What can I give him?

What can I give Him?
“We recognise that the future of Africa lies with the well being of its children and youth. Today’s investment in children is tomorrow’s peace, stability, security, democracy and sustainable development.”
Africa fit for Children: The Organisation of African Unity 2001

By now you will probably be well into your Christmas shopping and with a desire to make a difference and a with a wish to avoid the potential delays of the post, you may well be thinking of giving to charity rather than buying presents and sending cards.
So what will it be? A goat, a water hole? Or maybe in the face of the dire predictions of famine in Ethiopia, you’ll opt for one of the famine relief agencies. Well not if you’re Sam Kiley you won’t. He’s reported from Africa for the Times over past two decades and he’s suggesting that no matter how harrowing the pictures this year, you must just sit on your hands and give in a different way. Sam’s argument, developed over the last 4 years, has been that food aid given by the West detaches governments in the local context from the people that they represent. It erodes their relationship and responsibility to work for and on behalf of the people to ensure the right economic conditions for their well being and sustainability.
He takes the situation in Ethiopia and argues that food aid has inadvertently financed the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea and that we need to be more sophisticated in our analysis of local context.
So what should we do to make a positive contribution that empowers those most vulnerable and promotes community cohesion with a positive focus to the future. My research seems to suggest that a donation to a microfinance organisation could make a real difference
An example of this would be MicroLoan, a UK based microfinance NGO set up in 2002 to make small loans to groups of women in rural and semi urban areas with a focus on those who are most in need. The small loans, repayable over 4 years, are designed to help people set up small businesses to increase their financial independence and sustainably trade their way out of poverty. The woman’s loan group take on collective responsibility for the loans and their repayments and provide a supportive practical, emotional and business network. MicroLoans since opening has made 50,000 loans with an impressive 98% repayment rate.
The organisation provides stories of women setting up local grocery stores, sewing businesses, making and selling cakes and buying and selling second hand clothes to name but a few. Building community in this way the children’s charity Barnardo’s has reported the positive impact this has had for the women’s children (1).
With the provision of more regular meals, children’s health has improved as has their school attendance as, now uniform can be brought and any secondary school fees paid.
The whole experience has had a marked impact upon the children’s aspirations, who, having seen that change is possible, now have an increased sense of hope for their own futures and dream dreams of what they might become.
These dream are caught up in the words of the Mary’s song of praise as she contemplates the birth of her child My soul magnifies the Lord and I dance with God who liberates me, for God has remembered with love the whispered song of her shadow. God’s voice clamours in shouts of justice, as victims are pulled out of the mud and the hungry are filled with good things. God nurtures those who are enabled to see her according to the promise given to our grandmothers, to Sarah and Hagar and their children forever. Amen (2)

Julia Monaghan
13.11.09

1. Listening to the voices of women and children: A report for the Microloan Foundation
2. Expectation poem by Clare McBeath (adapted slightly by me).