Spain, March 9, 2006: After Rome and New York, presentation in Madrid

Harambee launched its activities for social solidarity in Spain with a presentation conference on March 9 at the Madrid Press Association.

Linda Corbi, Harambee’s international coordinator, gave a presentation on the fund-raising campaign for four new development projects in Africa (for Sudanese women, for elementary schoolteachers in Kenya, for craftsmen in Madagascar and for mothers and children in R. D. Congo), and announced the launch of the second “Communicating Africa” contest, an award for television documentaries that present the African continent from a realistic and at the same time positive viewpoint.

Among those present were: Josebe Soga, a doctor, Harambee coordinator in Spain; Ika Simakala, a nurse at the Monkole Hospital, R. D. Congo; and Serena Laudisa, RAI journalist and one of the winners of Harambee’s first “Communicating Africa” award.

The large audience included journalists from the main Spanish newspapers and TV channels. Linda Corbi outlined Harambee’s aims and detailed the activities held up to the present: 24 projects have been supported in 14 African countries to give “a voice to Africa, to the African men and women who are working for the growth of their continent.”

Dr Josebe Soga explained why Harambee was being launched in Spain. “Harambee is profoundly convinced that education and training, on which Harambee projects focus, are the main levers for development.” He added: “Solidarity enables us to tackle specific situations in distant countries and at the same time it is an essential part of our young people’s upbringing and education.”

Ika Simakala, a nurse from Monkole, gave her own testimony. “Many people think that Africans spend their time waiting for help to come from the outside world. The truth is very different. I can state that there are many people in Africa who are fully aware that the responsibility for the development of their continent belongs to them. There are many Africans who go abroad for education and training and then return to Africa, in order to be more useful for their own countrymen.”

“What struck me most about Africa,” underlined Serena Laudisa in her presentation, “is what I have also tried to highlight in my film: the capacity of Africans, and in this case African children, to face up to difficulties in a positive and cheerful spirit.”
The press conference included a presentation of the awareness-raising activities planned by Harambee’s coordinators in Spain, which include a design award for art students: “Communicating Africa. What does Africa mean to you?”; a choral music award for children: “Communicating Africa. The Sound of Africa”; and awareness-raising meetings and lectures for university students.