Not the Pipes of Peace...
Categories: uncategorized
Date: 07 December 2012 09:28:37
...but "Posts of Peace"
Paul MacCartney's "Pipes of Peace" is a moving little video, reminding us of the Christmas truce in 1914, when German and British troops met in No Man's Land and shared their humanity for a few moments in time - playing football, sharing drinks and food, talking to each other in broken phrases of unfamiliar language. An opportunity to mend broken links between communities. Unfortunately, it was all-too-short, and within hours it had been forgotten as the guns roared once more and the killing began again.
As we know, in our world today, there are many broken and divided communities, there are people from different backgrounds at war over land, over strongly held beliefs, over misconceptions.
But like the Christmas truce, there are also people who are trying to heal the wounds of broken communities, who are attempting to find ways to solve the problems through practical action, through talking and not through fighting. My niece works for such a group, a small charity called Practical Action, working in Africa, South America and other places.
One of the projects is an initiative called "Posts for Peace" - this project is solving the problems between settled farming communities and nomadic groups who are using the same land for their different needs. The animals from the nomads are eating the crops planted by the farmers, as there is no clear demarcation between the land used. The project involves setting up painted posts which show where the nomads can graze their animals without damaging the crops, and where the farmers can plant without encroaching on long-held grazing land.
This is Yassir, one of the nomadic community. Here is a quotation from the site:
Two years without rain had dried up many of the pastures where Yassir's herd could graze. If his herd didn't survive, he couldn't feed his family. He was forced to travel long distances with his animals, desperately looking for pastures and water.
"The posts show us where we can take the animals and where we can't. So the crops grown by the farmers are safe and can be harvested. It was such a wonderful sight to see"
Yassir now has hope that his family, his people, and his nomadic way of life will survive:
"The posts make me feel happy and optimistic for the future, for the first time in my life. We have learnt to share the land and live in harmony. And for the first time ever we are hopeful for lasting peace"
You can read more about Posts for Peace here and yoRou can even sponsor some posts too, should you wish to. The charity is only small, and, as in business, loses out to the bigger, more well known charities. But like Oxfam, Save the Children, Action Aid et al, Practical Actionalso sells "charity gifts" - ducklings, trees etc. If you haven't yet bought all your Christmas gifts, please consider buying from Practical Action
I'm going to buying a Fluffy Duck for my friends up the hill
and some terrific tools for my MiL who said "don't buy me a present this year"
Rose was going to write this post, but has been very busy at work in the Sudan. I hope that after Christmas she'll be able to have more time to write a guest post to tell you more of what she does, but for now, I hope you might consider supporting the work that she does with this small but worthwhile charity.
Practical Action: Technology challenging Poverty.
Just to add: please read the comments - Rose has added one, explaining a little more about what she does with the charity.