in aid and agreements to cancel debt that many of you campaigned for as part of the Make Poverty History movement. Zambia has secured free health care for people living in rural areas. Tanzania has built schools, recruited thousands of teachers and brought an extra four million children into school.

Yet we know, too, that the world is not on track to fulfi l the MDGs by 2015. Three billion people live on less than US$2 a day. Some 75 million children are not in school. Ten million children continue to die each year from avoidable diseases.

That is why, as the UK government, we are determined to play our part in accelerating progress to meet the MDGs. The Department for International Development’s work helps to lift three million people out of poverty every year, and by 2010 our overseas aid will have more than trebled in real terms.

Yet our aims are not limited to aid alone, for although aid is necessary to tackle hunger, illiteracy and disease, it will not be suffi cient to address the underlying problems of poverty.

Christian Aid activists know all too well that development is about more than aid, and they have been at the heart of the Jubilee 2000 alliance for debt

relief, the Fairtrade Foundation and the Trade Justice Movement. Moreover, events this year have also highlighted that aid alone will not be enough to eradicate global poverty.

Rising food prices are threatening to reverse many of the gains that we have made on tackling hunger and poverty around the world. So alongside the UK’s £585 million aid package for short-term relief and to develop agriculture, we are also pressing for a fairer global trading system to give poor farmers better access to the markets of rich countries.

Cyclone Nargis in Burma, and before it Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh, were also terrible reminders of the power of natural disasters to lead to human tragedy. Put simply, if we don’t tackle climate change globally, people in developing countries will face more disasters, more droughts and greater suffering.

The UK has therefore

A promise to the world’s poor

‘Events this year have shown that aid alone is not enough to end global poverty’

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THE LIB DEMS Nick Clegg MP, leader, Liberal Democrats

2008 SHOULD have marked the halfway point towards the achievement of the MDGs. These goals were agreed by world leaders in 2000 and while in some ways ambitious, they were only meant to be the fi rst step towards creating a more equitable and developed world. After all, reducing extreme poverty and hunger by half by 2015 is not the same as eradicating them. Sadly, however, we are not even nearly halfway to meeting the MDGs and in many instances the UN has reported that there has been

‘no progress’ whatsoever. Progress was already stunted,

but with the current global food price crisis, there is a real risk that development will be set back even further. In fact, such is the scale of the food crisis that the UN secretary general stated it could mean ‘seven lost years’ for the MDGs. Indeed, this crisis also puts international security, economic growth and social progress at stake.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have issued stark warnings of the consequences of the food crisis. Trust funds and aid funds set up by the world’s richest countries are on the verge of running

committed £800 million for an international fund to help prevent dangerous climate change and protect poor countries from now-inevitable change. We are also working hard to negotiate a post-Kyoto deal that is ambitious and fair.

I know that these issues of food prices, trade and climate change are among the principal concerns of readers of Christian Aid News – not least because my colleagues and I receive letters and emails telling me so.

I grew up delivering Christian Aid envelopes, so it is a privilege – and a heavy burden of responsibility – to receive letters from Christian Aid activists today. I hope that all readers of Christian Aid News will continue to write to me with their concerns and ideas for how we can better tackle global poverty. I am convinced that together, we can continue to make a lasting difference to millions of lives.

If you wish to learn more, you can contact me at: [email protected]

‘It is not only our moral duty to help avert starvation across the developing world, it is also in our own self-interest’



THE CONSERVATIVES’ VIEWAndrew Mitchell MP, shadow secretary of state for international development

PEOPLE IN poor countries will face a set of tough challenges in the years ahead. It is the task of everyone who is passionate about international development to make sure we respond to these in a constructive, compassionate way. Above all, the effects of climate change will hit poor people fi rst and hardest. Disasters will become more frequent, and resource shortages could contribute to war and confl ict. This raises diffi cult questions: why should poor countries pay for a problem caused largely by rich countries? Will a well-intentioned concern over ‘food miles’ put poor farmers out of business? Are biofuels the answer to the world energy crisis, or are they pushing up food prices? Christian Aid was

out of grant money to fi nance school-feeding, mother-and-child nutrition and food-for-work programmes.

Rich western countries must not be distracted by their own economic diffi culties. It is not only our moral duty to help avert starvation across the developing world, it is also in our own self-interest to avoid the political instability and mass migration which result from humanitarian disasters. There are no easy solutions, but there is plenty we can do to help resolve this crisis. In the short term the World Bank has called for suffi cient funding for a ‘rapid fi nancing facility’ for food aid, and a programme to get seed and fertilisers to small farmers, especially in Africa.

Beyond that, we must look again at our policy on biofuels. Many thought these were the quick fi x to our renewable energy problems, but US and EU targets and subsidies for biofuels have rapidly increased their production, diverting agricultural land and potential food harvests and contributing to the rise in food prices. We need not abandon biofuels altogether, but we must look again at the targets and ensure future production is sustainable.

A conclusion to the Doha round of World Trade Organisation talks is crucial if developing economies are to have equal access to global agricultural markets. US, European and Japanese domestic agricultural subsidies have long disadvantaged the developing world, and this crisis reinforces the case for opening up markets to farmers in the developing world. While we brace ourselves for economic downturn, we must remember that there are millions of people in the developing world facing the breadline. The UK government and its western counterparts must not lose sight of that and should act urgently.

