It’s rainy season in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Our truck ambles over a rocky dirt road that’s turned to mud in places. It’s about 5 o’clock in the afternoon. Like clockwork at this time of year, storm clouds roll across the plains stretched out around us. We’re on our way to Feche, a small village on the outskirts of the city.
As we approach, children look at our strange convoy, wide-eyed. There are donkeys and chickens criss-crossing the streets. There is laughter. Girls and boys play. Parents share a joke. But there was no escaping the grinding poverty in which they lived. In Ethiopia, about one in every three people live on less than $US1.25 a day.
I was visiting Feche to see a project run by aid organisation Plan, and funded by the Australian Government. By the vegetable garden, as we arrive, there were rows of children sitting reading books. Eager to share their favourite stories, they answer questions from their teacher and me. The books they are reading arrived by the ‘donkey library’ – a mobile library cart pulled, as the name suggests, by two donkeys. Most of these children don’t own a single book of their own; these are the only books they see, and they can’t wait for the library to arrive.
In a small classroom next door, pre-school children are singing with their teacher, drawing, and playing with toys. And in the corner of the field, new mothers have gathered for a talk about child and maternal health from a community expert.
Yes, the communities I visited in Ethiopia were vastly different from anywhere in Australia. But there are some things we share. For example, all pregnant women and new mums have a hunger for advice on nutrition, child health, and education for their kids. In Australia, talk to anyone who is going to be a mother for the first time and they’ll tell you about the stack of parenting books on the bedside table: birth, pregnancy nutrition, brain development, education, and parenting. In the village of Feche, it means searching out community health workers, and a tiny one room preschool to give their kids the best start in life. These mothers and their children are making the most of every opportunity.
Recently, Plan received the sad news that the Australian Government was cutting its funding for the project in Feche. It means thousands of mothers and children will miss out on the important health and education services it provides. Embarrassingly for Australia, Plan has been forced to approach the governments of other countries in an attempt to save the project.
The cuts to this project are part of $11.3 billion the Abbott Government has ripped out of foreign aid. That includes a $200 million cut from some of the poorest countries in Africa, a staggering 70% drop in the last Budget alone. Australia’s aid budget is now the weakest in history.
Aid is important because it creates a safer, more prosperous world.
But it’s the individual human cost of these cuts that’s most devastating. It’s the missed opportunities and the lost potential that hits the hardest. Because of the Abbott Government’s cuts, it looks like that’s what we’ll see in the village of Feche. It’s heartbreaking.
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Top Comments
wow,i have read some truly ignorant comments on here about foreign aid so heres an image for your conscience . we are the lucky country , just look at the lifestyles we all lead just because we were born here as compared to less fortunate places. be grateful, show compassion and pay it forward
How much did your trip cost us Tanya, hmmm? Maybe if you lot, that is politicians regardless of party stripe, did a bit more 'governing' (yes, you did actually win the last election sweetie-pie, that's how you still get to cash your fortnightly cheque from yours truly), a bit less charging us for a chopper ride when a car would do, a bit less jaunting off overseas business class with endless entourages, all in the name of "research" (try wikipedia - depending on your data plan, shouldn't cost you a cent!), maybe then the rest of us would be a tad more interested in throwing OUR money overseas for the common good. We probably don't need to cut the aid budget at all if you lot get your snouts out of the trough.
But then, what would you have to wring your hands about then?
Food for thought, anyways.
Tanya is a member of the Australian Labor party, her party did not win the last election.
I think your comment about "yours truly" paying Tanya's wages is referring to the tax payer. We all pay taxes. Tanya included.
Tanya did not hire a chopper. The Speaker of the house did. Going to a liberal party function.
Wikipedia is not a reputable reference for anything.
Yep, agreed! Plus, I'm sure the money could be used better in Australia..... It's tragic to see the poverty in other countries, but often it is a result of embezzlement or poor debt management on the part of the government.
And how much did this trip to Ethiopia cost the Australian taxpayer?, how much did the chartered "strange convoy" cost the Australian taxpayer?, and given Tanya is a shadow Minister, what is the benefit of such an expensive trip to the Australian taxpayer?.
Probably a few grand. Foreign aid is important for a number of reasons a) diplomatic relations b) to provide funding for things like medical assistance and education. You cannot just shut your doors and leave poor countries in poverty. Can you imagine the spread of disease, or increase in crime, or decrease in productivity if we did that? Foreign aid would only count for about ~1.5% of our budget.