Christian Aid Magazine Autumn/Winter 2017

Autumn/Winter 2017

The magazine for supporters

40 million Displaced and forgotten Help us fight for a fair deal for the real citizens of nowhere CAM 8 Book Master.indb 1

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‘ In a small corner of the Amazon, my husband’s Christian values live on’ on

My husband David was passionate about Christian Aid’s work to end poverty. He wanted that passion to live on, even after he’d gone.

In all the time I knew him, David was always involved with Christian Aid. Volunteering, campaigning and fundraising were all a huge part of his life. And thanks to the gift he left in his Will, David is still carrying on that work today by helping to fund Christian Aid projects around the world.

Recently, I was privileged to travel with Christian Aid to the Amazon to meet some of the people David’s legacy is supporting. I saw at first-hand how Christian Aid’s partner is helping indigenous communities deal with the effects of climate change and to make a living. Though David is no longer here in body, I know he’s still part of that forest – and part of this world.

How might your values live on?

If you would like to learn more about gifts in Wills, please get in touch.

Phone 020 7523 2177 Visit

christianaid.org.uk/legacies

Post

Complete the form and return to: Christian Aid, PO Box 100, London SE1 7RT.

Please tick as appropriate

Please send me my free guide to Wills and Legacies.

I would like to talk to someone in the Legacies Team about including Christian Aid in my Will. Please contact me on this number: _________________________________________ I have already included Christian Aid in my Will.

I intend to include Christian Aid in my Will.

Name Address

Postcode We would love to keep you up to date on the important work Christian Aid is doing. If you are new to Christian Aid and do not want us to write to you by post, or if we write to you currently but you would like us to stop, please tick this box Christian Aid will never share your details with any other organisation.

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Christian Aid Magazine Issue 8: Autumn/Winter 2017 Editorial team Editor Roger Fulton Art editor Juliet Blackledge Design Emma Watling, Kim Kemp, Txabi Jones Pictures Joseph Cabon Production Graham Winter Circulation Ben Hayward Published by Christian Aid 35 Lower Marsh, London SE1 7RL 020 7620 4444 info@christian-aid.org christianaid.org.uk UK registered charity no. 1105851 company no. 5171525 Scot charity no.

SC039150 Christian Aid Ireland: NI charity no. NIC101631 company no. NI059154 and ROI charity no. 20014162 Company no. 426928. The Christian Aid name and logo are trademarks of Christian Aid © Christian Aid September 2017.

The acceptance of external advertising does not indicate endorsement.

Autumn/Winter 2017

The magazine for supporters

40 million Displaced and forgotten

We believe in life before death

Help us fight for a fair deal for the real citizens of nowhere

Cover story An IDP camp in Nigeria.

Women and children often fled Boko Haram without their husbands, because the men had to escape as soon as the insurgents appeared as they were most likely to be murdered immediately. Some families are reunited in the camp, but not all...

Photos in this issue copyright Christian Aid, except: Cover: Christian Aid/ Tom Pilston; page 4: Rex Shutterstock/AP/Dar Yasin; page 6: REX/Shutterstock/ AP; page 7 EPA/ Ernest Henry; page 8-9 Christian Aid/Andrea Campeanu; page 9 Arete/ Andrea Campeanu/DEC; Christian Aid/Tomilola Ajayi; Christian Aid/Nneoma Anieto; page 10 Peter Muange/Dynamic Media; pages 12-17 Christian Aid/Tom Pilston; pages 18-21 Christian Aid/Andrea Campeanu; page 22 Havard Bjelland/Kirkens Nodhje; page 23: Christian Aid/Tom Pilston; pages 24-26 Christian Aid supporters; page 28 Christian Aid; page 29 Christian Aid/ Matt Gonzalez-Noda; page 30 Thomas Lohnes/DKH Christian Aid is a member of

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or ing for hristian id has een life changing Dear Friends As some of you will know, I have, after much thought and prayer, decided it is time to hand over the great privilege of running Christian Aid to somebody new.

I leave in October and in November I take up my appointment as the Church of England’s First Church Estates Commissioner.

After more than seven years as Chief Executive, leaving Christian Aid will be an enormous wrench, but I am confident that the organisation is in a strong position.

Despite all the challenges we and other aid agencies have faced since the financial crisis of 2008, Christian Aid continues to be a highly respected member of the international development community, delivering high quality humanitarian responses, top-rated long-term development programmes and effective campaigning and advocacy on key issues affecting the world’s poorest people.

It’s so important for us to keep boldly telling the Christian Aid story, our vision that the world can and must be changed to one where poverty is a thing of the past.

Our deep-rooted, wide ranging, ecumenical connections with the churches and Christian communities of Britain and Ireland and elsewhere are the wellspring of our identity and give our work a tremendous edge, one we do not take for granted.

We are so grateful to each and every one of you who supports our work. Your prayers inspire us. Your generous giving makes our lifechanging projects possible. Your campaigning challenges the structures that keep people poor and holds world leaders to account. I have no doubt that ours will continue to be a voice that will be heard.

Thank you again for all you have done to support us and to help make working for Christian Aid such an extraordinary, lifechanging experience.

With every blessing,

Loretta Minghella, Chief Executive

ontents 4-7 Emergencies From the plight of Myanmar to floods in South Asia and mudslide in Sierra Leone... Christian Aid launches appeals

In a special report, we highlight why the world needs to offer a fairer deal to more than 40 million internally displaced persons...

8 Christmas Appeal

24 Christian Aid Week 2017

A look ahead to our Christmas Appeal – and updates on past sucesses.

10 News and Campaigns

Highlights of the people and events that helped to celebrate 60 years of our favourite fundraising institution.

A round-up of other Christian Aid news.

27 Events

12-23 Under-Reported World

29 The Last Word

Displacement is growing as a global crisis that needs a global solution.

Rowan Williams: attacks on foreign aid are an attack on Christian generosity.

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Displaced by the current conflict in Myanmar, thousands of Rohingya are fleeing into Bangladesh

risis appeal to aid displaced ohing a Few events have so emphatically demonstrated how quickly violence can displace communities than the conflict affecting the Rohingya people in Myanmar. Christian Aid has responded with a crisis appeal Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes by a fresh outbreak of violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.

The majority of those escaping have crossed the border into Bangladesh to makeshift refugee camps, while others, referred to as internally displaced persons (IDPs), have

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fled to safer parts of Myanmar.

More than 430,000 people have left Myanmar and, due to difficulties facing the United Nations and international charities in gaining access to Rakhine State, there is an unknown number of IDPs. Both groups urgently need food, water and shelter.

Christian Aid launched its

crisis appeal in late September to help all communities displaced by violence in Rakhine State, and Rohingya Muslims who have fled into Cox’s Bazar in South East Bangladesh as refugees.

A proportion of the funds raised will help those in the refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. The makeshift camps

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News: emergencies

How to donate To donate to our Rohingya Crisis Appeal, please go to caid.org.uk/rohingya or phone 08080 004004

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are providing little comfort, especially as persistent heavy rains have flooded the area making temporary tents useless. Most people left their homes with just the clothes on their backs, with no money to buy food or equipment to cook or to build proper shelter.

