issue 014lo 22/1/07 16:06 Page 1 interact The magazine of

Live Simply Show your solidarity and help tackle poverty

In this issue: Water in Indigenous rights in Namibia Deforestation in Somaliland

ISSN 1816-045X Winter 2006/7 issue 014lo 22/1/07 16:06 Page 2

interact winter 2006/7

Contents David Tanner/Progressio

editorial 5 3 first person: coming in off the streets

Live Simply 4 news: sharing and learning in Latin America Solidarity is one of Progressio’s key values, and it is one of the key messages of Populorum Progressio 7 agenda: ‘live simply so that others may (‘On the development of peoples’), a document simply live’ written by Pope Paul VI in 1967 which calls on all people of goodwill to work for human insight: livesimply development and fight injustice. This year, 2007, is the 40th anniversary of Populorum Progressio. To mark the occasion, a 8 Populorum Progressio – still relevant today? number of Catholic organisations have joined Why the message of solidarity should still inspire us together to promote its message of solidarity. Under the livesimply banner, the organisations are 10 What you can do calling on people in the UK to consider the impact Practical suggestions for joining the 12 that our lifestyles are having – and the impact that livesimply campaign our actions can have – on the lives of people who struggle in poverty in our globalised world. 12 Faith in action This issue of Interact explains why the Living with the poor in East Timor livesimply message is important to Progressio – and what you can do to show your solidarity. action Throughout the year, Progressio, along with other organisations in the network, will be promoting livesimply by highlighting the links between our 13 The fight for water lifestyles in the global North, and the lives of Villagers in El Salvador act to protect people in the global South. We will also be asking their water resources you to join with us in taking action that can help tackle the injustices that keep people locked in viewpoint poverty. 15 Pope Paul VI wrote: ‘the development that leads to peace can come only when all peoples 15 Back from the edge help each other’. As Interact shows, Progressio The struggle of the San people in Namibia seeks to work together with people around the world to help them find solutions to the problems they face. I am sure that, in the year ahead, in our reportage work and with the livesimply message, we can 1619 continue to rely on your solidarity and support. 16 A burning issue Charcoal’s role in deforestation in Somaliland

18 18 reflection: compassion in truth

Cover picture: A window to the world: a 19 reflection: livesimply welcoming face in Ossorua, East Timor. Photo: Nick Sireau/Progressio.

Published January 2007 by Progressio Progressio Ireland Editor Alastair Whitson Unit 3, Canonbury Yard c/o CORI, Bloomfield Avenue Sub-editor Anne-Marie Sharman 190a New North Road, Off Morehampton Road Executive Director Christine Allen 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 014lo 22/1/07 16:07 Page 3

first person David Tanner/Progressio

Coming in off the streets

FTER THE YEARS OF CONFLICT in and Volunteers Organisation (GAVO), only just arrived. They sleep outside, Somaliland many children has worked with the street children, possibly under cardboard, near Ahave to cope on their own, as providing literacy classes and where they search for food during they have no adults to care for them. practical training. GAVO also runs a the day – the markets, the beach. The severe drought we are suffering community programme to raise Only four of these children had means they are being forced into awareness of HIV and AIDS and in learnt to read and write – skills they towns to try to earn a pittance and December we organised a one-day have forgotten. survive. In the town of Berbera there workshop to explore how to adapt Many of them chew qat, sniff are at present about 500 street this for the street children. glue or petrol and smoke to forget children struggling to survive. They A team of 10 youth volunteers their hunger for a while – all of have not had any schooling. The spent a day searching for which carry health risks. One boy boys mainly shine shoes for 200 participants, visiting the places in stood up to show the plastic bottle Somali shillings (about three US and around Berbera where the street from which he sniffs Arabic gum to cents) a pair, or sometimes wash children congregate, notably the alleviate his stress. They know that cars, while the girls wander about market places, the beach by the Red if they fall ill they are likely to die begging. They are often driven to Sea, the tea shops and qat selling and some are aware of HIV and steal in order to eat. points (qat is a leaf that is chewed AIDS. I very much want to help these for its stimulant properties). We ran Only boys came to the workshop, vulnerable children become aware of the meeting in an interactive and and we must find ways of making HIV and AIDS and learn how to stay friendly way, encouraging the 37 contact with the girls who live on healthy. Sexual relations outside children and young people who the streets. We are also planning marriage are forbidden by Islam and came to contribute and get involved. courses for GAVO’s trainers, so that by tradition, but these children no We wanted to find out about their they can incorporate HIV and AIDS longer have a family framework to lives, tell them about how GAVO education into their work. support and guide them as they could help them and begin to My vision is that GAVO will be become young adults. We don’t address the issue of HIV and AIDS. able to empower these children and actually know whether they are The children told us how they had young people to face up to the sexually active, but it is important become street children – some are challenges of HIV and AIDS. that they know how to avoid orphans, others have run away from transmission of the virus. home to escape abuse and violence. Rogasian Massue is a Progressio A local community development Most (80 per cent) have been in development worker working with organisation, the General Assistance Berbera for 10 years, but others have GAVO in Somaliland.

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news

Sharing and learning in Latin America ensured real participation, exchange of ideas and learning. N OCTOBER 2006, Progressio there are fundamental We wanted representatives from brought together 47 people from disagreements about the way Progressio’s Africa, Middle East Iacross Central and Latin America forward. and Asia programme there to to a seminar in the Dominican The international financial contribute to cross-regional Republic on civil society institutions – World Bank, organisational learning. This participation and local International Monetary Fund, meant overcoming language development, writes Belisario Inter-American Development Bank barriers and added to the expense. Nieto. – favour technocratic solutions to Christian , One World Action, This initiative was to enable achieve economic stability and Trocaire and the European Union members of local non- growth, cutting social expenditure supported us financially. governmental organisations and allowing countries to increase Participants from El Salvador, (NGOs), Progressio development their foreign debt. They support , , , workers and others to share their civil society participation but wish Ecuador and the Dominican experiences and thus enable all of to stay in control – something Republic came to Santo Domingo. us to learn from each other. obvious from the very low The economist and urban planner Many countries in Latin participation in elections. Yves Cabannes, who has a wide America are only now beginning The NGOs and development experience of the region, talked Belisario Nieto to know peace and rebuild their agencies, including Progressio, about the strengths and speaking at the Progressio communities, after 30 years of favour a truly participative weaknesses of local development seminar. dictatorships and civil wars, but approach, developing inclusive in Latin America. We tackled three democratic processes and main themes: how to produce empowering people to make municipal development plans that choices for themselves. We work serve the local communities; how with local communities on their to influence national plans for the issues – poverty, the role of poor; and how to motivate a women, the environment, water. significant democratic participation. We train municipal election This is one more step towards candidates and work with enabling people to take control of municipalities to involve the local their lives. people in decision-making. Organising this event was Belisario Nieto is Progressio’s challenging. We had to find a way Programme Coordinator for Latin of running the seminar that America and the Caribbean.

