Dermot’s got the Xmas Factor

Dermot O’Leary is flying the flag for gifts with a twist this Christmas by backing the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development’s (CAFOD) ethical presents, World Gifts.

The 2011 range features over 30 inspiring and unusual gifts that will raise a smile on Christmas day and make a lasting difference to someone living in poverty overseas.

As well as regular best selling gifts like goats, piglets, school starter kits and vegetable gardens, the 2011 CAFOD catalogue includes new gift ideas such as health kits, ducks, cows, and a disaster warning kit containing a radio, megaphone and flags.

Dermot gets the Xmas Factor

Dermot, a long term supporter of CAFOD, said: “Someone always gets a chicken or a goat for Christmas in the O’Leary household. It’s a bit of a laugh on Christmas Day – but it’s also a life changing gesture for someone on the other side of the world who really needs that support.

“There are so many World Gifts to choose from and it’s really easy to order on-line or over the phone. They are particularly good if you’re just not sure what to get someone. Whatever you buy, whether they like it or not, you know that your gift will help people to break free from poverty. You can’t say that for a pair of socks can you?”

While animals are among the most popular presents, the range reflects concern for a wide range of crucial global issues. The new health kits include a life-saving mosquito net, rehydration salts, nutritional food supplements, bandages and immunisations                        .

This year also sees a new addition to the ‘Finishing Touches’ line, small additional World Gifts that supporters can add to their Christmas cards or presents. The new pack includes a £10 pack of gift labels, each one representing a fruit tree sapling for a family in poverty.

To view the full range of gifts, starting from just £7, visit the World Gifts website www.cafod.org.uk/worldgifts  or call 0808 14 000 14 to order a catalogue.

 

CAFOD hits the high notes with a musical fundraiser in Durham

Irish soprano, Virginia Kerr, is to perform in Durham to raise funds for Catholic aid agency CAFOD. And more than 150 tickets have already been sold!

The world famous singer – a personal friend of St Godric’s parish priest Fr Colm Hayden – has offered her services free of charge to raise money for CAFOD’s Connect2 Brazil project, which supports homeless people in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and around 100 tickets have already been sold.

Ms Kerr will be performing at St Godric’s Church, Castle Chare, Durham City, on Saturday, November 11, accompanied by pianist Paul McKenna. The concert, called Music for an Autumn Evening, begins at 7.30pm and also features St Leonard’s School’s Chamber Choir.

Fr Colm was delighted to bring his friend to Durham. He said: “Virginia is a fine singer and we are proud and thrilled that she’s offered her time for such a good cause. We’re hoping for good support from all our Catholic parishes in Durham, but it would be great to get word out to other music-lovers in the Durham area. This really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Tickets for Music for an Autumn Evening cost £30, with concessions of £25 for OAP’s and students, including a glass of wine and a finger buffet from Finbarr’s Restaurant of Waddington Street, Flass Vale, Durham. They are available from St Joseph’s Parish Office, Mill Lane, Gilesgate, Durham, DH1 2JG, on 0191 384 3810 or email the secretary at secretary.stjandstg@btconnect.com.

Ms Kerr has kindly offered to sign any of her CDs people buy on the night and to donate £3 from each sale to CAFOD.

CAFOD’s Diocesan Manager, Anne-Marie Hanlon, said: “We’ve just moved our office from Ushaw College to Durham City and we’ve been made to feel very welcome by the people here. This evening will be another wonderful way to be more involved in the life of the city. I also know it will be much appreciated by the people in Brazil as we seek to deepen the connections between us. They have a great love for music – although of a different kind – but I know they’d appreciate the efforts of all involved.”

A brief auction and raffle will take place on the night. The auction features a fantastic top prize of dinner for eight cooked in your own home, courtesy of Barry O’Leary and Tom Jackson from Finbarr’s Restaurant. Cash or cheque will be accepted for bids on the night and sealed bids will be accepted via the parish secretary at St Joseph’s Parish Office.