Madara Hettiarachchi, Head of Humanitarian Programmes, Asia and Middle East at Christian Aid, said: ‘People are stunned and disoriented. Many have witnessed violence, and children have been left to fend for themselves. They need the basics – clean water, food, sanitation and shelter – but they also need support. How do they recover from this? Where can they go for help? We are working with our local partners in Bangladesh and Myanmar to do all we can.’

Hygiene kits and sanitation support (latrines and safe areas for washing) are also vital to help contain disease and to offer dignity. Women and girls currently have very little privacy in overcrowded makeshift camps, and there are reports of attacks. Aid agencies are looking to address this issue in a number of ways, including providing solar lights to ensure that women and girls feel safe when collecting water and using the latrines.

The Rohingya Crisis is one example of the increasingly complex and often protracted nature of displacement that the world is experiencing, where some of those displaced flee persection across international borders while others remain within their home country.

• We need to talk about displacement – why Christian Aid is calling for a fairer deal for all displaced people.

See Under-Reported World, pages 12-23

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Christian Aid launched two emergency appeals this summer in the wake of natural disasters in South Asia and Sierra Leone

outh sia worst oods in decades C hristian Aid has set up an emergency appeal in the wake of devastating floods in South Asia.

The region is no stranger to heavy rain. Each year, between June and September, monsoon rains sweep across India, Bangladesh and Nepal, but this year the rains came in torrents, overwhelming these countries with floods.

More than a third of low-lying Bangladesh was covered in flood water and across the three nations, more than 40 million people have been affected. An estimated 1,200 people lost their lives, many more lost their homes, schools and livelihoods. Thousands of people were forced to flee to safer areas.

Christian Aid released emergency funds to provide hygiene kits, tarpaulin, sheeting and mosquito nets. With a high risk of water-borne diseases like cholera, we also distributed chlorine tablets to provide clean drinking water and educated people on hygiene.

In the first week of our response, we reached 4,600 households with emergency supplies. While events like these may last only days or weeks, our response continues long after, helping people to rebuild their homes and livelihoods and to prepare for disaster in the future.

Christian Aid’s Head of Humanitarian Programmes for Asia & Middle East, Madara

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Hettiarachchi, said: ‘These are some of the worst floods we’ve seen in South Asia in decades.’

With research by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology suggesting that the most extreme rain events will increase in intensity by 3-15 per cent, such changes could bring increasingly catastrophic events to an area such as South Asia.

To donate to our South Asia Floods Appeal, go to christianaid.org.uk/emergencies/ south-asia-floods-appeal

Irma: a close shave Northern areas of Dominican Republic and Haiti were left flooded after being battered by Hurricane Irma – but both countries escaped the full force of the hurricane that devastated other parts of the Caribbean.

Prospéry Raymond, country manager for Christian Aid in Haiti and Dominican Republic said: ‘We were preparing for the worst, but thankfully damage has not been as severe as we feared. The disaster-proof homes and community facilities funded by Christian Aid following the 2010 earthquake and last year’s Hurricane Matthew were left unscathed.’

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News: emergencies

ierra eone e ergenc aid reaches udslide sur i ors T he horror of confronting a mudslide that swept through an area of Sierra Leone’s capital in August has been vividly described by a survivor.

Amara Conteh, 32, is one of 3,000 people left homeless by the mudslide that submerged entire communities in the Regent area of Freetown, killing more than 1,000 people.

‘I stood on my veranda and saw water running down at high speed. I wanted to rescue my neighbours, but there was too much water, as well as stones, mud and sticks, and the water swept them away. My land was flooded. Right now, I have nowhere to go.’

Amara’s family was among 150 homeless families supported in the initial stages of our emergency response, funded by the START Network. Our local partners – the Network of HIV Positives, and the Women’s Network for Environmental Sustainability – handed out food, clothes, kitchen supplies and hygiene items such as soap, disinfectant, toothbrushes and sanitary

towels. These reached an estimated 900 survivors temporarily housed in shelters in the Kaningo and Pentagon communities.

Kaningo community leader, Chief Mohamed Kargbo, told us: ‘The donation from Christian Aid is a big help. People were hungry and you provided them with food; you wasted no time.’

Christian Aid’s Country Manager for Sierra Leone, Jeanne Kamara, added: ‘People already living in poverty lost everything they owned. We have been working with our partners in Freetown to get help to those who need it most.’

With funds from our Sierra Leone Mudslide Appeal, we hope to reach many more people, including giving young mudslide survivors school materials such as bags, uniforms, shoes, stationery and textbooks.

To donate to our Sierra Leone Mudslide Appeal, visit: caid.org.uk/sierra-leonemudslide

Will you be part of The Response?

At Christian Aid, we have developed a way to help our many supporters who want to reach out and help support those affected by emergencies. It’s called The Response. As a member of

The Response, we’ll get in touch with you when an emergency hits. We’ll ask if you’re able to make a donation towards the disaster. You won’t be expected to donate every time, but we’ll

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give you as much information as we can to help you understand the situation.

To join The Response, please text RESPONSE to 85080, or call us on 020 7523 2046.

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Hunger nough is nough

Aluel is benefiting from our help in South Sudan

can in p

ou to the

This year, our Christmas Appeal focuses on the fight against hunger and malnutrition in Burkina Faso and South Sudan

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unger is not a simple problem, it’s driven by conditions are near impossible, yet communities issues such as climate change and conflict. are reliant upon the land to grow food, generate But globally, the number of hungry people in the income and feed their families. To tackle hunger world has increased for the first time since the and poverty, we have established numerous turn of the century, according to UN reports. projects including a market garden project.

So this Christmas, we are asking all our One of the beneficiaries, Colette, was supporters to join us in saying enough is enough. previously forced to walk for miles, in 45°C heat, We know there is enough food in the world. to search for gold in the country’s gruelling mines.

We also know we can tackle the complexities of Carrying her baby on her back, it was dangerous, hunger through life-saving aid and longer-term insecure work. Colette made so little that she was solutions. But we need your support to carry on often unable to pay healthcare costs and her child our great work in countries such as South Sudan. suffered from malnutrition.

Meet Aluel. The sole provider for her children, With the support of our market garden project, Aluel is an inspiring woman. She runs a small she has never had to return to the mines. After business selling tea and bread at a market in receiving a plot. she was trained to grow an the north of South Sudan. But life has been a abundance of vegetables, and provided with a struggle. On a bad day, her family would eat just watering can, tools and seeds. one meal, consisting of wild leaves.

She said: ‘The garden changed my life. I no Aluel’s family is one of 400 who have benefited longer need to buy vegetables and my food from food vouchers, enabling her to buy healthy is very rich now. My children are no longer ingredients to cook nutritious meals for her malnourished. I feel very safe in my garden.’ children. ‘Before Christian Aid Moreover, she now feels intervened, life had become very independent and empowered and difficult. As a family, we urgently can sell the excess vegetables ‘Before Christian Aid needed help,’ said Aluel. at market, to buy clothes and intervened, life had Many more people across subhealthcare.

