Humanitarian
Aid for AFRICA
A
Retrospective View on a Private NGO Project in Mali
Since our start in
Germany we have travelled nine weeks overland through Western
Europe, Moroc and Mauretania to TIMBUKTU (Tombouctou), the legendary
town at the river Niger in northeast Mali.
For this trip we
used two 4x4-trucks, formerly German firefighter-vehicles, which
we modified for their future use in our private humanitarian
aid project in Mali. My truck was built under the assistance
of my son Constantin to be a four-wheel-school bus in Timbuktu
area. The second truck of my son Christian was carrying most
of the medical equipment and medicins which was devoted to remote
hospitals in North Mauretanian desert areas, Timbuktu (Mali)
and three hospitals in Ghana.
4x4-trucks are a
MUST in the area of the so-called inland delta of the river
Niger in Mali south of Timbuktu. From north and south theire
are some dead-end roads built by humanitarian aid organizations
into the centre of the delta of the river Niger. As a result
you can find a traffic sign: "To Mopti 130 kms". There
is a ferry boat crossing a tributary of the river Niger and
then you can find for 10 to 15 miles a paved road or beaten
track. But this connection to Mopti ends in a small village
of nowhere or in a road construction camp filled with trucks
out of order by technical defects, missing spare parts and infrastructure
and the non-availability of repair shops. Especially brand new
high tech equipment has a very short lifetime in this region.
Most of the local people are not able to help even in solving
simple problems because it seems to me that most of them never
travelled to the next village in the neighbourhood all their
life.
Some villages are
totally different to all others. The reason is not very clear:
But they have radio-communication systems for cellular phones,
they have got in the past some truck loads of house painting
colours and they are possessing some development elements like
school-buildings, hospitals, pharmacies and police stations...but
sometimes out of order...or so-called ruins of former humanitarian
aid projects. Other villages seem to me to stay in the Middle
Ages.
A German owner of
a hotel in Mali described the situation that Mali is - following
UN statistics - one of the most underdeveloped countries in
our world because of its very low GNP. But on the other hand
Mali has the largest number of millionaires in relation to its
number of inhabitants. And this may be caused by supports of
numerous international, mostly governmental organizations pumping
money into Mali, but reaching less the common people. A significant
sign for me was the fact that in Timbuktu nearly each second
moving vehicle showed a batch of a humanitarian aid organization
on its doors from German "Welthungerhilfe" to "USAID".
And the vehicles are mostly brand new Toyota Landcruisers.
If you find a collection
of these Landcruisers in front of a good hotel - mainly in Segou,
Mopti, Timbuktu or other points of touristic interest - you
can be sure that a convention which costs multimillion of CFAs
is held by one of the humanitarian aid organizations.
These sentences are
a very critical comment on the efficiency of governmental supports
to the third world countries not to the goals of this support.
At the moment of
writing this report I am sitting in my room in a small hotel
in a suburb of Bamako, the capital of Mali. The electricity
is cut off because the hotel owned generator has a break down.
I am writing in the light of my torch. The very small ventilator
which moves the very hot and awfully sultry air in the room
a littlebit is powered by a 12 volts car battery.
On one side the common
workers are owning approx. US$ 1.50 per day (!!) for their hard
work, the local transport is done by old Japanese Toyota minivans,
officially registered for up to 24 persons (in Germany it would
be allowed to transport a maximum of seven persons in the bus
version of this minivan). These "minibusses" have
to fight in the battle on the roads of Bamako, which is converting
mainly by investments from Saudi-Arabia and Libya from a small
village to a real capital with the necessary sky-line, against
RAVs and 4x4 vehicles of BMW, GMC,Toyota.
Even a blind person
has to recognize shadows in the development of the society in
the beginning of the capitalisme. But also in the ten years
of the socialist development of Mali the situation was similar.
It is possible that more or less the system-undependent human
problem of the egoisme is the main reason for this misdevelopment.
As a result you can
see a strong movement of poor people from the country side,
especially from Dogon country, into the larger cities following
the "rich" magnets of a so-called better life.
Foreign members of
humanitarian aid organizations try to build dams against the
moving flood of poor people into the cities. Members especially
of the American Peace Corps, which I have met many years ago
in Afghanistan in the area of Bamyan for the first time, are
working hard under local conditions sometimes for years to correct
the results of missleaded goals of education based on an antique
French school system into a help to selfsupport. Nevertheless
the visible results are nearly microscopic because of the small
numbers of APC-members compared to the huge number of problems
which must be solved.
