The need to save the environment does not need to be explained to pupils and students in many primary and secondary schools. A lot has already been described and said about it. But why should Slovak pupils be told about the effects of climate change in developing countries? From our own experience among them, we found that the connection between the devastating consequences of climate change and developing countries is new for many. They were not aware of her before.
Distorted ideas of pupils and students about developing countries were already manifested when asking what the phrase "developing country" actually means. One of the answers was: After all, Slovakia also belongs to developing countries, because it is still developing. Well, yes, except for one "little thing" - as a member of the OECD, Slovakia belongs to the 30 most developed countries in the world.
But there is nothing to be surprised about. In one session, a middle-aged lady asked us why development aid abroad is needed: "Here in Slovakia, don't we need help? Don't we have enough of our own problems and poor people? And who will help us?" In such cases of "unbelieving Thomases", who won't believe until they see, targeted lectures about the importance of development aid probably won't help anymore. Does it make sense to shout at blind souls?
At the Slovak Catholic Charity, we decided on the message Live simply and in solidarity. We do not take development aid as an obligation, but as something that comes from our sense of responsibility, from a deeper knowledge and awareness of the interdependence between developing countries and developed countries, which includes Slovakia. Even if Slovakia does not seem like a developed country to some people.
When the poor pay extra for the rich
According to UN data, almost a billion people suffered from extreme poverty in the world last year. At the same time, the UN Development Program estimates that 600 million more people will suffer from hunger in sub-Saharan Africa by 2015 as a result of global warming, more precisely due to the collapse of agriculture. Behind the stark numbers in the statistics are specific people. Women, men, children, old people, healthy, sick, those who went to school and those who cannot read and write, farmers and shepherds who lose their meager livelihood.
We are concerned about their fates, the fates of people in areas affected by the consequences of extreme weather and large temperature fluctuations. In terms of climate change, we consider the fact that the poorest countries are suffering the consequences of what developed countries caused by their irresponsible attitude towards the environment to be the biggest paradox. Due to the consequences of extreme weather in the past years, hundreds of thousands of people died and suffered, livestock perished, farmers lost their crops, communicable diseases spread.
This is also why Slovak Catholic Charity joined the fight for climate justice last year with the development education project Climate change does not concern me. Really? with the subtitle Towards climate justice in developing countries, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. We are doing the project in cooperation with colleagues from the Slovenian Charity with the financial support of the European Commission and SlovakAid.
The three-year project is halfway through. As part of it, we try to make people aware of shared responsibility for the state of the environment. The church also mentions in its opinion that we are created in the image of God, and therefore each of us has the right to a dignified life. We included a campaign with the slogan Live simply and in solidarity in the project.
In schools and shopping centers
More than 110 schools participated in the project and received didactic materials, including a DVD with a short animated documentary film. In cooperation with the Methodological Center for Teachers and the Teachers' Association, we organized three trainings for 59 teachers from all over Slovakia.
"The topic was very relevant and interesting. I was inspired by your methodical material and spent five lessons with the 6th grade students," wrote Mgr. Valéria Visocká, teacher of religious education at the Košice elementary school in Šac. Pupils also had to come up with a project on the assigned topics: Developing countries, Aid to developing countries, The state of water on the planet, Alternative energy sources, How to reduce household waste, Ecological shopping, Ekodom, Tips for reducing energy consumption in the household, The impact of climate change on people, Climate change in Slovakia. "In addition to the mandatory conservation of drinking water, we made friendship bracelets and gave the proceeds from the sale to the Tehlička for Africa collection - the construction of a well. In May, we collected paper and PET bottle caps. We also have a container in the school lobby for the collection of used electronics and non-functional batteries. We will definitely participate in the project next school year," said Mrs. Visocká.
Similar activities are also planned for secondary schools. Next year, towards the end of the project, we are preparing a scientific conference.
We are also trying to involve the wider public in the project. Last year in Bratislava, we opened a traveling exhibition of 48 photographs with information about the situation in sub-Saharan African countries and the stories of people who suffer from climate change. This year, people in seven other cities in Slovakia could view it. The exhibition was installed in the premises of shopping centers in Banská Bystrica, Nitra, Trenčín, Žilina, Spišská Nova Ves, Košice and Prešov. We prepared the materials in cooperation with colleagues from Slovenia, photos were provided by Caritas Internationalis, Slovenian Charity, University of St. Alžbety of Health and Social Work in Bratislava, Slovak Scouting and eRKo. Public interest was higher than expected.
It is possible to live modestly
We realize that living simply is not very stylish these days. In the labyrinth of news and news, a person sometimes gets lost and chases after things that are always newer, more modern, more complicated.
Our project is aimed at young people, whose thinking is being formed and they are building the foundations for their opinions. We offer them another brick in their image of the world. To make them realize that nothing is permanent and to respect all living things. We want to show them that it is possible to live simply and in solidarity through interactive games based on examples of sorting waste, saving water and energy, and protecting nature. Because each of us is responsible for life on Earth.
Mariana Ištoňová, Ivana Pástorová Slovak Catholic charity
Will the north of Kenya turn into a desert?
"There is a rumor that Turkana will turn into a desert," says Mary Amodoi. He is 18 years old and lives in a rural homestead in Turkana, an arid region in northern Kenya. She never went to school, she lives with her father, grandmother and three younger brothers. Since last year, after the death of her mother, she took care of the household, one of the younger brothers takes care of the herd of goats. Mary walks twice a day to fetch water, which is a kilometer from their home. They eat only once a day, if they are doing well, even twice. Mainly corn porridge.
"Grandma says life used to be easier," says Mary. "People are said to have been able to predict periods of drought and had plenty of time to prepare for them. Now the droughts are more frequent, there are fewer trees and pastures. We are often dependent on aid supplies. Lake Turkana near our house is drying up. My grandmother is 75 years old. Who knows what it will look like here when I am her age..."
Over thousands of years, cattle herders in northern Kenya have adapted to a nomadic life in a harsh climate. Today, however, this way of life is on the verge of survival. Kenyans will never forget the severe drought in 2005. They lost up to 70% of their livestock, every third person suffered from acute malnutrition. Memories of these droughts still confound people. It rains less and less, each disaster makes the next less bearable.
"Droughts are frequent and keep coming back," Chiri Bule explains, pointing to the parched landscape around her. "Before, it used to rain here twice a year, now it sometimes rains once, sometimes not at all. 'Drought six years ago, 60 of her goats and all the camels she had died. Many of her neighbors lost everything. Including their dreams of educating their children.
Even young people here can hardly imagine a life other than the one based on cattle breeding. To them, owning a herd means more than just having milk and preventing malnutrition or having skins for shelters. Traditionally, it brings security, status and a stake in the future. But this life is becoming more and more difficult.
(From stories to a traveling photo exhibition, www.trocaire.org/sites/trocaire/files/01f9918757774fc82afa44b6c2346b3a )
The article was published in the Development Aid - Fall 2011 newsletter. It is published by Platforma mimovládnych rozvojových organizácií (MVRO), which is an association of legal entities - an umbrella organization of 31 (23 regular members and 8 observers) Slovak non-governmental organizations that deal mainly with foreign development and humanitarian aid. http://www.mvro.sk