Turning off the main highway that runs through central Ethiopia, our vehicle made it's way down a sandy trail that was obviously used more by donkey carts then it was for automobiles. We were going to spend the next couple of days filming a story about how ADRA has been working in the village of Korme Bojura. Children and adults waved their excited greetings at the unusual site of a car on their road, especially one with two white people sitting in the back. An unexpected rain the night before reduced the amount of dust we would have normally been faced with this time of year in this part of the country. It was the dry season and water in the villages that we passed was scarce.

Even with the rain, we met a number of villagers walking their animals to the nearest river for a long drink. The journey takes about four hours one way, and must be repeated three or four times a week to keep the animals watered. Judging by the size of the herds, I guessed that the responsibility was shared among neighbours and friends, and that each family probably only had to make the journey once a week. Some of the cattle were being driven by children, who should really have been in school instead.



Better educational opportunities was the primary focus of ADRA's work in this community. Because of limited resources, the government of Ethiopia is not able to provide all of the villages with utilities, health clinics, schools or much in the way of social services. Children typically have to walk long distances in order to attend school, and as a result, many opt out and simply help their family with their small plots of land and looking after the family's complement of cows, donkeys and goats.



We made our way down the dirt road about six kilometres passing a mosque, several uniquely ornamented cemeteries, and many small groupings of round houses made of clay with thatched roofs. Our journey ended as we pulled into a large playground of a brand new, two-room school that had been funded by ADRA Norway. Classes were already in session and I was greeted warmly by the students as I entered the classrooms to do my filming. I was impressed with how eager and attentive they were to the instruction of their teachers. After the first few minutes, they hardly noticed that I was in the room, and I was able to capture some excellent shots of children learning.

Even though the school was new, it was already full and the kids had to sit close together with their friends as they soaked up the things the teachers shared. In the back of the room I noticed a number of adults. At first, I thought that some of the parents may have been so interested in our visit that they wanted to observe us documenting their new school. But then I realized that they were taking notes and interacting with the teacher as much as the children were. I later found out that a number of parents, who had never had the opportunity to go to school when they were young, were now taking advantage of the new school in their village. In some cases parents were in the same grade as their children! Learning how to read and write would open up a whole new world for them. It was fascinating to see them take part in all of the activities, including PE and the school yard games.

As part of the school project, a rain-catchment system had been built to provide the students with water. All of the rain that falls on the metal roof is captured by eves on the side of the building, which is directed to a large storage tank. Students enjoy the convenience of clean water right at their school, without having to bring some of the limited resource from home. With no bore hole in the village, potable water must be purchased from the nearest town, and transported in large drums by a donkey pulled cart. The journey takes a good day and must be repeated about once a week.

As part of the story that we filmed we singled out two children, a 12 year old, physically disabled boy by the name of Osman, and Asha, an eleven year old girl. As we interviewed them, Osman told us how difficult it used to be for him to attend school. It used to take him over an hour to walk to school and often by the time that he would arrive, the door would be closed and he would have to wait on the mercy of the teacher to let him in. Now, it is only a ten minute walk from his home to his new school. You could tell by his big smile that he was happy about this new convenience in his life. When I asked him what he want to be when he was older, his quick response was that he wanted to be a doctor, so he could help out other kids who had the same kind of disability that he had. With the new school so close to his house, and the keen eagerness that I saw in his eyes, I believe that there is a chance that this boy might just see his dream come true!



Asha also told us how happy she was with her new school. "I used to have to walk for at least one hour to a nearby village in order to go to school", she said. "I would always get very tired, especially on the way back from school when we would have to walk in the hot sun. We would have to stop many times and take a rest under the shade of a tree. We would get so thirsty that we would have to stop and ask for a drink of water from many homes along the way. We now have a school that is very close to my house. Now it is easy for us to walk straight home from school, without stopping once for a rest. Having this new school right in our home village has made me and the other children here very happy."

We also talked with the children's parents and a number of the village elders. It was so heart-warming to hear their expressions of gratitude for the work that ADRA Norway was doing in their community. "You have come a long way to help us here in Ethiopia", one of the ladies said. "We appreciate you so very much for what you have done. We used to be in darkness, and now we are in the light."


It never ceases to amaze me how such a small, in-expensive initiative can accomplish so much in the lives of so many. ADRA Norway is augmenting the school program with health education, land management and environmental awareness.

