issue 012 13/7/06 16:47 Page 1 interact The magazine of
The future in our hands Universities by the people, for the people
Also in this issue: Capacity building in Yemen Food sovereignty in Nicaragua Water management in Peru
ISSN 1816-045X Summer 2006 issue 012 13/7/06 16:47 Page 2
interact summer 2006
Contents /Progressio Nick Sireau
editorial 6 3 first person: Tsitsi Choruma
The future in our 4 voices: struggles and victories hands 6 news: churches oppose Terminator
Educationalists would no doubt protest that times insight: the future in our hands have changed. But my own experience of education was of being told what I needed to know, and of being taught to think what the 8 Learning wisdom people in charge wanted me to think. An indigenous university in Ecuador 10
Imagine how much worse this is when what you 10 From guns to pens are told, and how you are told to think, does not Somaliland’s first ever university conform to your own reality.
I believe that challenging the given way of viewpoint thinking can enable people to better understand 12 their own reality – and perhaps, to see more clearly their own future. 12 The chance of a lifetime Capacity building in Yemen This edition of Interact examines how people are thinking outside the boxes provided for them. The insight section tells the stories of two pioneering analysis universities: one that seeks to build on the wisdom of the indigenous peoples of Ecuador; another that seeks to build a future for a country, 13 Why we are hungry Somaliland, being built by its people. Food sovereignty in Nicaragua and beyond
Other articles give a fresh perspective on doing reportage things differently: from alternative forms of 16 organisation and civil participation in Latin America (voices), to why we as consumers are 16 The flowering of the future contributing to a model of agriculture that leads Water management in Peru to social exclusion (analysis).
These articles show that development is about reflection learning, and that the best teachers are the people who seek to learn. 18 Giving thanks Learning from Sudanese refugees
perspective 19
Cover picture: Pilatuña Lincanyo Ñaupa Karapunyo, a member of the team at 19 The struggle continues Amawtay Wasi university in Quito, Ecuador Educating East Timorese students (see page 8). Photo: Graham Freer/Progressio
Published July 2006 by Progressio Progressio Ireland Editor Alastair Whitson Unit 3, Canonbury Yard c/o CORI, Bloomfield Avenue Director of Communications Nick Sireau 190a New North Road, Off Morehampton Road Acting Executive Director David Bedford London N1 7BJ Donnybrook, Dublin 4, Ireland Design Twenty-Five Educational tel +44 (0)20 7354 0883 tel +353 (0)1 6144966 Printing APG (ISO 14001 accreditation for fax +44 (0)20 7359 0017 e-mail [email protected] international environmental standards). e-mail [email protected] Charity reg. in Ireland no. CHY 14451 Printed on REVIVE 100% chlorine free website www.progressio.org.uk Company reg. no. 385465 recycled paper. Recycle this magazine!
Progressio is the working name of the Catholic Institute for International Relations Charity reg. in the UK no. 294329 Company reg. no. 2002500 issue 012 13/7/06 16:48 Page 3
first person Nick Sireau /Progressio Nick Sireau
Identifying with the cause
s I was bidding farewell to Although I enjoyed good working When you work with the friends I made at The relationships with the staff at The organisations like The Centre and the ACentre and the Network for Centre and Network, I always felt I Network for Positive Women, it is Positive Women in Zimbabwe, after was distinguished from them as HIV easy to see that the main priority for two years there as a Progressio negative and somehow was not fully them is the cause, that is, the development worker, one of my a part of their community. But these survival of people living with HIV colleagues said something that made words made me believe that in the and AIDS. How then do we as me reflect on my work there. work that we do what is in the end development workers achieve the The colleague started by saying: most important is the person that we inclusion of our agenda on the main ‘When you came we thought, here are, and how we use that to menu? In my experience the strategy comes another doctor who will try transform and enrich other people’s has been to identify with the cause, to experiment with what she has experiences. to show how development work learnt over the years. Boy was I We may have all the skills needed impacts on the cause, and ensure wrong. As time went on I realised in this world but if we are unable to that development initiatives are this was another breed of doctor. apply these to the situation that we implemented in tandem with ‘What I learnt from you is that the are presented with, it is unlikely that initiatives directly related to the most complex issues can be we will succeed in our endeavours. cause. That symbiotic relationship deconstructed to simple things that The work that we do as must be maintained through and any lay person can understand and development workers requires much through. fully make use of. Whatever you more than technical skills. It is taught us, you reduced it to our level important that we possess adaptive and that made a big difference. You skills that enable us to see the world have taught me to be humble and or the work we do through multiple Tsitsi Choruma was a Progressio accepting of the situation I am in, you lenses. In being adaptive we are able development worker with The Centre have taught me to be committed and to be flexible in our approach while and the Network for Positive Women disciplined, and you have taught me working towards achieving our in Zimbabwe. She is now Progressio to be patient and not judgemental.’ goals. country representative in Zimbabwe.
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voices
Introduction Change is in the air in Latin America and Small struggles the Caribbean. In the face of the relentless advance of globalisation and neoliberalism, alternative forms of and daily victories organisation and civil participation are being tried out across the region.
These alternatives are found at base level six Latin governments are raising the in municipalities, departments, provinces, banners, and these examples will be and even at national level. In different reinforced in the medium term. The countries there is a resurgence of the seeds of hope are being sown and we organisation of indigenous peoples and will soon have harvests, since sowing Graham Freer/Progressio ethnic minorities in the defence of their the seeds will produce more strength lands, their rights and their cultures. An every time in favour of a juster society. increase in the political participation of I hope that our people will unite to women and young people can be seen. face a common problem; that our Julio Olivera is a Progressio children become aware of the Several countries now have governments development worker with problems; and that on the basis of the which represent interests different from Amawtay Wasi in Ecuador. advances obtained by our those which have traditionally held Julio is from Peru. organisations, they will back the power – and which generate equal search for good living. We must love amounts of controversy and hope. Hugo I believe the shoots that are more what is our own, and defend it Chávez in Venezuela and Evo Morales in coming up in favour of the most through the strengthening of our Bolivia represent governments deeply dispossessed societies will go on social and indigenous organisations; opposed to George Bush’s and the USA’s strengthening. The important thing is through educational alternatives policies, while Nestor Kirchner in that our peoples are waking up and which value the knowledge and Argentina, Tavaré Vasquez in Uruguay, becoming conscious of the riches they culture of our peoples; through Michelle Bachelet in Chile and Lula da possess. productive approaches which value Silva in Brazil represent a left which is Our peoples have great strength to our natural resources and their less breakaway and radical, but which face up to the system. At the moment biodiversity. also promotes the interests of the poorest sectors of their countries.
