Christian Aid Ireland Autumn/Winter 2017 Magazine

Autumn / Winter 2017

Christian Aid Ireland “If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.�

- Isaiah 58:10

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Thank You As we near the end of 2017, I want to say a huge thank you for your generosity of spirit and continued support of Christian Aid Ireland. In this season of Harvest, many of us are not in the fields gathering or gleaning, but with families and friends, giving thanks for God’s plentiful gifts.

As we celebrate and praise God for providing all we need to eat, please remember our sisters, brothers and partners in places like Sierra Leone, South Asia and the Caribbean, who have been devastated by recent floods and hurricanes and whose futures are all too uncertain.

Harvest is the season to reflect upon all the good gifts that we have and how we can share them. This was brought home to me when I recently visited Kenya and witnessed first-hand the devastation caused by climate change. I could not believe what I saw. Every river we visited was dried up. When you don’t have water, you cannot irrigate your crops and you cannot feed your farm animals or family.

Our Christmas appeal this year aims to help those struggling with malnutrition in countries like Kenya, Burundi, South Sudan and Burkina Faso. No one should be without food in 2017. With your support we will help families survive and thrive. One of the ways you can provide support is by buying Christmas presents from our Present Aid catalogue, which has a range of 21 ethical gifts. The gift of an energy-saving stove for families in Zimbabwe, will help people to cook with less firewood, protecting the environment and slowing down the effects of desertification. A basket of chicks for families in Colombia could help a female-led family start their very own business. I have met many families who have benefited from these gifts.

Long-term 69% Finally, I would like to say a big thank youDevelopment to our truly inspiring Christian Aid Week volunteers and supporters, who welcomed Emergencies 15% Christian Aid and our red envelope into your homes and churches this year. You are reaching people with nowhere else to Raising Funds 8% lives. turn in their hour of need, building hope and transforming

Thank you once again and God Bless.

Campaigns, Advocacy & Education 8%

Rosamond Bennett, CEO Christian Aid Ireland, visits a women’s group in Kenya.

Our impact in 2016/17

With your donations, the Participation, Accountable Governance and Human Rights programme has helped over 844,711 people.

Because of you, the new Tackling Violence, Building Peace programme has assisted over 39,838 people already.

Because of your generosity, the Humanitarian programme has improved the lives of over 209,473 people.

With your support, our Gender work across all our programmes supports women and men to benefit equally.

Rosamond Bennett

Where your money goes Long-term Development 69%

CEO Christian Aid Ireland

Emergencies 15% Raising Funds 8%

Cover image: Colette Guiguemde, 26, and baby Ornela from Burkina Faso, who received a market garden.

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Campaigns, Advocacy & Education 8%

Fr om Violence to Peace

Rohingya Crisis Close Up a camp. All she wanted was a patch of land on which to settle her young family, but with conditions cramped, she was struggling to find space.

Since August 25th, over 429,000 Rohingya people have been pushed into Bangladesh fleeing violence in Myanmar. Uprooted from one country and seeking refuge in another, they have nowhere to go and nothing to look forward to.

The need for food, shelter, water, sanitation and medical services is overwhelming.

Humaira and her newborn baby seek refuge from the violence in Rakine state Myanmar.

When we met Humaira, a Rohingya refugee in Bangladesh, she was cradling her newborn baby in her arms. The young mother had fled her home in Rakhine State after her husband and father were killed by Burmese armed forces. Nine-months pregnant, she walked for days with her three children to find safety in

We were told that some mothers haven’t been able to breastfeed due to lack of food and water.

In the makeshift settlements, there are women with tiny babies all around. Some babies were born on the strenuous journey to Bangladesh; others were born in the camps themselves. We have been told that some mothers haven’t been

able to breastfeed due to lack of food and water.

The stream of new arrivals at the camps is endless. They are muddy, injured, exhausted, and waiting for shelter. Resources in this densely populated area are strained.

Makeshift shelters continue to pop up in areas outside the camps. Most are made with tarpaulin sheets and bamboo and if heavy rains come, the risk of landslide is severe.