I welcome your views. Please email me at [email protected]

one of the fi rst organisations to identify environmental issues as a key challenge for the developing world – and it was right to do so. The challenges are economic as well as environmental. As the effects of the credit crunch ricochet around the world, poor people face the triple threats of global economic slow-down, sky-rocketing food prices and expensive oil. Food prices are already posing problems for people in Britain, but the effect on poor families in developing countries has been catastrophic – and as a result we’ve seen food riots in Haiti, Mozambique, Bangladesh and elsewhere. So we must improve aid to agriculture – and allow poor countries access to our markets. International trade has the potential to lift millions of people out of poverty, as it has done in Asia over the past decade. We must break the deadlock at the world trade talks

‘We must improve aid to agriculture – and allow poor countries access to our markets’

Right: Andrew Mitchell on a development visit to Africa

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The political parties must now seek to address the gap between rhetoric and practice

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THE UK’S main political parties used to be distinguished by their ability to quibble over whether international assistance did any good. Remarkably, all are now on the record as committing to a timetable to deliver Britain’s long-standing commitment to devote 0.7 per cent of government expenditure to aid.

Christian Aid welcomes this consensus. Years of tireless campaigning have evidently left their mark. However, there’s still work to be done in holding rich countries to their promises. In 2005, they pledged to double aid. By that projection, they are $40 billion short. We need to move beyond the consensus on 0.7 per cent to address the underlying causes of poverty.

All three parties recognise the need to help poor countries pull through not just the effects of the current fi nancial crisis but also cope with the rise in food and energy prices. We must recognise that the food crisis offers not just a threat but an opportunity. This is to see the folly of past policies that forced poor governments to switch support from food farming into growing crops such as tea, coffee and fl owers for export, while opening up their markets, which wiped out their capacity to produce food. The food crisis is not just a result of biofuels but a crisis of small farming. We now have an opportunity to reverse these

So have the politicians got it right? Charles Abugre, head of global advocacy and policy, notes a

growing consensus among the parties, but calls for them to help turn the rich world’s talk into action

policies in the knowledge that small farms are less energy-intensive and as productive as large farms.

The political parties must now seek to address the gap between rhetoric and practice. During the free trade negotiations between the EU and the former colonies of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacifi c (ACP), there was much talk about free trade being in the interest of poor countries. But ACP countries were put under huge pressure by the EU to accept a deal which will destroy their efforts at regional integration and cut down tax revenues. We believe deeply in the power of trade to reduce poverty and are calling for the reopening of negotiations based on promoting development.

The loss of corporate taxes is currently costing the developing world £80 billion a year – more than one and a half times the combined aid budgets of the rich world. We will commence a campaign on tax in 2009 aimed at equipping poor countries to make their own choices about the tax they need to pay for development.

Finally, the energy and food crises are small manifestations of the environmental crisis, the impact of which is heaviest on the poor. Without bold action by rich countries to change radically the sources of energy and energy consumption, we have little hope of reducing, let alone eradicating poverty. Britain must show leadership at home by committing to at least an 80 per cent cut in CO2 emissions by 2050 and also show international leadership during the global negotiations. We also urge all political parties to support our call for an international agreement based on principles of equity and fairness, and where historic responsibility for emissions as well as the present capability to act is balanced alongside the right of poor countries to develop in a climate-constrained world.

A welcome consensus, but…

and help the poorest countries kick-start this powerful engine of growth and poverty alleviation.

A vital question for us in the developed world is how to get the biggest possible reduction in poverty from every pound we spend as aid. The Conservative party is committed to increasing British aid to 0.7 per cent of national income by 2013. But quality matters as much as quantity. The Department for International Development – which I believe is the world’s best government aid agency – needs to do a better job of assessing the impact of its aid, demonstrating concrete achievements, and channelling its money through the most effective international bodies. The prize for success is amazing – for example, the World Health Organisation is on the brink of eradicating polio from the face of the earth. Effective aid can save millions of lives – so we must ensure that all our resources are well-targeted.

Another key challenge for us in the UK is how to raise awareness of international development issues, and how we can harness the skills and talents of the thousands of people here who want to make a difference. For some, this may be collecting money for Christian Aid Week or giving a present from Christian Aid’s inventive gift catalogue. Others will want to go further and volunteer to work in a developing country.

The Conservative international development team hopes to make a modest contribution in this respect through Project Umubano, which this year will see around 100 Conservative volunteers undertake development projects in Rwanda. We hope they will return to the UK with fi rst-hand experience of life in a developing country, inspired and energised to campaign for change.

Politicians must engage with the people they serve. To learn more about our approach to development, email me on andrew [email protected]

What are your thoughts on what the politicians have to say about international development?

Write to the Editor, Christian Aid News, PO Box 100, London SE1 7RT or email [email protected]


Inputyour mail

Too poor to eatMy reaction to Prospery Raymond’s views (Comment, Issue 40) is to add ‘Amen’ after his various points and to ask when will Christian Aid move from advocacy for Haiti into actively supporting Haitian food producers? There are more than nine million mouths to feed as well as the need to earn foreign currency from an agricultural base.

That the Haitian leaders have got it wrong is evident from the mass migration of rural dwellers to the slums of the towns where they have no land, no skills, no income and little hope. Part of the problem derives from the hurricanes that destroy life, property, infrastructure and crops; but what attention has been paid to improving the quality of life in the rural areas? Where are the rural schools, hospitals, police, produce collection and sales centres?