Saharan Africa are also in urgent We want everyone to have a become very difficult. need. story like Aluel and Colette. That’s As a family we In Burkina Faso, malnutrition why, this Christmas, we come urgently needed help’ is a constant threat. In the hottest together to recognise that in a world months of the year, farming of plenty, there shouldn’t be hunger.

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Christian Aid Magazine Autumn/Winter 2017

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News: Christmas Appeal

ou le the i pact This Christmas our supporters can make twice the impact, as the UK Government will match every pound you give to our Christmas Appeal between 6 November 2017 and 5 February 2018 – meaning we can transform the lives of even more people living in poverty.

Christian Aid will support people wherever they need our help, and the UK government will match donations to support Christian Aid projects in South Sudan, where the problem of malnutrition is most severe.

Helped: mother of four Martha Nyaphar in South Sudan

How past appeals have boosted child and maternal health

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ur 2014 and 2015 Christmas Appeals are year maternal health programme in Kenya’s Isiolo reaping positive results. This is thanks to County and Malawi’s Karonga District. support from people like you, and from the UK From renovating rundown health facilities and Government’s Department for International setting up clinics in remote areas, to donating Development which medical equipment doubled all eligible and training nurses in donations, through its emergency obstetric care, UK Aid Match funding this work is making a initiative. difference to thousands of • Every day, around mums and babies.

830 women die from ‘Previously, it was very preventable causes difficult for us to pick up related to pregnancy a pregnant woman at and childbirth: 99% of one of our furthest-away Avery gave birth to baby Faith with support these deaths happen in health facilities: now that from Mbaububo (left), who was trained by developing countries.

Christian Aid has given our Malawi maternal health programme This is one of the scandals us an ambulance, we are of our time. That’s why, following our 2014 seeing tremendous improvements,’ says Karonga Christmas Appeal, we’ve been running a threeDistrict Nursing Officer Maloni Nyirenda.

• Thanks to your generous response to our Christmas appeal in 2015, we have trained 500 volunteers to deliver lifesaving healthcare to children in Nigeria.

Our volunteers each treat around five children per day in Benue State, where infant mortality is rife. We aim to train a total of 1,400 volunteers by October. These volunteers are based in very hard to reach communities where there is no access to healthcare and an urgent need to reduce malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia in

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children under the age of five.

We are also providing free medicines. With your donations, we bought medicines for treating malaria, oral rehydration salts for treating diarrhoea, antibiotics for treating pneumonia, paracetamol and other materials used by the trained volunteers to deliver healthcare.

For more information on matchfunding, visit: christianaid.org. uk/programme-policy-practice/ programmes/uk-aid-match

We have been able to provide lifesaving healthcare for children of women like Mimidoo

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We’re urging our banks to make the Big Shift We all want to save for a rainy day. But what if our savings are causing the storm?

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he biggest banks in the UK could be using that money to help build a world in which everybody has the chance to thrive. Instead they continue to finance the extraction and burning of coal, oil and gas – fossil fuels that produce carbon pollution, in turn fuelling climate change and threatening God’s creation.

Since the spring, thousands of you have written to, emailed and visited the biggest UK banks demanding they use our money more wisely. We’ve heard positive words from HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds and RBS

(who manage trillions of pounds of assets between them), and your campaigning even helped secure an invitation for one of Christian Aid’s directors to meet with RBS’s Sustainable Banking Committee. But we haven’t seen the required action to match.

So, we’re upping the ante! Every day this autumn, campaigners are taking the campaign to high street branches of these four banks,

generating media coverage and sending streams of letters to CEOs through the banks’ internal mail.

To top it off, we’re planning a surprise event in London.

To get involved, contact the campaigns team at campaigns@christian-aid. org or on 0207 523 2264. caid.org.uk/bigshift

Kenya cyclists push for clean energy

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he Big Shift is a global movement. Our partners around the world are building local, national and international campaigns to keep fossil fuels in the ground and support the growth of clean energy.

In Kenya, 10 cyclists clocked up more than 4,000 km in 21 days, advocating for a better future

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where people can cook their meals with the power of the sun, light their homes with the power of the wind and where electricity can reach everyone, even in the smallest village.

The campaign ensured clean energy was on the political agenda in the run-up to the Kenyan general elections.

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News

Book early for Will Aid month

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very November, participating solicitors waive their fee for writing or updating a basic Will. Instead, they invite clients to make a voluntary donation of £95 for a single basic Will and £150 for a pair of basic ‘mirror’ Wills. The money raised supports nine charities, including Christian Aid. With Will Aid, everyone benefits. You get a professionally drawn-up Will and peace of mind, while the charities receive muchneeded donations.

Visit willaid.org.uk to find the contact details of a participating solicitor in your area, or call Will Aid on 0300 0309 558 for details of a solicitor near you.

Bernie brings the world to our children Meet Bernie Bear – Christian Aid’s innovative way to help children engage with international development.

Bernie is designed for children aged four and above, and for a donation of £5 a month, the child will get a Bernie soft toy with their welcome pack and every quarter, a ‘Bear Mail’ goody pack filled with games, activities and travel facts plus a ‘letter’ from Bernie. Bernie’s adventures, whether visiting the cocoa plantations of Bolivia or the grasslands of Burundi will see him meeting local children and reporting back on their ways of life.

Peter White, Individual Engagement Officer at Christian Aid, said: ‘It’s about raising awareness of other countries and cultures and bringing that to life in an appealing way.’

For more details, visit christianaid.org.uk/regulargiving/world-of-friends or text BEAR3 to 88600 to sign up.

his is what pioneering aid loo s li e

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rom educating Kenyan children orphaned

by HIV to providing essentials for older people and those with disabilities when humanitarian disasters strike, Christian Aid is taking on projects that go beyond conventional ideas of aid. Our pioneering work is often funded by governments and other large donors with exacting standards, showing we are trusted to deliver projects reaching huge numbers, to spend every penny carefully and provide hard evidence that lives are being changed.

•

•

In Kenya, Christian Aid and its partners will reach out to 170,000 orphans and vulnerable children living with or affected by HIV and AIDS, after securing a US$36m grant from the United States Agency for International Development. For the next five years, Christian Aid will work alongside the Kenyan government to ensure the children receive the healthcare, nutrition, education, legal protection and other critical support they need.

Through the UK aid-funded Disasters and Emergencies Preparedness Programme, Christian Aid is involved in eight projects across Africa and Asia. With our partners

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•

•

Karen Baptist Convention, Dear Myanmar and Karen Environmental and Social Action Network, we are supporting communities in eastern Myanmar to reduce the impact of disasters and cope better in their aftermath.

We are supporting similar projects in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Kenya.

In southern Malawi we are working to end harmful cultural practices that expose children to sex at a young age. Funded by the Global Fund through Action Aid, and delivered by our partners MAGGA and Yoneco, the project is helping prevent young girls being forced to marry too young and is encouraging girls to return to school.

Finally, the Growing Economic Opportunities for Sustainable Development project, funded by the EU and Christian Aid, helps create new jobs for 15 to 35-year-olds in Ghana, particularly young women and people with disabilities. With our partners, United Civil Society Organisations for National Development, Ellembelle District Assembly, the Ghanaian Institute of Welders and GRATIS Foundation, we are setting up apprenticeships and forming cooperatives.

