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Ausaid has magnified funds from a pilot water project in Africa provided by Annalisa's Tamworth concert last year into $250,000 for more water projects of the same style. Other benefits have included support for schools, HIV/AIDS education for women and children, and business and seed capital progammes that develop micro businesses for people who would otherwise never have the chance to remove themselves from the cycle of charity and poverty. see AFAP for more details.
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Annalisa supports the work of the Australian Foundation for the Peoples of Asia and the Pacific (http://www.afap.org), a group dedicated to helping co-operative partnerships in third world countries with projects that are too often small to be funded by much larger charities, frequently heavily financially burdened with administrative and public relations costs.
The work reaches from Africa to South East Asia and the Pacific, and is based on a community funded partnership model that has proved successful in many ways, bringing independence and hope to people who had previously been trapped in a cycle of poverty.
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This is made possible by a small team of extraordinary women from Tamworth, Diane Drew, Ruth Blakely, Philipa Powell, Robin Collins, Liz Graham, and many other supporters including Anthony Polshinger from Nuts n Treats, Bill Gleeson OAM (composer, pianist), Martin Hansford (Wombat Tracks Audio), and countless others. Examples of some of the projects that funds have supported are:
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In Viet Nam Annalisa's concert funds helped AFAP's dengue prevention project areas where victims of Typhoon Durian in the Mekong Delta were left homeless and helping to address HIV risk among youth in Ha Noi. She believes passionately in empowering women in third world countries to build their independence, their education and confidence in small business, allowing them to educate their families and build communities.
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AFAP have set up a village to village Tsunami warning system in the Pacific Islands, which involves methods of monitoring warnings and then putting emergency action into place when there is no infrastructure (telephones, radio, electricity) to put in a modern emergency warning system.
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AFAP African Division were also responsible for the most effective and cheapest model of bore water pump, congratulated by the Australian Ambassador for their ingenuity and bare roots ability to connect and work co-operatively with the people most in need.
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AFAP Kenya Ndithini Orphanage and vulnerable children’s Program, working with “the little daughters of St Joseph in Kenya
Ndithini is semi-arid with meagre crop yields. Using traditional farming techniques many people experience hunger and many children suffer from malnutrition. Others have been orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The Orphanage supports 260 children and has nine children who have tested HIV positive and who are under a special diet and who are being treated with anti retro-viral drugs. The recent acquisition of a small farm has provided the Orphanage with one potential solution to meeting its food supply needs. However, the Orphanage staff lacks the necessary agricultural expertise to make the most of this asset. A small agricultural capacity building project at Ndithini has the potential to bring both rapid and long-term benefits to the Orphanage and to the community within which it functions.
An open letter from Chris Murphy, Head of African Development outlines the use of funds raised at Annalisa's concerts:
A children’s feeding program to be set up so that vulnerable children can access one decent meal a day.
The project is working with the Kenyan Agg. Research Institute (KARI) as a training facility to enable access improved and a wider variety of seeds and root stock. Local women have learned techniques like “seed bulking” and composting etc to help them produce more and higher quality food for household consumption.
A Zero grazing goat and Dairy farming initiative – Toggenburg goats have been purchased to enable a small livestock scheme to be developed. This year the first offspring of the goats have been born and they will be distributed to vulnerable households. Napier grass has been planted on terraces to be used as feed for this enterprise.
In Kenya, in 2006 the Muthare Program provided seed capital for a group of women to purchase 2 sewing machines, an overlocker, a knitting machine, 150 bundles of wool and fabric. The group went on to sell school uniforms amongst other things.
In Zimbabwe, where the food security situation was particularly dire this Christmas. Maize meal amounting to 1200 kg was procured and distributed to 1000 vulnerable households each household who each received 12,5 kg.
In Zambia, this year some funds went towards a container of medical equipment and sewing machines etc which was sent to support Chikuni hospital and the home based care program. Equipment delivered was valued at $65,000 and enabled HBC to set up a better equipped outreach service as well as setting up an operating theatre at the Chikuni Mission hospital (there was not one before). There were also several sewing machines purchased which one of the income generating groups for women are making good use of now in this shipment.
In Zambia in 2007-2008 some of the funds you have raised went to supporting the safe water program, $10,000 enabled a small pilot project to be established to see how they would go in delivering what was a new activity on the ground. This pilot has gone well and AFAP has now secured an additional Au$250,000 to scale up the provision of safe water. Which is just getting going now. We hope to have 10 boreholes in before the rainy season starts.
Over several years, funds have also gone to setting up Income Generation projects such as the small livestock one I mentioned in my email of a few days ago and things like kitchen garden establishment etc which help individuals. But there is also a successful larger bakery that came from your funds and a tye-dye business that has benefited. We are now looking at a proposal to make candles and soap that 2 new groups are putting forward.
In Zambia funds you have raised also contributed to the purchase of a vehicle. I rode around in this myself when I was just there. It has given an enormous boost to the Home Based Care Program’s capacity to work. The driver has even undertaken before and after HIV testing councelling training so he can work as a councellr when the team goes out into the field and sets up Volunteer testing facilities.
In Zambia a community awareness campaign around domestic violence towards women and sexual abuse of children has been supported with funds you have raised. I have attached something that details this program with a bit more detail, I know you don’t want too much detail but this will give you and idea. Obviously we have also put some funding ourselves towards this, but you have paid for a number of workshops in the last few years.
Chris Murphy
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