Good governance must be at the heart of Haiti’s revival.Good governance must address a range of issues including: rebuilding the irrigation systems supplying water to farmers; re-addressing the idea of reviving the sugar industry for local consumption and ethanol production; crop marketing methods; and land reform. Sound agricultural and educational leadership is most important for sustained development.Lewis Wallisvia emailEditor’s reply: Christian Aid supports a project called Veterimed, which has

opened dairies throughout Haiti, giving farmers a market for their milk, which is processed into yoghurt and cheese. Christian Aid believes this kind of agricultural investment is the only way forward for Haiti.

Platform soulsI am largely in agreement with Kathy Owston’s letter (Input, issue 40). The £10 million from the Department for International Development, to be spent on sending young people on exposure trips to developing countries, looks to me a waste of a large resource. I am a very committed supporter of Christian Aid and admire so much of what you do and how you work with local partners. However, reading the article about Platform 2 (News, page 6) I am not impressed, particularly as the proposed work will be in conservation areas, not in the realities of village life such as building schools and the need for accessible drinking water. Margaret BellamyDoncaster

Elephant in the roomAlthough I have been a regular supporter for a number of years, I fi nd myself increasingly frustrated at what appears to a complete lack of comment about the problems caused by the continuing explosion in the world’s population. The latest issue of Christian Aid News is a case in point.

Poverty is mentioned often and reference made to the


Issue 40 Summer 2008 www.christianaid.org.uk

Christian Aid Week: all in a good week’s work

We go inside the stricken country to see how

Christian Aid is helping cyclone victims

Special report: the hidden cost of tax dodgingClimate campaign: making our next move

The pain of Burma

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In this issue Readers respond to our invitation to say what Christian Aid means to you, and others offer their thoughts on issues from Platform2 to the link between population and poverty

WHEN I heard about Platform2 I knew I had to give it a go as volunteering abroad was something I’d never had the opportunity to do. I wanted to get out there and see how people live in the developing world. After spending ten weeks in Ghana, I really appreciate what I’ve got here now. Although the poverty is bad in many parts of Ghana, the area where we stayed was not as bad as I thought. The people are happy and they wouldn’t like it if they came here! I do want to help people more now.

I put everything into the experience – we all did and we worked really well as a group. Our team worked on a wildlife project, creating a conservation area up the Afdjato Mountain. We had to clear areas of weeds and fi ll bags of soil for tree

What an eye-opener

Refl ection

Katy Szum is 20 and from Walsall, West Midlands, where she has lived all her life. Katy (below) left school at 16 and has worked in retail for the past four years. She has just returned from Ghana, where she went as one of the fi rst volunteers on the Platform2 scheme. Here’s Katy’s verdict on the experience

planting for the tree nursery. We also painted the new public toilets and helped to improve the visitor centre by painting the walls and hanging new curtains. It was hard work but not as hard as the farm work that the local people did. It made us realise how hard farmers work over there. They don’t really have any money – they get all their food from farming and their money goes on things like paying for school, not luxuries.

Now I’m back I’m enjoying telling people about the experience and persuading other young people I know to apply to Platform2. I’m really looking forward to the Express Day when we plan how we’re going to use the experience in the UK. And I’ll be volunteering with Christian Aid at Greenbelt – see you there!

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Inspired? Enraged? Send your views to the editor.Christian Aid News, PO Box 100, London SE1 7RT or email [email protected]

Enquiries or requests for information should be sent to Supporter Relations at the address on page 3


causes, but nowhere is there even a passing comment about the problems caused by overpopulation.

When my wife and I were in South Africa some two years ago, the heir apparent to President Mbeki was on trial, accused of rape. There was a rather critical editorial in the Cape Town Times regarding the number of children the accused had fathered by different women. In the same paper a few days later, a man had written in to say that the paper had no right to criticise, since they obviously did not understand that in his culture, the more children a man had the higher his status. The poverty trap will always be there with this attitude.

We were all very moved by the terrible scenes of starvation in Ethiopia in the 1980s, when the fi rst Live Aid concert took place. Since then, despite drought and the inability to feed many of its people, the population of Ethiopia and many other African states has continued to increase at an alarming rate. This puts intolerable pressure on dwindling productive land and water resources and provides us with ever more distressing scenes of babies, children and adults struggling to survive. We know, of course, that it is not just in Africa where this has been happening.

Surely, after so many years of failure, with a culture of aid dependency and the situation in Africa getting steadily worse, it is time for a re-think and to grasp some nettles. Yes, children are a blessing. However, to have more than one can feed is a form of cruelty and should be discouraged not admired.

