Vita and the Western Province: recent meetings

The meeting in Teaghlach Mhuire, Galway was one of several in the Western Province. Its purpose was to inform membership of developments in our chosen location of Chencha, Ethiopia. We were blessed to have as our guest speakers, John Weakliam and Fiona Cusack, from Vita.

We began with a little time of quiet prayer, which was introduced by Patricia Fahy (Vita Group). She reminded us that, “where two or three are gathered,” the Lord is present. Ann O’Shaughnessy did the honours with regard to appropriate music and we all had the opportunity to recollect ourselves. The centre piece, containing some fresh daffodils, set the scene for tranquillity.

The Centre Piece

Áine McGarty (Vita group) gave an introduction to John’s input. She began by referring to the recent controversy with regard to large salaries being given to the CEO’s of some charities. She assured us that this was not the case with regard to Vita, and that salaries can be viewed on their website. Áine went on to track our relationship with Vita, how we started with a five-year contract and renewed this for a further two years. We are presently “a good way” into this commitment. She also brought to mind the major areas of focus during this time: better stoves, the provision of latrines and the increased yield of vegetables. One image we cannot forget is that of the woman carrying a load of firewood on her back. Now, with better stoves, there is less need to cut down trees and the whole environment is the better for this.

Fiona Cusack from Vita is seen above with Áine McGarty

See how these Sisters love one another!

John, in his talk, spoke of the worth of this partnership between Vita and the Western Province. We saw a short video of an Ethiopian woman, Tozene, one of the beneficiaries of the programme. Fiona read the script, so we all became aware of her situation as a thirty-five year old woman with three children. Because she is now using the improved potato, she can feed her household for eight months and still save seed for planting. This has led to many improvements in the family’s standard of living, including the buying of a television!

Twelve years ago, very few people could afford a radio and not many had shoes. The concept of a sustainable livelihood is a new idea. This is because one of the side-effects of aid is dependency. 35 percent of families are headed by women and, as she sustains the family, the woman is key to long-term development.

Participants above read through some documentation

John and Fiona set up for the meeting

Progress so far:

• 1,200 families have their own sanitation
• Over 600 women have built their own stoves
• 275 farmers now have improved potato horticulture
• For every one person getting seed, three or four families will benefit through sharing
• There is on-going discussion with micro-finance institutions
• Four potato co-operatives have been established
• Capacity building has provided two co-operatives and many women’s groups

Intent interest in the meeting

John also spoke of the potato as a staple food, with the highest production of any in the world. Vita is in touch with the World Potato Centre in Peru and with Teagasc.  He believes it will be Africa’s next super-food, since it is climate-smart and more resistant than other crops. We heard about the drudgery in people’s lives because of the need to haul water and wood, as well as needing to till the land by hand. Because farms are often as small as two acres, co-operatives are most important. The improved potato gives an improved yield of three to four times. One objective is to have 60,000 farmers with new seed over the next three years.

Three interested parties

John went through our shared values, since our 2013 Chapter. Those values of Inclusiveness, Collaboration, Sustainability and Enablement are clearly shared by both parties. However, he sees the value of Interconnectedness as being the hardest one to live. He said that it is evident that how we buy our goods or use energy in the Western Province has many implications for life in Ethiopia. This was taken up by Phyllis Kilcoyne, one of the participants. She wondered how the Ethiopian people feel about us and our support. From their experience of the partnership, what questions would they like to ask us?

In all, this event informed us, challenged us and left us with questions. We hope that the visit to Ethiopia, in June, of Loreto Hogge and Mary Doherty will give us an even fuller picture of life there.

The following video is a short view of the event. It may be viewed by clicking on the arrow, with your speakers turned on.

https://youtu.be/sKHrpf5Fq1c

Suzanne Ryder rsm
Western Province