With such a great success, plans are being made to repeat the program in other villages in the region.

Labels: ADRA Norway, Development, Education, Ethiopia

I had been told that I would be filming a literacy program for adult women in a remote group of villages in the Province of Presat, Cambodia.   As I love the whole concept of empowering the poor through literacy and education and I looked forward to the shoot with anticipation.  I didn’t even mind the fact that the villages were settled near the border of Thailand, about four hours down a dusty, bumpy road from our guest house.

By the time we finally arrived at the first village it was almost noon, but the women quickly started appearing out of no where and gathered around in a circle under the group leader’s house.  Many of the homes in Cambodia are built on tall wooden stilts which leaves a nice open-air space for people to gather, visit, eat, or rest in hammocks. It makes for a perfect place for adult education, and I began filming the activities.  It didn’t take me long to realize that this was not like any other literacy program that I had filmed before.  The women were drawing pictures of garden plants on their slates instead of characters of the Khmer alphabet.  Then the group leader broke out a large hand drawn map of the village and spread it out on the bamboo matt and the women began to talk.

I turned to my client, who was travelling with me, and said, “I thought we were going to be filming a literacy program.”  “It is”, she replied.  “But it uses the ‘reflect’ approach.  It is different, much better!”  “Reflect”? I asked.  “You’ll see,” was the reply.  Over the next few days I had the opportunity to observe and document the reflect program in action.  The women in a village who want to improve their lives are invited to join a group of about 20 of their friends and neighbours.  Having grown up too far from a government school, or too poor to attend if there was one, most of these women have never had the opportunity to learn how to read.  With out this invaluable skill, they could never improve their understanding of life through self-education.  As a result, there is usually a very enthusiastic participation in the program. 

Typically, most students become fully literate in about nine months of attending literacy classes.  The “reflect” program achieves this same result, but also a whole lot more.  Rather then using a classroom model where all of the students line up in rows of desks, facing a teacher, reflect groups gather around in a circle where they are able to interact with each other and build bonds with the rest of the women in their group.  It functions almost like a group-therapy program, or a small study group.  In addition to learning how to read, participants are also given the opportunity to define and discuss the most pressing social issues in their village. 

With this extremely flexible approach, every reflect group is unique in the direction that it takes.  Topics of discussion grow out of the immediate and unique needs of the group, rather then an outside agenda or curriculum that has been planned in some sterile office a half a world away.  Some groups may focus on health and sanitation issues, others may want to learn how to make more efficient use of their fields and gardens.  As time goes by and the participants develop strong bonds and trust, topics may shift to more serious and personal concerns such as violence in the family, gender equality, women’s rights, and child trafficking.  In some cases, some groups have even consolidated their concerns with other groups to bring about wider social change throughout their province or nation.

Literacy program?  Yes, but much better. I did see. The reflect process creates an environment where, at the very same time that they are opening a whole new window on the world, by learning to read, women are part of a group dynamic from which they receive not only new concepts for a better life, but the power, energy and support of the group to put the life-changing principles to work in their lives.  By building the capacity of the poor to organize and communicate, they are given a voice.  Self respect, dignity and confidence are strengthened.  Through the Reflect program, positive change is happening, not only in the lives of individual women, but also families, villages, communities and nations!  It is a program that has now been adopted by 350 organizations that are involved in international and community development work. 

One of the women that we interviewed said that it was as though we were blind, but now we see.  “Because of the extra income that we are making as a result of being in the reflect program, we are now able to send our children to school.  Many things in our village have improved and we now look forward to the future.”

As the grim statistics of World Poverty continue to roll in year after year, we may sometimes wonder if it will ever end, or if all of efforts are in vein.  However, I believe that wonderful programs like Reflect, are making a profound difference in the lives of the poor.  Let us be encouraged to continue the good fight of freeing our world of poverty.

After 15 years of shooting images of the poor of this world you would think that a photographer would become hardened and somewhat calloused to the sights and smells of poverty. But it was hard for me not to weep into the eye piece of my cameras today as I walked through some of the worst slums in Phnom Penh, the capitol city of Cambodia. Every where I stepped a cloud of flies would rise up from the slimy filth that covered the ground and swarm around the children that followed me as I walked.