For the last 12 months, Christian Aid has been working in camps and with conflict-affected communities in Rakhine State and supporting all ethnic groups forced from home by violence. In Bangladesh, we are supporting food, clean water, sanitation and healthcare.

To support this emergency appeal or find out more, please visit christianaid.ie.

Pray with us Creator God, You loved the world into life.

Forgive us when our dreams of the future are shaped by anything other than glimpses of a kingdom of justice, peace and an end to poverty.

Incarnate God, you taught us to speak out for what is right.

Make us content with nothing less than a world that is transformed into the shape of love, where poverty shall be no more.

Breath of God, let there be abundant life.

Inspire us with the vision of a world without poverty, and give us the faith, courage and will to make it happen.

Find more prayers at: christianaid.ie/pray Sign up for our prayer diary by calling Helen Newell in our Belfast office on (028) 9064 8133 or Jane Burns in our Dublin office on (01) 4967 040.

Canon Sarah Hills presenting Chairman of Christian Aid Ireland, Bishop Trevor Williams, with the Cross of Nails award in July 2017.

Special Recognition Award The Cross of Nails was awarded to Christian Aid in July and presented by Canon Sarah Hills from The Community of the Cross of Nails, a network of churches, charities and other agencies working together for peace, justice and reconciliation.

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Food Crisis

Christmas Appeal 2017 East Africa Food Crisis: Eye Witness Account

Gemma Murray Christian Aid Ireland

Our colleague and Banbridge local, Gemma Murray, visited Kenya recently, where a severe drought is causing widespread food shortages.

I was born in the mid-eighties, too young to remember the horrific headlines of the famine in Ethiopia.

But unfortunately, similar headlines have made an unwelcomed return to the world’s media. Earlier this year, I witnessed first-hand evidence of another food crisis in East Africa.

In July, I travelled to Kenya to visit projects funded by Christian Aid. We travelled across five counties; Narok, Nairobi, Machakos, Makueni and Kitui, where we witnessed evidence of the food crisis and the effects of crippling climate change.

Where there should be flowing rivers, there are dried riverbeds. At Kaiti river in Makueni, we stood in awe in the middle of the vast dried up riverbed and watched young children digging large holes for water, some six-foot deep.

Where there should be fields of crops, there are none. One farmer in Kitui County told us it hasn’t rained in the region for three years.

Climate change is not a distant, future threat. Its effects are happening today and it’s happening to those who do the least to contribute to it.

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Hunger isn’t inevitable. In 2017 there is more than enough food in the world to feed everyone. Yet, every day, thousands of the world’s most vulnerable children don’t have enough to eat. This Christmas, we are asking Christian Aid Ireland supporters to help us provide enough for everyone.

In early 2017, famine overwhelmed South Sudan. After more than three years of conflict, millions of people were left in urgent need of food.

In Burkina Faso, malnutrition is a constant threat and can be linked to poverty, climate change, lack of education and poor healthcare.

What You Can Do Our Christmas Appeal this year will help people to overcome food shortages and malnutrition in countries like Burkina Faso and South Sudan. To find out more or donate please visit christianaid.ie.

Your Response So Far

Achai Khan and her baby Geng from South Sudan.

Achai Khan’s story Achai’s biggest concern throughout the South Sudan food crisis is her youngest child, Geng. In order for her to produce enough milk to feed her baby, Achai needs to be healthy and eat well.

With your help, Christian Aid was able to provide Achai with vouchers to buy supplies and food to feed her starving family.

People in South Sudan continue to face the devasting combination of civil war and critical food shortages.

In this fragile part of the world our support is needed more than ever.

“I am grateful for the support that Christian Aid gave my family and me, during this trying time.”

Pray with us O God, our refuge and strength, our help in times of trouble.

Have mercy on the lands where the earth has given way.

Have mercy on the lands where the weather has destroyed livelihoods.

Prosper those who rebuild houses, and strengthen those who rebuild hope so that entire communities May face a future without fear Amen.

Golden Gardens in Burkina Faso

Food Crisis

“Families were once forced to work in the gruelling gold mines to earn a living.”

Market gardens helping families in Burkina Faso Entering a market garden is like entering paradise.