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e need to tal a out displace ent Around the world, more than 40 million people have been forced from their homes, yet remain within their country.

Neither migrants nor refugees, they are unable to return home – and largely ignored by the international community.

Our special report over the next 12 pages looks at the desperate plight of internally displaced persons (IDPs).

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Christian Aid Magazine Spring/Summer 2017

03/10/2017 13:01

Under-Reported World: Displacement

An IDP camp in Nigeria. The camps are a mishmash of systems and have been set up informally, rather than by the Nigerian government. Those displaced, churches, local land owners and NGOs are working together to make the camps hospitable and to feed the residents.

Christian Aid Magazine Spring/Summer 2017

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13 03/10/2017 13:01

Displacement: the forgotten millions

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f we knew all their names, it would take us nearly 400 days to read them aloud – even without stopping to sleep.

More than 40 million people are displaced within their own countries.

Seeking safety, but unwilling or unable to cross a border, they are largely ignored by the international efforts that exist to support and to protect refugees.

The reasons for their displacement are many: conflict, flooding, drought, fear. But invariably, the burden falls most heavily on those who were already poor. It leaves many without a safe place to call home; increasing their likelihood of losing out on education and work, and increasing the risk of violence, particularly for women and girls. In fact, even this incomprehensible number might not reflect the true picture of displacement because not all disasterdriven displacement is counted.

At Christian Aid we believe that everybody counts. That every single one of those names is written on the palm of God’s hand.

Christian Aid has never shied away from the big issues that keep poor people trapped in poverty. We were founded by the churches to respond to a displacement crisis in Europe, and we’re not turning our backs now. Churches across the UK have been involved in welcoming refugees – and the same is true of faith communities in poor countries who often host displaced people. Their generosity and welcome is great, and we believe more must be done by the global community to support them.

But although the United Nations is galvanising states to work on two new agreements looking at refugees and migration, neither will tackle the problem of internal displacement. We believe that the world can and must do better to make sure that all people on the move are protected from harm and have a chance to rebuild a life, not just survive.

Many of the world’s IDPs remain hidden or ignored. Read their stories here, share their hopes for a better future and join us in the coming year as we fight for a fairer deal for all displaced people.

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Christian Aid Magazine Autumn/Winter 2017

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Under-Reported World: Displacement

Nigeria

isplaced and dispossessed igeria s citizens of nowhere That Assibi is still alive is a miracle.

That she wishes she were dead is no surprise. Her failed memory is her only blessing. Report by journalist Dominic Nutt; photos by Tom Pilston.

A

ssibi – to protect her identityLorem her name ipsum has dolor been changed and we have not sit photographed amet, consectetur her – wanders around the camp she has fled in adipiscing elit. to Prae Dikwa, north east Nigeria, in an obvious statecondimen of shock. sent nec She smiles a strained smile each time she onenim. her tum uepasses facilisis endless laps of the church around which the tents are clustered.

From which part of her emotional being that smile has been incubated, nurtured and finally displayed to the outside world – a world that is now unremittingly hostile to Assibi – is beyond knowing.

Perhaps it is just the dying embers of a reflex action learned in a time before her life was destroyed.

Not long ago, Assibi lived with her husband and children in a rural village in the north-eastern Nigerian state of Borno.

They were a farming family who grew what they needed and sold the surplus. Happy, normal people. No threat to anyone, hardly blipping on the radar of life beyond their community.

Then came Boko Haram – the theologically inspired insurgents infamous for stealing away and enslaving 276 female students from their school in Chibok in April 2014.

Since then, the Nigerian government has gone some way to pushing the fighters away from the state capital Maiduguri and back into the bush.

But their campaign of terror continues with regular suicide bombs in the city at night, at refugee camps and constant attacks on remote villages. The forests are their stronghold, and it is in the forests they hide and from where they emerge to wreak terror on isolated, indefensible continued overpage Christian Aid Magazine Autumn/Winter 2017

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continued... villages, stealing food and money, press-ganging men and boys as fresh fighters, killing those who refuse, enslaving women and girls, and murdering unproductive children.

So it was for Assibi. The men came in the day and slit her children’s throats in front of her.

They killed her husband, built a fire, roasted his body and forced Assibi to eat his cooked flesh.

The shocking story is told factually and almost dispassionately by other

women in the camp, from the same village. Assibi herself has not spoken a word since.

Around half of the four million residents of Borno state have had to flee their villages, which, in turn, have been burned and destroyed by Boko Haram. Most have gone to the state capital, Maiduguri and its satellite towns and districts.

They cannot return because they have nothing to return to and in any event, most don’t want to because they know they can never be protected from Boko Haram who act with

‘Two million have fled – and they come with nothing. All are without food, jobs, schools and health care. They have no money and nowhere to live’

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impunity outside the city.

It is worth pondering the significance of the statistics.

Two million people have fled to Maiduguri and surrounding districts. And they come with nothing. All are without food, jobs, schools and healthcare.

They have no money, no way of buying food, clothes, medicine.

They have nowhere to live.

There is no nation on earth that could cope with the numbers of dispossessed souls that have fled to the capital. No city anywhere, however wellresourced, could support such an influx of people.

Maiduguri is groaning under the weight. But its people have taken the strain as best they can.

City residents have donated space – offering houses rentfree, or sacrificing profitable farmland for the displaced to build shelters out of sticks, mud and plastic sheeting.

Aid agencies, often first among them Christian Aid and her sister agency Norwegian Church Aid, are contributing to food aid, water and sanitation facilities across the state.

It is neither easy nor safe. In many cases the camps cannot be accessed by road, for fear of being ambushed by Boko Haram. Christian Aid teams and colleagues from other charities fly in from Maiduguri to the camps by UN helicopter.

But universally, Christian Aid has been embraced in the camps by a majority Muslim population who have uniformly rejected religious division.

The humanitarian principle of delivering aid according only to the need of the recipient is thriving in Borno. However, many are still hungry. The shelter – especially during the rainy season, is inadequate – mosquitoes breed in stagnant pools left by the rain which

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Under-Reported World: Displacement

Ibrahim’s story: Most people in the camps have stuck together with their own communities, often moving there en masse.

As such they support each other against the odds. But Ibrahim and his family came alone and have no one. He built his own shelter, and for days he, his wife and his little children had no food. Until recently he was struggling, going without so his babies could eat. ‘I get firewood and sell it and raise money to cater for some of my needs. We have nothing. Even in the camp, I’m considered as someone without.’ After meeting him, Christian Aid immediately gave his family food and registered him so he will now not go hungry.

buckets down most evenings.

The Government of Nigeria should continue to fulfill its responsibilities with regard to humanitarian access and protecting its citizens. But with the current scale of displacement, it’s clear more help is needed.

Yet the almost two million who have fled their homes in terror do not have a special status in international law – unlike refugees who have crossed a border.

If someone running in fear of their life from, for example, religious persecution, crosses an international border, they can apply for refugee status, and states have legal obligations to protect them, enshrined in international law. If the same person, in the same circumstances, stops short of that border, they often remain invisible to the international community, even though their needs may be just as great.