Trapped in poverty, the families that dwell here choose to stay because of the close proximity to the odd jobs they might find in the streets of the city. The children help out by spending hours in the hot sun, combing through the nearby city dump, looking for bits of metal or other things that might be recycled or redeemed for a little rice.

 

Even if they could make it to the government school a couple of kilometers away, it is doubtful that the parents would be able to afford the necessary uniforms or school supplies. With no running water, sanitation facilities, poor nutrition, and lack of even the most basic health care, the child survival rate is very poor. Sickness and disease was almost as rampant as the layers of grime caked to the bodies of the children. No one should have to live like this! Angels must weep as they see God’s children walking barefoot through the slime.

 

The Seventh-day Adventist mission in Cambodia, with the support of a non-profit organization called Adventist Southeast Asia Projects, (ASAP) has begun a work in these communities, that is starting to make a difference. Small buildings have been rented to start literacy programs for the children. Instead of spending all of their time at the dump, the children gather around a teacher for a few hours every day and with eager expressions on their faces, learn the basics of reading and math. As part of the program, each day the children receive a nutritious meal.

It is simple programs like these that save lives and break the cycle of poverty. Sometimes we may be tempted to think that the problems of poverty are too big to solve, that they are too far away, too complex, too overwhelming, for us to make any significant impact. We might convince ourselves that the agencies that work with the poor are so top-heavy with administration costs that very little of our donation would make it through to the people in need. With this rational we try to justify doing nothing, and carry on with our privileged lives, meeting our friends at Starbucks or a day of shopping at the mall.

Adventist Southeast Asia Projects has been working in the countries of Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos for over ten years, directly meeting the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of some of the poorest people in the world. If you were to check independent sources that monitor the effectiveness of humanitarian agencies and how much money actually gets through to the people in need, you would discover that ASAP has one of the highest ratings possible. If you would like to make a contribution that you could be sure would reach children living in a cloud of flies, please visit the ASAP website today. www.asapministries.org/

Of all of the crimes perpetrated against the poor of our world, perhaps the most despicable is the practice of human trafficking. This dark, underworld industry is at its most appalling when it targets children. We don’t hear about it much as we go about our merry lives in the West, but this evil trade is alive and well in most of the developing nations of our world. At its best, the kids face a life of indentured slavery in a dark factory making the clothes that we wear or some of the daily products that we use. At its worst, girls as young as ten years old are locked in brothels and forced to perform hideous sexual acts, 24/7.

In Asia, the country of Thailand is considered to be the largest exporter of young girls for the world sex trade. Here is what happens. Recruiters from Bangkok travel to the remote villages of northern Thailand with enticing “offers of employment” for the children of the village. The parents are told that there is a huge demand in Bangkok for workers in the restaurant and entertainment business. Their children will get good jobs as waitresses, actresses, musicians, dancers, or karaoke workers. Others may be offered jobs in factories, or as custodial workers in the big offices in Bangkok. To poor, undocumented, indigenous parents, barely able to feed their children, this seems like a wonderful opportunity. Without Thai citizenship, they are not able to travel outside of the province they are in, which severely limits the options of a child from the Hill Tribes. But, now suddenly a door has opened!

Parents are told that special arrangements have been made that will allow their children to travel to and live in the city. The deal is then often sweetened by offering the parents money up front for the work that the children will do. By accepting the offer of employment, parents receive an “advance payment” of about $150 USD for every child that they sign up. This is the equivalent of about one year’s income for the parents and makes the proposal very enticing to the unsuspecting villagers. Not only would their children now be assured of regular food every day, a good job in Bangkok, opportunity for a better future then they would have in the village, but they also receive an instant year’s salary. Many parents fall for the scam and sign a contract that they cannot read. As the children pull out of the village on the back of a pickup, it is usually the last time they are seen or heard of by the community that has let them go.

Some of the children may actually stay in Thailand, but many others are exported to industrialized nations such as Japan or America where they locked up in highly secure apartment buildings where they are sexually exploited.

To combat this evil industry, ADRA Thailand has launched a program called, “Keep Girls Safe”. ADRA workers go out into the remote villages and educate parents about what really happens to their children after they wave goodbye. Young girls who may be in particular danger, such as orphans, are invited to a safe house where they are given good housing, food and an education. As part of the program, these girls also visit schools and villages throughout the region to do peer education. Through skits and talks, they let other girls know about what really happens to “waitresses” and “karaoke workers”. Parents are offered positive alternatives, such as scholarships for their children, literacy classes for them and income generating programs to help them meet the daily needs of their family.

