The aged and AIDS in Africa
As everyone knows, parts of Africa have the highest rate of HIV/AIDS infection in the world. Most of those affected are young people aged between 15 and 35 years. Less than 5% of people over 50 years of age are HIV-positive. So the increasing number of orphans is being taken care of by these ‘older people’. In Africa most older people no longer have a paid job and pensions are almost nonexistent. So our elderly people now need great help in order for them to cope not only with the death of their children but the survival of their grandchildren.
We are starting a community-based project that aims to help elderly people living with orphaned children to cope – to help send them to school, to provide for their health needs and, most importantly, to help provide food. We would like to contact other organisations that can share advice and resources with us.
Mr N Malangu, PO Box 10205, Newcastle 2940, South Africa.
Support for older people
We are a group of six like-minded people who are raising money to help older people in Nepal. Our society is dominated by ‘Hinduism’. In the Hindu religion elders were highly valued. This belief is slowly changing and being replaced, eroded by the selfish individualism common in the West. Hence our society is in transition from one where elders were respected to one where they are sometimes ignored.
Therefore we hope to do something for older people to improve their lives and bring joy. We plan to develop a model village where older people can be happy. We are carrying out advocacy work on legal issues which affect older people (such as the Government’s responsibilities) and we educate children on their duties to care for older people.
Shridhar Lamichhane, NSCFP/SDC, Jawalakhel, Kathmandu, Nepal. E-mail: slnscfp@wlink.com.np
Agriculture – the key
Many people in the Third World forget that agriculture is the basis of our life. Today many people regard being a farmer – and especially being a young farmer – as being poor. Work in the fields is often considered a job for people unable to find other work. However, everyone needs the work of the farmer since people always need to eat and our factories need agricultural produce.
We must realise that we can never obtain the same level of development that the industrialised countries have simply by copying them, but rather we can do it through a creative spirit. Only then can we obtain the finance we need from within our own countries. The Third World must change its development policy, by keeping in mind the people who are at the grass roots. They are the source of development.
Most Third World farmers have a little land to cultivate – even if it is just unused land in our towns. With the hoe and the machete, our waste land can become good farming areas. If everybody supported agriculture and agricultural credit were made available to farmers, maybe we could resolve the problem of hunger and poverty in our countries.
Mambuene Mbunga, ASPROVA, BP 29, Mbanza-Ngungu, Bas-Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo.
Request for biogas information
In the community where I work as an agricultural volunteer, people are keeping pigs as a source of income to send their children to school, for medical fees and as a source of protein. We would like to reduce the burden of collecting firewood for the women here, who commonly walk about 30km a day collecting fuel. Instead we would like to install biogas plants in the community to provide fuel and also to provide fertiliser for vegetable growing. We would be very grateful if anyone can help us with more information.
Andrea Buaria, Fort Hare’s Flori Organic Gardens, PO Box 450114, Mpika, MPK450 FH114, Zambia.
Effects of tobacco smoke
Most farmers here in Western Kenya cure their tobacco in smokers made of mud and thatch which are often built next to their homes since the fires need to be maintained for 24 hours. However few realise the danger of the fumes for their families and especially pregnant women living nearby. These toxic fumes can cause cancer or miscarriage. Those who feed the fires are exposed to very high amounts of fumes. Does anyone know of a safer way of constructing these curing houses so as to reduce the dangers to those living nearby?
M Kivanda, Oyani Christian Rural Services, PO Box 771, Suna, Kenya.
EDITOR:
Smoking cigarettes is even more dangerous and will kill one in every four smokers.
Questioning the G7 decision
Millions of poor people were waiting most patiently for the G7’s decision in June 1999 on cancelling debt. But the news did not reassure anyone: the debt will be reduced by 65 thousand million dollars! Everyone wants to know why the debt has not been cancelled completely. Poor people are suffering enormously trying to pay back debts incurred a long time ago. And meanwhile people are dying of hunger, diseases, and families are being torn apart.
Can the G7 leaders not change their decision? We listened to their decision with dismay. We must form a united front with the supporters of Jubilee 2000 asking for a total cancellation of the Third World debt. Everywhere the debt is crushing men, women and children who on the whole do not know anything about it. Africans, Asians and Latin-Americans are all people created in the image of God, just like North-Americans and Europeans. While some people live in desperate poverty, others live in peace in unashamed luxury… What a sad situation! When will this change?
Mr Ewan Denis, BP 559, Nkongsamba, Cameroun.
Mushrooms
Last year I wrote about how a friend got a fine crop of mushrooms by chance through using rice husks as a soil conditioner. We have a tree nursery with 3,000 budded orange trees for sale or distribution. We have been using rice husks as a mulch in the dry season. I suppose some of this has got dug into the soil. For several weeks now mushrooms have started appearing. Our workers and others come to collect the mushrooms. If our nursery was enclosed to keep out people and goats presumably our harvest would be much higher. Please don’t ask for more information – just use rice husks in your garden and see what happens!
But remember that some mushrooms are poisonous. Always check with local people to make sure they are safe before you try them.
Father Vincent O’Brien, St Justin’s Seminary, Ogobia, PO Box 13, Otukpo, Benue State, Nigeria.