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THE new generation of aidworkers believe that givingmoney alone is not the answerto the poverty issue in the

developing world, and one Galwaywoman is among those using this ideol-ogy to improve the health, education,and well-being of people in rural Kenya.

The comparisons with Ireland of thepast are stark – dependence on subsis-tence farming, poverty, low life ex-pectancy, ties to traditional culturalpractices, poor infrastructure, and illit-eracy.

Travelling through rural Kenya, youcan imagine what we or our ancestorslooked like to foreign visitors, but, as inour case, change is slowly emerging inthis former colony.

In recent years, the Republic ofKenya has decided on a new constitu-tion, and among the changes are a ban-ning of the dangerous cultural practiceof female circumcision, and recognisingthe importance of educating women –who have traditionally been consideredless valuable to a family than a son.

It was through seemingly-unfortunatecircumstances that a young Barnateacher, Helen Concannon, becamepart of a volunteer movement thatwould improve the lives of manyKenyans.

Her friend, Maria Kidney, was onholidays in Nairobi in 2000, but took awrong turn in the capital city and wasrobbed by a gang of children.

As a member of the Girl Guidemovement, she sought refuge at itsKenyan centre, and over the next fewdays she accompanied members whenthey visited some of their projects, oneof which was in the region of Londiani– a huge district in the Rift Valley, witha population of 206,000.

When she came home she met upwith Helen, a fellow Girl Guide, andrelayed her experiences. As they bothhad a lot of experience in volunteering,they decided to organise a group proj-ect to Kenya. They wrote to a numberof organisations that Maria had gotcontact details for when she was overthere, saying that they were interestedin organising a volunteer project

“One particular reply from a chil-dren’s home in Londiani stuck out,”Helen, a science teacher in Tallaght, re-calls.

“It had a specific to-do list, and wefelt we could do some of these things –such as a summer camp for children,literacy, painting the school, and awomen’s life skills course.”

Helen, Maria, and a group of 20 fe-male Girl Guide leaders arranged tospend three weeks there in 2002.While there they realised, however,that the needs in the region spreadmuch wider than initially thought, anddecided to set up an independent Irishcharity, Friends of Londiani (FOL).Subsequently, a sister organisation,Friends of Londiani Kenya, was estab-lished to work on the ground withcommunities.

“It’s two-fold, we really believe thatthe world is not going to change by justgiving money, and we need to changeour attitude towards development –money alone is not the answer. Devel-opment is about having the skills andknowledge to make one’s own deci-sions.

“The locals often have the will andthe knowledge, but are lacking the en-couragement and funding. We chooseour work based on a needs analysisdone by the community themselves.They identify their greatest needs, andthen invite us to assist them with theirproposals.”

Helen says that, in most cases, thefirst priority is education, the second iswater, and the third is health – andthese are the three project areas onwhich FOL concentrates its funding,on a cost-sharing basis. This vision isall part of the World Health Organisa-tion’s Healthy Villages Programme.

“We start with making the home-stead a healthy home – with latrines,hand washing from a ‘tippy tappy’, anda smokeless stove – and that thenspreads out to the village. Then manyvillages will raise the poverty levels.

“This year, one project focussed onstoves. If you consider that a womandoes practically all of the cooking here,often with a baby strapped to her back,so she spends a long time in a smallroom with an open fire. Often some ofthe children will sleep around the fire.

“This smokeless stove not only re-moves the smoke through a chimney,but it also uses less fuel, which meansthe women and girls spend less timecollecting wood – since collectingwater and wood is one of the girl’schores, it can prevent them from goingto school, so the knock-on effect ofstoves is far reaching.”

The charity provided chimneys forthese smokeless stoves, while the addi-tional materials and labour were sup-plied by the householders and locals.

Nowhere has the effect on girls beenmore visible than the in the commu-nity of Ndubusat, now considered ‘ahealthy village’, where FOL has helpedpipe water from the forest to the vil-lage – a distance of 5km – amongother projects.

“Such was the impact of girls nothaving to go and collect the water thatwe had to help them build a girls’ sec-ondary school in 2009 – the commu-nity provided the labour and some of

the timber, and community leadersfrom there are now helping other com-munities,” Helen says.

“The children love information, lovethe education, and get up so early toget to school – they sometimes walk5km to school, and 5km back – theyreally see education as the key ... byeducating a child you educate a fam-ily.”

Since setting up the charity, FOLhas supported the education of all thechildren living at the same orphanage,Bethel Home, that initially started theball rolling for them. One of these chil-dren, Roger, was 12 when the firstteam arrived, and has now just gradu-ated with a B. Comm. degree.

“Without the funding from the Irish

people, he wouldn’t be able to finishhis education,” says Helen.

“Our education bursaries are one ofthe most effective ways of achievingthe Millennium Development Goals. Itcould cost less than €100 per child peryear.”

Helen attributes her interest in char-ity work to the positive adult role mod-els she met in her home community ofBarna, and from teachers in SalernoSecondary School, Salthill.

“In fourth year I went on anAmnesty International committee,under the guidance of Ena Hannon,and I think that has had an impact onme – to see the injustice and feel,through the committee, that you coulddo something about it,” she says.