Christian Aid is advocating

Country: Nigeria Number of internally displaced: 1.8 million What is Christian Aid doing?: With our partners we are currently supporting 200,000 people fleeing the violence of Boko Haram in Borno state in north-east Nigeria. Our partner Ekklisiyar Yan’uwa A Nigeria

Christian Aid Magazine Autumn/Winter 2017

CAM 8 Book Master.indb 17

for states to turn guiding principles on the treatment of IDPs into binding legislation.

Christian Aid will be in Borno for the long haul. This is just as well, because it looks as if the displaced, like refugees, will be ever more rooted to these areas, far from their homes.

And what is the real difference? If you ask Assibi, she won’t have an answer.

• Overpage: South Sudan’s displaced fish for their future

is providing food to the most vulnerable, as well as cash grants so people can spend money in the local markets, boosting the economy and communities hosting IDPs. Our partner Jireh Doo Foundation is supporting host communities, by providing sanitation and hygiene facilities, as well as food and clean water.

17 03/10/2017 13:01

South Sudan

ishing for hope and a future For her final report before leaving Christian Aid, chief executive Loretta Minghella visited the world’s youngest country, South Sudan, a nation beset by a civil war that has displaced millions of people. Here, Christian Aid’s partners have adopted an innovative approach to helping those struggling with hunger and malnutrition.

18 CAM 8 Book Master.indb 18

Christian Aid Magazine Autumn/Winter 2017

03/10/2017 13:01

Under-Reported World: Displacement

Duot Kuol, 13, displays fish he caught that will help feed his family. The Lutheran World Federation, a member of the ACT Alliance, is helping families by providing cash to buy fishing lines and hooks Christian Aid Magazine Autumn/Winter 2017

CAM 8 Book Master.indb 19

19 03/10/2017 13:01

A young man shows off the fish he has caught

S

outh Sudan is a country bursting with potential if only the bloodshed that has marred its young existence would end. A fertile land, irrigated by the waters of the River Nile, it could be the bread basket of East Africa and yet the fighting causes famine-like conditions in many parts of the country.

Its earth is rich in minerals and precious metals and it is home to the second largest wild animal migration in Africa. But the jeeps and trucks that crisscross the country are not full of tourists but soldiers. It is one of the most dangerous places in

20 CAM 8 Book Master.indb 20

‘Their existence will remain fragile until the guns fall silent and they can safely return home’ the world to be a humanitarian.

More than 80 aid workers, mostly South Sudanese nationals, have been killed since the fighting broke out in 2013.

The stories of displacement I heard on my visit earlier this year were truly heart-breaking.

People forced to leave their homes to escape the soldiers in their heavy trucks fled into swampland carrying on their backs their possessions, their elderly and their disabled. To

reach the safety of Unity State, for some that meant wading for five days and nights, with water sometimes up to their necks.

Children drowned. People had to sleep on small islands and eat waterlilies.

The conflict, which is split largely along tribal lines, has seen soldiers loyal to current President Salva Kiir of the Dinka tribe at war with followers of Riek Machar, his former deputy, a member of the Nuer people.

Christian Aid Magazine Autumn/Winter 2017

03/10/2017 13:01

BRIEFING Country: South Sudan Numbers internally displaced: 2.1 million What is Christian Aid doing?: Our partner Universal Intervention and Development Organisation (UNIDO) is supporting IDPs living in host communities, providing clothing and emergency sanitation for the most vulnerable women and girls, as well as psychosocial support for women and young people.

Our partner Support For Peace and Education Development Programme is providing emergency assistance, making sure the most vulnerable have access to essential and lifesaving food, as well as helping to restore the livelihood prospects of communities affected by severe food shortages.

The swamps surrounding Unity State offer some protection for those who have had to leave their homes, but the same water which keeps the army trucks at bay also prevents essential food supplies and medical equipment from reaching people in need. The UN is dropping food by air but this is barely enough for people to survive.

Christian Aid’s partner organisation there, Universal Intervention and Development Organisation (UNIDO), has adopted a three-pronged approach to help fend off malnutrition and tackle hunger.

The first way is by setting up clinics for new and expectant mothers and their babies, often the most vulnerable to malnutrition. These clinics can provide medical care and high-protein, nutritious food supplements to boost the diet of those who need it.

Secondly, although food is scarce on land, there are abundant fish in the surrounding swamps so UNIDO is equipping the new arrivals with fishing lines and training them to use them. It was great to see people coming home in the evenings with bunches of fish in their hands to feed their

Christian Aid Magazine Autumn/Winter 2017

CAM 8 Book Master.indb 21

family. Any extra can also be sold in the small market.

Finally, UNIDO has helped people to plant ‘demonstration gardens’, plots of land where all kinds of nutritious vegetables are grown: aubergines, onions, okra, tomatoes, kale and more.

Many of the displaced people arriving in Unity State are not familiar with the kinds of produce that can be grown in their new location and don’t have the seeds or equipment to farm. It’s also a risk to invest backbreaking energy in planting and watering and digging when calories are so precious and food scarce, especially when that investment is rooted in the ground and you have only recently had to flee that last place you called home. But UNIDO’s gardens have proved so successful, that increasing numbers of people have signed up. And with many hands making light work, the gardens’ impact is growing by the day.

It was wonderful to see how Christian Aid’s partners are meeting the needs of people on the brink of survival, but the fact remains that their existence will remain fragile until the guns fall silent and they can safely return home. Here the church has a crucial role to play. Most South Sudanese are churchgoing Christians, including their politicians. This has allowed church leaders to be mediators and an influential voice calling for peace.

So far that goal has not been achieved but the South Sudan Council of Churches, another Christian Aid partner, continues to press for reconciliation. If this can be secured then the world’s youngest nation may yet fulfil its huge potential.

• Overpage: It’s a global issue

21 03/10/2017 13:01

It’s a global issue

D

isplacement is a worldwide problem.

Christian Aid and our partners are providing help in many more countries around the world.

From South Sudan to Syria, Colombia to Iraq, the numbers of people worldwide who are homeless in their own homeland is unprecedented.

To put the figure – more than 40 million – into context, that’s higher than the combined populations of Australia, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

At Christian Aid, we’re working in more than a dozen countries currently battling displacement crises. Countries such as Colombia, where a 50-year armed conflict between state forces, paramilitaries and guerrilla groups has created the world’s largest displaced population.

Some 7 million Colombians have been uprooted from their homes amid a backdrop of unlawful killings, forced disappearances and forced displacements. Despite a peace agreement in late 2016, violence has continued and displacements are on the rise again.

We have been working with Colombia’s displaced communities for 20 years, alongside partners such as the Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace Commission, CCALCP, CCAJAR and Sisma Mujer.

‘These people are suffering tremendously,’ says our Colombia Country Manager, Thomas Mortensen. ‘Being displaced affects all aspects of

life. In many cases, you lose your social network, livelihood, and your children cannot go to school.’

Within Iraq, continual waves of armed conflict have left more than 3 million people internally displaced (half are children). Some 11 million people need humanitarian assistance, and by the end of December 2016, nearly 600,000 displaced children had missed an entire year of school.