Yet these new expressions vie with possibility of great changes in this traditional ones which continue to country in the short term. implement neoliberal policies. Migration Here we try to give meaning to the continues to be the main option for a small changes we achieve, but the better life for millions, and inequalities much bigger changes like the free and social problems continue to blight trade agreement are disappointing, the lives of the region’s people. because they certainly worsened the situation of the majority of the So what does the future hold for Latin Salvadorean people. Here in El America and the Caribbean? Are the Sanne te Pas is a Progressio Salvador, I fear the consequences of signs of change a false dawn? We asked development worker with Las the inequalities – which already are some of Progressio’s development Dignas in El Salvador. Sanne is pretty strong – are becoming more workers for their thoughts. from Holland. acute. Life is going to be even harder. I hope that this movement of the Personally these changes in the left will be strengthened, consolidated countries of South America give me and extended, and that there will be a a lot of hope, and I feel that in the real chance to show that there are organisation where I work, these alternatives to the very exclusive changes in some way lift up the development models like the one in El spirits. But it is a hope for the South Salvador. I hope that a strong left in only, and my work companions also the South will have a positive effect in seem to live it like this. The truth is the NGOs in super-neoliberal that here [in El Salvador] the context is countries like this one, in terms of so extreme, and the government so maintaining hope in the possibility of right-wing and repressive, that few a better future and inspiration for people seem to believe in the continuing the struggle.
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voices
minorities; movements for the rights of model’. Now it is possible to speak of marginalised people. another world – indeed, to say that These new movements, together with ‘Many worlds are possible’, thus traditional popular sectors (workers, signalling that inclusive societies can students, the lower middle class, be built, without poverty and with Graham Freer/Progressio intellectuals), have the capacity to build diverse ethnic, gender and sexual new states with new governments. But I identities. think that the region has not yet found a Another important change is the way to process the new popular and reconstruction of the meaning of social demands, or to widen out nation, not from chauvinistic or Sergio Alejandro Vergne is a democracy towards a true democracy, rightist postures, but from the idea of Progressio development worker not formal but real, as a means and as a citizenship sharing a territory whose with GAMMA (the support group an end. resources (natural and economic) and of the women’s movement of The new governments are still whose environment is from all and for Azuay) in Ecuador. Sergio is from involved in an economic-political struggle all, and which consequently all should Argentina. which is not settled, between the enjoy – and all be responsible for its capitalist sectors formed under the conservation and upkeep. We go into the new century with a neoliberal governments, and the We can also speak of changes with panorama, on the one hand, of social- excluded popular social sectors, which regard to the protection and economic sectors and neoliberal have seen their levels of participation guarantee of human rights. The governments applying state reforms in reduced, and whose rights of citizenship process initiated in Argentina and compliance with the capitalist (health, education, dwelling, briefly glimpsed in Uruguay has put globalisation model, albeit with huge employment, etc) are not guaranteed. So up for discussion the close links difficulties of governability. And on I think that these new governments have between democracy, truth and justice. the other hand, we have popular to be called governments ‘in transition’. Another impact is that the political political movements seeking to build But an important impact is the change processes of Venezuela and Bolivia new identities, and social and political in discourse. There is no longer a single give a strong impulse to the social and subjects not ruled by the traditional discourse in the face of globalisation, but popular forces of other countries, political theories (liberalism, marxism): many discourses. There are cracks which now see the possibility of movements of women, indigenous appearing in the wall of neoliberalism, access to power via democratic people, the unemployed, sexual which declared ‘This is the only possible methods.
Silvina Gernaert Willmar is a Progressio development worker
with Fundacion Augusto Vázquez Nick Sireau/Progressio Nacional para el Desarrollo in El Salvador. Silvina is Belgian-Argentinian.
The changes are very varied and heterogeneous. As John Bayron Ochoa is a Progressio development we would say in the region, ‘you can’t put all the cats in worker with Centro Bartolome de las Casas in El the same bag.’ They are very different and must be Salvador. John is from Colombia. analysed from local realities and knowledge. But beyond this differentiation, I still have a doubt: will there not One cannot yet speak of changes: ‘let dawn come and continue to be only personalist, populist governments, we’ll see,’ as they say in my country. Time, and the centred on an all-powerful personality? While it is true outcome of what is being initiated today, will show us that Chávez and Morales have confronted the American truly what will be transformed, since change could be system, the merciless neoliberalism, the swindling and relative and temporal. Yet I have a feeling like hope, bribe-taking privatisations, it is not just about them. because you have to believe to create, and to go on Where are the people, the organised people, aware, building creatively more just and equal roads for actively participating, who know the reality of their everyone. So my hope is that these changes will become country and do not live in a fishpond? I don’t think it has real transformations; and my conviction has to be that the yet come to this. There are nationalisms, populisms, small struggles and daily victories can be the beginning of leadership-isms, clientisms – but a united movement structural and transcendental transformations, and that seeking the inclusive development of impoverished this, diffused in many Latin American spaces, will make women and men is still far off. tremble and shake any macrostructure which currently thinks it is eternal and impossible to overcome.
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news
In memory of Jairo Rolong
LUIS TAVARA reports on a social communicator. I looked among us. And then came the remembrance ceremony for round and my surprise grew: the moment of forgiveness. Jairo Rolong, who was a main leaders of the indigenous Forgiveness for not having Progressio development movement were also there. Then I sufficiently valued the worker with Ecuarunari (the asked myself: How is it that a year transforming power of Confederation of the Kichwa after his death Jairo can gather so communication. Forgiveness, Peoples of Ecuador) when many people together? What was because sometimes we don’t he died in a road accident in it that he left in them? believe in the renewal of life June last year I didn’t need to think for long. through social organisations. The indigenous people themselves Forgiveness, because in our IFE IS FULL OF SURPRISES. At the answered my question. A little eagerness to effect change, we most unexpected moment, woman with an intense gaze fixed fall into the temptation of the Lit can fill our day with light us with her eyes as she spoke of shortest path, and forget that and help us to see what we Jairo. Her speech, which was full development requires processes were not seeing, comprehend of Andean images, also contained of qualitative transformation what we were not many of the ideas worked over that need more time and are understanding, hear what we with Jairo in his time with the less visible. were not perceiving. This is organisation. It was followed by This was all – and you were what happened to me a few an Andean ritual, as rich in there, Jairo. From the heart of days ago, when I went to a symbols as an Orthodox Mass. A heaven may you help us to celebration in memory of Jairo cosmic ritual, but one fed by the choose the best routes and find Rolong, our fellow fight for the dignity of the the way again when we are lost. development worker, who died indigenous people. a year ago. Amidst the smoke from the Luis Tavara is a Progressio The meeting room of incense, the many-coloured development worker with Ecuador’s strongest indigenous flowers and the tropical fruit ALER (the Latin American organisation was full. Jairo offered to Jairo during the ritual, Association of Radio worked in this organisation as a we felt the presence of Jairo Education) in Quito, Ecuador.