This powerful program is having an excellent effect. Word is getting out and recruiters are having a more difficult time meeting their quotas!

If you would like to help ADRA in this wonderful program, please visit the ADRA website for your country and make a donation. Be sure to specify that you would like your donation to go to the “Keep Girls Safe” program in Thailand.

Born in the remote jungles in the highlands of the northern part of Thailand, ethnic people, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, are without documentation. If you have ever visited South-east Asia, you may have noticed these colorful tribal peoples, often referred to as "Hill Tribe" people. They show up in markets, selling their handy crafts or jungle herbs. Their traditional dress, and unique culture and customs are so intriguing, that in many parts of Southeast Asia, it is possible for tourists to arrange overnight tours to hike into the jungle and spend a night in a Hill Tribe village.

Like the Amerindian people of South America, these ethnic people groups of South East Asia can be quite nomadic and drift past country borders unnoticed. The woman standing in a Thai market selling her crafts could just as easily have been born in Burma, China, Laos, Cambodia or Vietnam as in Thailand. She probably has no idea herself what country her parents were living in when she entered the world.

Unable to prove that they were born in Thailand, these ethnic people are not able to obtain Thai citizenship. Depending on the tribe they are from, they may be able to obtain an identity card, but without citizenship they are not able to purchase land, and travel within Thailand is restricted. While education is open and "free" to all residents of Thailand, all other government services that are free or subsidized to citizens are not available to ethnic groups. A trip to the hospital would be very difficult financially for a tribal person.

Because many of the villages of these tribal groups are not accessible by road and lack even the most basic services, such as running water or toilets, government health workers and teachers rarely make more then a fleeting visit. Recently, new government policies are putting increasing pressure on ethnic people groups. In an effort to preserve the highlands from illegal poaching and logging, new laws restrict the agricultural activity that the people are able to do around their villages. Loosing their ability to produce food, the people are being forced to consider a new life in the lowlands.

For the first time, tribal peoples are considering a new option. Rather then migrate to an even more remote jungle location, like their ancestors before them, they are deciding to integrate into modern Thai life and culture. Like most parents everywhere, these mothers and fathers want the very best for their children, and are attracted to the government schools in the valleys. Perhaps, if their sons and daughters could get a good education, they would be able to have a better life and perhaps even be able to support them in their old age.

As a result of this new trend, many poor communities are rapidly springing up around the established government schools in the lowlands. Removed from their life of subsistence from the jungle, these indigenous people are now facing a difficult new life in the valleys. With limited employment opportunities, each day is a struggle just to survive. Average incomes hover around $150/year which is barely enough to cover rent from their new Thai landlords and food. As I walked through some of these villages, I noticed that every boy carried with him a sling shot. Constantly looking up in the trees, they were hoping to be able to add something to the evening meal of rice and duck egg.

On some of these unsuspecting souls, an age-old scam against the poor, is perpetrated. They are persuaded by unscrupulous people that they have become eligible to purchase land and are even extended credit to "buy" rice fields where they can start a new life as a valley rice farmer. Their new "friends" are even willing to extend them the credit that they need for tools, seed and fertilizer to help them get started. When it comes time for the harvest, their friendly merchant will even buy the rice from them so they do not need to worry about how they will transport the heavy sacs of rice to the local town. As you might suspect, after the interest, the inflated price of the seed and fertilizer, and the low price that they receive for the harvested rice, these new farmers never get ahead. They are told, "if you want to produce more rice, you need to buy more land, or use more fertilizer". As each year goes by, they become deeper and deeper in debt.

I told my ADRA guide that this sounded like the story of a song we have in my country, about how poor people working in the mines of early America, would become so indebted to the company store that the would never be able to break away from a life of virtual slavery. She said, "Oh, here too! In Thailand, many factories hire undocumented workers from other countries and they must purchase all of their goods from the factory store, at inflated prices. Over time they get deeper and deeper in debt and can never leave the factory."

If you have ever visited Bangkok and marveled at the highways, beautiful high rise office buildings and wonderful new transportation systems, you may think that Thailand is a very highly developed country and no longer in need of the services of the development programs of an organization like ADRA. But, it is to these poor ethnic people-groups, struggling to find their identity in a strange new world, that ADRA works. With the co-operation and labor of the people, ADRA develops water systems for the new settlements, and follows up with training in basic health and principles of sanitation.

