My name is Felicity Harrison and I am 14 yeras old. I live in Collingham, a village in Central England. Collingham has a population of about 2500. I go to Thomas Magnus School and I am in year ten. My school is in a nearby town called Newark. My main subjects are: Art, Maths, French, English, Drama, P.E. Science and history. I was invited to write about one of the largest aid agencies in this country.
Christian Aid is supported by more churches than any other Christian charity. It aims to work with the people. It backs schemes that are run by local people themselves. Christian Aid spends money on education to telll people about poverty and what can be done about it. It hopes to bring an end to poverty for good. The money raised for Christian Aid falls into six categories. Every year a Christian Aid week is held which is widely advertisied including television coverage. The donations collected during the week, from door to door collections and organised fund raising activities such as sponsored events, can raise millions of pounds. Special appeals are made for emergency funds when major disasters arise e.g. earthquakes and floods. There are general donations from the public which include Legacies and Covenants. Every year the government grants Christian Aid a sum of money for its work. Denominational donations from appeals to various churches e.g. Baptists, Anglicans and Methodists are another source of income. Finally other agencies and the E.C. contribute to Christian Aid.
When people need help with a community problem, they write to Christian Aid. They tell them what they want doing, how they would like it done and also how much money is needed. The Christian Aid Project Officer for that region visits the place regularly and assesses the request. A committee, made up of people who know a lot about the region, meet at London's Christian Aid Headquarters to decide whether or not support should be given. If the project is funded, the Project Officer will monitor the work being done, usually for three years. The main aim of Christian Aid is to help people to help themselves. They want to put power back into the hands of the weak to give them an improved quality of life and to strengthen the poor against injustice. One of Christian Aid's current projects is "Wash for Dosh." This is taking place mainly during Christian Aid Week. The idea is to wash as many things as you can and get paid for it. The money raised from this project will go to support people in the third world, for instance, in India many young children are forced to work for more than twelve hours a day making carpets in cramped huts. Christian Aid are trying to free these children from their hard labour.
Christian Aid is involved in many different kinds of work. This includes projects at home and abroad. An example of work is that of Christian Aid's work in Brazil for seven or eight million street children. The children have to steal, search litter bins or beg just to stay alive. They lose touch with their families, receive violence from the police and many eventually turn to a life of crime and drugs. Christian Aid is trying to give these children an education and a chance of a brighter future by helping to establish community schools. Many coffee growers in Uganda must suffer their poor working conditions and very low quality of life, this is probably because from every jar of coffee that is sold, only 8% of the price actually reaches the growers themselves. Christian Aid are trying to improve the situation by supporting the Fairtrade Foundation. This is working to get a better deal for third world producers. The banana farmers in the Windward Islands have much the same problem as the coffee growers. They too get very little money for the hard work they do. Christian Aid are working towards fairer trade for many more people like the Ugandan coffee growers and the banana farmers. They are helping Sri Lankan people with organic farming and in India they have been supporting a village textile training project since 1986. These are just a few small examples of the valuable work that Christian Aid does.
The charity helps people in more than 70 countries around the world and has over 500 major partner organisations. Christain Aid is bringing hope to many people at home and overseas. Hope for a brighter future and a better quality of life. They know that helping people to help themselves is the only way to conquer poverty completely. We believe in life before death. Do you.
Felicity Harrison - England. May 1995
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