Raffle prizes include vouchers for Toni & Guys, Fat Buddah Restaurant, Rayna Hairdressing and Beauty and The Garden House Inn, as well as a bread maker and a bottle of champagne.

Virginia Kerr is a prominent Irish soprano who has sung with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, The Hallé and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestras. Her operatic and concert performances have also taken her to Far East, Russia and North and South America.

At the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden she has sung the roles of Jennifer in The Midsummer Marriage, Frau in Erwartung, Ortlinde in Die Walküre, Guinivere in Gawain. She has also sung with Opera Theatre Company, Opera Ireland, Leipzig Opera, Scottish Opera, Opera North, Opera de Nantes and the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. She has also sung with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. Kerr is a keen advocate of contemporary music. Most recently, Kerr sang the role of Antonia Frieth in the European & Italian premiere of Michael Berkeley’s opera ‘For You.’ The libretto was written by the British author Ian McEwan.

Virginia Kerr is currently a member of the Vocal Faculty of the Royal Irish Academy of Music and is the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Opera Theatre Company.

New Lord Mayor of Newcastle chooses CAFOD

CAFOD is one of three organisations to be nominated as official charities for 2011-2012 by the new Lord Mayor of Newcastle upon Tyne, Councillor Geoff O’Brien.

And to launch their involvement with the Lord Mayor, CAFOD is holding a charity dinner at the Mansion House, Jesmond, on September 19, at 6.30pm, with the Lord Mayor and with special guest speaker, Desire Tchato – CAFOD Representative in Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. There will also be music from the cross-cultural band Crossings and a charity raffle. Tickets cost £35 or £325 for a table of ten and include a three-course dinner and a complementary drink. All proceeds go to CAFOD projects in the developing world.

For more information, to buy tickets or donate raffle prizes, please contact CAFOD Hexham & Newcastle on 0191 384 4847 or hexhamandnewcastle@cafod.org.uk .

CAFOD Diocesan Manager Anne-Marie Hanlon said: “We were quite stunned when we heard that the Lord Mayor wanted CAFOD to be one of his charities, but it is an honour and a pleasure to accept. It is a great chance for us to raise awareness about the work CAFOD does in more than 50 countries around the world, and an opportunity to raise much needed funds especially in this time of global recession when the poor are hardest hit.”

The charity dinner takes place the day after the Great North Run and Councillor O’Brien has entered both the Great North Run and completed the Blaydon Race on behalf of his charities. He has invited CAFOD volunteer John McBride to join his Lord Mayor’s team in the Great North Run this year. John has run the last mile of the last three Great North Runs barefoot to raise money for CAFOD and awareness of those in the Third World who can’t afford shoes of any kind.

As well as the fundraising dinner on September 19, CAFOD is planning a number of events during Councillor O’Brien’s tenure. These include a ceilidh at Gosforth Civic Hall on October 29, and ‘The Big Soup’, a hunger lunch at Newcastle Civic Centre on CAFOD Family Fast Day, March 2, 2012.

CAFOD will also be taking part in the Lord Mayor’s Charity Dinner on December 3 and his Christmas Carol Service at St Nicholas’ Cathedral on December 9, along with his other nominated charities – NSPCC and Islamic Relief.

According to Newcastle City Council, the Lord Mayor of the City of Newcastle upon Tyne is the first citizen of the City and speaks as such on behalf of the area and its community. Within the City boundaries only the monarch and in certain circumstances, the Lord Lieutenant of Tyne and Wear, take precedence over the Lord Mayor.

As First Citizen, the Lord Mayor offers an official welcome to visitors to the City hosting Civic Receptions and other functions. The Lord Mayor’s Piper and the Lord Mayor’s Harpist may be invited to play on certain occasions. It is also the Lord Mayor’s duty to reply to a Toast to the City.