The main reason that companies are able to have products made so cheaply in India and elsewhere is that there are too many mouths to

feed and therefore the work that is available is done at subsistence wages. With the continuing increase in population this situation will never improve until the culture changes and the education improves.John Burtonvia email

I have worked as a volunteer surgeon in Kenya since 1999. In that time its population has grown by a half. Kenya has many children, greatly exceeding what it can hope to educate, provide healthcare for or fi nd employment for. This is a major problem that I rarely see even mentioned in your excellent Christian Aid News. As I see it, unless this enormous growth can be moderated it will only lead to widespread hunger and increased violence. The recent violence in Kenya following the elections demonstrates this. It was largely the poor fi ghting the poor. David SarsonSunderland

Weight of evidenceAnita Ballin (Input, issue 40) is surely wise to question any bold claims, by reputable experts and organisations alike, about subjects as complex as human development opportunities and extreme poverty; wise also to exercise caution before adding to the stock of claims. During an extensive career spent trying to make sense of economic aspects of life, however, I have learnt to enhance any appreciation of major issues I might have by reading, listening to and thinking about expert pronouncements but to rely, ultimately, for any view or inspiration to action, on my very weak but assuredly more reliable Christian faith.Stephen Heasellvia email

Who are we?In the last issue of Christian Aid News we asked for your

thoughts on the role and nature of Christian Aid. Here are

some of your responses:

Christian Aid has always meant supporting the poorest of the world in the most practical manner, a role which it continues to fulfi l. I am delighted that Christian Aid has also become much more political, and is prepared to highlight issues that our government should actually be making us aware of, such as the effects of corporate tax evasion. And at a time when people in Zimbabwe are dying for their right to have a free vote, it is only right that a Christian organisation should be supporting them in every way possible, whether by offering refuge or speaking out against the horrors of the Mugabe regime. How can we not? Well done, Christian Aid, for encouraging us to look at long-term solutions that challenge how we live our lives.Karen McMullanBallyclare

We people of faith live within a culture whose ‘possession-ism’ is grossly at odds with the teachings of Jesus and the prophets of our religions. Christian Aid embodies for me the much more down-to-earth and realistic facts of life. People matter; we are one family; I live in a rich country by an accident of birth. Even on a low wage, I live in luxury compared to two-thirds of the world; ‘the spare coat in your closet belongs to the man who has none’; life is as fair as we make it; it’s not charity, it’s justice. Christian Aid? It’s life as if we really did love one another.Paul Raynervia email

My perception is that Christian Aid is an organisation that seeks to enable all people to have a fair share of the earth’s resources in the form of food, water, healthcare, education, shelter, and so on, by being able to provide for themselves in a sustainable way.John PrattKettering

I feel saddened and angry that the Christian aspect is taken out of Christian Aid. There is rarely any mention of God and especially Jesus. I think it is fantastic that Christian Aid helps people of any religious belief or none, but my worry is that Jesus and God are not mentioned in Christian Aid News to make it more palatable to non-Christian readers. Celia WebsterLondonEditor’s reply: There is no attempt to make this magazine ‘palatable’ to non-Christian readers. As for our beliefs, a colleague once put it to me like this: ‘We are inspired by the gospel and make the love of God visible in what we do. But ours is not an evangelical agency – like Jesus, we give, expecting nothing in return, not even faith.’ Another colleague, a wiser man than I, summed it up thus: ‘Aid is what we do, Christian is why we do it.’ I hope that helps.

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Do the right thing


More and more couples are keen to give wedding guests the chance to buy them an ethical gift

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AS MORE and more couples co-habit before getting married the need for those ‘fi rst home’ basics is becoming a thing of the past. Increasingly, modern couples are turning to ethical gifts as an alternative to the traditional department store wedding present list.

With choices from as little as £6, a Present Aid wedding gift list has something to suit everyone’s budget and each one will make a lasting difference to the world’s poorest communities.

Gifts range from a reading manual for a women’s literacy project in Sudan (£6) to a community tap providing clean, safe drinking water to hundreds of people in Nicaragua (£45).

Eco-warriors can buy 2,000 saplings to be planted in Honduras which help stop soil erosion, prevent deadly mudslides during tropical storms and protect the environment (£35), while animal lovers can opt for 16 cute ducks for a family in Bangladesh; the eggs not only provide vital income but improve the family diet (£24).

Chris Russell, Christian Aid’s head of interactive marketing, says: ‘There is an increasing trend for more socially conscious weddings and more and more couples are keen to give guests the chance to buy them an ethical

More ethical than a toaster

gift. The wedding gift list from Present Aid allows friends and family to buy something special which will benefi t poor communities in the developing world for years to come.’

Setting up a wedding gift list is easy and can also be

used in conjunction with a traditional gift list. Simply visit www.presentaid.org/weddinglist and select the gifts you wish to add to your list, then email the link to your guests and spread the happiness of your big day.

Please no more towels or toasters! Have you ever looked at a wedding gift list and wished there was something more interesting to buy the happy couple? Look no further than the new wedding gift list from Present Aid and give the gift of a better life for thousands of people in developing countries.

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CHOCOLATE LOVERS are invited to help celebrate the tenth birthday of Divine Chocolate – in verse.

Ten years ago the concept of a chocolate company co-owned by the farmers growing its main ingredient, cocoa, was hatched. The company would sell Fairtrade chocolate, ensuring the farmers got a fair price and a long-term contract for their crop. It was an idea that Christian Aid saw as a great model for how producers in developing countries could work and earn their way out of poverty – and put its support solidly behind it.

Divine Chocolate has been a fantastic success story, which is great news for the Kuapa Kokoo farmers’ cooperative in Ghana, which owns 45 per cent. Christian Aid and Divine have worked together over the years to spread the fair-trade message and the benefi ts of farmer ownership. The Divine Poetry Competition has been an annual celebration of this partnership, with entries coming from thousands of budding poets from seven years to 70.

