A country with nothing to lose

It is easy to look at all countries in Africa as the same – far away, corrupt, run by greedy dictators. What many of these countries also share is grinding poverty, famine and disease.

Since our childhood we have been fed a diet of tales about Irish missionaries in darkest Africa. We participated in the well-meant but insensitive ‘pennies for black babies’ scheme and, as time went on, the demands that have been placed on the generosity of the Irish people have increased, just as the misery and deprivation of those people who, by their geographical misfortune, have been born less well-off and with less favourable prospects than we, have increased.

Many Irish organisations are active raising funds for relief of human misery throughout the world. Without their work thousands upon thousands of human beings would now be dead. Without their work in the future many millions will, as a matter of certainty, die.

Some people may have seen the three short features on life in Malawi which were screened by TV3 when I visited the country as Chairman of the Red Cross recently.

I was glad to have TV3 accompanying me in Malawi, so that the people at home might better understand the dreadful seriousness of the situation there.

It is a relatively small country, wedged between Zambia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Burundi and Mozambique. It is land locked and, unusually, has no natural resources.

The country, literally, produces nothing that anyone wants to buy.

The food which is eaten by the people is maize and this is grown by them on almost every square inch of the land. There is no artificial irrigation and the success or failure of the one annual crop depends on a predictable and consistent rainy season.

And, in the way of misfortune, recent years have seen a change in the weather pattern in Malawi, resulting in failing harvests. They need 2,000.000 metric tonnes of maize to have enough to feed the people. Last year, because of drought, the yield was 1,200,000.

A further complication arises as a consequence of the spread of AIDS. While there are no official statistics the aid organisations in Malawi estimate that at least 16% and possibly as many as 25% of the entire population of Malawi are HIV positive and/or suffering from AIDS.

In Africa, AIDS is spread through unprotected sex. All countries in Southern Africa, including Malawi share a high birth rate and a correspondingly high lack of education as to the risk of unprotected sex.

Cultural and tribal taboos also militate against open acknowledgment of the problem and governments are slow to put education programmes in place. The spread of AIDS to over a million young people in Malawi is killing thousands upon thousands.

The workforce is being decimated, children of sick or dead parents have been forced out of their schools to take care of their younger brothers and sisters and to try to farm what land they can and anyone who has eyes to see knows that the situation can only get worse. The cost and consequent lack of availability of medicines is a disgrace.

A final irony is the lack of clean and safe water in Malawi. 30% of the country is covered in water, yet less than half the population has safe drinking water and less than 5% of the people have access to toilets. Unsafe water results in cholera, dysentery and other related diseases – also killers. It also hastens the ill effects of AIDS on its victims.

The implications of all this for the Government and people of Malawi are both obvious and stark. The Government of Malawi is relatively powerless. Not having earnings from exports, their ability to intervene by direct aid is very limited. They are almost exclusively dependent on the generosity of foreigners.

The International Red Cross network throughout the world exists to help those in crisis.

In addition to its local activities in Ireland, the Irish Red Cross has people in many areas worldwide where there is war, civil unrest, poverty, disease and famine.

Now we are embarking on a specific and targeted campaign to bring some long-term aid to the people of Malawi.

While there are urgent and acute problems which are being tackled by many of our brother and sister aid organisations, such as Goal, Trocaire, Concern and others and indeed by other Governments, we believe that we can play our part by bringing safe water to as many people as possible there.

The Taoiseach has been very supportive of the funding for the campaign against AIDS and has shown genuine leadership at international level against this terrible disease.

The Malawi Red Cross have been installing a pump called the Afri-dev, which is both simple and reliable. It draws water from the ground, filters it and provides enough safe drinking water for up to 500 people.

Each of these units costs just under 5000 euro and this covers the cost of boring, tapping, installing the pump, training the local people how to use and maintain it and providing a basic package of spare parts.

In doing this, it is important that the people who use this pump can take care of it themselves and that any spare parts that are needed are easily and cheaply available.

Africa is littered with marvellous machines that worked only so long as they did not need maintenance or repair.

By providing safe water, we can make a real difference to the people of Malawi and, the bigger the difference we can make, the more lives we can save.