Since the latest wave of violence that began in mid-2014, we have been supporting internally displaced Iraqis, Syrian refugees and vulnerable host community families. We have reached more than 250,000 people with food, clothes, hygiene kits, health services and cash assistance, through our partners REACH and ASUDA. Hero Anwar of REACH said: ‘The people are traumatised and the fear doesn’t go away easily…

They have been displaced for many decades and they are tired.’

This situation is echoed in many more places where we work: including Haiti, Afghanistan, the Philippines, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal and India.

The scale of the crisis is immense: this is not a short-term issue. And yet the world’s IDPs are often overlooked and neglected. As are the millions more displaced by natural disasters, such as the recent South Asia floods.

Christian Aid believes the world can and must do better.

Displaced: Tahseen Mejo Alyas and his children Amira and Amir, in a camp in northern Iraq

22 022-023_CAM_8_Round up.indd 22

Christian Aid Magazine Autumn/Winter 2017

03/10/2017 13:39

Under-Reported World: Displacement

ro tal to action what needs to happen now Over the course of the next year, you’ll hear much more about our work to make sure the more than 40 million IDPs do not remain forgotten – and more, too, about how you can help.

W

e will be working with our partners worldwide to call on governments and the UN to recognise their responsibilities to internally displaced people.

And we will be helping in practical ways, providing food and shelter to those who desperately need it.

During Nigeria’s rainy season, storms deluge the camp, flooding the narrow walkways

Here s what we will e pushing for As the UN works towards two new agreements on refugees and migration, we believe that any deal which does not include IDPs – the largest group of displaced people – would be a huge failure. That’s why we’re calling for a comprehensive response; a fair deal for all people on the move. We want the UN and its member states to work towards a deal that: • Is funded: for the long term, rather than on a shortterm appeal basis • Is ambitious: backing up commitments at summits with action that matches the scale of the problem • Is inclusive: giving protection for all people on the move, especially those currently left behind such as IDPs, the stateless and people who have been trafficked • Respects rights and international law: the UN Summit must kick-start a process for all states to integrate

the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement into national laws and policies, upholding the fundamental human rights of IDPs, and the protection of civilians during conflict. If respected, this would ensure protection and assistance, and stop them from being discriminated against.

nd here s how ou can get in ol ed • We’re creating a new touring exhibition of stories from Nigeria that can be shown in your church or community.

Please get in touch if you’re interested in hosting it.

• You can arrange a meeting with your local MP. Go and share why you care about internal displacement and what the UK government must do to

Christian Aid Magazine Autumn/Winter 2017

CAM 8 Book Master.indb 23

ensure people are protected.

We have a briefing document for you – and for them – to help your meeting go well.

• Over the next year there will be opportunities to influence those making decisions at a national and international level. If you’re not already a Christian Aid campaigner, you can sign up online at christianaid.org.uk/ campaigns.

• Our partners around the world are supporting vulnerable communities, both those who are displaced and those who host them. Please give to ensure we can continue this vital work.

Thanks for being with us.

Contact us for more information via campaigns@christian-aid. org or call 020 7523 2264.

23 03/10/2017 13:01

Christian Aid Week Pupils from Rossall School, Lancashire, got together to celebrate our 60th anniversary.

ele rating

of hristian id

ears ee

Lianne Howard-Dace looks back on this year’s 60th anniversary highlights – and looks forward to the next 60 years!

id Week. , s d n is Christian A e i th r e f eek , n o d r e a ’v u De hristian Aid W thing yo C r ry ve ve e e t r rs fo fi u r nk yo s you

is wa a huge tha the start or th m o I want to say fr s u h it w ll you do. ’ve been grateful for a ly d collectors Whether you ib d re c in e organisers an at we’r to th g n w ki the coming o a e kn sp se n a ple s with you in g e’ve bee in w d 7 n fi 01 r 2 u k o e g e e’ll be sharin hristian Aid W nd beyond. W a Throughout C 8 01 2 r fo s a ew ide u know ings now. and testing n llect. I hope yo hlight a few th o ig c h to to t lly n a a n w o I months, but be asked pers portant it is to im w o h g n ri be involved! hea collecting te someone to vi • We’ve been in u yo n se-to-house e u h o w h t is u o it b l a u rf ighbours u love how powe know your ne the things yo to ll a g r in a tt e e h g , to le g encouragin ng new peop • It ’s been so r that’s meeti e th e h end. w – g is to goin money at the e th ll a p t a blessing it u that keep you a h g n w ti t n u u o o b c a f s o ction ie have told u communities. or the satisfa out into your rt in Big Brekk ie a p kk n re ke B ta ig B ve ip, and take you who ha • So many of d and fellowsh o fo re a sh d n ra come togethe re years! join us in futu ill w u yo f o I hope more g, Every blessin

24 CAM 8 Book Master.indb 24

rd-Dace Lianne Howa Week Lead Christian Aid

Christian Aid Magazine Autumn/Winter 2017

03/10/2017 13:01

Christian Aid Week

This May marked 60 years of incredible supporters doing a whole host of amazing things to raise money in Christian Aid Week. Here are a few of our highlights Riders from Hatch Warren and Beggarwood cycling club arrive at Winchester Cathedral as part of the Big Bike to Brekkie.

The Rt Rev Dr Christopher Cocksworth, Bishop of Coventry, joined supporters to celebrate Christian Aid Week in the place where it began.

Phil and Rebecca Johnson organised an amazing series of events in Weald village, Kent, raising more than £8,000.

Hundreds gathered together for the Circle the City sponsored walk around London’s historic churches.

supporter s tale saac Har e ‘Christian Aid’s Circle the City event in London for me is about having the opportunity to meet others of the same faith and being able to see different churches in London and it is why I have attended every year that I can.

‘As a wheelchair user, I can sometimes feel excluded from parts of the route, as not all churches are accessible. This

has been a problem for many years. However, there was a vast improvement this year as there were routes for people like myself – which I thought was great – but we have a way to go yet for it to be fully inclusive.

‘The work that Christian Aid does is great and doing Circle the City is a fantastic way of showing it all!’

Christian Aid Magazine Autumn/Winter 2017

CAM 8 Book Master.indb 25

Isaac Harvey is 21, lives in London, and was the winner of this years’ Vlogstar Challenge. Find him on Youtube as TheCaais619.

Or check out: youtube.com/user/TheCaasi619 aka iNeedACoolName (continued on page 26)

25

03/10/2017 13:02

(continued from page 25)

eal ge s the dia onds who hristian id ee happen

T

o rejoice in the 60th Christian Aid Week, our diamond anniversary, we have been celebrating our amazing

volunteers like Ann Sargant from Lyme Regis, in Dorset, who received a Diamond Award in recognition of more than

a e

50 years of fundraising.

She says: ‘Having lived in Zambia for two years I saw poverty and malnutrition with my own eyes.

‘I first got involved with Christian Aid in the 1960s when we were invited round to a friend’s house for dinner and, to pay for our dinner, we were challenged to join in with the local house-to-house collection!

We are still friends with those folks to this day and we all still support Christian Aid.’ Ann is one of thousands of volunteers who make Christian Aid Week happen. Diamonds really are Christian Aid’s best friends!