Churches already living in hardship.’ oppose He added: ‘Terminator
Mark Howard technology locates food Terminator sovereignty, once the very technology backbone of community, in the hands of technologists and large HE WORLD COUNCIL OF corporations.... All Christians pray: CHURCHES (WCC) has spoken “Give us this day our daily bread.” Tout against Terminator That this profoundly material technology (the genetic request appears in this profoundly modification of plants to make spiritual prayer signals for us the them produce sterile seeds). centrality of food in our lives, as Rev Dr Samuel Kobia, general well as the indivisibility of the secretary of the WCC, which has a material and spiritual in the eyes membership of over 340 of God. It is of great concern to Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican me that life itself is now often and other churches representing thought of and used as a 560 million Christians in more commodity.’ than 110 countries, said: ‘Applying Progressio has taken an active technology to design sterile seeds role in campaigning against turns life, which is a gift from Terminator technology, and will interactnow God, into a commodity. Preventing shortly be publishing, on behalf of For more information on Terminator technology, see farmers from re-planting saved the UK Working Group on Progressio’s environmental website www.eco-matters.org. seed will increase economic Terminator technology, an updated The updated leaflet ‘Say no to suicide seeds’ will be sent to Progressio members with the autumn edition of Interact. injustice all over the world and version of the leaflet ‘Say no to add to the burdens of those suicide seeds’.
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news
Unrest hits East Timor prevent the repetition of these abuses and to respond to the needs of the victims. But after AST TIMOR faces a major situation is resolved, East Timor being given a copy of the report at challenge to restore faith in now faces the challenge of the start of this year the UK Ethe government, military and restoring people’s confidence in government is still refusing to police, after months of political their prospects for the future. This publicly respond to the report. instability and violence which has process not only needs to look at The CAVR report makes rocked the emerging nation, investigating the causes of recent important recommendations writes Alison Ryan. events but also providing justice aimed directly at the UK as a During the last few months East for past crimes. government and as a member of Timor has seen the deaths of over The report of the East Timorese the UN Security Council. To 20 people, the displacement of Reception, Truth and completely ignore this report sends 130,000 more, and the resignation Reconciliation Commission a negative message to the people of key members of the government (CAVR), yet to be distributed in of East Timor in their quest for (including the Prime Minister). The East Timor, found that ‘justice and good and transparent governance. underlying causes of the unrest are accountability remains a The UK government not only complex, but it was sparked by fundamental issue in the lives of owes it to the British taxpayer to demonstrations in the capital, Dili, many East Timorese people, and a continue a process it invested in, surrounding the dismissal of potential obstacle to building a but to the 8,000 East Timorese around one third of the military. democratic society based upon people who placed their trust in The international community, respect for the rule of law and the CAVR to tell of their horrific many of whom now admit that authentic reconciliation between experiences – and who are still they left the newly independent individuals, families, communities waiting for justice. As one nation too early, has sent military and nations.’ Timorese interviewed by the CAVR and police personnel as well as The UK government was commented: ‘What’s the point of financial aid to respond to the commendably one of the largest continually collecting information immediate food and heath needs donors to the CAVR, contributing from us if there’s nothing to show of the displaced people. nearly £0.5 million to its operating for it?’ In addition to forming a new costs. CAVR’s task was to government and ensuring the investigate human rights abuses Alison Ryan is Progressio’s humanitarian and security and make recommendations to advocacy coordinator for Asia.
OPULORUM PROGRESSIO, one of the most inspirational of Pthe Papal Encyclicals ever written, reaches its 40th anniversary in 2007. Nick Sireau/Progressio Populorum Progressio (‘On the development of peoples’) remains a major document especially for anyone working towards a just and fair world. That is why we at Progressio want to mark this anniversary. Joining together with CAFOD and many other Catholic organisations, we are setting the challenge for every one of us to ‘live simply’. This is seen as being an make a difference to those who [email protected]. There is opportunity for us all to address live in poverty. a series of one-day training the way in which we live our For this to be a successful sessions taking place across the lives and the impact it has on campaign we need you to get country in September to guide you the rest of humanity. Over the involved now. If you are part of a in preparing events and activities. coming year there will be a group or network who would like We hope that you all will rise to whole range of events and to join us in this campaign, please the challenge and make 2007 a opportunities for us to come contact Martin Auton-Lloyd on year of renewal and rededication together to learn how we can 020 7288 8601 or email to the fight against global injustice.
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insight: the future in our hands Graham Freer/Progressio
Isidoro Quinde (foreground) and Pilatuña Lincanyo Ñaupa Karapunyo. LEARNING university,’ he says. He takes a pen and begins to sketch on a piece of paper. ‘The Andean cross represents wisdom and knowledge. From WISDOM this, we can establish a structure. The cross has four and the good way to live elements: air, water, earth and fire. Each element represents a concept: learning, loving, An indigenous E ARE IN THIS BIG people, none of them paid, who doing, being strong. These university in CRISIS – social, are building a dream: the dream conceptual areas interact and Ecuador is ‘Weconomic, of the indigenous people for an intersect to define the fields of challenging religious. We don’t know where intercultural university based on learning: environment, the way we we belong, where we are, what their own ancient wisdom and technology, politics and think, learn we do, and where we are going worldview. ‘Why should the society, philosophy…’ and live, writes to.’ These are the words of western way be the accepted Over the cross he draws a Alastair Pilatuña Lincanyo Ñaupa way,’ asks the university’s spiral, the time-space spiral, Whitson Karapunyo, a yachak (priest) director, Luis Fernando Sarango, containing what is here and from Quito in Ecuador. ‘The ‘and ours always the alternative, now, what is above (in the meaning of Quito is “light and the outsider’s way?’ explicit world) and below (in fire of the sun straight to the Now I am on the inside, the implicit world), what went earth”,’ he tells me. ‘I am a trying to understand. There is a before, and what is to come. warden of the holy fire of powerful atmosphere in the ‘How do you reach the centre?’ Quito. We belong to ancient room. I can almost see the he asks. ‘The spiral is life, and peoples who live in this place. intensity of thought suspended in the centre is knowledge.’ And this is what we want to like a physical object in the air. express in our university.’ Another man, Isidoro Quinde, Identity I am sitting in a meeting dressed in a poncho and a Since 1988, Ecuador has had a room at Amawtay Wasi white bowler-style hat, begins bilingual system of education university in Quito, surrounded to talk. ‘We needed to work out in nursery, primary and by calm, serious men dressed in how the Andean cosmovision secondary schools – but not for traditional clothes. They are could provide a framework, universities. In 1994, two part of a team of around 40 direction and ethos for the people in the Ecuadorian
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Congress – Luis Macas and ‘We are no longer what you forced us to be. We have Leonidas Iza – came up with everything: the eyes, heart, and will-power to fight for our the idea of creating an indigenous university. The rights; we shall defend what is ours. We know what we have Congress did not approve the to do, we know that both you and we have our own dignity idea, as Isidoro explains: ‘They and values; it is time to look at each other face to face and to said the country did not need live as equals, it is time to learn from one another, to live in any more universities. But we harmony with Pachamama [mother earth]’ said this was going to be a university completely unlike – indigenous thought of the Puruhua people of Chimborazo, Ecuador, quoted in Learning any other.’ wisdom and the good way to live ‘In regular universities and high schools they don’t teach us the wisdom. If you start processes of study, each with down, in three languages – talking about this in other equal weight: theory; practical Kichwa, Spanish and English – universities, they ignore you,’ research; entrepreneurship – in a book called Learning says Isidoro. But this was an meaning initiatives with wisdom and the good way to live. idea that could not be ignored, concrete aims that start to ‘The book’ – as everyone at an idea that would not go bring in some income; and Amawtay Wasi refers to it – is, away. In 2005, the university conversatorios – the exchange of according to Julio, ‘the chain was finally granted formal learning with others.’ that unites the people of the status, and in September 2006 Since 2005, the university university and the people of the it will begin to offer classes in has been trying out this community.’ Luis Fernando intercultural learning, approach with what it calls adds: ‘What is written in the architecture and planning, ‘learning communities’ in three book is a synthesis or summary agro-ecology, and the Andean regions of Ecuador. Teachers go of what we have always cosmovision. to the communities to hold practised in our communities.’ The university aims to workshops, and students make To an outsider it may seem recover indigenous knowledge; a commitment to do the bewildering at first. But that’s educate people without taking practical work discussed during because it represents, to a away their identity; educate the the workshop. westerner, an entirely different indigenous professionals of the ‘Students of agro-ecology, for way of thinking. Those at future. ‘Education is very example, will have a plot where Amawtay Wasi think important if we want to make they start putting into practice differently. And they think they our rights viable as indigenous, what they are studying and can make it work because, says ancestral people and as well to learning. The emphasis is on Luis Fernando, it is their way of have all the elements that a research and enterprise, so that thinking, their way of being, society needs to be better,’ says students can begin to earn a their way of living, their way of Luis Fernando. This vision – of living while they are learning,’ learning. ‘Our ancestors used to education as a means to a says Julio. talk about the university of strong and just society – life,’ he says. ‘We believe in underlies the university’s Process that university. In the end, we methodology. The university Julio admits that developing are trying to do something goes to the people rather than the university has been a long, new, something alternative. We the people coming to the slow process. ‘This really is a don’t pretend to be just one university. work in progress rather than a more university, but something concrete proposal or different.’ Exchange organisation,’ says Luis Progressio development worker Camacho, Progressio’s country Alastair Whitson is Progressio’s Julio Olivera, who has been representative in Ecuador. ‘But senior editor. working with the university Progressio made the key since 2001, explains what this decision to support something means in practice. Julio, an that otherwise might not agro-ecologist from Peru, is happen. Most organisations responsible for developing the would not support this sort of agro-ecology course – ‘a subject project because it is something Graham Freer/Progressio that does not exist in any that has to grow rather than university in Latin America,’ he reach a predestined objective tells me. within a specified timeframe.’ ‘In conventional education, It is a process of growth that most subjects consist of 80 per is now beginning to bear fruit. cent theoretical work,’ he says. The theory and the ‘Our approach is to have four methodology have been written Progressio development worker Julio Olivera.
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Mary Enright and colleague in the university library.
Nick Sireau/Progressio Watershed According to Progressio’s country representative in Somaliland, Dr Adan Abokor, ‘The establishment of Amoud University was a watershed. It provided a clear demarcation line between two eras: the end of the era of destruction, and the beginning of the era of peace, reconciliation and development.’ The university began with 60 students, three lecturers, two buses and a library of 4,000 books. Though registered as an FROM GUNS independent not-for-profit NGO, Amoud maintains close links with the Ministry for Education, following a set curricula. Student admission is TO PENS based on GCSE and A-Level results, but student age range and ability varies considerably. David Tanner describes how the people of Somaliland set As Dr Abokor explains: ‘Most of up the country’s first ever university these young people’s education was interrupted by the long civil war in Somalia. Many of them grew up in refugee camps FUNDAMENTAL PART of any no university yet existed within and carrying a gun was the country developing and the country. ‘We realised,’ says only opportunity they had.’ Alifting its people out of one of the academics involved, For the first three years of its poverty is education. Professor Suleiman, ‘that the existence Amoud was heavily Somaliland, which broke away culture of peace spreading across dependent on funds sourced from Somalia in 1991 Somaliland would not be fully primarily from the diaspora. following a decade of civil war, sustainable without an educated However, as more and more has had a harder struggle to workforce.’ students joined and funds were educate its population than A weak and poorly funded generated through tuition fees, most. The bitter civil war Somaliland government was the university has become ravaged the country during the unable to address this problem, increasingly financially stable. 1980s, destroying schools and so the group developed the As well as fees and private dispersing the population, idea of establishing a university funds, the university receives including its brightest and best in Somaliland supported by the some funding from the students, businessmen, local community and the Ministry for Education and tens teachers, doctors, scientists Somali diaspora. Professor of thousands of books have and academics. Suleiman and his colleagues been donated by NGOs in the In the mid-1990s, as the began by contacting diaspora US and UK. people of Somaliland struggled Somalilanders based in the to build their country, a group of United States, the Middle East Model former Somali lecturers and and Europe as well as local In July this year Amoud professors undertook a survey of businessmen, community University held its fifith young people in and around the members and government graduation. Over 300 graduates capital city of Hargeisa. A key ministers. Enough funds were are already working around finding was that 90 per cent of raised so that in late 1997, in Somaliland in both the public the young people interviewed the town of Borama near the and private sector. The were planning to emigrate, some Ethiopian border, Amoud university has grown to illegally, in order to enable them University, the first in the encompass five faculties: to attend university abroad – as country, opened. Education, Business and Public
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Administration, Agriculture and Environment, Information Technology and Medicine and Surgery. Six thousand full-time students are enrolled and Nick Sireau/Progressio taught by 55 lecturers. Eight buses collect and drop off students from the surrounding area. The library houses 100,000 books and 80 computers are available. The Amoud model has now been replicated elsewhere in Somaliland, with diaspora- and community-supported universities opening recently in Hargeisa and Burao. It’s a remarkable success story – but its significance goes much further than just providing education. An evaluation of the setting up of Progressio development worker Mary Enright and Professor Suleiman, dean of Amoud the university notes how it has University. helped to build community ties and had a fundamental and far- harder in order to pass the learning centre where students reaching effect on Somaliland annual examinations.’ can access lessons and itself: complete courses over the ‘Amoud University unified Flexibility Internet. communities in a cause Progressio has engaged with ‘The e-learning centre gives everyone, including the Amoud University since its students time flexibility in expatriate community, thought inception and has placed learning as well as a wide was beyond their reach. The several development workers variety of research materials involvement of various (DWs) there. DWs have worked and programmes,’ says Ahmed. segments of society in the same as lecturers, covering a wider ‘E-learning centres such as project acted as a unifying and variety of courses than cohesive factor that reduced normally expected, since ‘The success of the initiative quickly the clan and political qualified teachers and lecturers restored a great measure of hope differences resulting from years were still lacking. As the books of rivalry, anarchy and internal began to pour in, a DW with and pride among the people’ strife. It served as an example librarian skills was requested to and a model to be emulated turn the growing piles into a these have the potential to and aspired to by other regions functioning modern library. close the learning gap between in Somaliland and in the rest of DW Mary Enright soon became students studying in former Somalia. not only Amoud University’s underdeveloped countries and ‘The success of the initiative librarian but also what seemed those in more advanced quickly restored a great like the librarian for the whole countries.’ measure of hope and pride of Somaliland, helping to set Amoud University continues among the people and up the university library, the to grow and develop, recently provided much needed self- public ‘Ghandi Library’ in taking over an agricultural confidence after years of Hargeisa, and various centre, and remains the only helplessness and desperation. secondary school libraries. university in Somaliland In particular, Amoud In 2005 DW Ahmed Juma training and qualifying University, while in existence joined the university’s teachers. It’s a true African only for a short period of time, information technology (IT) success story built on the vision has already had a tremendous department to oversee the and hard work of a group of psychological impact on youth installation of a system to scholars backed by the long- in this country by restoring enable Internet access via a term commitment of the local hope after a full decade of satellite connection, build the community and the diaspora. despair. Idle and desperate skills and capacity of his secondary school graduates and colleagues, and help with the David Tanner is Progressio’s those enrolled in those schools establishment of an e-learning programme coordinator for have suddenly started to study centre – an interactive online Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
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viewpoint
of Christian liberation theology, through discussions with my brother, who once studied in a Franciscan seminary in my country, and from my older sister who
Zara Benosa/Progressio now works as a Franciscan missionary in Algiers. Later experiences radicalised this faith. Now, I am in the process of affirming my own perspectives in development work, one rooted in social justice and liberating humanism. By deeply appreciating my own context and experiences, I hope to better understand Islamic charity and humanism. From here, I hope to further engage my Yemeni colleagues in the local civil society organisations and challenge them to advance into another level in their development perspectives. After all, development involves participatory processes, and capacity building is about The chance of change, both at the personal and organisational levels.