Because these words
are very general I will give a simple example: Not only in Mauretania
but also in Mali a tyre-service was unable to change a tyre
of one of our trucks-wheels (with tyre locking rings) without
our advise. How should the local people be able to master the
simpliest demands of a technical orientated daily life?
Therefore it is understandable
that the visitor of Bamako may collect the same impressions
like me: The fresh water of my hotel is delivered by small cans
in a small hand-cart from a well at the bank of the river Niger.
This water is used not only for showers. You can become a littlebit
anxious if you see that this water is also used as drinking
water. And the story will not sound better if you know that
every week a bottle of desinfection solution with 8% chlorine
is added to the well.
I hope that in the
future most of the humanitarian help projects will be started
by the main idea how to show the local people a way to survive
first of all. This way must strongly differ from the main wish
of the people in West Africa, who welcomes mostly foreigners
with "Donnez moi un cadeau" (Give me a gift!). Anti-AIDS-signs
(in French "SIDA") are not able to lower the deathly
HIV infection rate. Knowledge and Know-How on a large scale
is necessary, not the idealistic and humanistic goals of educations
of former colonial countries. Not the ability to recitate poems
but to fight efficiently against Malaria, Aids and for good
drinking water are the goals for the next step into the future
of these countries.
But at the moment
in many regions they are missing this support from abroad.
Therefore doors are
opened for radical movements in a short term view in these countries.
Not only the German ministry of foreign affairs but also intellectuals
of Timbuktu are warning visitors heavily not to travel in the
areas north of Timbuktu. But on the other side the same people
are telling you that they themselves have no problem to travel.
Is there a development for foreigners in Northern Mauretania
and Northern Mali which is comparable to Afghanistan, Somalia
and other difficult zones in our world? An increasing engagement
of (official) foreigners in these areas seems to support my
own feelings.
But nevertheless:
my critical reflections on one side and the own experiences
are giving the following conclusion: everybody can help to change
our world and to move it a littlebit to a better future.
Maybe that only one
young reader of this page will follow the ideas of the American
Peace Corps members and decides to collect a part of his experience
of life by helping others to make their life better.
For me it is sure
that I will come back to Mali next year. And the destination
will not be a city with the well known name of Timbuktu but
a unknown small village in the delta of the river Niger. The
head of this village called me not a "friend" but
"his elder brother" after some days. I am sure that
I can do my best here and I will come back with man powered
water purification devices...but not only with this equipment.
For this private
NGO-project I am looking for sponsors. For a support of some
hundred of US-Dollars we would be able to donate a water purification
system good for some families to get drinking water of good
quality.
If YOU want to support
this project please don't hesitate to contact me.
Dr. Rolf A. Schettler,
Germany
Fax (+49)-5584-999765
Email: RolfSchettler@gmx.de
PURIFIED
DRINKING WATER FOR CHILDREN IN A SMALL VILLAGE IN MALI
A second step of
a humanitarian aid project (winter 2008/2009)
Based on the general
political situation in Northern Africa there was no other choice
to take the same route as last time, to cross France, Spain
and Morocco to travel to West Africa.
For this tour of
approximately four months we had prepared in a 3-years-job a
Mercedes Benz 911 ("short-nose-type), 4x4 powered.
This old-fashioned
truck, but for this job one of the best ones in the world, included
a long type driver's cabin, also good for sleeping. As a so-called
"camper-box" or better transport-box we used a small
version of an Aluminum shelter formerly used as a radio-communication
shelter by the army. Therefore it was enough space on the right
side of this shelter to fix an additional large size diesel
tank, a spare tyre and 12 boxes for the transport of hand-powered
water purification systems.
The reflections by
the recipients of the humanitarian aid goods and the positive
response of the donors and all the people, who supported us,
strengthened our desire and intention to continue our work and
to start new preparations for further actions.
THANX
Many thanx to all
who supported us:
W. Westphal for preparing
and maintaining our trucks in the past for this special goal.
Two persons should
stand for all others: Mr. Ritter and his wife collected át
their wedding celebration money for water purification systems.
But many other people which don't want to be named in Germany,
France, Holland and Morocco gave us their support and therefore
the feeling that we are not alone in our work to make at one
spot the world and the life of a little group of poor people
a littlebit better.
A special pleasure
is to communicate with Barry from the U.S., who after a trip
to Timbuktu to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his birthday
decided to built and to run an elementary school in a small
village nearby. We are in discussions and are open to cooperate
in this project in the future.
R + M + C
www.schettler.org
Rolf@schettler.org
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