House-to-house: do it your way!

It’s the most important fund-raising event in the Christian Aid calendar, involving thousands of supporters and volunteers. But one size definitely doesn’t fit all... Here’s how some groups adapt their Christian Aid Week house-to-house collections to suit them.

Make it sociable ‘Collecting as part of a group makes the house-to-house more fun. I invited the local collectors round for drinks and nibbles a week beforehand. We posed for a fun photo of us all queueing up to knock at the front door with our red bags.

The local paper printed it along with a short article about Christian Aid Week. We’re planning to do the same thing this year.’

Karen Brzezicki, Wiltshire

26 CAM 8 Book Master.indb 26

Advertise a collection point Using a local collection point is a useful tactic if you’re short of collectors or have people reluctant to knock on doors. It can also be used for houses with ‘no-coldcalling’ stickers.

‘For hard-to-reach areas, we leave a note asking people to return their envelope to our local supermarket, or bring it to the Christian Aid Week coffee morning.’

Sue Greener, East Sussex

Train up the next generation You must be over 16 to collect house to house in your own right, but children can be very effective collectors’ assistants.

‘I’ve been taking my daughter with me for years now – she really enjoys it and people love giving her their envelope full of money!’

Larry Bush, Northumberland

Christian Aid Magazine Autumn/Winter 2017

03/10/2017 13:02

o ing soon If you would like to get involved with a Christian Aid fundraiser, workshop, service, concert or challenge event, here’s a round-up of some of the events that are happening across the UK over the coming months. You can also find out more about what’s happening where you live by going to christianaid.org.uk/inyourarea NOVEMBER 3 SHAFTESBURY

Shaftesbury Christian Aid Group Quiz 7pm, Father’s House, Christy’s Lane, Shaftesbury, Dorset SP78PH. Quiz evening with ploughman’s supper. For more details, contact Sue Ballett on 01747 854294.

4 DERBY

Salt: East Midlands Launch 3.30-5pm, Kirk Langley, Ashbourne, Derby.

Join us to find out more about the development of Christian Aid’s Salt Network and hear how you could be part of the new Salt hub in the East Midlands. Explore how businesses can make a positive impact on the world’s poorest communities. Speakers will include Dr Rowan Williams, Chair of Christian Aid and Helen Howe, Salt Network Manager, Christian Aid. Places are limited, so please reserve yours by emailing salt@christianaid.org or find out more at caid.org.uk/salt

4 OLDHAM

One World Fair 10am-4pm, Sacred Heart Church, High Street, Uppermill, Oldham OL3 6HS. An opportunity to get into the festive spirit, buy Fairtrade jewellery and enjoy refreshments. Half the proceeds raised will be donated to Christian Aid. For more details, call Cathy Gould on 01457 876422.

10 TIMPERLEY, ALTRINCHAM

Sing for your supper 7.30-10pm, Holy Cross Church, Park Road, Timperley, Altrincham WA15 6QG. An entertaining evening with audience participation. For a free ticket, phone Doris on 0161 973 2882.

12 NORTH YORKSHIRE

Transforming our Overseas Partnerships: Learning Together 10am-1pm, St Catherine’s, Aylsham Road, Mile Cross, Norwich NR3 2RJ. Hear our partner Abraham Mwangi Wanjohi, from Anglican Development Services – Kenya, talk about what effective partnership with UK churches means and reflect upon how we can do this better. This half-day conference has been organised by Christian Aid and the Diocese of Norwich. Cost £2.75 per person. Please book in advance. For more details, call Paul Overend on 01693 882336, or email paul.overend@ dioceseofnorwich.org

Christian Aid’s Christmas Appeal). The guest speaker is Robert Hayward, former Christian Aid Country Manager for Sudan. Mince pies and drinks provided.

For more details, email Fiona Daborn on fdaborn@ christian-aid.org or call 023 8070 6969.

3 WEYMOUTH

Advent Service of Light 6pm, All Saints Church, Wyke Regis, Weymouth, Dorset DT4 9ES. A traditional advent service with candles, using Christian Aid Christmas Appeal stories and campaign action, followed by refreshments.

For more details, contact Rev Deb Smith on 01305 784649, or email rector@ parishofwykeregis.org.uk

4 WORTHING

DECEMBER

Live Concert

4 SHERBORNE

3pm, Northallerton Methodist Church.

Featuring singersongwriter Gareth Davies-Jones. Tickets £10, proceeds to Christian Aid. For more information, please contact Mark Reynolds on 01609 779698.

7pm, Digby Memorial Church Hall, Digby Road, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3NL. A cosy pre-Christmas evening with stories from South Sudan (linking to

Christian Aid Magazine Autumn/Winter 2017

CAM 8 Book Master.indb 27

25 NORWICH

Sherborne Christian Aid Group Christmas event

Advent Hope Service 7pm (for 7.30pm), Lancing College Chapel, Worthing, West Sussex BN15 0RW. Join us in the beautiful setting of Lancing College.

For more information or to book tickets, email LSE@ christian-aid.org or call 020 7523 2105.

27 03/10/2017 13:02

7 LONDON

Christmas Carol Service 7pm, St John’s Church, Waterloo, London SE1 8TY. Prepare for Christmas with us with carols by candlelight. For more information, call Dawn johnson on 020 7523 2088 or email djohnson@ christian-aid.org

15 TRURO

Truro’s Big Christmas Sing 7.30pm, Truro Cathedral TR1 2AF. A special evening of stunning performances and congregational carol singing to make a difference this Christmas!

All welcome. Admission free, with a collection for the work of Christian Aid and Truro Cathedral. For details, contact Sue Pettit on 01872 273222, or email barry_pettit@tinyworld. co.uk

16 SOUTH YORKSHIRE

Rotherham Carol Singing Rotherham Interchange We’re looking for singers and collectors to help with a 1 or 2-hour shift between 10am-12noon. If you can help, please contact pfurbey@christian-aid.org

16 LONDON

A Gospel Christmas 7pm, City Temple, Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2DE. A joyous mix of songs, carols and readings, celebrating Christmas the Gospel way. For more information, contact Richard Reddie at rreddie@ christian-aid.org

28 CAM 8 Book Master.indb 28

JANUARY 2018 25 LONDON

Annual supporter event 2-4.30pm; 6-8pm, Interchurch House, 35 Lower Marsh, London SE1 7RL. A preview of the 2018 Christian Aid Week story and resources. For more details, contact london@ christian-aid.org

run past. If tea-making is more your thing, join our post-run reception at Methodist Central Hall and help congratulate the runners after their run has finished. For details, email Hannah Miller on events@ christian-aid.org, or call 01925 582826.

JULY 29 LONDON

MARCH 24 NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE

Annual North Staffs Sponsored Walk 10am, Tittesworth Reservoir, three miles north of Leek, just off A53.

Join with walkers from across Staffordshire, Cheshire and beyond in this annual walk around the reservoir. Over more than 25 years the walk has raised almost £1million.

Registration from 9:15am.

For more information, contact John Bamford on 01782 516 137 or Mike Willmot at mwillmot@ talktalk.net

APRIL 22 LONDON

London Marathon cheering party

to run for Christian Aid at the world’s biggest half marathon in 2018, and give poverty the run-around.