Enter this year, with your poem celebrating how fair trade, farmer ownership and fantastic chocolate can really make a difference. Entry is open to all ages, and poems can be any length or format – with wonderful Divine chocolate prizes to be won.

For details call Rosanna Mayhew on 020 7378 6550, email [email protected] or visit www.divinechocolate.com The deadline for entries is 22 December 2008.

Celebrate a Divine birthday

GIFTS LEFT to Christian Aid in wills account for about ten per cent of our income. That’s enough to pay for all our work in Latin America and the Caribbean where we work with 152 partner organisations in 11 countries. And there is no better time to think about preparing or revising a will than during Will Aid month in November 2008.

Christian Aid has been a key member of the Will Aid partnership since its launch in 1987 in response to the Ethiopian famine. The scheme is simple – people go to see a solicitor who is participating in the scheme and instead of paying the solicitor’s fees for making or changing their wills, they make an equivalent donation to Will Aid. The funds raised in this way are shared between the nine participating charities. In 2006 Christian Aid received more than £90,000 as its share of Will Aid donations. And 90 supporters decided to use the opportunity to remember Christian Aid in their will.

This year, Will Aid runs throughout November, providing an excellent opportunity for anyone who needs to make or update their will. The solicitors can become very busy so we advise that if you would like to advantage of the scheme, you should contact a Will Aid solicitor as early as possible to book an appointment.

For more information about Will Aid, or to fi nd a participating solicitor in your area, please go to www.willaid.org.uk or ring 0300 0300 013.

FOR MORE than ten years Christian Aid, along with our fellow charities the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) and the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF), has been working with Traidcraft to produce a range of ethically sourced Christmas cards for our supporters.

Thanks to this initiative, Christian Aid has been able to raise valuable funds for our poverty-alleviation work around the world – last year this brought in more than £80,000. As well as the funds raised from our Christmas card range, for every Traidcraft item purchased as a result of seeing our catalogue, Christian Aid will receive an additional ten per cent of the sale price, which means that even your

Coming to a solicitor near you…

Christmas is already on the cards

Christmas shopping can help to support our work.

So how can you get hold of the catalogue? In previous years everyone receiving Christian Aid News would automatically receive a copy of the Christmas catalogue, but as the need to reduce our paper consumption becomes more acute, we have limited the numbers being distributed in this way. If you would like to order a copy of the catalogue you can call our resource order number on 0870 078 7788 (or 01 611 0801 for the Republic of Ireland), or view the range online at www.christianaid.org.uk/christmascards

If you would like any more information about our Christmas range or how to order cards for your school, church or friends, please call 0207 523 2463.

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Hundreds of dedicated supporters have competed in fundraising events in 2008 to raise more than £500,000 for Christian Aid’s work around the world. But already we’re thinking ahead. Why not make 2009 the year you join in and make a difference

Events


CHRISTIAN AID is sending out a massive thank you to everyone who took part in challenge events to raise funds for our work this year.

So, thank you… to the runners who crossed the fi nishing lines in the London and Edinburgh marathons and those who completed 10k races, the Great Manchester Run and the BUPA London 10,000, in the pouring rain! For many it was their fi rst time at the distance. Jaiye Edu, who ran the London 10,000 in just under 50 minutes, says: ‘It was a privilege to run part of the route of what

Getting active about poverty

will be the London Olympic marathon course. I love running and I wanted to give myself a challenge for the benefi t of the hundreds of thousands of people Christian Aid works with around the world. The sweat, toil and pain at the end was worth it because of the money I raised.’

June saw our biggest challenge yet, with ten teams of six climbing the UK’s three highest peaks – Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon – in 24 hours. Sarah Williams, team captain of the top fundraising team, says: ‘The wonderful support team, great

team camaraderie, amazing views and good cause made the whole experience thoroughly enjoyable – in spite of the aches and pains and the sleep deprivation!’

The rain beat down on our 26 Hadrian’s Wall trekkers who, in early July, negotiated the tough terrain in great spirits in spite of the wind and rain pounding against their faces. Angela Bramley from Brighton says she took part ‘because I care that people in the world don’t even have life’s basic essentials. This is my way of trying to help.’

And fi nally, thank you to those who

cycled 300 miles from London to Paris at the end of July – to arrive under the Eiffel Tower in time to watch the fi nal stage of the Tour de France. It was great to see 72 Christian Aid cyclists in Christian Aid vests riding up the Champs-Elysées, all raising money for Christian Aid partners

around the world. And the action isn’t

over yet. On 5 October, come and watch 100 Christian Aid runners pound the streets of Newcastle in the Great North Run. We’re looking for people to cheer on the runners. There will be whistles and even jelly babies (for the runners!).

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They came, they saw, they took pictures: Christian Aid’s trekkers take on the Hadrian’s Wall challenge

Flora London Marathon 26 AprilGreat Manchester Run 17 MayBUPA London 10000 May Summit to Sea – team challenge June Hadrian’s Wall Trek July London to Paris Bike Ride 22 – 26 July St Cuthbert’s Way – church challenge Sept

2009: MAKE YOUR MOVE FOR CHRISTIAN AIDIN 2009, we want to see more people involved in our active movement for change and there’s plenty on offer for everyone – whether you enjoy a Sunday stroll or fancy taking on the challenge of a lifetime to cycle between London and Paris.

