So Relieved Sharon & Hilda Are Safe

I received the text at 4am on Sunday that Sharon Commins and her Ugandan colleague Hilda Kawuki had been released from being held captive in Sudan. I haven’t met Sharon, but she used to go out with a close friend of mine and throughout the whole ordeal, I was really worried about them.

Sharon and Hilda were both snatched from a Goal compound in Darfur and held captive for 107 days. I am so relieved that this story had a happy ending and that they are both now safe at home with the people they love.

Kidnapped There are few experiences that could be more harrowing than being kidnapped. As an aid worker in Nairobi- which in the past year has experienced over 100 kidnappings – I am all too aware that this is a major risk that I face in going about my daily life. See article in the New York times last week - Kenya’s Criminals Tap a Growth Industry: Kidnapping.

Ireland: The Somalia of Europe ?

Travelling to Somaliland in North West Somalia, is another painfully early start. You may have guessed it already, but I am not a morning person. It’s a 5.30am check in for the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS). The flight took about 5 hours. UNHAS offers a genuine no-frills service, with not even the option of purchasing food, so by the time I reached Hargeisa I was starving. On paying the $22 on arrival for visa and airport security tax, I am handed my change in Somaliland shillings. A dollar equates to 6,500 shillings and the standard bill is 500, so I can barely close my wallet now. Waiting for Godot I head outside to look for my pick-up, but the driver is nowhere to be seen. It’s a baking 36 degrees so I settle under the shade of a tree and chat with some old Somali men, while I wait for Godot. When they hear that I am from Ireland, they tell me that “Ireland is the Somalia of Europe”. This is not the first time I have heard this, but I am still a bit mystified by that statement. Female Genital Mutilation The reason for my trip is an evaluation of an Irish Government funded Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting eradication project. We met with a group of women who used to carry out Female Genital Mutilation on girls, but have since publicly announced that they have completely stopped practising. They had each cut hundreds of girls in their careers, but since learning from the World Vision project that it is not a religious requirement and that it does major damage, they made a public announcement that they would abandon the practise. They told me how they really regretted what they had done and would never go back to it, even though it meant a significant drop in their income. “The girls are so happy now. They used to fear being circumcised so much that before the season started they’d be crying. Now when the circumcising season begins they all go out together and play.” Why do they do it? Which begs the question- if your daughters are terrified and it hurts them so much, why would you do this to them? I’m not making apologies for this practice, but people aren’t doing it to be cruel. Most of the community genuinely believed FGM is a religious requirement and that women can not pray or marry without undergoing it. They would be stigmatised and ridiculed. Many would rather go through the pain than be a social outcast. Life is tough enough out here and there is nowhere for an outcast woman to turn to. There are no safety nets or social welfare. But attitudes towards FGM are gradually changing. World Vision has been working closely with religious leaders to highlight that the Prophet Mohammed never practised FGM on his daughters and that it goes Against core Islamic principles and gradually we are seeing a change.

There are still people in the community that practice FGM on their daughters, but from all I heard today the numbers are reducing. What a relief.

I'm in the Irish Independent today

It’s so weird seeing yourself in the paper. Today’s Irish Independent has an article in it that I wrote to highlight the difficulties faced by those who wish to "make a difference" in people's lives.

The headline is ‘Don’t be a mug when you’re trying to help…’ and talks about how it takes more than good intentions to make a difference.

Many NGOs, like World Vision Ireland, have gotten past a lot of the hurdles I mention in the article and have gained a lot of experience about what it takes make a genuine impact on people's lives and deliver effective aid effectively.

Aid really does work - when it's done right. You can read it here >

Aid Success in Kenya

Yesterday I was back in Eastern Kenya visiting one of our development projects in Mutonguni, with Helen Keogh, World Vision Ireland Chief Executive and my boss. It was baking hot and very dusty. The last three rainy seasons have failed and there’s not a blade of grass for miles. The key focus of our work here is water and sanitation and we’ve already brought clean, safe water to hundreds of households. This saves women and girls from walking for miles to fill up a 20 litre jerry can of water and then lugging it back (collecting water is typically considered women’s work) . Marriage Proposal The community like to tease me, asking me to marry one of their sons. I tell them, with all honesty, I would make a useless wife. I doubt I could make the 10km roundtrip with 20 litres of water weighing me down for half of it. Not to mention the farming and childrearing. Irish Accent The other thing I get teased for is my accent – the school health club at Mutonguni Primary School find it hilarious. As I’m chatting with them some of them start imitating my accent by holding their noses. Apparently us wazungu (white people) sound nasal, like – and I quote – “we are picking our noses”. Charming. Health and Hygiene I manage to get over this though as the chairman of the school health club, 14 year old Gitari Kagendo, tells me how they have been promoting health and hygiene (e.g. handwashing) to their peers and the community. World Vision Ireland, with the help of Irish Aid, has supported the construction of pit latrines, hand washing facilities and 2 rainwater harvesting tanks in the school. This has helped reduce school absenteeism caused by diarrhoea and other water borne diseases. They’ve also established a vegetable patch with some seeds we gave them and vegetables are a regular part of the school lunches now. At the end of the visit, I’m sorry to leave but glad to be able to report that there’s some fantastic work going on in Mutonguni.

Food for Thought

I read an interesting article today in the East African Standard called 'Oasis of hope in the middle of nowhere'. It's about a school supported by World Vision Kenya and it's a national paper so it’s great coverage for the organisation. World Vision Kenya helped built the school in a very drought prone area called Pokot East but it wasn’t enough. They needed to introduce a ‘feeding programme’ to encourage the children to come to school. The lure of one solid meal a day really boosts school attendance. After all, if you haven’t eaten all day and have no food waiting for you when you get home, how can you possibly concentrate on learning? Satisfying your hunger is all you can think about. Providing the children with one guaranteed hot meal in the day makes a lot of sense to me.