Sir, – Dan O’Brien, in his review of Ronan Murphy’s Inside Irish Aid: The Impulse to Help (Weekend Review, September 1st) is right; aid is making a real difference to people’s lives in sub-Saharan Africa.
Thousands of Irish volunteers have travelled overseas to participate in development programmes in recent years. As witnesses and ambassadors they, as well as the organisations they support, have a major role to play in spreading this good news.
A practical example of this is Habitat for Humanity’s orphaned and vulnerable children project in Zambia, which is supported by Irish Aid.
This project engages communities to build durable, healthy, sustainable houses, supports and encourages caregivers to write wills, and carries out training on HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment. Irish volunteers fund and work on 25 per cent of this project.
In the process, they also fulfil their responsibility to raise awareness of the project’s impact by actively engaging their own local communities in their experience.
For each of the families that have benefited from this project, decent housing is the first step in reducing their vulnerability and providing a solid foundation on which other critical services, including healthcare, nutrition and education, can be built. Thanks to the thoughtful, practical investment from the Irish people, these families can stop living day-to-day and begin to plan for the future.
I commend Irish Aid, and the Irish people, for this life-changing support and genuine engagement. Long may it continue. – Yours, etc,