2009 will see a new three-day route on the London to Paris Bike Ride as well as our traditional four-day route – and we’ve two new events, Summit to Sea in Snowdonia and the Church Team Challenge across St Cuthbert’s Way. You can sign up to these exciting events today – just go online to register your place on a challenge at www.christianaid.org.uk/eventwww.christianaid.org.uk/eventss or call us on 020 7523 2248.

They came, they saw, they rode bikes: Christian Aid’s cyclists arrive in the French capital

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For more pictures and stories on challenge events go to www.christianaid.org.uk/events

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visit www.christianaid.org.uk/aboutcafor regular updates of events around the country


■ 3 SeptemberWalk the Line1.30pmAberdeenAnnual sponsored walk along the Old Deeside Railway Line.Contact Jean Rutherford on 01224 480654

■ 6, 27 September and 11 OctoberTransformationA day to inspire the whole family to change the world. Includes workshops, a debate and a chance to meet a Christian Aid partner.6 September – 10am-4pm University of Cumbria, Lancaster CampusContact Alasdair on 01925 58282127 September – 10am-4pmNewi Wrecsam. Contact Anna Jane Evans on 01248 353 574 or email [email protected] October – York (venue tbc)Contact [email protected]

■ 13 September Salford Deanery Sponsored WalkIrwell ValleyAn early start is needed for this 30-mile walk starting from Sacred Trinity Church.Contact Berky Hurst on 01925 241 222 or email [email protected]

■ 17-19 September Around the Wolds in 8 tea grazeGloucestershireWest Unit manager Nigel Quarrell is raising money for Christian Aid, by attempting to visit every Tea Time event in Gloucestershire’s eight Fairtrade towns in three days – using only public transport. To sponsor Nigel go to his ‘Just Giving’ webpage atwww.justgiving.com/8tgraze

■ 20 SeptemberForth Bridge Cross2-6pmAll welcome to join the John Carrie Memorial Walk.Contact Edinburgh offi ce on 0131 240 1523

■ 20, 26, 27 September and 16, 17, 18, 24, 25 OctoberHarvest of HopeMartin John Nicholls present songs, images, and stories of hope inspired by Christian Aid partners in Senegal.20 September – 7pm Church of Christ the Cornerstone, Tregadillett, CornwallContact Keith Roberts on 01566 77711726 September – 7.30pmTretherras School, Newquay, Cornwall Contact Hazel Meredith on 01637 850240

27 September – 7.30pmTruro Baptist Church, Chapel HillContact Lin Euden on 01872 24225816 October – 9pmSt John’s Church, Cheetham, ManchesterContact Daniel Burton on 0161 205 173417 October – 7.30pmLancaster Methodist Church Contact Arton Medd on 01524 6473018 October – 7.30-9pmSt Bartholomew’s Church, ColneContact Peter Nowland on 01282 87165924 October – 7.30pmSt Andrew’s Church, Mevagissey, CornwallContact Peter Salmon on 01726 84260425 October – 6.45pmHelston Methodist Church, Cornwall Contact Colin Combellack on 01326 340196

■ 25-27 SeptemberNorthern Christian Resources Exhibition 10am-4.30pmShow Ground, HarrogateMeet Christian Aid staff at stand N29 and pick up some resources. Contact Lindsey Pearson on 0113 2444764 or email [email protected]

■ 27 September Seaton Sponsored Walk9.30amStarts in the URC Church Hall, SeatonContact Julia Fuell on 01395 222 304 or email [email protected]

■ 4 October Sponsored Walk10amKingsbury Water Park, North WarwickshireJoin Christian Aid supporters on one of the two walks – one mile and fi ve miles. People of all ages and abilities can take part. Contact Sue Ward on 01827 310861

■ 4 OctoberLeeds Street Collection10am-5pmAnywhere on the streets of LeedsCome and shake a bucket or rattle a tin to raise funds to fi ght poverty! Contact 0113 2444764 or email [email protected]

■ 5 October BUPA Great North RunNewcastle to South ShieldsThis sell-out race starts in Newcastle, fi nishing on the coast in South Shields. It draws thousands of supporters, creating an electrifying atmosphere. Come and support our runners.Contact Helen Cunningham on 01912 280115 or email [email protected]

■ 11 October The Wirral Walk9.30am-4.30pmMeet at Pier Head in the Capital of Culture. Take the ferry across the Mersey to Seacombe. Walk the Wirral coast to West Kirby for a closing service in the Methodist church.Contact Becky Hurst on 01925 241 222

■ 26-31 October Rock the Boat – Six Days to Change the World5pmNorth West England14- to 18-year-olds are invited to join Christian Aid on three canal boats for a half-term with a difference. Each day we will share in workshops

covering HIV/AIDS, climate change and trade. Contact the Warrington offi ce on 01925 241222

■ 7 November Sing for Your Supper7.30pmHoly Cross Church, Park Road, Timperley, CheshireAn evening of entertainment and supper, with a collection in support of Christian Aid. Free entry but booking is essential.Contact Doris Robinson on 0161 973 2882.

