But what is the relevance of Christian Aid to me?
Christian Aid exists to combat the poverty and injustice suffered by so many in our world today. It seeks to put into practice Christian teaching about human dignity, the equal worth of all people and love for our neighbours — especially those in the developing world. Christian Aid believes that the most effective way to bring about lasting improvement for the powerless is to put, or in some cases put back, into their hands the means to help themselves.
Christian Aid does three things. Firstly there is development. Christian Aid supports projects which help the people of developing countries to better their living conditions and improve their health. It passes the money to ‘partners’ who administer these projects and ensure it is spent on those who most need it. Secondly there is relief. When disaster strikes Christian Aid sends money in order to provide food, medicine, transport and shelter. Thirdly there is education. A vital task in this country is to educate people into the causes of poverty, what it has to do with us and how we can best help and, if possible, remove the causes.
OK that’s fine, you may be thinking. But where does that leave me? I’m a student at the University of York and I have very little money. What relevance does this have for me? Good question.
Well, we are here at university to learn two things. Firstly there is the academic task of studying for a degree and secondly there is life to be lived and ‘the big wide world’ to be experienced. In relation to the latter, we cannot but fail to hear on the radio or watch on the television the things that are going on in other parts of the world — people dying from starvation or because of war, for example. However, there are things that are not shown on the television. Things that go on every day. Things which do not count, in the media’s eyes, as a disaster.
The media informs us of the atrocities in the war in Bosnia or of the extent of the famine and starvation in Somalia. However, they do not tell us about the people who are exploited in the Dominican Republic or Jamaica, so that we can have coffee, tea and sugar. Or about the people who have their basic human rights withheld in Brazil. Or about the peasants in Bangladesh who have to rebuild their lives every year after the floods. Or about the people of Africa who suffer famines every year. I could go on — the list is endless. But this is where we come in. Christian Aid is committed to helping these people to help themselves, and to educating us about these vital issues, so that we can, in our own small way, help them. If Christian Aid can keep us informed about where we can buy fairly traded coffee and tea, and educate us about the human rights that everyone are entitled to — but so many don’t have — then we can pass this information on.
This year Christian Aid Week in the University of York is focusing on awareness — making you aware of what Christian Aid does, the situations it deals with, and what we can do to help. We may not have very much money to spare, but if each student and member of staff at the University gave just ten pence, just think how much that would be. The events of the week are not concentrating on raising money — we will not be delivering and collecting envelopes this year (though there might be the odd collecting tin around!). However, we will be educating — educating our generation — the next people to go out into the high powered society of today. We need to learn what is going on and what we can do about it, so that we can then educate others.
Christian Aid is very important. It is helping to save lives and to give people lives that are worth living. And we can be a part of this. We can learn about the causes and maybe even do something about them. So come along to some of the events planned during the week — they’re all free — and see what you can learn, and what you can do.
Helen Secker is Campus Christian Aid Rep.