Communication If there is one thing that proves to be a a lifetime barrier, it would be language. This, however, I am trying to overcome. As a Lisa Dioneda-Moalong reflects on the close relationship development communication between personal and international development professional, it is a big frustration not to understand and be understood. As I grapple with the Arabic huruf or FTER 14 YEARS working in the taking part in another context. alphabet, grammar and pronunciations, I Philippines on various Fortunately, the growing strength of the also feel sympathy for my Yemeni Adevelopment initiatives, I felt the civil society movement in the Philippines counterparts who likewise struggle to time was ripe for me to go out of my gave me the confidence to do so. speak English (a language which, come to country and explore what they call think of it, is also not my own). Somehow, ‘beyond the borders’. The journey to Will-power the aid of a translator bridges the gaps. Yemen, to work as a Progressio Coming to Yemen to do skill-sharing is Furthermore, the fact that the Yemenis development worker, is an opportunity another challenge to face. The support are masters in the art of using non-verbal to witness the development struggles of from my husband, my entire family and cues often saves me a lot of trouble another society and group of people. I former colleagues gives me the strength during some challenging communication consider it the chance of a lifetime to see and will-power to face the unknown. situations. These experiences I treasure as beyond the confines of my nationalist They are the ‘wind beneath my wings’. education in my cultural encounters with perspectives in development. The knowledge that Progressio has the Yemenis. Leaving my country at this point in established a solid reputation for working The phenomenon of Filipino diaspora time was, however, a hard decision to with people of all faiths and none is also may be deeply rooted in the lack of make. The civil society movement in the reassuring. I am temporarily sharing an genuine development in my country, but Philippines faces many challenges in one office with an Islamic faith-based the knowledge that I left to share my of the most trying periods in the organisation. When my counterparts skills with another group of people also country’s history. How do you leave from the local NGO vocally regard me as wanting development gives my own behind colleagues and fellow human their sister, despite the fact that I am not journey another dimension. One day I rights activists being persecuted and a Muslim woman, I feel relieved and will be going back home with stories to even subjected to extra-judicial killings? I honored. There is hope for dialogue after tell to my daughters, and the knowledge had to be sure that I was fully resolved all. As I always believe, when you try to that I have taken part in the journey of and in touch with the struggle of my understand other people’s culture and the Yemeni people to development. own people before I could consider faith, and show your sensitivity towards them, they will in turn respect you. Lisa Dioneda-Moalong is a Progressio When you try to Dealing with another faith in the development worker in Hodeidah, understand other people’s context of development work is making Yemen. She works with a range of me re-examine my own faith and lack of NGOs on issues from women’s rights culture and faith … they faith. I have always credited the growth to HIV and AIDS. She is from the will in turn respect you of my social awareness to the influences Philippines.
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analysis Why we are Kurz/Progressio Vanessa hungry
he history of many countries in the global South, from the days of colonisation to the Tpresent, has been marked by production for export. This monocultural model – growing a single crop for export – lines the pockets of big transnational companies and local oligarchies. But in Nicaragua, it has had serious consequences for the life and health of the people, and for the environment.
Campesino (peasant farmer) organisations are now putting food sovereignty forward as an alternative strategy, based on small farmers producing food for local and national markets. Its success depends on the support of urban consumers, not just in Nicaragua, but around the world. Peter Rossett (co-author of one of the classic books on development, World hunger: 12 myths), in conversation with Tomatoes in a field farmed by the Playa Grande community in El Salvador. Progressio development worker Ernesto Cañada, explains how.
Ernesto Cañada: What do we mean by the countries of the South, the lands that before food sovereignty? produced food for the local population, were converted into platforms for export. Peter Rossett: Food sovereignty is the right of every The main historic attack on food sovereignty has people to define their own system of production, been the single crop: a model based on huge tracts of distribution and consumption of foods. It is the right land given over to a single crop, directed for export. of rural peoples to have access to land, to be able to Historically the countries of the South, its peoples, produce for their own local and national markets, and have lost their ability to feed themselves, because the not to be excluded from those markets by subsidised best lands are given over more and more to export. imports from overseas. And it is also the right of consumers to have access to healthy, locally Nicaragua is a good example of what has produced, culturally appropriate foods. happened in many countries… If a country is not capable of feeding its own people, if it depends on the world market for the next Very much so. During colonisation, the first crops meal, we are in an extremely vulnerable situation: imposed were cocoa and indigo. After independence vulnerable to the good will of the superpowers or the came coffee, sugar cane, bananas, stock breeding, fluctuations of the market. That’s why we talk of cotton, controlled by agribusinesses. Each crop took sovereignty. over the available fertile land. The people of these
What are the consequences of the monocultural model?
