Self Help Africa

Last wek we had a speaker, Mr Patsy Toland, from Self Help Africa come to the class to talk about their work in the developing world.

Here are some of the facts we learnt:

1. SHA was set up in 1984 after the Ethiopian famine which was highlighted by Bob Geldof. A priest and a teacher went to help and afterwards decided they wanted to do more but on a long term basis. They set up SHA with a grant of £1m from the Live Aid Foundation.
2. Their aims were to

-           1. help farmers,

-          2. train local communities,

-          3. give money to the community not through governments. SHA is an NGO

3. Africa is the poorest part of the world, especially rural Africa. SHA will not solve all the problems but have decided to help with agriculture because then farmers can grow own food, feed own families, make own money.
4. Why is there such poverty in Africa? - this dates back to colonisation - Africans had no control of their own lands. When colonisataion ended they had no experience of managing the land.
5. Farmers in Ireland help farmers in Africa - SHA is supported by Teagas and Irish Farmers Association through funding and expertise.
6. SHA projects are Sustainable / long term projects and the local communities are able to maintain the projects after SHA leave. Most SHA projects last for 5 years.
7. In the aftermath of Live Aid, the public support and donations was diminishing so in the late 1980's SHA realised they needed to TELL people about where their funds were being spent so people could understand and continue to support them. SHA focussed on Development Education to raise awareness of the injustices in the world. Patsy is the Development Education officer for SHA in Ireland. St Wolstans TY follow a SHA development education programme so the issues are being studied each year and more people are becoming aware of the injustices in the world.
8. 1/2 people in the world live in very tough conditions and we are part of the problem. In Ghana 1/4 mil children work in the chocolate industry - indentured slaves (An indentured servant was a worker, typically a laborer or tradesman, under contract to an employer for a fixed period of time, typically three to seven years, in exchange for their transportation, food, clothing, lodging and other necessities.) Do you buy Fair Trade chocolate? If not, then you are part of the problem.
9. SHA projects focus on subsistence for farmers - growing enough to feed their family and selling the extra to help improve their lives. SHA realised that women are the main workers in rural Africa, they do all the work and the men control the money and what is done with it. SHA projects aim to empower women - give them access to money - micro credit
10. SHA set up a Cooperative Credit Union scheme:

-          literacy training for founders of CU

-          woman saves a little money and SHA match what she saves.

-          women own the money

-          women entrepreneurs have made huge changes in their communities.

11. SHA don't run a volunteer programme because their aims are for long term projects and ones that use local manpower etc.

Find out more about Self Help Africa at www.selfhelpafrica.org