Chega! Enough! to the Timorese parliament a year contributing factor to the serious ago. It documents widespread and unrest that destabilised the ROGRESSIO JOINED with other systematic violations of human country earlier this year. The groups in November 2006 to rights perpetrated by all parties in failure to address impunity is likely Ppress the UK government for East Timor between 1974 and to undermine efforts to stabilise action on the key recommendations 1999, immediately before and the country. of a landmark report on violations during Indonesia’s occupation of ‘Despite the fact that crimes of committed in East Timor. the territory. the gravest kind were committed The 2,500-page report by East The report includes a number in East Timor no Indonesian officer A derelict buiding Timor’s Commission for Reception, of findings and recommendations has been held responsible,’ says in Dili – a reminder of East Timor’s Truth, and Reconciliation, entitled concerning the UK’s role in the Charmain Mohamed of Human turbulent past. Chega! (Enough!), was presented conflict. In particular, it calls for a Rights Watch. ‘This lack of UK contribution to reparation accountability makes it hard to payments to victims of the conflict build a society based on respect and greater control over the arms for human rights and justice.’ trade. To date there has been no As Dr Purna Sen of Amnesty formal response from the British International stated: ‘The people

Zara Benosa/Progressio government. of East Timor are still waiting for For the All-Party Parliamentary justice.’ Human Rights Group, the Indonesia Human Rights interactnow Campaign TAPOL, Human Rights The full report and an executive Watch, Amnesty International and summary is available at: Progressio, the lack of justice for http://etan.org/news/2006/cavr.htm past crimes in East Timor was a

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Women living with HIV call for action Access to safe water is a human right N WORLD AIDS DAy, the International Community AST NOVEMBER (2006) Oof Women Living with HIV Progressio Ireland, the Latin and AIDS (ICW) reminded us that America Solidarity Campaign

Nick Sireau/Progressio L women are both specifically and Debt and Development susceptible to HIV infection together hosted a roundtable in and are subjected to harsh Dublin to discuss possible discrimination if they become advocacy work on global water HIV positive. issues. Many organisations and In a statement issued on 1 individuals attended and made December 2006, Mary Robinson, presentations, including ICW Patron, said: ‘Millions of girls documentary film-makers, Irish are dying on our watch. The government representatives, NGOs escalating rates of HIV positive Women attending a community and academics. girls and young women present meeting on HIV and AIDS in Uganda. Globally, 2.6 billion people lack the world with a critical moral access to sanitation and over one dilemma and responsibility that of women living with HIV billion lack access to safe water. As demands increased leadership and continues to grow, with over one a result almost two million children that employs as little rhetoric as million new infections among die every year of water-related possible. What we need now is women since 2004. diseases. Moreover, by 2025 it is practical organisation and action.’ The women living with HIV are predicted two out of three people Statistics on current HIV trends calling on everyone to help in the will be living with water shortages. from UNAIDS (the Joint United struggle against AIDS by fighting Lack of access to water for Nations Programme on HIV and the silence and ignorance around domestic needs and growing crops AIDS) show that, in many parts of sexual relations, gender is a political, not an environmental the world, women are more likely stereotypes and domestic violence. failure – it is the poorest who than men to be living with HIV. In They ask us to work for effective suffer, those who have no political nearly every country, the number sex education for young people power or voice. and for a fundamental shift in the The meeting was held on the interactnow attitudes that result in the day the United Nations launched a disempowerment of women, major report on water and For more information about ICW, see www.icw.org especially those who are living poverty, Beyond scarcity: power, with HIV. politics and the global water crisis. The report calls for access to safe water to be recognised as a basic Progressio to work in Malawi human right and for a global action plan to achieve the ROGRESSIO is to open a new After independence from Millennium Development Goal programme in Malawi in Britain in the 1960s, Malawi was targets on water and sanitation. P2007. Since deciding to wind under the dictatorship of Hastings Progressio Ireland and other down its programme in Namibia, Banda. He was ousted at the organisations agreed to explore because of operational and beginning of the 1990s, with the ways of influencing developed fundraising constraints, Progressio assistance of a church-led popular country governments to increase has been investigating where it movement. Civil society is slowly their commitment to water issues could open another programme, coming to terms with the in their overseas aid budgets. taking account of local needs and freedoms and responsibilities organisational capacities. The democracy brings. There are many board has agreed on Malawi. active civil society organisations in Malawi is located in southern Malawi, working with and Africa, bordered by Mozambique, supported by international Zambia and, to the east, Tanzania agencies which provide funding as Nick Sireau/Progressio and Lake Malawi. It is one of the well as technical and capacity- poorest countries in the world, building support. with a United Nations Human Progressio will now conduct in- Development Index rating of 151 depth assessments into likely areas out of 165. More than 65 per cent of cooperation and look for of the population live beneath the premises, with the aim of having poverty line and 14 per cent of the development workers placed with population are living with HIV and partner organisations in the Testing water quality at a Progressio- AIDS. country within a year. supported project in Honduras.

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Biofuels: a disaster in the making mechanisms in the current and potential production countries are VER A HUNDRED organisations oriented production of biofuels insufficient to prevent this. and individuals, including requires large-scale monocultures Local production and OProgressio, signed a of trees, sugarcane, corn, oilpalm, consumption of biofuels does, document in December 2006 soy and other crops, and these are however, play an important role in calling for the immediate already the main cause of rural sustainable livelihood strategies, suspension of all subsidies and depopulation and deforestation notably for rural women in other forms of inequitable support worldwide. developing countries. Certain for the import and export of Non-governmental organisations small-scale and strictly regulated biofuels (fuels made from organic in the countries of production sustainable forms of biofuel materials such as plants or manure). reject initiatives to produce the production can be beneficial. But They point out that the crops for biofuels ‘responsibly’, as these must be carefully monitored international trade in biofuels is they believe that the negative with the communities concerned, having a negative, and worsening, social and environmental impact is and introduced together with impact on food sovereignty, rural inherent to large-scale measures to maintain and livelihoods, forests and other monocultures. Existing standards, enhance the local economy and ecosystems. Large-scale, export- regulations and enforcement environment.