Before colonisation every world culture was sovereign The countries of the South have lost their with regard to food: that is, they produced what they ability to feed themselves, because the best consumed. Following colonisation the best lands of all lands are given over to export
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analysis
These two models are confronting each carcinogenic preservatives. And on the other hand we other … in every country in the world have the peasant model of family farm production, which produces food cultivated with much more sustainable techniques in ecological terms. Today lands were progressively excluded. They faced the these two models are confronting each other, as in a choice between becoming badly paid agricultural day fight to the death, in every country in the world, in labourers, working only two or three months in the the North as in the South. year, or moving onto marginal land, cutting down forests and sowing corn and beans, until these lands What are the main threats today to peasant were themselves incorporated in the next export crop. production? In Nicaragua, as in numerous other countries, it is precisely where natural resources – land and water – The main threats are the importation of cheap abound, that poverty is highest. The peoples who subsidised food with which the peasant cannot formerly enjoyed these resources ended up excluded compete; the expansion of new single crops for from their own riches. As Eduardo Galeano says, ‘the export which displace them from their land; and the poor countries are poor because they are rich.’ It was neoliberal policies of the privatisation of everything the wealth of their resources that attracted the that is important for agriculture, like land, water, colonisers, the same that today attracts the credit or technical assistance. transnationals. And it is this process which generated One of the new dynamics of agro-exportation is social exclusion and poverty in the midst of wealth. non-traditional crops. In general these are fruits and vegetables out of season for the countries of the What other problems are there with North, such as melon, passion fruit, mango. These monocultures? crops need high investment, are intensive in the use of agropoisons, and their prices fluctuate so much The monocultural model of agro-exportation that most of the small producers that go in for these generates a terrible vulnerability, because it means crops end up bankrukpt. that the country depends on the fluctuation of prices Multilateral organisations like the World Trade in the global market of what it exports, and the need Organisation (WTO) and regional free trade to import food from markets whose prices vary. agreements reinforce the agro-export model. On the The monocultural model has also left a legacy of one hand, the opening of their markets is imposed on ecological destruction, of degradation of the natural the countries of the South, which means that they resources – soil, water, biodiversity – which are receive into their own markets subsidised products necessary for there to be sustainability of production with which the local peasant cannot compete. On the in the future. other hand, they impose the privatisation of the For example, when cotton reached Nicaragua in services and goods which the peasants need in order the 1950s, it found fertile lands – and not just in the to go on producing. quality of the soil. Initially, only two or three species of insect attacked the cotton. But DDT had already You are putting forward peasant family farming arrived on the agricultural scene, and the farmers as the alternative – but can it guarantee the applied it liberally. It quickly eliminated beneficial food needs of a growing population? biodiversity – that is, those other insects which were predators on the cotton pests. The result was an Peasant farming – contrary to what certain ‘experts’ increase in the number of pests. In the 1980s the say – is more productive than the agribusiness model, situation was really serious, with more than 15 species because the peasant uses his (or her) plot of land of pests and the application of insecticides up to 60 more intensively, growing multiple products. Not only times in the agricultural cycle. do they cultivate soya, for example, but also corn, Moreover, the soil, which was originally very fertile, beans, pumpkin, fruit trees, crops for fodder; they was destroyed by overuse and the lack of crop have pigs, hens, the odd cow. rotation. Cotton left devastation: soils eroded, If family farming becomes economically viable again without trees, dust storms, insects resistant to – through protecting the market against cheap imports chemicals, the smell of blights everywhere … An – it could not only revitalise rural areas, but be the key almost complete ecological destruction. to solving urban problems. People in the poor marginal neighbourhoods of Latin American cities, living with But agro-exportation is not the only possible gangs, robberies, crimes, have one single dream: to model… return to the countryside. But to a countryside where they have their own plot of land, where they can At the moment we are at a crossroads between two produce and earn their living with dignity. approaches. On the one hand, there is the dominant model of agro-exportation, of the single crop of the So is this just an issue for the global South? transational business, of the use of agropoisons, of genetically modified seeds, of processed products The problem of agriculture and food cannot be dangerous for the consumer, full of fats, sugar, salt, postulated in the classic North-South terms. It is
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analysis
instead a question of models. The first thing to understand is that the dominant agro-export model serves neither the interests of the great majority of the population in the South, nor those in the North. It
is an exclusive model as much in one place as in the Kurz/Progressio Vanessa other. What is happening to peasants in the South is also happening to family farmers in the North. In Europe thousands of peasant families are losing their lands. In both cases it is a dominant model of agro- industry, agro-exportation, which displaces them; and in each case they are defending a model of family farming against this dominant model. So we have to begin by understanding that it is to our advantage to ally ourselves with the peasant movements in the South to change the model of farming and feeding in this world.
What can people in the countries of the North do? A farmer in Honduras inspects a pepper plant.
We should begin by thinking what we are buying, and not buy without thinking. We have to inform ourselves and consider whether what we are buying is coffee or cocoa that cannot be produced in the a local product or comes from a transnational which North. In this sense it is clear: there will always be displaced local producers in another country in order international trade and it is better that there be fairer to bring us this product. Equally, how was this prices. But this concept of fair trade can tend to product produced? With agrotoxic pesticides and legitimise the idea that the countries of the South destruction of the soil and biodiversity? Or with should give themselves over to the production of ecologically sustainable methods? We should consider these products for export. It does not solve the big whether our act of consumption is strengthening structural problems, insofar as it continues within the peasant family farming, which is sustainable, or same agro-export model – with better prices, but helping to destroy it. without changing the structure in which the best land The most important criterion for the consumer is given over to exportation and not to the production who wants to change the world is local consumption. of food for local consumption. In this way they will be supporting the family farmers Therefore I identify myself with the concept of just of their own country, and they will not be harming trade which thinks each producer should have a local peasants in another country. If someone in Europe consumes grapes imported from Chile, out of season, The dominant agro-export model serves neither or melon imported from El Salvador or Nicaragua, also out of season, they are supporting a model of the interests of the great majority of the exclusion. Because it is not the small peasant who population in the South, nor those in the North produces this food, but the big transnational. If one stops consuming this type of product from the market, and that consumers can buy from local transnational, and instead buys local products, one producers. The most important thing is that countries stops harming the peasant producers of another produce what they consume and that they have the country and begins to support the family farmers of possibility of creating national local markets in their one’s own country. own territory. We must stop believing in the myth that opening In order to change the unjust structures of the the markets in the North will solve problems in the food and agriculture system, it is necessary first to South. This is a fallacy. What the countries in the understand how this world functions; second, to South need is to be able to close their own markets to think when we consume; and third, to convert that subsidised exports from countries in the North, and to thought into action. Social mobilisation is the only be able to subsidise their own local agriculture, to force capable of changing these structures. meet their local and national food needs. Ernesto Cañada is a Progressio development Where does the concept of fair trade fit into this? worker with Fundación Luciérnaga in Nicaragua. Luciérnaga works on recovering and Many of us want to think that by buying a product documenting the memories of Nicaragua’s from Argentina, Nicaragua, Ghana or India, we are history and Latin American cultural identity. supporting the peasant people of those countries. But Ernesto is from Spain. World hunger: 12 myths by the reverse is true: on buying a product of agro-export Frances Moore Lappe, Joseph Collins and Peter we are directly supporting a social exclusion model. Rossett is published by Earthscan (ISBN Of course there will always be tropical products like 1853834939).