Giant mango trees provide much-needed shade and the air is remarkably cooler as families water healthy, green crops. You almost forget that beyond the fence, the land is arid.

Red dust and tree stumps stretch on for miles and goats squeeze themselves up against cool mud brick houses, seeking any inch of shade they can find.

With your support, Christian Aid is providing market gardens to help families fight malnutrition and poverty in Burkina Faso. They provide a peaceful workplace close to home for many families that were once forced to work in the gruelling gold mines to earn a living.

Colette Guiguemde, 26, and baby Ornela, from Yako Province, Burkina Faso.

As one local man expressed: “Here, we have found the gold in our garden.”

During the hottest time of year when it’s almost impossible to farm, the people we support with market gardens are growing food, generating income and ensuring nutritious meals for their families.

Colette Guiguemde benefitted from our market garden project. Colette was once forced to walk for miles in 45 degree heat to search for gold in the mines.

She had to carry her baby on her back, risking their health to undertake dangerous, insecure work in the gold mines.

In Burkina Faso, mothers can go a full month without making any money. Colette often made so little that she was unable to pay for food or healthcare and as a result, her child suffered from malnutrition.

With the support of the market garden project, Colette has never had to return to the mines. When she received a plot, she was trained to grow an

Colette Guiguemde, 26, with her four-year-old daughter, Eulalie Zondi, in their market garden.

abundance of vegetables and was provided with garden tools and seeds to grow. Colette can make healthy meals for her children now from what she has grown and she feels independent and empowered.

She can sell the excess vegetables at market and use the proceeds to provide for her family.

“My children are no longer malnourished. I feel very safe in my garden. There it is peaceful.”

She said: “The garden changed my life. I no longer need to buy vegetables as my own food is very nutritious. My children are no longer malnourished. I feel very safe in my garden. There it is peaceful.”

Market gardens are just one effective initiative Christian Aid has set up to tackle hunger and malnutrition. We want everyone to have a story like Colette’s. That’s why, this Christmas, we come together to recognise that in a world of plenty, there shouldn’t be hunger.

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Chur ch and Community

Christian Aid Week 2017

In May, we marked 60 years of Christian Aid Week. We greatly appreciate the efforts of all our organisers and volunteers who raised over €660,800 / £600,000 to date.

We are also grateful to those who took the time to sign gift aid envelopes in Northern Ireland. We anticipate this will add £40,000 to the total. Thank you on behalf of those who will benefit most from your fundraising efforts. Your kindness and compassion is making a difference to so many lives.

The Lord Mayor of Belfast, Alderman Brian Kingston, hosted an afternoon tea in the Lord Mayor’s Parlour at which he paid tribute to the many Christian Aid volunteers and collectors who put so much effort into Christian Aid Week every year. A special award was given to Grosvenor Grammar School, Belfast which has raised more than £85,000 for Christian Aid Ireland.

Principal Dr. Frances Vasey and Head Girl Annie McKirgan received their certificate from the Lord Mayor.

Moira Presbyterian Church enjoys a Big Brekkie organised by Anna Hughes and her team to raise funds for Christian Aid Week.

This year, the focus of Christian Aid Week was the plight of millions of refugees, forced from their homes by war and conflict. To highlight the conditions faced by refugees, we organised a sleep out in Buoy Park, Belfast. Church leaders and politicians visited our makeshift camp and it was an opportunity to raise awareness of Christian Aid’s response to the refugee crisis. Pictured at the launch are: Rosamond Bennett (bottom centre) and David Thomas (top centre) with political representatives.

Church and Community officer, Jane Burns, with Rev. Helen Freeburn take selfies for Christian Aid Week.

Parishioners from Maghaberry Church on the Hill with Rev. Carlton Baxter take a selfie for Christian Aid Week.

Recruitment of Chair

Christian Aid Ireland is seeking to appoint a new Chair for its Board of Trustees.