Uncertain times in Promoting people’s horn of Africa

rights OMALIA AND SOMALILAND face a period of uncertainty after Sthe victory of Ethiopia and its ally, the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG), over the Wife, Mother, Sister, Daughter Islamic Courts in January 2007, writes Steve Kibble, Progressio’s + ALL RIGHTS DENIED advocacy coordinator for Africa WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT + and the Middle East. Ethiopia wants to withdraw quickly, but the TFG, with weak armed forces and minimal local support, cannot rule Somalia without outside assistance. African S THE UK commemorates of Haitians and Dominico-Haitians Union peacekeepers are not ready the 200th anniversary of in the . and a period of instability appears Athe abolition of slavery this Lizzette Robleto, Progressio’s inevitable. year Progressio asks for your help advocacy coordinator for Latin Somalilanders are watching the to secure basic human rights for America and the Caribbean, says: situation with particular concern, Haitians and Dominico-Haitians ‘We need to increase as the TFG is led by Abdillahi working on the sugar plantations understanding and generate Yusuf, who as a former leader of of the Dominican Republic. action by key decision makers on neighbouring Puntland has A Progressio photographic policies that may affect the legal, attacked them in the past. Equally exhibition last December economic, social and judicial an Islamic Court leader, Sheikh highlighted workers’ appalling conditions of Haitians and Aweys, was found guilty in living and working conditions Dominico-Haitians in the absentia of planning Islamist which both the photographer Dominican Republic.’ attacks in Somaliland. Gianni Dal Mas and priests To help Progressio do this, It remains to be seen if the TFG working in the plantations have please use the postcard included will leave Somaliland alone, or described as ‘slave-like’. with this Interact to ask his attempt to engage in dialogue Following the exhibition, Excellency Leonel Fernandez of the with Somaliland in an effort to Progressio made a three-year Dominican Republic to comply combat political Islam. commitment to promote the rights fully with the 2005 Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling that interactnow interactnow children born of Haitians and For updates on the situation in For more information and to see Dominico-Haitians in the Somalia as it affects Somaliland, see the Progressio-sponsored website pictures from the exhibition, go to Dominican Republic should be www.progressio.org.uk/haiti www.somalilandfocus.org.uk granted nationality.

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agenda

ID YOU MAKe any new year’s resolutions? I recently read a Dnewspaper report that said most resolutions never get past the end of January. Well, if you didn’t make any resolutions, or feel you might not keep agenda the ones you made, why not check out the livesimply promise bank? Let us each choose a new year’s resolution that will really make a The idea is that we promise to do difference to others, writes Christine Allen something different about aspects of our lives that will have an effect way beyond January. I do hope you will get involved and tell your friends about it. Live simply so ‘Living simply so that others may simply live’ can seem a trite thing to say, but it’s easy to forget about the impact that others may of our lives on the lives of others. Livesimply is a new campaign, but the inspiration behind it is 40 years old. simply live When Pope Paul VI wrote the encyclical Populorum Progressio the crucial. Wherever human rights or dialogue, environmental concerns, huge inequalities between rich and poor human dignity are violated – by poverty, gender equality and HIV – all key issues were just breaking into the public injustice or oppression – change is for Progressio. But the underlying agenda. Then it was revolutionary for a necessary. It is no accident that, when principle – concern for the fullness of life Pope to express concern for a more just we became Progressio a year ago, we for the human person – is as critical as world. He did not write about charity, chose to echo in our name the values of ever. In too many places, people are seen but of the need for structural change – the church’s social teaching. only as economic units, passive recipients a challenge to society and to all of us as Progressio seeks justice for all, of decisions with little or no control over individuals. Most challenging of all, his especially for the poor, something many aspects of their lives. Progress isn’t words were a reminder of the requiring real change in policy and about earning more or having more. It is importance of people. The heart of his practice. We want change leading to about being more. message was that all people should have development for the whole person – Despite great strides in tackling life in all its fullness, not merely be respecting human dignity, not just poverty, the requirement for change at economic units. He called for people to delivering an economic result. These be able to be artisans of their own values underlie and inspire all our work – All people should have life destiny, not powerless in the face of the way we address our issues and the in all its fullness, not merely global forces. way we work with our partners overseas. be economic units Today there are many active To celebrate a document written 40 campaigns challenging poverty and years ago doesn’t mean we are limited structural and individual levels remains. global inequality. But the importance of by it. Such an encyclical today would Faced with the sheer size of issues like human dignity for everyone remains need to include references to inter-faith global poverty, injustice and environmental degradation, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Making small changes might seem fruitless but they are a start. Large global movements, such as last year’s Make Poverty History campaign or Nick Sireau/Progressio the environmental movement, are all made up of individuals taking action. And that’s why the livesimply promise bank asks others to get involved too, and for us to hold one another to account. Livesimply is a campaign by the main Catholic organisations, but it isn’t relevant only to Catholics. Progressio is part of the campaign, and we work with people of all faiths and none for a more just world, so we call on everyone to make a promise – one that will last longer than one month!

Christine Allen is Progressio’s executive A family in Aileu, East Timor. director.

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insight: livesimply Mark Howard/Twenty-Five Educational Mark Howard/Twenty-Five

Church steward in Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka.

Populorum Progressio: STILL RELEVANT TODAY?

The evil of unequal wealth and power is still present, 40 years after Pope areas the situation has Paul VI denounced it, but we can make a difference, writes Joanne Green deteriorated. This is especially the case with regard to the arms trade, ONFLICT, unjust trade is inequality in the sharing-out environmental degradation and rules, power imbalances, of power. In many lands a few inequality between individuals Cfamine, investment in rich people still dominate the and nations. In additon, global arms rather than basic services, rest. While they enjoy a trade rules remain heavily inequality, debts that can’t be civilised existence, the rest stay weighted in favour of wealthy paid and a belief that new poor.’ nations, despite all the technology can solve all our campaigning. problems – does this list seem Growing inequality familiar? It sounds like a The analysis, challenges and Rich countries description of our world today teaching of Populorum Progressio Pope Paul VI faced a very but, in fact, these are all issues are as relevant now as they similar situation in 1967. He that Pope Paul VI identified 40 were then. In some ways we lived at a time when the years ago in his papal letter have made progress. For perspective was in some ways Populorum Progressio (‘On the example, we are seeing the quite a hopeful one. development of peoples’). He cancellation of some poor Decolonisation was well under wrote: countries’ debts and large-scale way and new global ‘Inequality in the sharing of poverty reduction in China and institutions had been our wealth is not the only South-East Asia. established to steer the world scandal crying out for justice. These steps forward keep towards greater peace and Now, increasingly, the scandal alive our hopes that humanity prosperity. But, as he details in is willing to fight against evil his letter, there was also terrible ‘Genuine progress must be and able to overcome it. But iniquity and great inequality: complete. No one can be left out. No the depth and complexity of ‘Today, in many lands, existing challenges threaten to countless men and women are part of anyone can be left out.’ overwhelm us. For in other starving. Countless children