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reportage
The flowering of the future
A young boy at a flower stall in the Huaral valley in Peru.
words: Alastair Whitson pictures: Graham Freer
The Huaral valley is, like the rest of the coastal plain of Peru, a desert zone. Despite this, it is intensively cultivated, with around 8,000 small farms growing potato, cotton, strawberries, flowers, maize, sweet potato, green beans. The farmers rely on water from the mountains which is distributed over 22,000 hectares of farmed land through a The Huaral valley is two hours drive north of Lima, through a bleak industrial maze of irrigation channels. Administering the system – the landscape peppered with the shanty towns of the city’s poor. Their ramshackle responsibility of the Chancay-Huaral irrigation council – used homes are built on crumbling hillsides or, quite simply, on desert. No water, no to be a bureaucratic nightmare. Information about how vegetation, nothing, just sand and dirt. How can people live here? Yet when much water was available, which crops were planted where people migrate to Lima in search of a livelihood, they have to stay somewhere. and when, how much water was needed by each farm and They build a shelter on the unclaimed desert, and at night go back to sleep there. when it was needed, whether the appropriate fees had been They get an electricity cable, add another room to their house, arrange regular paid to release the water – all this used to be collected by deliveries from a water truck, plant a small garden in the desert soil. And over time pencil and paper and collated manually. The system was – maybe over a whole generation – they begin to achieve a bit of permanence; slow and cumbersome and could not respond to farmers’ they begin to build a community. changing needs.
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reportage
The problem has been solved through a pioneering computerised database that simplifies the collection and dissemination of information on water availability, water needs, crops, weather, markets, fee status. Under the paper system, less than half the farms were surveyed to assess their needs. Now more than 80 per cent are being monitored. Irrigation council staff used to have to constantly update paper charts. Now the information can be updated and viewed at the click of a mouse. But the real beauty of the system is that all this information is available to the farmers themselves, through a network of telecentres connected by wireless internet technology. In addition to this information sharing, communities can also access the Internet at the telecentres, and make phone calls to anywhere in the world.
The new system is the brainchild of Progressio development worker Jaime Torres (left) and his engineering team at CEPES, the Peruvian Centre for Social Studies. ‘We built this from scratch because we didn’t find anything anywhere else in the world to build from,’ he says. It is based on free ‘open source’ software and uses a content management system so people can add information to the database without technical computer knowledge. The telecentres make the information widely available, and a touch screen system with audio playback (see picture below left) is being developed for people who do not know how to use a computer. According to Carlos Saldarriaga of CEPES, ‘This is the only project of its kind in Peru, where ICT skills are being applied to meet the real needs of farmers.’ Jaime is a young Colombian who gave up a prestigious job at an internet company in Bogota – and the bright lights of the big city – to come to work with the rural communities of the Huaral valley. ‘When you are working for a company you may have lots of ideas, but how many of them come to reality?’ says Jaime. ‘Here you have an idea and you can see it happen.’
According to Marcial Vega, president of the irrigation council (near right), ‘The system is a great help. It saves time and it saves resources. Everything is immediate – information is immediately uploaded and available, and even if you are 25km away you can get the information through the telecentres.’ Hector Salvador (far right), who has farmed in the Huaral valley for decades and knows Huaral, the farmers and their problems like the back of his hand, works for CEPES to promote the information system. ‘The success is down to the fact that everybody trusts the project,’ he says. They held workshops so that farmers could put forward ideas about what they needed. ‘They helped create the project and now they feel it’s their project,’ says Hector. ‘It has helped them to be more organised, more in touch with each other.’ It means farmers can work out which crops to grow and when to get the best prices, and interactnow can be sure they will get the water they need to grow those crops. It takes the Go to www.progressio.org.uk/appeal to find out how you guesswork and chance out of the process. ‘The idea is to increase profit,’ says can support the work of Jaime and other Progressio Marcial. ‘Farmers are producing more thanks to access to the information, and development workers whose expertise and innovation is they are very happy because they feel they are touching development. We know bringing improvements to the lives of people in poor now that with information people can develop.’ communities.
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reflection
The spirit of celebration: a woman in Uganda expresses her joy in life.
Nick Sireau/Progressio but I am not sure there is a philosophical or political basis for this. There is however a clear theological basis for it – and people here seem to appreciate that. They may not feel the need to say ‘thank you’ to others, but they do not stop thanking God. The young people here will not even drink a cup of tea without stopping to sing a hymn first! Saying thank you to God is something which I find very easy here. There is so much that we cannot take for granted that when there is electricity or a good road or a cool day, God gets an immediate vote of thanks. There is a useful meditation that a Jesuit is supposed to do at least once a day. It is to reflect on the previous few hours and notice all the things that have come from God but were taken for granted at the time. It is amazing how much we do not notice – things we use, people we meet, moments of happiness, beautiful views. But such reflections inevitably bring Giving thanks up the problem of evil. If God is credited with the good stuff then why is he not Working with Sudanese refugees in Uganda reminds Raymond Perrier also to blame for the bad stuff? I can never to take anything for granted offer no pat answers to that. But what I observe around me are people who retain hope in the face of repeated NE OF THE THINGS I find hardest to thank you when the bore holes are disappointment. The start of repatriation get used to here is the fact that repaired, or when some of them get a has been delayed yet again. The conflict Opeople don’t say ‘thank you’. I secondary education, or when a few in Darfur worsens. The rains are slow in realise that the English do tend to medicines are available at the doctor-less coming. And yet even the students who overuse the term and perhaps don’t health centres. But why do I expect the have been abandoned mid-studies by the always mean it. But still, after giving a lift refugees to say thank you for things that UN remain hopeful. to someone, or showing a video in a in England I took for granted? After all, I As I wrote these reflections, the settlement, or paying for some medicine, never used to say thank you for the fact refugees around me were celebrating or (with donated funds) supporting that water came out of my taps, or that Holy Week. They enacted various rituals: someone to go to school, I wait in vain the state provided me with an excellent waving palm branches, washing feet, for the magic words. education, or that the health system was venerating the cross, lighting the Easter At first I thought it was a language there to catch me should I fall. bonfire, singing Alleluias. All of these problem, and then that it was a sign of Is the difference just about what we actions express a theology of saying ingratitude, and then that it was do or do not pay for? Or is it something thank you (or ‘Eucharist’ to give it a evidence of dependency. But now I have to do with what we feel ‘entitled’ to? technical name). What God has done for resigned myself to accepting this as a But why shouldn’t people who have us – from creation to salvation – we did cultural difference. No rudeness is suffered war, persecution, famine, loss of not deserve and we are never entitled to. intended by it. their homes and sexual abuse – through The least we can do is say thanks. But perhaps there is an underlying no fault of their own – feel entitled to truth that they are communicating (albeit water, education and health? Indeed, all Raymond Perrier works for the Jesuit unwittingly). I expect the refugees to say of these (and many others) have been Refugee Service at Rhino Camp in articulated as ‘rights’ in the Universal northern Uganda. Most of the 20,000 Declaration of Human Rights. Do we say Sudanese at the camp have been The young people here will thank you for the freedom of speech or there for more than eight years. the freedom of association that we enjoy Raymond previously worked as a not even drink a cup of tea ‘by right’? branding consultant and he assisted without stopping to sing a Socially I feel they (and we) should all Progressio, on a voluntary basis, with hymn first! say thank you a lot more than we do – the transition to our new name.