Christian Aid Ireland is an independent injustice whenever and wherever legal entity within Christian Aid we find it. This is an exciting time for and is part of a global movement Christian Aid Ireland; within the last of individuals and organisations two years we have developed our passionately committed to ending own Programme Strategy and taken poverty and social injustice. the global lead for ‘Tackling Violence, Building Peace’, one of Christian Aid’s Our work is inspired by Christian Strategic Change Objectives. values and a belief that everyone, regardless of faith, race, ethnicity, Our work is underpinned by age, gender or other identity is a Christian conviction of the entitled to live a full life, free from humanitarian obligation to work poverty and injustice. An essential with people of all faiths and none. part of these values is the obligation We are seeking someone for the and responsibility on us all to tackle role of Chair who shares our values 6 | A u t u m n / Wi n t e r 2 0 1 7

and our ambition to end poverty, and who will use her/his senior leadership experience, international perspective and faith to lead the Board, support the CEO and play a key role in engaging our broad range of stakeholders.

Please express your interest in the role by sending a full CV and cover letter, outlining your suitability for the role, to Joanna Donaldson on jdonaldson@christian-aid.org.

Advocacy and Campaigns

Tax Justice - what is it?

If we want to make sure that our society’s needs are met, especially in tough financial times, then we need to make sure that everyone pays their fair share. Even in hard times large multinational companies are making huge profits, but many don’t pay enough tax on those profits.

We are demanding that multinational companies, which have been accused of paying too little in taxes, pay their fair share.

identify themselves on a public register? Tax loopholes can exploit developing countries and as much as $200 billion in unpaid taxes from multinationals flies out each year.

Imagine what that money could provide for developing countries.

Conditions for the world’s poorest people could improve dramatically.

Tax money could go to the countries where profits were made and conditions for the world’s poorest people could improve dramatically.

This money could be used to help provide vital social services such as health and education. Dependency on foreign aid would diminish and the world’s poorest countries would have a chance to become more stable. To find out more go to christianaid.ie/actnow.

Currently multinational companies only have to report their global profits. But what if they were made to publicly declare their profits by country? What if we could ensure that information about commercial wealth in tax havens had to be shared with the tax authorities, and that the real owners of phantom and shell companies had to

Make The Big Shift As links are made between the effects of climate change and the recent disasters in East Africa, South Asia, the Caribbean and the USA, it underlines even more clearly the urgency of a concerted global effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change.

Christian Aid’s Big Shift campaign is calling for the UK government, businesses, financial institutions, churches and the public to help expedite the shift away from dirty fossil fuels and towards clean renewable energy.

We are calling on banks and financial institutions to reduce investments in the fossil fuel industry.

Experts have estimated that 80% of known fossil fuel reserves must be left in the ground if we are to meet

the international target of limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius. Banks have an important role in ensuring that the money they hold is not being used to fund the destruction of our planet, but that instead they help to build a cleaner future.

contributions to the UN Green Climate Fund.

If you would like to support our Big Shift campaign in Northern Ireland, you can order copies of our campaign postcard. If you live in the Republic of Ireland, write to your TD asking them to support Christian Aid’s recommendations.

We sent a submission to Ireland’s Citizens’ Assembly, which is currently deliberating the question, The full text of our submission to ‘How can the State make Ireland a the Citizens Assembly is available on leader in tackling climate change?’ christianaid.ie/actnow.

We made a number of important recommendations including the need to pass a Fossil Fuel Divestment Bill to stop Ireland’s Strategic Investment Fund from investing in fossil fuels. The submission also urges Ireland to support developing countries as they adapt to the impact of climate change Christian Aid supporters visit a local bank branch to raise by making regular awareness of our Big Shift campaign A u t u m n / Wi n t e r 2 0 1 7 | 7

“In a small corner of the Amazon, my husband’s Christian values live 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. 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.

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.

We need the rainforest because it provides us with the oxygen to survive, but it is vulnerable to the

effects of climate change, which we need to reduce to save the Amazon.

So although David is no longer here in body, I know he’s still part of that forest and part of this world.”

- Maggie Bridge

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Post ROI: Christian Aid Ireland, Christian Aid will not pass your details on to any other organisation.

Christian Aid Ireland is the official relief and development agency of the Church of Ireland, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Nonsubscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland, the Methodist Church in Ireland, the Moravian Church, the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), the Salvation Army, and the Irish Council of Churches.

Rosamond Bennett Chief Executive, Christian Aid Ireland

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