The Lord Mayor may also be required to visit the city’s twinned towns and to receive official visitors from them. Newcastle’s twin towns are: Atlanta, USA; Bergen, Norway; Gelsenkirchen, Germany; Groningen, Holland; Haifa, Israel; Nancy, France; Newcastle, Australia; and the city also has a Friendship Agreement with Little Rock, USA.

Geoff O’Brien was born in Newcastle in 1952. He went to school in Washington and college in Durham and took a degree in engineering at Newcastle Polytechnic. He then spent almost 20 years working overseas in the oil and gas exploration industry. Geoff returned to Newcastle in the late 1980s and took an MBA at Durham University Business School. At this time he met and married Siobhan and they have four daughters, Colleen, Kate, Siobhan and Roisin.

Geoff was elected to the city council in 1992. In 2009 Geoff became a Director of Newcastle NE1 Limited, a not-for-profit company established following the successful Newcastle BIDs (Business Improvement Districts). Geoff is a Senior Lecturer at Northumbria University in the field of sustainable development and climate change. He completed his Doctorate in 2008 and has published two books and a range of articles in these areas.

For more information contact Ged Naughton or Anne-Marie Hanlon at the CAFOD Hexham & Newcastle office on hexhamandnewcastle@cafod.org.uk or 0191 384 4847

More information on the band Crossings at www.crossings.org.uk

 

Big Walkers put their best feet forward for CAFOD

Twelve intrepid walkers are setting out on a 135-mile trek to commemorate two CAFOD anniversaries. The group will walk from Durham to Holy Island over nine days in July to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of CAFOD’s foundation and the 25^th anniversary of the first CAFOD office in the North East. And the group includes two guests from Brazil and one from Kenya.

The Big Walk will take place from July 1 to 9, starting at the door of Durham Cathedral and finishing at the end of the Pilgrims’ Way on Holy Island. In between the walkers will pass through Langley Park, Lanchester, Consett, Minsteracres, Hexham and, from Heavenfield, they follow the path of St Oswald’s way through Rothbury, Felton, Amble, Alnmouth, Beadnel, and Belford to reach the start of the Pilgrims’ Way at noon on July 9.

The group will join parishioners from the four dioceses of Hexham & Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Leeds and Hallam at 12.30 on July 9 to walk across the Pilgrims way and for Mass with Bishop Seamus Cunningham at 4pm by the statue of St Aidan.

The CAFOD offices in Middlesbrough, Leeds and Hallam dioceses are also organising walks in their own areas and participants will then come to Holy Island to join in the celebration on July 9.

The two visitors from Brazil are Heluíza Soares da Silva and Josefa Vieira dos Santos (Zeza), both of whom work with homeless people in Sao Paulo. They will be visiting South Tyneside Churches Together’s homeless scheme The Key Project, as well as schools and parishes to talk about their work and help promote the CAFOD scheme Connect2 which links communities in this country with communities in six countries around the world, including Brazil. The first visit is to St Godric’s School, next door to CAFOD’s new office in Framwellgate Moor.

Also walking is Andrew Achiba, a Newcastle University student from Kenya. The Great Northern Trek – a popular campaign to get 500 miles of road tarmacked – began in Andrew’s home town of Marsabit in northern Kenya and was one of the inspirations behind CAFOD’s Big Walk.

CAFOD Diocesan manager, Anne-Marie Hanlon said: “We wanted something special for the two anniversaries and it had to be something people could join in. We’ve been delighted with the support so far, and we’re expecting a good turn out as we reach the start of Pilgrims’ Way on July 9.”

Anyone interested in sponsoring the Big Walkers can do so at: www.justgiving.com/cafodbigwalk/ or by downloading sponsor forms from the CAFOD website at www.cafod.org.uk/sponsored-events/getting-sponsored To join the walk for a day or a session along the way or at the final walk across the Pilgrims’ Way, email hexhamandnewcastle@cafod.org.uk or call 0191 384 48 47.