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perspective
T WAS THE BEGINNINg of the year 2000. We activists and NGO workers who Ithrough the 1990s had supported and The struggle campaigned on behalf of the East Timorese liberation struggle were meeting with a group of young Timorese students in Oxfordshire. Timor was on continues the road to statehood following the historic vote by an intimidated but Catherine Scott describes how the Ai-Kameli Trust has been determined population to separate from helping East Timor’s people get the skills they need to build Indonesia. The question was, what did their emerging nation the students want us to do now to support them? The response was unequivocal. ‘We need skills. We cannot go home empty- from easy. I am not afraid to admit there handed – we have a country to build.’ were times when I felt like giving up. But ‘Our leader, Xanana Gusmao, has we are gradually building up private recommended us to gain an education donors – the best hope we have of before we go home.’ establishing a funding base. Myself and Nick Sireau/Progressio Education is one thing many East our trustees have given many a talk to Timorese have missed out on. The would-be donors and interested education service provided by the audiences – with mixed results. One early Indonesians – rote learning, poorly attempt at the Anglo-Portuguese Society resourced – had hardly prepared them netted exactly the train fare Estevao for anything. And many had skipped Cabral, one of our board members, had school to devote themselves to the spent getting to London! struggle for self-determination anyway. We agreed to set up a charity which Celebration Facing up to further study: school would raise funds for students to get an But we also have things to celebrate. For students in East Timor. education in the UK. When they asked instance, we had the great pleasure two for volunteers I found my hand in the air. years ago of sending home our first With little knowledge of how to go graduate – Florencio Fernandes, with a making a concrete contribution to the about it, I started networking and got degree in business economics. He will be ‘skilling up’ of East Timorese civil society stuck into the task. My aim was to set up followed this year by graduates in – much needed and, with the recent the charity and quietly withdraw, but biochemistry, biotechnology in medicine, unrest and civil strife in this newly somehow I became the chairperson – a and tourism. independent nation, more necessary position I am only now relinquishing Meeting and working with the than ever. after six years! students has been inspiring. I was I raise an imaginary glass to all who delighted to have Lucia Freitas, one of have contributed to the Ai-Kameli Trust Journey our students, speak at the launch of over the past six years and encourage It has been quite a journey. To start with, Independent women, a book I co- everyone to go on contributing in the East Timorese students wanted us authored with Irena Cristalis last year. whatever way you can. Nothing can be simply to fundraise, divide up the money She spoke of her plans to go back home more practical and concrete than and parcel it out to them. We decided and work in a forensics laboratory so providing education and skills to we could not possibly operate like that – East Timorese society would be better committed young individuals set on though for the first couple of years we able to nail the perpetrators of domestic doing their best for an emerging and did reserve the scholarships for UK-based violence – a serious problem faced by deeply needy country. There is a huge East Timorese students who wanted to East Timorese women. I am proud of her. amount yet to do… A luta continua return to Timor. Another satisfying development is the (the struggle continues)! A couple of years into the trust we establishment of an advisory board of worked out what has been a very fruitful East Timorese academics in Dili. They will Catherine Scott is manager of partnership with Westminster University, advise us on new candidates, and help Progressio’s Africa, Middle East and which provides fee waivers; International us channel funding to deserving students Asia programmes. Students’ House, which provides free who want to study at home at one of student accommodation; and ourselves the new universities springing up who find the students, bring them to the domestically. interactnow UK and provide living expenses. We We have an active and engaged Ai-Kameli is the tetum word for Sandalwood started sourcing our candidates from board of trustees in the UK, and it has – an historic export of the island of Timor. If you would like to support the Ai-Kameli East Timor itself, recognising that these been a marvellous experience shaping Trust, please contact Alison Krentel students were more likely to want to go this young charity. Although our ([email protected]; www.aikameli.com) or telephone Catherine Scott on 020 7288 8628 back at the end of their studies. achievements are yet modest, we have a for further information. Fundraising for the trust has been far good basis for future growth and for
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A violent past…
The civil war ended 14 years ago, but Angola still bears the scars of its violent past. The country is in desperate need of help. Most of the population live in extreme poverty and
Stuart Freedman/Panos lack basic needs such as water, food, and housing. There is only one doctor and one midwife for every 20,000 people, and one nurse for every 1,000. Angola suffers high rates of child malnutrition, low school enrolment rates and poor adult literacy. A hopeful future…
Here at Progressio, we are working for peace, justice and sustainable development in many countries around the world. Since the 1990s our international advocacy work has played a key role in supporting Angola’s struggle for peace – as it also has for East Em Esta Cidade Timor, Somaliland and El Salvador. Today our work continues to help rebuild communities In this city torn by wars. But we depend on people like you to do our job. Without your support, we The rains have ceased but cracked drains spill dank can’t act. Please make a donation today and dark pits across the street help us continue our work in fighting waiting to catch the blue and white kombi taxis poverty. weaving, swerving, suddenly stopping, finding impossible spaces in the endless traffic In this city YES, I WANT TO HELP Sun burns through the morning polluted haze, smoke YOUR DETAILS: from tyres stacked in pyres. Satellite dishes cling to crumbling masonry, wires trailing like a greasy fringe. Title Mr Mrs Ms Rev Other City of neglect and war. In this city Name (please print) Gaggles of girls young in everything but faces retie babies tight to their backs with capellanas. On every Address girl’s head plastic bowls of fruit, cigarettes, kitchen towels, endlessly hawking. In this city Young dudes sell everything that Asia produces – watches, football shirts, bathmats, carjacks – and not Post code a little attitude. In this city Tel Everything is for sale In this city e-mail* *Please complete if you are happy for us to contact Along the wall of the barracks, the fading you in this way revolutionary slogans. Three bent over women hunkered down in the dust. Behind on the red wall in white ‘Emancipao de Mulher’. In this city I'd like to make a donation – Five million squatting peasants where the few I enclose a cheque (payable to thousand whites lived and fled. But the peasants will Progressio) for £ never go back. I'd like to make a regular donation – In this city please send me a direct debit form ‘Por favore mantenha nossa cidade limpe’ – a notice leans, stuck in a blowing chase-my-tail of rubbish. I'd like to join Progressio – please send In this city me a memberhsip form Everyone speeding – their own course like the fishers they once were, their own furrow like the peasants they will never be again. DATA PROTECTION Progressio stores information for mailing purposes. We In this city want to contact you in the future. Please tick if you do Where once the revolution in mad May days of rage not wish to be contacted. We also share our lists with turned and ate its own children other like-minded organisations. Please tick if you do not wish us to give them your details. We survive. Please return to: Steve Kibble, Luanda, capital city of Angola, June 2006. Freepost RLYX-ELJU-JJBL, Progressio, Steve is Progressio’s advocacy coordinator for Africa and Yemen. Unit 3, Canonbury Business Centre, 190a New North Road, London, N1 7BJ.