Christian Aid is inviting you to join our team in this world-famous run. Join the team now at caid.org. uk/gnr. For details, email Hannah Miller at events@ christian-aid.org, or phone 01925 582826.

2018 Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London E20 2ST. Join Christian Aid’s team of cyclists as you cycle 100 miles on closed roads from London to Surrey, taking in parts of the 2012 Olympic road race route. Join Christian Aid’s team now at caid.org.uk/cycling for just £20. For more information and to sign up, email Hannah Miller at events@ christian-aid.org, or call 01925 582826.

SEPTEMBER 9 NEWCASTLE

Simplyhealth Great North Run 2018 Newcastle to South Shields Looking even further ahead, we would love you

AUTUMN PARTNER VISIT

25 NOVEMBER – 10 DECEMBER Abraham Mwangi Wanjohi, programme coordinator for Maternal Newborn Health at Anglican Development Services of Mount Kenya East (development arm of Anglican Church of Kenya) will be visiting Christian Aid groups in Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Essex, Sussex, Surrey, Kent, Norfolk, Suffolk, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire during November and December, and speaking at various events.

For details, see christianaid.org.uk/ getinvolved

from 10am, All Hallowsby-the-Tower, Byward St, London EC3R 5BJ. Join one of our cheering parties (pictured right) to cheer Christian Aid’s runners as they run 26.2 miles to help end poverty.

We will need you to shout, clap and cheer our awesome runners as they Christian Aid Magazine Autumn/Winter 2017

03/10/2017 13:02

Last Word

Foreign aid is a matter of our ‘honour’, our self-respect as a nation Christian Aid chair Rowan Williams makes the passionate case for overseas aid, at a time when siren voices in the media are calling for charity to end as well as begin at home

T

he climate of public discussion in this country seems to be getting increasingly suspicious and hostile towards our national policy on overseas aid. Many in the media want to convince their audiences that foreign aid is wasteful, pointless and taking resources away from those in need at home at a time of unprecedented pressure on the domestic economy.

In 2013, the UK was the first G8 country to achieve the 0.7% target of GNP spending on aid, thus meeting the terms of the 1970 UN resolution. We have helped to set the standards for international development spending, and this is possible because we are fortunate enough to be one of the richest

countries in the world. This is not to deny that many of our citizens face dire poverty and hardship at home, and need our support. But this does not absolve us from giving attention to the extreme poverty, misery, pain, and death facing millions around the world. In a destabilised and increasingly unequal world, their suffering becomes our problem.

The challenge is to see the continuities. Many of the policies that cause poverty globally, contribute to poverty locally – such as job insecurity as employers look for economies, debt and gender imbalance.

Addressing one kind of poverty should open our eyes to how poverty works and better equip us to address other kinds.

Above: Ethiopian cattle trader Adi transformed her life with the help of Christian Aid But the fact is that even in a time of financial stringency, the people of the UK still care profoundly about behaving honourably towards their neighbours in need. They can and do make the connections and don’t imagine that charity ends at home as well as beginning there.

British aid saves and improves millions of lives all over the developing world – from healthcare to education, to women’s rights or helping communities better prepare for disaster and alleviating misery during and after conflict or natural disasters. (continued on page 30)

Christian Aid Magazine Autumn/Winter 2017

CAM 8 Book Master.indb 29

29 03/10/2017 13:02

id used wisel helps to creates the conditions for sustaina le econo ic growth ecause the ost powerful tool to ta e people out of po ert is to gi e the the eans to loo after the sel es

Providing health services to some of the 1.4 million left in need after Hurricane Matthew hit Haiti a year ago (continued from page 29) It also reinforces our national reputation as a country that cares about justice.

Attacks on foreign aid, which are often an attack on Christian generosity itself, are deplorable.

But the other side of the picture is that all of us in Christian Aid should welcome a debate on how aid is best spent and how we can improve impact.

We know that well-spent aid promotes self-sufficiency by laying the groundwork for investment, enterprise and growth. This building of resilience and long-term economic empowerment is what we need to be committed to. Whenever I have visited our projects around the world what strikes me is the vitality of small-scale cooperative projects, especially those run by women, whose education and empowerment is a major focus of our work. Contrary to some stereotypes, there is no appetite

30 CAM 8 Book Master.indb 30

for handouts in such contexts.

Christian Aid is privileged to work with many global partners who do vital work at grass-roots level. But collapsing or nonexistent infrastructure, the lack of real nation-building, endemic problems with the diversion of funds to elites, sporadic outbreaks of murderous violence, all mean that such work can be deeply vulnerable.

And nation-building needs more resources than any voluntary body can summon up. Intelligent and well-directed government support is what

han

ou

saves many nations from becoming failed states.

Aid is a matter of our ‘honour’, our self-respect as a nation. A good aid policy is a sort of covenant with those who inhabit a poorer and more risk-laden environment than ourselves, recognising that what people need to be defended from is not just aggression from outside but chaos and need within – and that what is needed for this is the steady, dependable and forward-looking investment of resource and trust. I am very glad that the UK is still a society willing to make and keep such commitments of honour.

Aid, used wisely, helps to creates the conditions for sustainable economic growth, because the most powerful tool to take people out of poverty is to give them the means to look after themselves.

Debating aid gives a welcome opportunity to clarify these issues. But we should not forget why it matters to go on striving for more and better impact. It is still a matter of life and death – or, as we like to say in Christian Aid, life before death.

oretta

I can’t finish without taking a moment to say goodbye to Loretta. She has given our Christian Aid family so much over the past seven years. She has been a passionate, eloquent and committed leader whose warmth and generosity, allied to a deep-seated professionalism have given confidence to everyone who supports us. She has helped shape a new vision for Christian Aid in the 21st century, which will be a lasting legacy. I shall miss her enormously, and I guess that this is a feeling widely shared. We wish her well and send her on her way with a huge thank-you from us all.

Christian Aid Magazine Autumn/Winter 2017

03/10/2017 13:02

How ou can sta in ol ed in the fight against po ert For more information and stories about Christian Aid, please visit our website at christianaid.org.uk

There are many other ways you can keep up with and interact with Christian Aid’s activities. You can …

• You can find out how to get more involved, whether it’s fundraising, volunteering or taking part in events.

Like us: facebook.com/christianaid Follow us: twitter.com/christian_aid Watch us: youtube.com/thisischristianaid

• Discover ways to donate, and read stories from around the world showing how Christian Aid and its partners are working to bring an end to poverty.

• Keep up with the latest press releases and blogs from our media team, and discover more about our campaigns. Check out caid.org.uk/news • Find out how you can Change the Story about refugees, make The Big Shift to cleaner energy, and join our campaigns on climate change and tax justice. And whether you are campaigning with us for the first time or are a seasoned activist, we have a range of resources to inspire and equip you.

• You’ll also find the resources you need for your church, youth group, school or report, as well as prayers, reflections and material for worship.

See our work at: flickr.com/christian-aid pinterest.com/christianaid instagram.com/christianaiduk

Listen to us at: soundcloud.com/christian-aid-global

Join us: google.com/+christianaid

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