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insight: livesimply

suffer from malnutrition. Many alterations, and these are die young.… Whole regions are hitting the poorest hardest, and Livesimply is an initiative condemned to hopelessness.’ will continue to do so in the of a network of Catholic Pope Paul responded to this future. organisations to mark by calling for what amounts to Progressio partners are seeing the 40th anniversary of a paradigm shift on the part of the way in which changes in the publication of rich countries and their leaders. the climate are making life Populorum Progressio. He calls for a new definition of harder for poor communities. The network’s message is progress, one that is based on As one example, because of that: ‘God calls us to look hard the equal value that God rapidly melting glaciers in at our lifestyles and to choose to live simply, accords every person and the Ecuador, aridity is increasing, as sustainably and in solidarity with the poor. In this recognition that material gain is soil loss, desertification, eco- way we can help create a world in which human and economic growth is not system degradation, the dignity is respected and everyone can reach their the goal but a means to an end disappearance of species and full potential. This would be true progress, worth and therefore should not be the loss of agricultural land. As more than economic growth alone.’ pursued ad infinitum. a consequence, the indigenous Every day politicians, the communities with whom See www.livesimply.org.uk for more media, private companies, and Progressio partner organisations information. even our friends and family, all work are experiencing tell us explicitly and unexpected frosts and longer subliminally that we need drought periods. more. The message is that, if we Up in Smoke? Latin America the creation and resources God have more, if we buy this and Caribbean, a report from has provided to us. product or take this holiday, we the Working Group on Climate will be happier. Yet numerous Change and Development, of Living in solidarity studies show that, beyond a which Progressio is a member, The livesimply project, which certain level of material wealth, states: ‘The older generation say was launched in November we become less contented. they no longer know when to 2006, builds on the success of Elevating the wants of the sow, as rains do not come as Make Poverty History by asking individual over the needs of expected. Migration offers one people to be the change they our local communities and way out but represents a want to see by living simply, global neighbours has not cultural nemesis and the sustainably and in solidarity brought us personal human and social price to pay with poor people. satisfaction. But, more is high.’ The values that Pope Paul VI importantly, our way of life is wrote about with such passion accelerating the destruction of Acting in solidarity the natural resources of the In 2005, the Make Poverty ‘What is more human? The end of want; world. In so doing, we are History campaign asked world everyone having enough; the end of contributing to destroying the leaders to eradicate poverty by social ills of every kind; more lives of the people in increasing aid, introducing knowledge; more culture; respect for the developing countries who rely trade justice and cancelling on these resources. debt. Thousands of people took dignity of others; the spirit of poverty to the streets and wrote to (Matthew 5:3); cooperation for the Climate change politicians demanding change. common good; the will for peace.’ Climate change is a case in Great progress was made but point. We cannot escape the much more is needed. 40 years ago still drive our work at fact that rich countries are We can act in solidarity with Progressio today. We believe they largely responsible for the poor people by pressuring are perhaps even more relevant current and predicted climate politicians to take action on now than they were then, which is change and variability. We are these issues and other factors why our new name was inspired beginning to realise and that result in poverty and by Populorum Progressio and why acknowledge that those who environmental degradation. we are supporting the livesimply are suffering the most from this But we also need to live in project. are poor individuals and solidarity with the poor in the communities in developing world. To do this, we must Joanne Green is Progressio’s advocacy countries. reflect on our own lives and manager. The global impact of climate make changes to areas that change is spreading. We are negatively impact on poverty interactnow already witnessing increasing and the environment. We need The quotes from Populorum Progressio are from the frequency and severity of to live simply and sustainably, abridged translation, This is Progress, available from Progressio for £2.50 or download free from droughts and floods. But there so that all people, not just a www.progressio.org.uk are also slower, more insidious chosen few, can benefit from

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insight: livesimply

comes from. And even more important, we are starting to ask questions about what needs WHAT YOU to be done, and what needs to change, to make the world a fairer and better place. We can see this in the widespread CAN DO support for the Make Poverty History campaign, as well as in As the livesimply campaign gets underway, Alastair Whitson the growing popularity of fair suggests practical steps we can all take to make a difference, trade products. in solidarity with the word’s poor The livesimply campaign gives an added focus to these concerns. If we have the luxury OST OF US take our keeping the rest of the world’s of making a choice to live comfortable lifestyles people poor, disadvantaged and simply, we should not be doing Mfor granted. We only marginalised. so just to ease our consciences, think about the water in our The livesimply message taps but in order to make a taps, the heat in our homes, into a growing realisation that difference. What we are doing the food on our plates, when it our lifestyles in the global is not just about us, it is really doesn’t work or isn’t there. But North cause many of the about others, especially the as well as enjoying the good problems experienced by world’s poor, and we need to things, we need to appreciate people in the global South. make sure that we act, spread where they come from and Here, in the North, we are now the word, and make the what has brought them to us. aware of the impact our energy connection. Many of the things we enjoy use is having on the climate. use up too much of the earth’s We are concerned about how Alastair Whitson is Progressio’s resources and contribute to our food is grown and where it acting head of communications. FOOD ow was your What you can do Hfood • Buy local, seasonal (and produced? preferably organic) food from Agrochemicals local greengrocers, farm shops could be polluting or farmers’ markets; or the water supplies subscribe to a vegetable box of people living scheme. near the farms. The • When buying food produced food could be grown overseas, buy fair trade and/or or raised on land owned organic. by a multinational • Buy from small, independent corporation, while local people and ethical producers and have no access to land on retailers. SPEAK OUT which to grow food to eat or • If you shop at a supermarket, sell for a livelihood. And how ask them what their policy is verything in our world is interconnected. Our did your food get to you? It on stocking local food and fair Elifestyles, the decisions we make (or fail to could have come four miles trade produce – and keep make) about food, energy, trade, can have a down the road from a local pressing them to do more. direct impact on other people’s lives around the farm, or been flown 4,000 • Read the Progressio Comment world. So if we start to change the way we do miles in the hold of a cargo Food sovereignty by Ernest things at home, it will lead to changes in the plane. And at what cost? Cañada (£2 plus p&p from way things are done elsewhere. We can also Producing it could be Progressio, or download free bring pressure for change by speaking out, undermining sustainable from www.progressio.org.uk). encouraging others to think about the choices lifestyles, damaging the • Donate to charities like they make, urging others to make changes and environment, using scarce Progressio that support challenging our leaders to take action on our water resources, exploiting sustainable agriculture behalf. poorly paid farm labourers. projects.