“And I like to think the Girl Guide’sin Barna helped, under the care ofNonie Hickey.”

Galway has been well representedsince the charity was established – byAnita Layden, a water engineer, andEithne Phelan, a retired teacher fromBarna – and last month, NUIG stu-dent, Alice Jago, was there along withHelen’s father, Michael, who volun-teered for the first time, as did BarryGreaney, of Kilcoona, Corrandulla.

Barry, a PE and geography teacherin Abbey Community College, Boyle,initially focussed on construction workin a school, where two new classroomfloors and two blocks of latrines wereto be built.

“It was a poor primary school in apoor region, so they were really grate-ful for our work,” he says. “The localsand parents were brought in to helpwith the building .. I was there for twoweeks, and by the end the girls’ latrinesand classrooms were ready to be plas-tered.”

Barry spent his final week in Kenyaworking with other volunteers helpinginstall smokeless stoves in homes –over 40 were finished during themonth of July.

“At the moment most people have athree-stone stove – these stones sitabove burning charcoal on timber,there is nowhere for the smoke to go,”he says.

“The new ones remove the smoke,and they are more economical – theyburn less timber – and cook quickerbecause the pot is raised higher fromthe flame, and the heat can’t escape.

“When we’re gone they can continueon with these projects we’ve startedand either educate others or perhaps,make money from them.”

Barry was able to bring his own pro-fessional skills to the fore during thevisit, by participating with other volun-teers in a PE, art, and drama seminarfor 105 teachers representing 49 pri-mary schools in the Londiani region.

“Some walked one and a half hoursto get there – their physical educationis time-tabelled for 35 minutes everyday, but the children just go out andplay by themselves, there are no struc-tured lessons,” he says.

“We provided them with ideas andgames that did not require resourcesbecause they don’t have any, such asstuck-in-the-mud and chain tag. Therewas great feedback, the teachersseemed to really enjoy it and said theylearned a lot.”

FOL has worked with some commu-nities for five years, and as many asthat have reached a stage where thecharity can say it has achieved its ob-jectives.

“They have basic health, education,and water facilities, a strong commu-nity committee, and the wherewithal tobecome the authors of their own devel-opment – that’s our sign to move on toa new community,” Helen adds.

“The real goal of my work is to makemyself redundant by sharing my skillsand giving them the ability to accessthe information they need for them-selves.

“If a man doesn’t want to fish tobegin with, there’s no point giving hima rod – that’s where our projects havestrength, because we ask first.”

To learn more about the charity, vol-unteering opportunities, project spon-sorship, or donations, visitwww.FriendsofLondiani.com, alterna-tively donations can be lodged into the‘Friends of Londiani Ireland’ accountin any Permanent TSB branch, accountnumber 84666541, sort code 990701.

Women the breadwinners but still second class citizens

LIFESTYLE& TRIBUNE SPORT

FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2011 SECTION 2 www.galwaynews.ie

Inside: Entertainment Classifieds Essential Services Planning Public Notices Anniversaries Motoring

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to floor the Banner PAGE 55

Volunteers giveAfrican villageskills to createa bright futureDearbhla Geraghtytravelled to Kenyato see the fruitsof charity’s work

WHILE many similarities can bedrawn between Ireland of the past andKenya in the present, one major differ-ence is the place of women within soci-ety – the main breadwinner in manyrural communities.

“A house of girls will be an unhappyhome, because the husband will be push-ing to have a boy,” says FOL facilitator,Esther Korir, a local primary schoolteacher and mother of four.

“A man will not be satisfied until hemarries another woman to get a son, orhis wife ‘adopts’ another woman to beara son.

“Boys will make the family continue,whereas a girl can never be given thename of her father. Men without boysare not given responsibility in the com-munity, because they are told they arenot complete.”

Although the strong cultural practiceof female genital mutilation (FGM) wasbanned by the Kenyan Government 10

years ago, some still continue this tabooin secret.

The next step after being circumcisedwas for a girl to get married, commonlyduring her teenage years, and sometimesto a man she had never met.

“Families want their daughters to getmarried because they will be paid adowry (by the groom’s family),” saysEsther.

“Within a day they will be verywealthy – cows, sheep, and cash. Themost important thing is the cows, theremust be at least five.”

Principal of Benditai secondaryschool, Josphat Keter, says that localmen are beginning to acknowledge thedangers of FGM, and welcome the alter-native rite facilitated by FOL.

In addition, he sees as worthwhile thedramatised version of a Kenyan story-book on the subject, which was stagedthanks to the efforts of FOL volunteerslast month.

Friends of Londiani volunteer Barry Greaney from Corrandulla. “When we’re gone they can continue on with these projects we’ve started and educate others," he says.

Supported by the SimonCumbers Media Fund

Co-founder of FOL, Helen Concannon from Barna: "Money alone is not the answer - it'sabout having the skills and knowledge to make your own decisions," she says.

A woman with her grandson at the traditional fire in the floor ofher smokey kitchen, which was replaced by a new brick stove.

Local children in the poor area of Kaharura are fascinated bythe digital photographs taken by UCC lecturer, Helen Bradley.The mud huts are typical living conditions for many people there.

Science teacher, Helen Concannon, quizzes two second-ary school pupils prior to their biology exam in Benditai.