Then, with some of the most basic necessities covered, ADRA will invite people to join co-operative groups for education in adult literacy in the Thai language, simple finance and agricultural instruction. Basic skills are developed into income generating activities and through the strength of the co-op, people are able to receive small, low-interest loans to initiate their new businesses, from a community revolving fund. The people are educated about the schemes of the unscrupulous land owners and merchants, and how to avoid getting into debilitating debt. They are shown how to decrease household expenses, use natural fertilizers and market their products at a profit.

Even though government education is considered "free", the costs of uniforms, school supplies, transportation to the school and food at the school is usually beyond the reach of the new settlers. ADRA does it's best to try and arrange scholarships for as many of the children as they can. A good education for the children is the best chance that these families have of breaking free from a life of poverty.

Hopefully, as the years pass, the government of Thailand will recognize these people as assets rather then liabilities and fully integrate them into their society. In the meantime it is organizations like ADRA and the generous support of their donors, that help "people without a country", like the ethnic groups of Thailand, survive, as they make their transition from the hills to a new life in the lowlands. If you would like to help ADRA serve these ethnic groups of Thailand, please be in touch with your local ADRA office to make a contribution.

In most all of the villages that I visited in Togo, we were greeted and hosted by the village chief, flanked by his most honorable counselors. After a round of introductions and greetings, the chief, dressed in all of his best African regalia, would express his personal appreciation for all of the good things that ADRA was doing in the village. The words, spoken in the native dialect, would be translated into French, the official language of Togo, by the local ADRA worker, and then be passed onto me in English by the ADRA country director, who admits to only ten weeks of study in the French language. Still, regardless of any words that may have been lost in translation, the message was clear, if only by the warm expressions on the faces of the chief and his staff, that they were extremely grateful for ADRA coming to work in their village. No other agency had come to help them. The things that ADRA were doing were transforming the village and the lives of his people.

This requisite meeting of protocol, typical of many of the villages that I visit around the world, as colorful and delightful as they may be, can often be a little frustrating to a photographer. Usually my time in a village is very limited and every minute eaten up by one of these meetings means that I go home with fewer photographs and video clips. However, here in Togo, the expression of appreciation was so warm and genuine that I found myself more then once moved to tears.

In one village, after a wonderful presentation of traditional music and dance, some of the ladies in the village presented a skit that illustrated how so many of the pregnancies in the village ended up with a still-born child. The expression of grief and sorrow, presented by the actress, as she was handed her lifeless bundle, was so convincing that I suspected that she had had this experience in her real life, possibly more then once. Though I was trying to film the skit, I found myself lowering my camera to brush away a tear. Then the tone of the skit changed. Time had passed. ADRA had come to work in their village! Now, with the education that they were receiving in health, nutrition and sanitation, now, with the new health clinic that ADRA Canada was building in their village, babies were being born in health and vigor! Everyone was happy and celebrating!

Perhaps the visit that left the deepest impression on me was the village of Kpedzi. As our ADRA vehicle pulled to a stop, we were approached by a man wearing a bright ADRA T-shirt. At first I thought he must be a member of the co-operative group that ADRA organizes in the villages that they work in. But then I was told that this was the village chief! Laying aside his traditional regalia, this man had donned a plain white T-shirt to show his appreciation and alliance with the work that ADRA was doing for his people. I was impressed! This changed quickly to amazement as the chief greeted me in fluent English. As Togo is a former colony of France, this language skill, demonstrated by a rural village chief was rare! In my honor, he had prepared a speech in English, of which I was presented a copy as we were leaving. I want to share it here because I believe that it encapsulates the emotion experienced by so many villages around the world in which ADRA and other agencies of community-based development, work.

Here is the speech verbatim.

“I have the honor, the most respectful, to welcoming you, on behalf of the peaceful population of Kpedzi and its surrounding villages. We, the entire populations, are indeed very glad to thank and congratulate your Excellency, for all the marvelous, gigantic and tremendous works carried on within our locality by your industrious Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA).

Through your initiatives and your dynamic impulse, our communities will generate into happy, perfect, peaceful homes, and we are ready, eager and confident to join our efforts for the success of this noble ambition.

Our communities must re-organize to develop themselves and enable the populations to imitate ADRA progressively.