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boat or a train. ENERGY • Write to your MP about the need for real action on limate change might mean makers, who are already starting climate change. Cwarm winters for us, but it to respond to the public mood on • Support climate means devastating floods, climate change. change campaigns crippling droughts and run by environmental increasing ‘natural disasters’ for What you can do organisations. people elsewhere in the world. • Reduce your energy use – fit • Read the Progressio We are the polluters, we have low energy light bulbs, turn Comment People and the created the problem, but they down your heating, turn off environment on the edge suffer the consequences. It is your television and your by J Timmons Roberts and our moral duty to take computer. Bradley C Parks (£2 plus responsibility for the solution. • Switch to a renewable energy p&p from Progressio, or We need to reduce our energy supplier – and tell your old download free from use and tackle our addiction to electricity supply firm why you www.progressio.org.uk). cars, cheap flights and cheap are switching. • Donate to charities like holidays. If everyone makes • Use your car less – walk, cycle, Progressio that work to reduce their own individual efforts, it use public transport. Fly only if people’s environmental sends out a message to policy- there is no alternative – take a vulnerability.

a code of conduct? Ask to MAKE PROMISES TRADE see it and challenge them to demonstrate they are rogressio wants as many people as possible oney makes the world go following it. Pto get involved in the livesimply campaign. Mround – but how much of • Make sure your investments One way to do this is by making a promise at what you spend goes to the are ethical – that is, not livesimply’s online promisebank. You make a people who actually make what supporting exploitative or public commitment to do something or change you buy? And what is the cost environmentally damaging something about your life that will positively to the environment – is the industries or the arms trade. affect poor people. The idea is that people wood in your furniture from a • Campaign to change world make a promise on condition that others also sustainable source? Are the trade rules with the Trade promise to do it – such as promising to buy fair- chemicals used to produce your Justice Movement (of which trade and/or local, seasonal produce provided clothes damaging people’s Progressio is a member) – 30 other people pledge to do so, or promising health and polluting the see www.tjm.org.uk not to take any personal plane flights if 20 environment? Are people being • Donate instead of spending others make the same promise. The more exploited in sweatshops? Are – and if you are a taxpayer, people make promises, the more impact we will the products you buy fairly don’t forget to Gift Aid it, as have. Go now to www.livesimply.org.uk/ traded, or are they keeping your donation will be worth promise to sign up to an existing promise or poor people and poor countries more. make your own promise – don’t wait for others locked in poverty? to act!

What you can do • Buy fairly traded products. • Buy clothes made from organic cotton and natural fibres. • Reuse or repair instead of replacing consumer goods. • Buy from small, independent and ethical producers and interactnow retailers. • Ask companies that During 2007, Progressio will be initiating actions and campaigns under the livesimply banner that can have a you buy from how positive impact on the lives of people in the global South. they guarantee the To sign up for more information from Progressio about conditions under livesimply, email [email protected] or write to which their products the livesimply project at Progressio (see page 2 for are produced. Do they have address details).

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insight: livesimply

Maria Lourdes Martins Cruz threatened by three bare- (Mana Lou). chested militia members on Irene Slegt Irene motorbikes. They were revving the engines and I was scared. poorest of the poor in remote Another militia leader, who had East Timorese villages, and to been a catechist, grabbed the teach practical skills such as microphone. “My brothers,” he healthcare and animal stated solemnly, “remember husbandry. It is a vision to Mana Lou is not a political which she is still dedicated woman…. God sent Mana today. Lou”.’ So instead they In the beginning, Mana embraced her. Lou’s initiative was sometimes criticised, notably by the local Action and simplicity Catholic clergy. They accused The international Catholic her of trying to be a priest, but peace organisation Pax Christi she remained faithful to her awarded Mana Lou a peace vocation and has become a true prize in 1995. The award began Christian leader. a process whereby her order FAITH IN and her work became more Bringing peace recognised and accepted by the The Indonesian military local Catholic hierarchy. Today recruited collaborationist East she is involved in the pastoral ACTION Timorese as militias to back the training of East Timor’s young occupation forces and attack seminarians and her centre in the majority of East Timorese Dare is flourishing. Catherine Scott remembers her time people who were pro- When I ask Mana Lou with Mana Lou, an inspirational independence. In September whether she would have liked Christian leader in East Timor 1999, almost 80 per cent of the to be a priest, she shrugs off the East Timorese population voted question as an irrelevance. Hers in a popular consultation to is a practical faith – NE OF THE MOST inspiring end Indonesian rule. The emphasising actions over people I have met on militias then drove some status. She never loses sight of Omy many visits to East 200,000 people across the her fundamental mission to Timor since the early 1990s has border into Indonesian (West) serve the poor at home, her been Maria Lourdes Martins Timor in a carefully executed brothers and sisters. Cruz, better known among the contingency plan devised by She is frequently invited to Timorese as Mana Lou. Mana their paymasters. speak and attend conferences Lou originally trained in the Mana Lou risked her life and seminars, often abroad. She 1980s to be a Canossian Sister – trying to bring these militias to declines most invitations, but she left before her final their senses and back to God opting instead to live out in profession and founded Maun and their homeland. She action and simplicity her Alin Iha Kristu (‘Brothers and worked with the Besi Merah vocation to help others. It is Sisters in Christ’: a religious Putih, a militia that had these qualities – constancy, order whose members live and terrorised the Liquica area, and simplicity, strength of purpose work within the wider had massacred a large number and determination – which community). of people in the Catholic make her so special – truly a I first met her in 1994, when church in the town in April ‘foundress’ in every sense of the I was invited to go to her retreat 1999. word. centre in the mountains of ‘The militias knew that I Dare, overlooking the coastal always talk about Jesus,’ she Catherine Scott is manager of plain and Dili (the capital of told me simply. ‘They Progressio’s Africa, Middle East East Timor). The centre is an encouraged others to listen. and Asia programmes. oasis of prayerful and green- Some told me that at first they leafed peace and tranquillity in felt angry. But they said: “then interactnow a land that has rarely enjoyed our minds and hearts opened, Read more about Mana Lou in either. and we understood that we had Independent women: The story of been the victims of politics”.’ women’s activism in East Timor by There were some tense Irena Cristalis and Catherine Scott, Living with the poor available from Progressio price Mana Lou’s aim was simple: to moments, she remembered: ‘At £11.95 (order online from train young women to work one point, as I stood up to lead www.progressio.org.uk) with and bear witness to the a meeting, I was being

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action The fight for water

Villagers in El Slavador are O THE NORTH OF SAN SALVADOR, on the plant respond. Sara now takes a different acting together to protect way to the volcano just outside the route each time she travels because she their water and lobby Tcity, lies Apopa, where members of knows she’s sometimes being followed. against water privatisation, the community are struggling against the She’s received death threats. They even writes Nick Sireau might of an electricity power plant run by Najapa Power and owned by a rich and powerful Salvadorean family. The ‘In a hundred years, we’ll plant is near a groundwater zone – a have finished off all the crucial area for the community’s supply rivers in our country’ of water – and it’s slowly polluting it. Sara is one of the leaders of a local group that’s part of the Apopa attempted to bribe her: she was offered Environmental Action Network. She US$1,000 to provide information on the explains the problem: with no Environmental Action Network’s plans. environmental checks in place, the electricity plant is spewing out petroleum A land abused waste, which seeps into the water table. The Apopa Environmental Action This water then flows into the springs Network is linked to UNES (Unidad that feed the town, leading to Ecologica Salvadoreña – the Salvadorean widespread health problems. Ecological Coalition), a Progressio partner The more the network complains, the organisation. UNES works with such more aggressively the owners of the networks to strengthen their

Carlos Flores of UNES Nick Sireau/Progressio and (right) Progressio development worker Marcos Sanjuan.