Thanks to SOS Ltd, of Team Valley, Gateshead for sponsoring our minibus!

New CAFOD Hexham & Newcastle Office

CAFOD Hexham & Newcastle has moved to a new office.

We are now based at:

St. Bede’s Presbytery, Carr House Drive, Framwellgate Moor, Durham. DH1 5LZ

And our new telephone number is: 0191 384 4847

Here is a map showing our new location:

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=427094&y=544961&z=0&sv=DH1+5LZ&st=2&pc=DH1+5LZ&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf

 

How to cook palm butter (In Grebo: Hainu)

Palm butter is a meal enjoyed by all Liberians, but particularly the Grebo people, from the coastal South East of the country. It is usually cooked on a Sunday, because it’s expensive as there are lots of ingredients. Invite your friends!

Palm Butter

 Ingredients: (All words like this - ’Hainu‘ - are in the Grebo language.)

Sifting the palmnut pulp by hand

• Palmnuts (wein) – LD$150 worth (About US$2.00)
• Hot peppers (peah) – one plateful
• Four to five crabs (ca)
• Several fish (narpleh), inlcuding
  • Dried pipe fish (neh)
    

    Pipefish

  • Boney fish (fain)
  • Dried black deer meat (mleh)
  • Bitter ball (jelen)
  • Bitter root (jea)
  • Palm butter leaf (hainu wiah)
  • Several chicken stock cubes (soo)
  • Salt (tah)
    

    Cutting bitter ball

  • Firecoal (coun)
  • Other ingredients can be added as appropriate to individual taste – such as chicken, kissmeat etc…

Instructions

1.  Put palmnuts in a pot and boil for at least 30 minutes.
2. Drain nuts in sieve and put in mortar.
   

   Boiling, sifting and beating the palmnuts

3. Beat the nuts in the mortar.
4. Take palm nut pulp from the mortar and wash the juice out of it into a cooking pot, separating the fibres to be pulped and drained again.
5. Replace the fibres in the mortar and beat/water them again to get the rest of the juice to thicken the palmnut liquid. The liquid must be thick but not too thick as it has to boil.
6. Add more water to the pulp and squeeze again.
7. Beat and squeeze the palm nuts for a final time.
8. Put all palmnut juice in a pot to heat on a charcoal stove.
9. Strip the bitter root with a knife. Add to the soup.
10. Cut all the bitter ball in half; throw away the rotten ones. Add good ones to the soup.
    

    Sieving and adding pulp to the soup

11. Add palm butter leaf to the soup.
12. De-stalk and wash the peppers.
    

    Hot peppers

13. Pound the peppers and add them to the soup.
14. Boil meat and crabs and stock cubes and a sprinkle of salt for at least five minutes in small water.
    

    Crabs

15. When crabs go red add it all to the soup.
16. Add stock cubes and salt to taste.
17. Boil the soup slowly, partially covered.
18. Keep an eye on it as it boils. When the foam has gone from the surface, it is ready. Ours was ready in 32 minutes.
19. Boil a pot of rice to go with the palm butter.

Huge thanks to members of the Pastry Class at the Don Bosco Homes Training Centre at Chocolate City for spending time teaching us the cooking skills and the language to go with it!

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Before I came to Liberia, I never thought I would…

