CHILDREN OF AFRICA

With the new year, we can say we come with very good news and lots of renewed energy, especially thanks to the great contribution of the first volunteer who decided to spend 10 days in Tsunza and carry out some of our most impending projects.

Toni Herrera, from Empuriabrava (Girona, Spain), left Spain on the 25th of December and came back on the 6th of January 2010. with a big smile. He was happy to say that he had lived one of the most beautiful experiences of his life among the villagers of Tsunza, where he felt so much welcome.

We can feel very thankful as he decided and was able to carry out our irrigation and agriculture projects. With the help of some villagers, he extended the main water pipe, and set up the water meter right next to the area where we are planning to build the medical centre. But not only he managed to bring water to this very dry area, but also started a great project that will bring more autonomy to the community: the plantation of a vegetable garden. First, he bought the necessary tools and seeds, then they prepared the soil and started with the plantation of the nursery bed, that will soon provide these people with good vegetables to feed their children and to sell and get some petty money to pay for the water.

He also decided to provide the village with enough food for all these Christmas holidays and to distribute the necessary school materials and uniforms to the children who we had already sponsored so far. He also distributed material we had given before his departure (toys, clothes, shoes, etc.), and paid for the secondary school fees of a teenager who was sponsored. He said he will never forget this experience but I'm sure that Tsunza villagers will neither ever forget him. THANKS TONI!!!

Irrigation Project: 210 euros

Vegetable Garden Project: 80 euros

Feeding Project: 230 euros

THE ESSENCE OF VOLUNTEERING

"Volunteering abroad is not an opportunity given to the rich and developed citizens of occidental countries in order to experience an extraoridinary adventure. In fact, I think it's unacceptable that we allow ourselves the luxury of dreaming about sensational experiences, while the people of the needy countries we want to visit can only allow themselves to dream of some piece of bread in their mouths.

A volunteer workcamp is not a selfish opportunity to satisfy our egos or our cravings for travelling; a volunteer workcamp is an opportunity that the volunteer himself provides in order to offer inconditional assistance and support, time, economic resources and efforts to the most needy ones; an opportunity to change a small, tiny piece of the world.

Therefore, a volunteer should never allow himself to become an extra burden for those he's trying to help. It would be simply nonsense. A volunteer must be a relief, water on top of fire, sugar on top of the bitterness that rules their lives, a streched hand, a balm for the open wounds, a whisper of peace...

Then, we cannot expect that a home, where we are planning to spend some time and where they already have problems enough to bring 50 children to school and provide them with food, water, clothes, etc., opens its doors for us only for love's sake, just becoming another mouth to feed. It is not the same being a volunteer in our own country or being a volunteer in a different continent in somebody else's home. Here, we can offer our time and efforts and later go back home where we are catered with everything. In Africa, to become an assistant requires something else.

When we arrive at an orphanage, we become part of it, another member, which means more food, more water, more electricity, more dirty clothes, more washing-up liquid, more bed covers, etc. It is clear that the romantic idea that Occidentals have of bringing our big love and tenderness to those people, of spending time by their side and exchanging our knowledge with them is highly praisable. But there is something that we should never forget: LOVE ON ITS OWN DOES NOT FEED CHILDREN.

I've been moving in and out of Kenya for almost four years now, living with those incredible peoples, and I swear that they really appreciate the time we spend with them, the moments we listen to their problems, the time we play with their children... But, no matter how strong you might me hugging them, if in that moment their stomachs are empty, and there is nothing to bring to their mouths, our big love will be vanished to ashes. And it is normal and understandable: human beings can only allow themselves the pleasure of loving and dreaming when the basic human needs are covered (drinking, eating and sleeping).

As a consequence, with my full belly, I allow myself a dream: to fill their bellies so that they can also dream. And among many others, the best ways to achieve such a dream are those where governments will never invest enough, building up strong and long-lasting infrastructures, with auto-sustainable projects which can bring them autonomy and better life standards and, ABOVE OF ALL, improving the whole institution of education by building up better schools, with better materials, improving teachers formation, and working on the basis of universal values and human rights.

Susanna

CHILDREN OF AFRICA

BARCELONA BLOCK-TREVIGLASS CLASSROOMS

HEALTH SPEECH

CARPENTRY WORKSHOP

BEDS

DOCTOR EXAMINATIONS AND BLOOD TESTS

VEGETABLE GARDEN

SHOWERS AND LATRINES

KENYA VOLUNTEERS WORKCAMP 2010

IRRIGATION AND AGRICULTURE PROJECT 2