Hand In Hand With Africa

Nkadayo e Maria

Schools For Needy Children
To promote and support community-based education

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About Us

Raul Antonio Fagundes Valls

Dear Friends,

I have always understood that, together with our genetical heritage and influences from our environment, we are also strongly and deeply molded by the example and role model of those who, since a tender age, showed us the road we should follow. It has taken me some time to find my road and today, caught up in and enthusiastically involved in projects of help to the most needy, I am certain that the humanitarian spirit of my parents played a fundamental part in my maturing, both as a physician and citizen.

Thirteen years ago in a book about travels, I wrote, “How good it would be if I could have a friend in every corner of the earth.” It was the first stirrings of a universal spirit and sensitivity to the world around. It has been forty two years since I started my travels and always, it has been the human being in his or her most simple and every day existence which has interested me most.

Travelling has always been a passion with me. Obviously I travelled for pleasure, following the world of professional tennis to a great extent or even participating in this sport during which time I made many lasting friends from several corners of this planet.

However, travelling has also been to satisfy a curiosity to know and learn about other cultures, helping me feel a part historically and geographically of the world which I live in.

Life has been good to me and the time has come to “give back”, through actions which can help transform the destiny of so many children. Children who have never had the opportunity to show all their potential.

Recently I have had the fortunate opportunity to meet people who are focused on helping. Together with them we have carried out on the spot research and studies of what these children need most.

On my recent trip to Africa I was joined by two university students, leaders of the Maasai community from Lenkisen situated in a remote area of Kenya, East Africa. With them I visited Lenkisen. The idea was to contribute in some way to this community and so, under the auspices of “Sport Club Internacional of Porto Alegre, Brazil”, I started by helping “The Sisters of Fátima Catholic Mission Hospital” We contributed with sports equipment for the children, believing that sport is one of the most important ways of breaking down cultural, political and religious barriers. Making sport available and taking advantage of the great sporting potential of this continent is also a way of helping them become part of a wider society.

Together with colleagues who are engaged in this work ,I will continue to help and support these communities donating sports equipment for the children and medical supplies for the hospital.

Spending some time with the Maasai and sharing their day to day life has made me aware of the harsh realities of this, one of the most ancient people of the planet. On my trips to Africa I have learnt to appreciate profoundly the traditions and challenges which life presents people with on this continent.

During my last trip I was deeply impressed by the example of people like Dorothy Beasley, a retired judge from Atlanta, USA. A person who is full of life and who, instead of just relaxing at home and enjoying her well earned retirement, does voluntary work at the Courts in Ruanda helping solve the problems of genocide which happened in that country.

I returned home determined to do whatever is in my reach and, together with my colleagues, show the sad plight which many of these African communities are experiencing. We need to raise funds with help from services , the media, NGO´s, governments and anyone who is interested in participating, in order to build a much needed nursery and pre school where children can study in comfort and safety instead of outdoors, under trees, exposed to every climatic condition. It is the only way they will be able to start looking forward to a better future.

Together with journalist Justo Casal, we have created a project: ¨Hand in hand with Africa, schools for needy children “. I am very hopeful that many will find it in their hearts to support this project and give these forgotten children in the most remote area of Kenya an opportunity to study and to be able to shape their future.

Working for forty two years as a paediatrician to the Brazilian National Health Service, (SUS) I have been able to follow the ever increasing and improved involvement of our governments regarding the administration of social problems. I am aware that we still have a long way to go to solve the difficulties facing our needy communities, but we live in a rich country where new projects are continually being put into practice which help the underprivileged of our society and raise their standard of living. (Bolsa Familia – Minha casa- Minha Vida – Luz para Todos – Merenda Escolar – Brasil Sorridente and PIM). I understand that our duty, as Brazilian citizens, is to give back to Africa what belongs to Africans.

To be engaged in giving humanitarian help to our fellow men we need to be totally free of all and any ideological prejudice on both sides keeping an open mind and heart to give and receive. After reading a recent article by the president of International Rotary, encouraging rotarians to help the people of Africa, we feel we are on the right road. We will do our best to involve and engage the largest number possible of our Brazilian Society in this project.

Raul Antonio Fagundes Valls


The Maasai

In the picture: Two members of the Lenkisem Youth Group, Daniel & John, with a maasai elder.

We are a group of young maasai who are concerned about the welfare and future of our people in Lenkisem, specially women and children.

Our intention is to preserve our culture -and show it to the world- but at the same time evolve with the -tough- demands of the 21st Century.

By visiting our cultural boma, you will be helping our community in keeping its traditions alive but at the same time you will be helping us in having a more sustainable way of living.

Lenkisem ‘Charity’ Cultural Boma
info@casalpix.com


Justo Casal

LLM International Human Rights 2006 (Alumni of the Year 2010: Community Engagement and Leadership)
Interview in Birmighan University

Justo works as a photojournalist and volunteer in some of the most remote parts of the world. He is dedicated to bringing the world’s attention to human rights atrocities and to date, has been published by the likes of CNN, the BBC and the New York Times.

Justo’s passion for human rights stems from his childhood while travelling with his parents to some of the poorest nations in the world.

“Everything changed, my whole way of life and my priorities. My grandfather and parents were diplomats. They educated me to know that it’s not the title that makes you important, you make the title important and you have to act in a certain way. I was taught that we are equal.”

Determined to make a difference, Justo began a career in journalism in 1998 before moving to Kenya in 2000, where he studied International Relations at the United States International University.

“I wanted to make something of my story. If you don’t share what you’ve lived, it’s meaningless. That’s why I went into journalism, I was able to reach more people.”

In 2006, wanting to gain a deeper understanding of humanitarian issues, Justo came to Birmingham City University to study for a Masters degree in International Human Rights. As part of the course, he wrote a dissertation on the repatriation of unaccompanied refugees from their country of asylum, Guinea, to their country of origin, Liberia; he was keen to explore how the "best interest of the child" was sustained by the international organisations working in the area.

“It is very important to know the theory of human rights and how people perceive it. The people in Africa have to feed their stomachs before they feed the mind. They are more worried about access to health and the right to food. Once you understand that, you can begin to tackle it.”

Justo has worked with the UN, where he played a key role in the resettlement of thousands of refugees.

“I worked for UNHCR in a resettlement programme in Dadaab Refugee Camp dealing with refugees from Somalia. I was in charge of the intake of refugees who had no choice but to leave their country. I helped around 12,000 people to have a better life.”

He has also helped film a documentary on female genital mutilation, excerpts of which were shown on CNN.

“We are changing the way people see female genital mutilation but the change has to come from within the community. It’s very important for girls to understand and we do that through education.”

Justo’s good works include building a nursery school in Kenya and working as a volunteer, bringing much needed income from tourism to remote parts of Africa.

“I organise volunteer experiences in Kenya visiting tribes such as the Maasai and the Pokot, minority tribes which are in very isolated places in remote areas. I don’t want to make it very commercial but I do want them to be proud of their community and of what they have. Even though they are poor, their culture is very rich. You get touched by the pains of these people.”

For now, Justo is dedicated to influencing policy through his pictures but in the future, he could very well be the one implementing the policies.

“At the moment, I like to be at the grass roots, taking photos. That’s the way I pursue the policy makers. Maybe in ten years, with my experience from the field level, I will become more involved in changing policy itself. This award has given me the strength to keep on working for the most needy and the 'forgotten' in society.”

© Raul Valls. All rights reserved.