We wish your Excellency to extend our sincere greetings to ADRA wherever you meet them in every color, White, Black, Yellow, Red and Brown. Please! Tell them on our behalf, how good you are, generous you are, lovely you are and so kind you are to all, without discrimination.

Long live Kpedzi, and long live ADRA!”

The speech was punctuated by the villagers themselves, with enthusiastic dancing, singing, clapping, and the beating of African drums. Once again I found myself brushing away a tear. In the future I must not be so intent on “getting the shot”, that I miss the opportunity of hearing the expressions of gratitude.

So what is it that ADRA Canada is doing here in the villages of Togo that was bringing such a show of gratitude? Was this some multi-million dollar program of roads, bridges, hospitals, schools and water systems? Knowing ADRA Canada’s limited budget, and how it specializes in small projects for maximum efficiency, I knew this was not the case. And yet, even though it was a small project, it was being received as a comprehensive, life-changing program in every village that I stopped. “If I was to tell you all of the things that ADRA has done in my village, we would be here all day”, said one lady that I interviewed.

The program, officially called “Rural Health and Income Generating Project” actually targets about twenty key elements of daily life in the village. ADRA workers actually move into the villages that they work in and live among the people that they are instructing. Everyone in the village is invited to attend the “Life-Skills” workshops. Over the course of several months, often right under a mango tree, the people learn for the first time some of the most basic life-principles that we take for granted. How diseases are caught and transmitted, the importance of cleanliness and sanitation, the value of balanced nutrition, how to grow, process, preserve, and cook new foods for healthier lives, and how to have peace and harmony in the family by breaking down traditional gender roles and a more equal sharing of the work, are just a few of the life skills learned in the program.

Participants are encouraged to form a village co-operative where they come together to share their experience one day a week, as they work together on some income generating activity. Here they use their local knowledge or a new skill introduced by the ADRA workers to make simple products that can be sold in the local village markets. Some make baskets, brooms or weave small ropes, others may do tie-dye, still others may make simple medicines such as talcum powder or a vapor rub.

Over the course of a few months, the group fund accumulates and they are able to deposit the money with a micro-credit bank to be used as collateral for small loans for individuals in the group. These small loans are used to accumulate the tools necessary to start their own small income generating activity that effectively launch families out of subsistence poverty into a new life of income and commerce where they are now able purchase small items for their home, expand and grow their small business, and finance their children’s education. Now, instead of sending their twelve-year old daughter to a nearby town to work in virtual bondage for another family, parents will be able to keep her at home and hopefully have enough money to even send her to school!

One of the ladies that I interviewed, helped me understand how the program was helping her. She said, “It is true that before ADRA came, I knew how to make baskets. But back then, I would only make one or two baskets and take them to the market. Because I was so desperate for food for my family for that very day, I would agree to a very small price for my baskets, just so that I could bring home a little food from the market. Now that ADRA has come to help our group, my business skills have improved. Now I am not so desperate. If people are not willing to pay what the baskets are actually worth, I can bring them home and sell them another day. I now have a large inventory of baskets and people are paying the full price!”

What a nice program! Simple, inexpensive and effective!

One morning, as I was filming the activities going on at the rivers edge of one of the villages where ADRA was working, I saw something that I had never seen before in all my years of photographing the work of development. It stood as an emblem that even the instruction of gender equality was getting through and causing positive change. There, on a rock protruding out of the middle of the river, was a husky African man, doing the family laundry! It was working!

One of the stops on our schedule was a village where ADRA had not yet started working in. The idea was to be able to show a contrast between a village where ADRA has had an influence and where it has not. We were running behind schedule and there was some debate as to whether or not we should take the time. It was thought that the differences may be to subtle for the cameras to pick up. But, the promise had been made and the village was waiting for us so we decided to make the stop. I am glad we did! Even if the camera could not pick it up, Todd and I did. The ADRA villages were always swept clean every day and the children seemed happy and healthy. In this village the children were sick and the ground was covered with trash and animal waste. The contrast in smell and sight was distinct and amazing. It made me proud to be affiliated with the work of ADRA and thankful for all that they have been able to do here in Togo. I hope that ADRA Canada will be able to expand their wonderful work here until all of the villages are “ADRA villages”.

When the chief of the village wears an ADRA T-shirt, you know you must be doing something right!