1.      Be invited to a wedding there (or anywhere!).

2.     Witness the world’s longest (and slowest) bridal procession.

3.      Be on the beach on the first day

4.    Dance in the streets of Gbarnga

5.      Be forcibly ‘saved from drowning’ at Kpatawee waterfall

6.      Be gowned

7.      Be taken for crazy Scotsmen

8.      Eat a meal consisting only of pineapple – by torchlight

9.      Sleep in a bed that was wider than it was long

10.  Take part in a Peace Parade

11.  Lose count of the number of marriage proposals

12.  Have a 62-year-old man call me ‘Mammy’

13.  Learn about the toilet habits of four previous Presidents

14.  Peel banana, peel peel banana, chop banana etc

15.  Hear so many stories about ‘Spider’

16.  See a shop called ‘United we Stand – Used Shoe Store’

17.  Eat such tasty pineapple

18.  See ‘Discuss Me’ painted on the back of a taxi

19.  Go over so many bumps in four hours on the way to the Ivorian border (and back again)

20.  Be so happy to see a ceiling fan

21.  Eat so much Bangladeshi/Pakistani/Indian food

22.  Master the snap handshake

23.  Hear the dialogue: “How far is it?” “It far small.”

24.  Wash my ‘tan’ off at the end of each day

25.  Debate teenage pregnancy for half an hour live on the radio

26.  Have to answer the question ‘How was your night?’ every morning

27.  Greet the people with the sentence ‘How is it?’

28.  or respond with the sentence ‘It’s very fine’

29.  Talk so much about football

30.  Start adding ‘oh’ to the end of words-oh

31.  Eat sugar cane

32.  and then chunder it back up

33.  See a tarpaulin fall on an Archbishop

34.  See a shop called ‘Amos the Famous Tailoring Shop’

35.  Be renamed Marian Hawkins

36.  Be renamed Jeff or Gary

37.  Be renamed RB (pronounced Arrabee)

38.  Have my name pronounced correctly every time!

39.  Have ‘Chinee Man’ shouted at me

40.  Have ‘Chinee Man Girl’ shouted at me

41.  Have section within a section

42.  Meet such a friendly bunch of American Peace Corps people learning to make peace gardens

43.  Hear a story about a dog with a face like a shovel

44.  Be mistaken for Becca’s mum

45.  Visit a (possibly illicit) cane juice factory

46.  Visit the grave of an ex-President

47.  See a church that was dedicated in 1842

48.  Have to learn the names of all the villages between Flumpa and Gblala (Blala, Glala, etc…)

49.  Visit so many Master Artisans

50.  Learn what a ‘Master Artisan’ actually is (mechanic, tailor, cook, cosmetologist)

51.  Ditto ‘cosmetologist’

52.  Meet the Treasurer of the Liberian Olympic Committee

53.  Survive here for a month without eating any meat

54.  Travel in a car with 17 other people

55.  Visit a massacre site

56.  Scramble down a waterfall

57.  Spend so much time under a tree in the Lutheran Compound

58.  Meet so many people who remember your name

59.  Scare so many small children

60.  Be a wig model

61.  Hear the phrase “You can laugh till your sides lack”

62.  Hear the phrase: “Steal like cats” (re: a wayward child and his friends)

63.  Pay 300 Liberian dollars to get into the County Meet football final only for the President to declare it a ‘free gate’ an hour later

64.  See stadium security handled by a bunch of kids in karate suits with sticks.

65.  Eat so many eggs

66.  Suffer the resulting stomach problems

67.  See toilet roll processed down the aisle during the Offertory at Mass. Along with a bottle of bleach

68.  Witness Climate Change brought to life in a torrential midnight downpour

69.  And join the fight against it with our air conditioners

70.  Be so humbled by the wonderful, dignified CAFOD partners we met.

      

When two elephants fight, it’s the grass that gets trampled

It’s easy to generalise about politics in Africa from a European perspective. So we’re not going to do that here. Instead, we’d like to take the hard way and present some impressions of the situation in Liberia and its neighbour Ivory Coast as we’ve witnessed them this month.

The last day of our stay with CJPS in Ganta was taken up with a trip to the Upper Nimba region, a short walk from the Ivorian border, to meet refugees and observe the beginning of the work that CJPS are hoping to do with them. 

We passed through towns with names that seemed to have been made up by someone playing Scrabble who has been dealt only G, B, L and A. Gblala followed Blala and probably Glala, and the CJPS staff singled out Tom to memorise them all.

