A few weeks ago Paul Sylvester asked Geoff Lloyd and I if we’d like to travel to Ethiopia to make a feature for Sport Relief. I won’t lie, the image which immediately popped into my head was a hopeless scene of starving children in a hot and arid land (I also thought that Sport Relief provided sporting resources to the third world) but that was all to change.
The week we were due to fly to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, BBC News dug up a story about the Band Aid Relief effort in the mid-80s being riddled with corruption, with only a fraction of the money going to those in need and instead being filtered off to fund conflict in the region. Bob Geldof hit back at a “thoroughly discredited BBC World Service programme that claimed that nigh on the entire humanitarian relief effort by all aid agencies during the Ethiopian famine was diverted to arms” (My rage at this Calumny, The Guardian, 10 March). This angered those charity workers in Ethiopia and indeed the Ethiopian Government who are trying so hard to move on from those images of famine – Ethiopia is, and has, moved on.
That said, it is still a developing country and years of continuing civil war, famine and occasional drought have lead to a huge homeless problem on the streets of the capital. UNICEF report that there are in the region of up to 4000 children living rough on the streets of Addis Ababa alone. No child deserves to grow up sleeping rough amongst rubbish and Sport Relief cash helps fund an amazing charity called GOAL who are doing exceptional work to help out those children. It’s this charity that Geoff and I went to visit, but not without a shaky start!
When we arrived we had our first introduction to African bureaucracy when our filming equipment was confiscated and locked up at the airport. We then spent the day travelling round Addis Ababa to find the person who could release it. When we did discover him, his office was a simple one…just a desk displaying a homemade WordArt name sign attached to a desk calendar with some paperclips. There was a nice DELL PC but it was still in the box so we filled in a lot of forms and were sent on our way.
The next couple of days were spent looking at what GOAL does to turn around people’s lives in the city. From providing a drop in centre for children and young people (some with their own babies) who are living rough on the streets to shelters where more vulnerable boys and girls live, the first thing GOAL gives children is a safe haven. They also give access to training and education so young people can learn new skills and hopefully find a job so they can provide for themselves.
It really is an amazing project and the people there are doing all they can but they still need help. The good news is that last weekend’s TV fundraiser and Sport Relief Mile events have already raised more than £29million and people can still donate now at http://www.sportrelief.com/. Having seen the money at work I can honestly say that it really does change lives. For now however, I’ll leave you with a short video we made on the trip. You can also hear out audio diary and see photos here: http://www.absoluteradio.co.uk/djs_shows/shows/geoff/sport_relief.html