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action

campaigning capacity and advise them He backs his argument with some began to question their mayor, but he on their struggles. It’s crucial work, for impressive facts. El Salvador has three refused to talk. They held meetings to the availability of water in El Salvador is times the average level of global rainfall discuss the water issue and organised worryingly low – 2,870 cubic metres of each year. Yet it doesn’t manage its marches to raise awareness and protest. water per person per year, compared to water properly: when it rains, there are Advised by UNES, they sent letters to the 38,668 for Nicaragua. floods, and when it stops, there are Ministry of the Environment requesting a Pollution, excessive mining, droughts. study of the environmental impact of the deforestation and a lack of a consistent The rivers are drying up. The river pipeline. plan for national water management are Lempa is currently a permanent river: it behind this. Mining uses massive flows all year round. By the next century, Direct action amounts of water and pollutes, however, it could be running only in the But there was no answer, and still the deforestation leads to soil erosion and rainy season. The same is likely to be true mayor refused to speak to them. So prevents the water from seeping through for the river Quezalpa, sometime eventually, frustrated by the lack of into the water table, and the lack of a between 2020 to 2045. And the river progress, the villages decided to take national plan means that watersheds are Torola could become a rainy season river direct action. On 1 November 2005, 500 not cared for and water sources dry up. by 2037 or 2048 at the latest. villagers, led by the local parish priest, Communities are left with devastated Angel Ibarra says: ‘In a hundred years, marched to the construction site and land for their farming and water needs. we’ll have finished off all the rivers in our Progressio’s development worker with country’. The only one that won’t be UNES is Marcos Sanjuan from Barcelona, drying up is the river that runs through a specialist in geography and water San Salvador, the Rio Arenal – but that’s ‘We don’t tell the communities resources. He’s working on an advocacy only because the levels of waste dumped what to do. We accompany project to lobby the government to stop into it keep on rising. them on their journey. It’s up plans for privatising the water supply and to them to decide which way sewerage. Valuing water The government argues that For Marcos Sanjuan, this comes down to they take it.’ privatising the nation’s water a distinct lack of awareness of the management and distribution will help importance of water. ‘We don’t value increase the population’s access to water water. We don’t see it as an element of took apart 26 pieces of piping, which by bringing in much needed investment. the ecosystem to which our life is linked. they then deposited outside the door of But, according to Marcos: ‘There are We just make a mess,’ he says. He wants the mayor’s office. many experiences in Latin America and to promote a new culture of water, one But the work on the pipeline around the world that clearly show how that respects it and cares for it. continued, so in February 2006, the privatisation failed to improve access to That’s why UNES, along with other villagers struck again. This time, the water. On the contrary, irregularities, organisations, has submitted to mayor launched a lawsuit against them, parliament a new law on water for El but the judge, who was sympathetic, Salvador that would establish a holistic only asked them to pay US$10 in ‘[People] don’t value water. water management system, prohibit the damages, which they never did. [They] don’t see it as an privatisation of water, impose a Still the work on the pipeline element of the ecosystem moratorium on new dams on the river continued and this time the mayor Lempa, which upset the natural flow of ordered the riot police in to protect it. In to which our life is linked.’ water, and refuse concessions for mining April 2006, a hundred villagers marched companies. on the project and one villager, who had But a new law is only one step along nothing to do with the protest, was price abuses and ignoring the poorest the way, says Carlos Flores of UNES. Just arrested. So the villagers decided to parts of the population has been as important is the campaigning work of change strategy: they would now common.’ local communities to protect their water. sabotage the pipeline at night and He tells the story of how the villages in launch a lawsuit against the mayor. Rivers run dry Santa Isabel Ishuatan, in the west of El The problem is still not resolved, but At a conference on water resources at Salvador, stood up for their rights with for Carlos the important point was that San Salvador’s national university, UNES’s support from UNES. the community organised itself and Dr Angel Ibarra explains: ‘When The 14 villages in the area get their decided to resist the corruption of the politicians and businesses talk about water from the river Acachapa. A year local authorities. This is what UNES is water, they’re talking about the business ago, the mayor of Santa Isabel agreed to about, he says: ‘We don’t tell the aspect of water. The electricity sell water to the neighbouring mayor, communities what to do. We accompany companies are interested in the even though many people in Santa Isabel them on their journey. It’s up to them to hydroelectric aspect and the money that still have no access to water themselves. decide which way they take it.’ will create. When we talk about water, There was no consultation with Santa we’re talking about the ecosystem that Isabel’s villagers and, soon afterwards, Nick Sireau is the former director of generates the water. That’s because workmen started building the pipeline to communications for Progressio. He has unless we care for our water resources, carry the water. recently taken up the post of director of there will be none left.’ The villagers of the Santa Isabel region SolarAid.