We arrived a bit nervous. The sudden presence of white people tends to make expectations rise, and CJPS had been keen throughout our stay that we would interact with anyone we met. We feared this would make us look like rich Western benefactors, so we discussed with CJPS how we could be presented as being there to witness their work, and grateful for the added chance to talk to the refugees as well as we’d seen something of their plight on TV back home.

 The Ivorians were gathered under a tree with a handwritten sign pinned to it in French saying Refugee Registration Centre.

We tried some of our school Franglais, but the conversation quickly switched to Gio, the local language that spans both sides of the border. Through CJPS translation, we got their story.

The dispute centres on two presidential candidates – the previous president and his challenger.  According to the West African states and the rest of the international community the challenger has won. But the sitting president refused to give up power. Factions are fighting for control and our friends have been threatened unfairly for supposed opposition to the outgoing President. 

They’ve been through similar problems before recently and knew immediately they had to flee, as the refugees’ ‘chief’ told us: “When you have been hit by a bull once, you’ll always run, even if it’s just a termite hill you see.” OK, you’ve got to appreciate the looming bulk of a termite mound in the dusk in the West African bush to get that one, but another great aphorism summed up their plight: “When two elephants fight, it’s the grass that gets trampled.”

CJPS are expecting to work as mediators of conflicts between the refugees themselves, between them and their new hosts and between the frazzled Liberian authorities and the wave of incomers.

If you want to find out more information about CAFOD’s appeal for Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire, see:

www.cafod.org.uk/news/emergencies-updates/cote-d-ivoire-liberia-appeal-2011-03-10

Meanwhile, Liberia is this month encouraging voters to register for their October 2011 Presidential Elections.

As well as getting the right to vote – which some may be too disillusioned to exercise – those registering also get an ID Card, which allows them to travel and work throughout West Africa and obtain various rights for which bureaucracy demands proof of identity.

We’ve seen huge enthusiasm for registration and but we’re aware there were might be flaws in the process: so much of the authority is down to the individual registrar as to decide whether the person is genuine or not. Potential registering voters will be judged on accent, name and general deportment, and even a fair-minded registrar could misread some of those signs. (Even though Ged’s been told he’s a Liberian, most people we’ve talked to reckon he wouldn’t be able to register!) Worse still, a registrar with a grudge could make it difficult for any individual or group he decided not to favour. And we’ve heard of people trying to sell their Voters Registration card or register more than once

We wait to see what happens, with hope…

Reunited!

 

Savio Village is a rehabilitation and transit centre of Don Bosco Homes and temporary residence of up to 30 boys aged 5 to 18. Our second visit to Savio began with a walking tour of the local community and adjoining farmland, eagerly led by the 16 boys we’d met the day before. For three of them this was still their first 24 hours at the village after having been collected by us from the police station where they had been accused of theft. We could already see a change in them after one night at the contrasting safe and caring environment of Savio Village, where they await rehabilitation in the near future. The story of these three 14-year-olds is typical of the cases that Savio constantly deals with, as well as that of street children who are picked up by Robert, Louise and the Don Bosco team.

The vibrant, happy and welcoming atmosphere of the village is contagious – the boys talked and played with us as if we’d known them for weeks and you can’t help but feel immediately attached to them. Probably one of the warmest welcomes we received was from one little boy who was picked up a few months ago after he’d got lost.

Nobody knows his name or where he comes from, as he has no verbal communication and would probably be described in the UK as having severe special needs. On our first arrival at Savio he ran into the room where we were sitting, jumped up on the table and ran around squeeling and giggling with excitement. The next day when he was a bit more used to our

unfamiliar prescence, he joined us and the other boys on our walk, running between Becca and Maria, hugging their knees and letting out more explosive squeels of excitement. The older boys are all very protective of him and look after him like a little brother. One of the lads even carried him for most of the walk, even though at times he was clearly struggling.

