The Carlow People, 17th July 2007


AFRICA conjures up varying thoughts and images for everyone. Conversations inevitably lead to famine, war and safari – all very different talking points – but each a very real aspect of many countries in that much-maligned continent.

Spending the month of June travelling between Ethiopia, Sudan (including the war-torn region of Darfur) and Kenya, renowned Irish Aid Agency, GOAL allowed me to see at first hand how EUR400m of taxpayers money is being spent since being set-up by John O'Shea 30 years ago.

GOAL's many programmes vary from street children's projects, livelihoods education and providing pit latrines to displaced people.

GOAL takes a holistic approach to much of its development work. One project begets another, you could say by constructing water tanks near schools, for example, or providing free meals to schoolchildren, the aid organisation encourages children to complete their education.

The agency also provides numerous primary health care programmes, sanitation awareness and vocational training.

The month was a snapshot into the lives of the people, both national and international staff involved in providing these programmes and the inherent difficulties they face on a daily basis.

Indeed, since my return a fortnight ago, disaster has struck in Sudan.

GOAL volunteers are working round the clock in the Kassala region of north-east Sudan after heavy torrential rainfall – some of the worst in years – caused more than 25,000 family homes to collapse, according to the government, with further rains forecast. At the time of writing, at least eight people are confirmed dead. As one of only two aid agencies in the Kassala region, GOAL is distributing emergency kits to hundreds of affected families who lost their meagre belongings in the flash floods.

'Families are always the most vulnerable to such crises,' explained GOAL Kassala's Emergency Co-ordinator, Conor Philips.

'Their homes, built with mud and straw are destroyed every time the floods come, and rebuilding is never strong enough to withstand the waters when they rise again.'

Rainfall last week led to an increase in the level of the Al Gash River, which has already burst its bank in a few locations threatening Kassala town and its different localities. The GOAL team of volunteers are planning to distribute hundreds of sandbags to stem the flow of water near the West bank where the flooding is worst.

Already poor sanitation is likely to deteriorate further with floods, as flies and mosquitoes breed around the stagnant pools, spreading disease in areas affected by the floods.

Ten of the local health clinics in the region that GOAL has rehabilitated and rebuilt in recent years are expected to go into emergency mode in the coming days – operating 20 hours a day and distributing free drugs to redress the looming possibility of outbreaks of water-borne diseases.

For GOAL, dealing with emergencies such as this is a never ending job.

Meeting with children from the slums in Nairobi, Kenya, many of whom had lost one or both parents to AIDS; talking with communities in the rural area of Borena; and experiencing the conditions literally millions of displaced people face in war-torn Darfur in Sudan gives an insight into very different worlds.

Images like the dozens of little faces crammed into mud classrooms with scarce teaching aids; of deathly sick people lying, helpless, on the streets of Addis Ababa; and the sight of the gun-toting militia so common in Darfur.

The sight of individuals attempting to maintain a sense of normality 'of dignity' in the face of the most unimaginable pain.

The time in Africa, as was suggested to me, has not turned me into 'another Mother Teresa' and far from it my appreciation for how lucky we are in life, has grown even stronger!

However, one aspect of life that will never be taken for granted again is freedom. Having the option to go for a walk without having to take into consideration the chance of being violently mugged as is a common occurrence in Nairobi, Kenya or have to report in as to your movements which is a must in Darfur, Sudan is now held sacred.

But what time spent there has done is create a realisation that every cent donated to GOAL matters. Our lives are worlds apart, but they can be brought a little closer by a better understanding of the simple needs of those who live in the countries GOAL attempts to help.