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viewpoint

HE SAN are the ancient nomadic peoples of southern Africa. They Thave lost the land where they were hunter-gatherers and, to survive, many Back from are now farm labourers. They suffer extensive discrimination, notably with regard to education and health services. Most of the farmers are large landowners and life on their properties is the edge usually very difficult for the San. They endure a life of poverty, subsisting on The San people in Namibia are learning how to speak up for very meagre incomes, lacking even the themselves, writes Solomon Jillo most basic essentials – on the very edge of life. As part of my efforts to improve WIMSA access to education by San children, I worked with the San communities on Tsinshabis Farm Six, in Mangetti West, Namibia. Two of us lobbied the farm owner and he allowed a pre-school to be built on his farm. We also obtained agreement for children from other farms to attend. Later, having received several messages from Farm Six, I returned with Kleofas Geingob and Elfriede Gaeses from the Outjo field office of WIMSA (the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa). The journey took us nearly nine hours in very hot weather. As we drew near, we could see that the people lived in small San people digging for water. settlements about 10 kilometres apart. They had identified an area they felt We have linked up with the Legal Hardship would be better for them, and had Advice Centre, who will provide support. At the farm, we were taken to the San spoken to the local politician, but were And we have asked the nearest clinic to Headman. We sat on stools and tins. I sat convinced that their request was not Farm Six whether they could provide a on a tree root. We could see elders, going to be acted upon. They clearly mobile health care service. Those in young people and women, all dressed in knew what they wanted from the torn and worn out clothes. Many of the government but were afraid to ask. They Strangers had come… faces were creased and wrinkled not felt helpless. They wanted me to assist declaring the San to be with age but due to hardship. People them. I encouraged them and we have trespassers on their own land joined us and welcomed us. agreed that, with support, they are ready Talking of their life, they said the good to speak up for themselves. charge have agreed, provided they can times were in the past. Strangers had arrange transport. come, marked the ground with pegs, Mobilisation We also spoke to the San about pronouncing it their territory and We decided that two WIMSA field human rights and the land rights of declaring the San to be trespassers on officers would train and help the group. women and children. We promoted the their own land. They could no longer Kleophas and Elfriede, who were with importance of education for all – we hunt or harvest from nature. Life is very me on the first visit, have returned, want to persuade the adults to attend difficult, shelter is makeshift and I mobilising the San communities on Farm literacy classes so that they can at least wondered how they survive the very cold Six and giving practical assistance. sign their name. But, as our work at winters. They helped community members to Farm Six shows, addressing the long They wanted to tell me that the obtain birth certificates and identity term education issues goes hand-in-hand government had taken over the farm cards. They took people to the with empowering the San people to deal and was enforcing a resettlement government offices in Tsumeb, the with the many immediate areas of program for the San communities living nearest administrative centre, where they discrimination that threaten to there. They feared they would be obtained orphan grants for the orphaned overwhelm them. removed to an area that disadvantaged children, old age grants for the older them still more, where basic services like people and disability grants for two Solomon Jillo is a Progressio water, electricity, transport, schools and disabled people. They helped 10 people development worker working with health facilities would be lacking. to open bank accounts in Tsumeb. WIMSA in Namibia.

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reportage

In a poor country such as Somaliland paying for gas and electricity is beyond the reach of most of the population. Many people therefore rely on charcoal for their fuel needs. As the population increases the demand for charcoal is ever increasing and a burning charcoal production becomes more and more profitable. It is also illegal. David Tanner reports on the social and environmental consequences. issue

An area illegally claimed for charcoal production. Wealthy individuals organise groups of 10-15 men who are provided

David Tanner/Progressio with a truck to access the remote countryside and spend several days producing charcoal. First an area of land is selected and branches of acacia trees are cut and arranged to form an illegal fence to pen off the selected area. Cutting the wood destroys the forest cover and the fence blocks off the traditional feeding areas and paths of nomadic pastoralists who move their goats, sheep and camels across vast areas of the Somaliland countryside.

All large acacia trees are cut down within and around the fenced off area, leaving a barren, vegetation free landscape. Larger acacia trees help bind the soil, trap water and provide vital shade for young plants and shrubs. Once the trees are cut down smaller vegetation dies away rapidly and the land remains barren for years. A further problem is that, with tree roots no longer helping to bind the soil, it becomes more susceptible to being washed away during the rainy season, increasing the siltation of rivers and coastal estuaries. The Somaliland government has very limited manpower, few vehicles and limited resources and is unable to patrol and manage the vast areas of uninhabited countryside, so that the odds of illegal charcoal producers being caught are very low.

The charcoal crew then construct a kiln in which to slowly burn the acacia. Prepared thick branches or logs of acacia are piled up and covered with soil. Thinner branches are then piled and burnt around the base and on top of the kiln to slowly heat and ignite the covered logs. The soil limits the access of oxygen for the burn and results in a very slow burning of the covered wood, and therefore good quality charcoal. This process takes several days. Here Ahmed Ibrahim, programme director of the local environmental organisation Candlelight, explains the process.

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reportage

After several days the charcoal crew clear away the soil, break up the burnt charcoal logs and branches into smaller chunks of charcoal suitable for burning in small furnaces or ovens, and load them onto their lorry. Several areas may be cleared and several kilns built and burnt simultaneously over a week or so before the lorry is filled with charcoal and driven into the capital Hargeisa. There have been several cases where herders have appealed to local leaders to negotiate with the charcoal producers to stop their illegal activities. The herders are increasingly realising that not only does charcoal production block off their traditional grazing areas but that the effects are long term, as there will be no vegetation on which their cattle can graze for years to come.

Charcoal for sale in Hargeisa.

Camel herders with their animals at a waterhole. A ban on livestock trading imposed on Somaliland by key Middle Eastern trade partners, supposedly due to Rift Valley fever, means that local herdsmen have turned to making charcoal as an alternative income-generating activity. In an attempt to fight against this trend and the increasing use of charcoal, the local environmental organisation Candlelight is undertaking several activities. These include the production and promotion of ceramic bricks which are mixed with charcoal and ‘super heated’, thereby reducing the amount of charcoal used by up to 50 per cent; reforestation projects; and terracing selected plots of land to help reduce the level of soil erosion. Alongside these initiatives, communities are protecting a variety of small, forested areas. One such project in a local mountain range, undertaken in consultation with local pastoralists, has resulted in the rapid re-growth and recovery of the local forest and flora to such an extent that recently the pastoralists were allowed to reutilise the area for grazing their livestock.

David Tanner is Progressio’s programme coordinator for Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Progressio is currently exploring potential partnerships with local organisations to help communities address environmental issues in Somaliland.

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reflection

Joyce Folias, from Dickson village, Lilongwe district, Malawi, is HIV positive, along with her youngest daughter Yankho. Her eldest daughter, Ndaziona, is not infected with

Jan Banning/Panos the virus.