Among the smallest of the boys are two little lads who we’re told are about 5 or 6 years old, but the team aren’t sure of their ages as their dates of birth are unknown.

They were picked up over a year ago at an “orphanage” full of children being illegally trafficked and advertised as orphans to Western couples desperate to adopt. Don Bosco picked up about 30 children from the same orphanage, all of whom had living parents but had been used as part of an illegal money making scheme. Most of these boys have now been reunited with their families but our two little friends are still living at Savio Village. They were thrilled to see Ged, who they remember from last year but as we laughed and played with them we were left wondering whether it’s foolish to hope that they still have a chance of reunification with their families.

Robert is confident all the boys will one day be reunited with their families. Last year, there was another boy at Savio also with severe special needs, by the name of Warren. One day, they brought in a street kid from the market who recognised Warren straight away. He kept telling the staff he knew him from Buchanan, a city two hours drive southeast of Monrovia. Nobody believed him, but he persisted with details of Warren’s Ma and Pa. In the end, the DBH staff were persuaded to take him to Buchanan. Within ten minutes, they’d found his parents. The whole community came out in celebration and carried Warren shoulder high round the community, like the winning scorer in the Cup Final.

Peace – a process not an event!

Ganta is an hour from Gbarnga – roads are measured by time not distance. You head north from Bong County to Nimba County, passing the taboo catfish (see last year) and you find Ganta on the Guinea border. As well as Guinea, the crossroads points you further north to the mines and the mountains (cold, apparently…); to the East of Liberia and the rest of Nimba and Grand Gedeh County and the south east coast; and to the border with Ivory Coast, where we’ll be heading shortly to visit refugees on the run from the aftermath of indecisive elections.

 Ganta is lively like you’d expect from a town on a crossroads. Every night the people are out and about until 2 or 3am (so we’ve been told) and the town throngs with more than 2,000 motorcycle taxi drivers – an estimated 10% of the population of the town. CJPS works with the Nimba County Motorcycle Transport Union, which has its headquarters in Ganta, to train the young drivers in road safety – many have been injured or killed after starting their taxi trade with only a day or two practising in a field before they are let loose on the road.

As in Gbarnga, CJPS in Ganta find established tradesmen and women – master artisans – prepared to train young people. We visited several mechanics, tailors and beauty therapists and spoke to them and their pupils. All seemed pretty happy with the arrangements: the young people spend 18 months or two years learning the trade they fancy and the master artisans get added labour, advertising and good standing in the community for their part. Incredibly, they don’t get paid for this service, but see it as their civic duty.

 

As part of the process of rebuilding the post-war Liberian society, CJPS works in local schools offering a tailor-made therapeutic session, which gets into the issues in the heads and home-lives of the pupils that they might not feel confident to broach on their own. The whole session includes ice-breakers, ground rules, an impromptu drama and a feedback session, all done and dusted in 20 minutes. From the first “Hello!” (response “Hi!”), “Hi! (response “Hello!”) to the ending dance, we were amazed at the level of energy of the CJPS facilitators and the participation of the children. So amazed that we threw our own ‘Banana Song’ in at the end as well!

CJPS Executive Director Joseph Howard told us that the organisation sees peace as a process not an event, meaning – we think – that you achieve peace by doing it. We took part in a peace parade along the main street in Ganta and back with more than 150 of the young people representing the schools, training courses and voluntary groups CJPS works with. Slogans on the handwritten placards carried by participants read:

§    “Learn to settle your dispute at community level, instead of the court or police station.”

§    “Motorcyclists and drivers, respect your passengers, they are not your enemies, but your friends or partners!”

§    “The best place for a child is the home!”

§    “Young people, respect the rule of law!”

Bearing in mind Mr Howard’s pronouncement, we came up with this slogan:

“What do we want?”

“Peace in Liberia!”

“When do we want it?

“At the end of a thorough, participative and empowering process involving all sectors of the community.”