■ 8 November One World Fair10am-4pmSacred Heart Church Hall, Uppermill, SaddleworthThe fair will include refreshments, fair-trade products and gift stalls.Contact Rosie Partington on 01457 838543

■ 14-16 November Perpetual Motion Youth WeekendFrom 6pm Friday 14 November to 2pm Sunday 16 NovemberWirksworth, DerbyshireA busy weekend of events and activities for teenagers who are interested in international issues. Contact Lucy Waldron on 01530 417522 or [email protected]

■ 22 November The Poor Suffer First10am-4pmThe Quaker Meeting House, St James Street, Sheffi eldA one-day conference on meeting the growing challenge of climate change. The programme includes talks, discussions, workshops and stalls.Contact [email protected] or on 0114 230 2102

■ 29 November Spice of Life Night7.30-10pmArchbishop Blanch High School, LiverpoolA variety fundraising night in aid of Christian Aid – celebrating local talent with music, comedy, drama, dance and much more.Contact Dave Hardman on 01925 58282

LAST YEAR more than 35,000 people in the UK and abroad took part in Christian Aid’s fi rst Tea Time event, holding 2,000 tea parties and raising an incredible £195,000. Now we’re asking you to put the kettle on again to host a tea party at this year’s event on 19 September.

You can host your Tea Time anywhere you like: at home, in the offi ce, your local hall or somewhere more adventurous. It could be a posh affair with a slice of cake and your best china or just your best pals and a mug of builder’s. Just ask everyone to give a small donation to Christian Aid in return for a refreshing brew and, perhaps, a tasty biscuit or two. And that’s all there is to it!

‘Even the humblest cup of tea can change the world,’ says events co-ordinator Amanda Borg. ‘As we went to press we’d had more than

2,000 requests for Tea Time event packs, and we are well on the way to beating last year’s number of events.’

To request your free Tea Time event pack call 0870 076 7766 or visit www.christianaid.org.uk/teatime

The pack will include everything you need to organise your event including invitations, posters and cake recipes. Afterwards, do send

in your stories and photographs to the Tea Time team.

Make your cuppa count

p28-29 Events.indd 3p28-29 Events.indd 3 4/8/08 17:19:114/8/08 17:19:11

Diamond life

What would you save if your house was on fi re? The children. And then the photo albums of all the children.

What makes you cry? Practically everything nowadays! I’m very embarrassing to be around. Christmas carols, mainly. At carol services, one whiff of incense and I’m gone.

Who would you choose to be shipwrecked with?If she were still alive, the Queen Mum. She had one of the most interesting stories to tell and she never told it. She’d have been a hoot. Plus, she knew how to hold a drink too.

Where is the most remarkable place you have ever visited? Probably the pyramids, last year.

Which book or song do you most wish you’d written? Book: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I’m a CS Lewis nut. Song: Here, There and Everywhere by the Beatles.

If you ruled the world, what is the fi rst law you’d introduce? Thou shalt be tolerant and kind.

Have you ever met an angel? No, but I’d like to. I think I’ve met one or two angelic people.

What miracle would you like to work? Oooh… that’s dangerous. To be able to divide loaves and fi shes – in other words to make sure everyone has enough food.

What’s your favourite food?I love anything with avocado in it.

Which living person inspires you most? I could say someone like Nelson Mandela but I’d like to say someone I know a little. Esther Rantzen is gutsy and she has always given good advice – she’s very sensitive and kind and talented and she’s a doer. She’s done

Anne Diamond is one of Britain’s most popular TV presenters, best loved for her double act with Nick Owen on TV-am’s breakfast show, Good Morning Britain, and then on BBC1’s Good Morning with Anne and Nick. She was responsible for forming one of Britain’s biggest cot death charities after the condition claimed her son’s life, and she currently runs a free weight-loss support website, www.buddypower.net. She is fronting Tea Time, Christian Aid’s national fundraising event, being held at a venue near you on 19 September.

Anne Diamond, one of Britain’s best-loved presenters, is lending her support to our Tea Time event in September. Here she takes time out for a quick cuppa and a chat

Ant

hony

Mor

ton-

Kin

g

well in a largely male industry and to form the charity Childline was amazing.

Who would play you in a fi lm of your life?Whoopi Goldberg!

What’s made you laugh today? Early mornings can be a bit of a gloomy time, so joking with the kids about their teachers always gets me laughing.

What was the last text message you received or sent? From one of my sons to say he’s forgotten his packed lunch. I’m not responding to it – he’ll have to squirm for a bit.

What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done – and would you do it again? I went parascending and paragliding when I was younger, and I did go into Bosnia and, unlike Hillary Clinton, actually got shot at. I wouldn’t do it now as it’s not a responsible thing for a mum to do.

What talent do you have, or think you have, which has so far been hidden from the general public? Probably my art. I do everything from stained-glassed windows to portrait-sketching to dress-making. I don’t know if I’m any good at it but I love it!

CHRISTIAN AID IS continuing to help people whose lives were devastated by the 2004 tsunami. Thanks to your generosity, Christian Aid partners in India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka have now helped build more than 24,000 homes and helped 223,000 people back to work.

Residents of a village in Sri Lanka say their lives have been turned around by their new homes built by Christian Aid partner OfERR.

Tsunami programme manager Anthony Morton-King visited Gunawardana Pura village, in Morawewa district, near Trincomalee in eastern Sri Lanka earlier this year.