On a recent trip to Togo, a small country in West Africa, I was once again impressed and amazed at the incredible resilience of the human spirit. Over the course of one week I had the honor of visiting many remote villages where people are clinging to life at the subsistence level. While the soil was rich, and obviously productive, limited access to markets and the lack of exchange of innovative ideas has kept people trapped in cycles of ignorance and poverty.

This is not to say that the people that I met were ignorant or in any way incapable of learning advanced concepts or life-skills, only that they have not had the opportunities of exposure to most of them. In many of the poor mud brick homes that I visited, I noticed that there was often a makeshift “blackboard” imbedded into the walls of the hut. Here, children would practice their problems and work on their homework assignments. I was amazed to see complex mathematical formulas, geometry problems and intricate drawings, illustrating the human immune defense system or some other science lesson. Without the aid of textbooks, students were learning complex concepts with chalk and slate!

I was intrigued. How was it possible to have expressions of such intelligence on the walls, with absolutely nothing on the mud floors but a few beat-up pots, some hoes, and a pail of dirty river water? Where was the system breaking down? Why is it that people in our day should still have to live like this?

I was only in the country for a short time and so my assessment is limited, but here are some of the things that I observed while I was there that I believe are contributing to the extreme poverty in Togo.

The first thing that stood out right away for me was the almost non-existence of the normal development initiatives that I usually see when visiting impoverished countries. It reminded me of the days when I first started documenting development work about 15 years ago. Back then it was not uncommon for children to break into tears of fright and shock as I would step out of the jeep, because I was the first white guy they had ever seen! Today, all of that has changed. Even in remote regions of poor countries it is very common to see the handiwork of international development and AID agencies. A new road built by Japan, a bridge as a gift from the people of Germany, wells and pumps from Canada, clinics and schools from Sweden, or a school feeding program from the USA. As we drove around I noted a distinct lack of these basic stepping stones out of poverty.

Here is what has happened. From 1969 to 1992, Togo was run as a virtual dictatorship by one man, under a one party system. Ironically, that was not the problem. During this time Togo was doing quite well economically, when compared to some of its neighboring countries. People would drive to Togo to do their shopping and the tourism industry was bringing in a good revenue. Under pressure from the world community, a new constitution, established in 1992, called for a multi-party political system and democratic elections. Unfortunately, the transition from dictatorship to a multi-party democracy is rarely smooth and when outspoken members of opposition parties began to mysteriously “disappear” in the middle of the night, human-rights organizations pressed for and got international sanctions to be imposed on the country. Trade with many countries was halted, goods and services took a real hit, tourist agencies diverted their clients to other destinations, and the streams of development and aid money virtually dried up.

Most agree that sanctions never work. They have no effect on the lifestyle of the people in power and only bring misery and abject poverty to the general population. And yet this horrendous practice continues, even today, against a number of countries in the world. When we try to end human rights violations, we need to be careful not to create more then we solve!

The second thing that I noticed was that there seemed to be a huge dichotomy between what the students were learning in their grass-hut schools and what they needed to know to live healthier, more productive lives. While they were learning math, science, history, geography, and languages, they were obviously not learning basic health and sanitation, agricultural, entrepreneurial or income-generating skills. On the day that we visited a rural school where ADRA was conducting a HIV/AIDS education program, we took one of the 16 year old girls aside for an interview. I was shocked to hear her say that this was the first time she had heard how HIV was transmitted, and how thankful she was that ADRA had come to her school today. How could it be that when HIV/AIDS is one of the biggest crises facing Africa today that AIDS education is not part of the regular curriculum?

In another village, on another day, one of the ladies that I interviewed told me that before ADRA came to work in their community, they knew nothing. She said, “It is as if we were living in the dark all of this time and ADRA has come and turned on the light.” What was ADRA teaching her and her friends that the schools had not? ADRA had come with a simple program of life-skills instruction. Principles of health and nutrition, gender and child rights issues, income generating programs, and the value of working together in co-operative groups.

A third problem comes down to a matter of economics. Even though the constitution of Togo calls for free education for all students through the primary grades, in reality there is no such thing as a “free” education. There are always real costs involved, which can be extremely difficult when you are basically living off of what you can grow in your garden or small field. Uniforms, supplies and school fees, all add up, and the cost only continues to grow as the student advances until by the time the student reaches the secondary level it costs a family about $60/year to send a child to school. While that might not seem so bad, consider the fact that the average family income is $120/year and most families have four or five surviving children. At some point parents have to make some very difficult choices.  