It is up to us to prevent AIDS, said Father Joseph. The numerous posters decorating the sanctuary inviting those present to ‘take responsibility’ backed up his message. His sermon was clear, calm and compassionate. The church must care for and have compassion for those living with the disease, Father Joseph told us. The church believes that everybody has a right to full information about how to prevent the spread of AIDS. Preferably this would be by abstinence and faithfulness. But our God is not a God of condemnation. Jesus welcomed all as his friends, including adulterers, tax collectors and anyone else considered by the ‘in-crowd’ at the time to be a social outcast. ‘Hundreds, perhaps thousands of Compassion people will die of AIDS tonight,’ Father Joseph reminded us. ‘Not all of them are ready. Many are afraid. Let us pray for their peace of mind, because as Our Lord said to the criminal crucified besides him, in truth “today you will be with me in Paradise”.’ Like many of us from our protected and privileged societies in the North, I do Catherine Scott describes a church service in Malawi that brought home not know anyone close who has died of to her the reality of HIV and AIDS for people in Africa AIDS. The few people living with the disease in the UK have access to the WAS IN Malawi on the occasion of This seemed a fitting symbol. drugs they need to go on living World AIDS Day in December, and ‘The church has HIV and AIDS,’ reasonable lives. In Africa the death toll is Ifound myself invited to a remembrance announced Father Mpingansjiva. ‘We are a silent holocaust – a Tsunami every few service for those who have died of AIDS all either HIV Positive, HIV Negative, or days. As I stood in solidarity with these in Africa’s poorest country, where over HIV Ignorant.’ He spoke gravely about people I heard no sobs, saw no tears. 14 per cent of the population are living the numbers of deaths, among them his There was just a brave acceptance that with HIV. I accepted, little realising what own brother, as well as many other this must be faced, the dead mourned, a moving experience it would be. relatives. There are few if any Malawians those still living supported, the orphans Around 100 people had turned up – that the epidemic has not touched in taken care of – day by day, whatever the not a full church, but a good cross one way or another. There were poems, cost, all hardships accepted. section of ages, with lots of young readings and testimonies, interspersed We watched the candles burn down people, and both lay and religious. Three with the normal Sunday readings, the as the Taizé music continued. I will not priests entered, swathed in Advent story of the Good Samaritan among forget this service. I will not forget Father purple, with the Mass celebrated by the them – the man who was moved by Joseph’s face as he spoke that night. This secretary of Malawi’s Bishops compassion and acted on it. has brought the tragedy and waste of it Conference, Father Joseph Mpingansjiva. One by one, members of the all home to me more than ever before. Candles had been distributed, and as congregation got up and read out lists of Let us all watch and pray. And let us we sat down to pray, a power cut names of people they knew who had remember those living with HIV and AIDS prompted us to light them straight away. died of AIDS. Some of them ran to 20 or and those who, sooner or later, will die – 30 people. With the Taizé chant ‘Jesus, as well as those who love and care for ‘The church has HIV and remember me, when you come into your them. AIDS…. We are all either kingdom’ playing quietly in the background, the congregation planted Catherine Scott is manager of HIV Positive, HIV Negative, their flickering candles in a bed of sand Progressio’s Africa, Middle East and Asia or HIV Ignorant’ beneath the central altar. programmes.

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reflection: livesimply Sharing

During a stay in India, Fr Gerry Proctor learns the true meaning of living simply joyfully

ECENTLY I HAD the good fortune to And I witnessed how they act in spend four weeks in India. It was a solidarity with the poor, each family Rjoy to share in the lives of the giving just a few rupees that will be used mostly rural people who welcomed me to buy emergency medication, or to

into their communities. The generous assist with the education of a very poor Davies/Panos Howard and extraordinary reception afforded me family, or to buy rice for someone in at every stage of my journey was simply great need. wonderful. Wonderful because it was so When we in the North accept the genuine, spontaneous, and deeply livesimply challenge we are only being rooted in their different cultures. Simple asked to emulate the example of how because these people had very little but, the poor themselves live. By choosing a from the little they had, they willingly simpler lifestyle we are connecting not Women join hands at a community meeting in and joyfully shared everything they could only across the miles with peoples from West Bengal. with me. all over the globe who live this way day The idea of a campaign to ‘live simply’ after day, but also across the generations and power of the rich while we entrench could only emerge in our developed as we reach back into history and touch the needy in their poverty’ (para. 33). world. The poor of the developing world again the lives of those first Christian And yet this is precisely what has having no choice in the matter, since disciples who lived so simply that there happened in those intervening years. It is economic circumstances force ‘simple was no one in need among them (Acts vital that as we move to a challenge that living’ upon them. Their paucity of 4:34). focuses on our personal response we resources however is not reflected in the Forty years ago Pope Paul VI, writing maintain the political and social generous, abundant gestures of about poverty in his landmark encyclical dimensions so well coordinated during welcome and hospitality that define the Populorum Progressio, said: ‘The present the Make Poverty History campaign. poor in whatever part of the world they state of affairs must be confronted The simple living of the first Christian live. The poor are the very first to live boldly, and its concomitant injustices disciples was a considered response to simply, to live sustainably and to live in must be challenged and overcome’ (para. the experience of encountering the non- solidarity with other poor. 32). The current livesimply project allows accusatory presence of the forgiving Among the tribal Santal people of those words to ring out once again and West Bengal I experienced this reality at challenge us to return to some simple first hand. In the village of Chetrapahar I gospel values of solidarity with those in The poor are the very first witnessed how the Christian gospel had need: the values of joyful sharing, of to live simply, to live brought about significant changes commitment to life together, of building sustainably and to live in precisely in these areas as the people community, of common ownership, of embraced the Small Christian generosity with one’s own resources, of solidarity with other poor Community project of Krishnagar simple living as opposed to amassing diocese. goods and possessions (Acts 2:44-46; I saw changes in simple living, which 4:32-35). Victim, which released in their own lives promotes and facilitates the sharing that With the hindsight that four decades a completely new set of relationships and leads to real relationships between give us we can see more clearly now possibilities. The disciples of today are people, thus forging a genuine that, though this is certainly laudable challenged to make a considered community spirit. I observed changes in and indeed necessary as the authentic response to this same Jesus and discover sustainable living, as in the monthly mark of true Christian discipleship, it is an equally radical simple lifestyle gathering of the community they reflect not enough. There are economic and commitment. in the light of the gospel on all issues political structures in the way of the poor connected with how they live their lives ever receiving a fair share of the earth’s Fr Gerry Proctor is an MPhil research together and agree actions that will wealth. Prophetically Paul VI said: ‘We student at Hope University, Liverpool, bring about change and improvement. cannot proceed to increase the wealth studying Basic Christian Communities.

Winter 2006/7 interact 19 issue 014lo 22/1/07 16:09 Page 20

Why not become a Progressio development worker?

– and make a lasting difference to sustainable development and the eradication of poverty and injustice

Being a development worker can be challenging and hugely rewarding. You might be working with small-scale farmers in the Caribbean to find markets for their products, setting up HIV and AIDS counselling services in Africa, strengthening women’s organisations in Central America, supporting local community organisations in the Middle Justin Mucheri (from ) and Eliezer Wangulu (from Kenya) are working with organisations in Somaliland to help them fight the spread East, or working with women’s groups in of HIV and AIDS. East Timor.

Whatever the placement, you are likely to be working with some of the world’s most marginalised communities, striving for local empowerment and building their capacity so they can improve their situation.

Marvin Zavala (from Nicaragua) is working alongside small-scale farmers in Honduras to help them farm their land in a sustainable way.

For further information on how to become a Progressio development worker, contact Progressio’s recruitment team on 020 7354 0883 or visit www.progressio.org.uk (section: jobs@progressio)

Sanne te Pas (from Holland) is working with the women's organisation Las Dignas in El Salvador, researching gender violence.