‘I met many of the residents who had been living in their new homes for more than a year now,’ he said. ‘They had never dreamt they would ever own such good houses and they have been a catalyst to turning their whole lives around. Christian Aid has also provided training so that they can earn a living in a better way than before. Many were very poor fi shermen, now they also have small plots of land to grow fruit and vegetables. Some are even growing rice.’

Many of the people here used to live in shacks made of banana leaves, but these were swept away by the tsunami. Their new homes are built of brick, have tiled roofs and proper kitchens and bathrooms.

A LIFE RENEWED


Final Word

John

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p30 FinalWord.indd 2p30 FinalWord.indd 2 4/8/08 17:19:594/8/08 17:19:59

For an instant decision, phone

0800 002 006 quoting 67136Or apply online at co-operativebank.co.uk/christianaid

Get real change from yourcredit card

The Co-operative Bank is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (No. 121885), subscribes to the Banking Code, is a member of the Financial Ombudsman Service and is licensed by the Office ofFair Trading (No. 006110). Applicants must be UK residents aged 18 years or over. *Excludes balance transfers from other credit cards issued by The Co-operative Bank. Credit facilities are provided by The Co-operative Bank p.l.c. (Registered No.990937), Head Office, P.O. Box 101, 1 Balloon Street, Manchester M60 4EP, are subject to status. The Bank reserves the right to decline any application or offer a card product that differs from those advertised. Interest rates are correct at time of going topress 06/08. Calls may be monitored or recorded for security and training purposes. Christian Aid UK registered charity no. 1105851 Company no. 5171525 Scotland charity no. SC039150 Northern Ireland charity ref XR94639 Company no. NI059154.

18.9typical/variable

● 0% on purchases and balance transfers*, fixeduntil six months after account opening.

● A balance transfer fee of 3% of transfer value isapplicable during promotional rate periods only(min. £5).

Ch

rist

ian

Aid

/Tim

Het

her

ing

ton

working with

% APR

A Christian Aid credit card can help tobring lasting change to those in need.When you open your account, TheCo-operative Bank gives Christian Aid£15. A further £2.50 is donated when youuse your card within six months, and then 25p for every £100 spent on the card.

This money can save lives. When adisaster such as the Asian tsunami strikes,people lose their livelihoods as well astheir loved ones. Christian Aid funds vitalnew equipment, training and loans tohelp women such as those pictured hereto restart their businesses.

And it doesn’t cost much to help – justtwo new credit-card accounts would payfor a pack with everything needed to setup a small business selling fish.

p31 AD.indd 2p31 AD.indd 2 5/8/08 11:19:335/8/08 11:19:33

For an instant decision, phone

0800 002 006 quoting 67136Or apply online at co-operativebank.co.uk/christianaid

Get real change from yourcredit card

The Co-operative Bank is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (No. 121885), subscribes to the Banking Code, is a member of the Financial Ombudsman Service and is licensed by the Office ofFair Trading (No. 006110). Applicants must be UK residents aged 18 years or over. *Excludes balance transfers from other credit cards issued by The Co-operative Bank. Credit facilities are provided by The Co-operative Bank p.l.c. (Registered No.990937), Head Office, P.O. Box 101, 1 Balloon Street, Manchester M60 4EP, are subject to status. The Bank reserves the right to decline any application or offer a card product that differs from those advertised. Interest rates are correct at time of going topress 06/08. Calls may be monitored or recorded for security and training purposes. Christian Aid UK registered charity no. 1105851 Company no. 5171525 Scotland charity no. SC039150 Northern Ireland charity ref XR94639 Company no. NI059154.

18.9typical/variable

● 0% on purchases and balance transfers*, fixeduntil six months after account opening.

● A balance transfer fee of 3% of transfer value isapplicable during promotional rate periods only(min. £5).

Ch

rist

ian

Aid

/Tim

Het

her

ing

ton

working with

% APR

A Christian Aid credit card can help tobring lasting change to those in need.When you open your account, TheCo-operative Bank gives Christian Aid£15. A further £2.50 is donated when youuse your card within six months, and then 25p for every £100 spent on the card.

This money can save lives. When adisaster such as the Asian tsunami strikes,people lose their livelihoods as well astheir loved ones. Christian Aid funds vitalnew equipment, training and loans tohelp women such as those pictured hereto restart their businesses.

And it doesn’t cost much to help – justtwo new credit-card accounts would payfor a pack with everything needed to setup a small business selling fish.

p31 AD.indd 2p31 AD.indd 2 5/8/08 12:09:065/8/08 12:09:06

Hel

p10

,000

people

in your will. Put a dam six feet under.

No one lives forever. But what you leave behind can be a little more long-term. For example, a sub-surface dam costs £3,800 and provideswater for 2,000 African

families. Because the rainwater is stored underground, it doesn’t evaporate. Thismeans it lasts through the dryseason and stays clean. It alsoleaves space for crops to grow

and livestock to graze. Andwith locals trained to build and maintain the dam, they’reself-sufficient. If you’ve written a will, there is a cheapand simple way to add a PS

for Christian Aid (it’s called aCodicil). You may be gone, butyou won’t be forgotten. Tofind out more, call Colin Kemp on 0207 523 2173, or [email protected]

p32 AD.indd 2p32 AD.indd 2 5/8/08 11:18:055/8/08 11:18:05

Documents

Christian Aid News 41 - Autumn 2008