Who goes to school and who stays at home to help in the fields, fetch firewood and water, or worse, be farmed out as a domestic worker for a wealthier family in one of the towns. Almost always it is the boys who stay in school the longest. In one village, as I made my way up through the grade levels, I noticed fewer and fewer girls. The cute grade one students with their bright new uniforms showed a nice even representation of girls and boys. By time I made it to the seventh grade I counted only three girls in a class of 42. What a sad waste of human recourses! Bright and eager minds with the same qualifications, ability and potential as any girls in Western countries, are forced to quit school and at a very early age begin a life of poverty and misery – one more generation of bare mud floors in a one room shack, all for the lack of $60/year!

The local ADRA country director, Todd Reese, who was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to personally take me out to the villages, has made many of these same observations and with the help of his parents has established a small program designed to help a few rural girls stay in school. With the help of local teachers and the village council, girls who are showing real initiative and excellent grades in school, but are having to quit because of family finances, are selected for a program of sponsorship.

I loved the idea! For about $60/ year this program can move a girl one year closer to a poverty-free life! I decided that this might be a great program to get involved with. But was it appropriate? Over the years, many mistakes have been made in the field of development because the program implemented ended up disrupting the community and causing more problems then it solved. Because many factors of local culture and social structure were not taken into consideration or local input sought or valued, programs that looked good on paper, totally failed. They just were not appropriate for the local culture or group.

The concept of “sponsor a child” has spawned many wonderful programs around the world that has transformed millions of lives and made wonderful connections between the families of North and South. But in recent years their have been some question about the appropriateness of singling out one or two children in a village for these programs and the problems that can cause as they relate to the other families and children in the village.

I asked the two local ADRA workers who had been working in the village culture for the last ten years what effect they thought a program like this would have in the villages of Togo. They were enthusiastically unanimous that it would be extremely positive. They said that it would be perceived not as a random singling out as much as a reward for scholastic diligence. Other girls would work harder in their studies in hopes that they too might be selected for the program, and all parents in the village would take notice that foreigners from a far off land considered their daughters to be worthy investments. If people from America and Canada believe that it is just as important to educate girls as it is boys, perhaps they should too! 

Before leaving for Togo I had received some funds from my brother’s church study-group in Aldergrove, British Columbia. They had recently decided as a group, that rather then just sit around and talk about the importance love, they needed to show some love in some tangible way. With some sacrifice and some effort they had managed to raise a tidy little sum in just a few short weeks. My brother knew I was making this trip to Africa and convinced the group that I would be able to connect them with some people who needed some love! This program looked like an answer to their prayers and mine.

We consulted with the local teachers and asked them to identify four girls in the village who were doing excellent work but were in danger of having to quit because of the lack of funds. A few minutes later I found myself interviewing four beautiful young girls. Among other things, I asked them what they were hoping to become when they had finished school. The first one was quick to say that she wanted to become a doctor as did the second girl. The third insisted that she wanted to be a teacher and the fourth a nurse. If I had asked a thousand girls the same question, I doubt any would have said, “I want to be a subsistence farmer like my mother.” Even girls in Togo dream. Unfortunately, very few reach their dreams or a mere fraction of their potential.

It was good enough for me. Subject to approval by their village council, I would use a portion of the Aldergove Church group’s love gift to sponsor these four girls for two more years of education. With Todd’s help I will have to keep an eye the progress of these four girls and see what more can be done once their scholarship has ended.

One of the things that the Judge of this Earth will say as he welcomes the faithful into a new eternal kingdom is “I was a stranger, and you took me in…”

By “taking in” four young strangers, a group of people from a church in Canada have spread their love to Togo. Thank-you!

As a footnote to this story, the sanctions imposed against Togo still prevent almost all aid and development funding to get through. The humanitarian agency of ADRA Canada has somehow found a way to get past the restrictions and currently sponsor about 60% of the excellent programs being conducted by ADRA Togo. If you would like to help ADRA Canada in their work for the poor people of Togo, please visit www.adra.ca

In the year 2005, the aging dictator of Togo finally died and was replaced by his son. Encouraging progress has been made toward meeting the requirements for having the sanctions lifted. It is hoped that as early as next year the world will once again establish normal trade and aid relationships with Togo.