No one can say that Argyll is parochial or self-centred. Yesterday Sustainable Oban led a Flashmob as part of an international call for action on climate change.

On Monday 28th September from 21.00-22.00, as we have already reported,  BBC ALBA broadcasts a programme on the work done by Argyll charity, Mary’s Meals, in west Africa.

Catriona MacKinnon (left), a journalist for BBC Alba, travelled to Liberia this spring to make the film about Mary’s Meals projects in Liberia. From her experiences there the charity has produced this series of six questions and answers with Catriona, as a forerunner to the programme next Monday.

Q1: ‘Could you tell us about your background’?

A1: ‘I was born and brought up in Oban, my parents are both from the island of Barra.  I moved to Glasgow in 1999 where I studied Law at Glasgow University, decided I didn’t want to be a lawyer so moved into journalism where I now work as a director on the Gaelic European current affairs programme Eorpa.

‘My job takes me all over Europe.  From the Crimea in the Ukraine, to Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Portugal, Greece and far north to the Arctic Circle, I’ve had some great experiences met some fantastic people and been to many amazing countries’.

Q2: ‘How did your visit to Liberia come about’?

A2: ‘I got a phone call one day at work one day asking if I would be willing to go to film a documentary on the charity Mary’s Meals.  I didn’t have to think twice, I jumped at the chance. I couldn’t have refused the opportunity to go to a country like Liberia and film the work of a charity based on my own doorstep’.

Q3: ‘What would you describe as the highlights of the visit’?

A3: ‘It’s difficult to highlight one moment, there were so many of them.  The people of Liberia are truly inspirational. You often find that people who have had to live through war have a healthier perspective on life and know what is important, having lost so much.

‘I think we could learn a lot from the people of Liberia. They are striving to bring their country to its feet. After 14 years of civil war Liberia was brought to its knees, today there is no mains electricity, not even in the capital city of Monrovia, neither is there running water – however, there is a real sense of determination about the people when you speak to them, they are a positive people simply striving for a better quality of life.

‘A huge highlight for me was the trips to the schools. We drove for miles and miles through thick bush on precarious roads and bridges to distribute food and backpacks to the children in the schools.  I will never forget the look on the children’s faces as they received backpacks from children their own ages back in Scotland.

‘The welcome Mary’s Meals receives whenever the pickups arrive at a school is unbelievable, its not just the school that welcomes the pickups, the villages in their entirety come out and sing and clap as the convoy pulls up.

‘Anyone who has donated to Marys Meals in the past or who is thinking of donating in the future should watch this programme, the effect this charity has is there to see on the faces of the children.  Their eyes are bright and their minds are ready for education.

‘Without food this would not be the case.  It only costs the charity £8.15 to feed a child every day for a year.  For some people that is simply the price of a nice bottle of wine or the price of a starter in a restaurant, for children in Liberia its nourishment for a year’.

Q4: ‘Was there anything that surprised or upset you’?

A4: ‘On our first day in Tubmanburg we visited St Dominic’s school.  There we got the opportunity to sit down and talk to former child soldiers.  I sat and listened to three young boys as they described how they were forced to work for the rebels, bear arms and were shot at as they tried to run away.

‘One of the boys even had the courage to speak at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (a public forum for hearing the testimonies of war). It was important that we protected their identities as the men who had captured them and forced them to work as child soldiers were still at large.

‘The young boys showed me their bullet wounds and spoke of how they had to carry out the atrocities they did as otherwise they would have been killed instantly.  They had been robbed of their childhood innocence.

‘While boys their own ages back in Scotland would be playing computer games or running around football pitches, these young men were running through the African bush carrying kalashnikovs and clutching grenades, not gameboys.

‘There are around 700 young boys at St Dominic’s, half of whom are former child soldiers. The stories they have to tell are harrowing’.

Q5: ‘Do you think that Mary’s Meals work in Liberia is helping to improve the situation’?

A5: ‘Because of Marys Meals, 15,000 children in Liberia eat a meal every day.  Without such support these children would not attend school and would be left at home.

‘Marys Meals is investing in the future of the country by providing meals at schools.  The solution is simple but very effective. You will see on the faces of the children at the schools we attended, that they are happy and healthy and ready to learn.  That is all down to the work of Mary’s Meals.

‘During an interview with the Community Education Officer for Bomi county, Mr Amos Foley, I asked him the question. “What would this country be like if Mary’s Meals wasn’t here?” He looked at me with shock and disgust and responded. “If you take away Mary’s Meals today, the whole country will cry on your name.”

‘I had to spend several minutes reassuring Mr Foley that my question was simply hypothetical, that Mary’s Meals was in Liberia to stay and he need not have worried.

‘He had thought that I had come to tell him that Mary’s Meals was pulling out of Liberia and simply couldn’t comprehend the effect that would have had. I continued with my reassurances and he left safe in the knowledge that Mary’s Meals was not going anywhere.

‘However, his reaction to my question said it all.  Mary’s Meals does not simply leave food at the doorsteps of schools and go back to Monrovia to air conditioned offices.  The charity has a permanent presence in the village of Tubmanburg and almost all of those on the ground are local people, all willing to go that extra mile to make a difference.

‘They don’t see the charity as a foreign charity coming to save the day and turn Liberia into a utopia, they see it as their own  charity and therein lies the difference’.

Q6: ‘Do you think it is important to broadcast in Gaelic’?

A6: ‘Yes, I am so very proud of the language and I feel it is important that stories are told in the Gaelic language, there is no reason why they shouldn’t be. Gaelic is a living language of the modern day’.

BBC ALBA is available on Sky channel 168 and on Freesat channel 110.

Related Posts

• New BBC ALBA schedules span Bhopal disaster to wild swimming (1)
• Art auction at Oban’s Regent Hotel for Mary’s Meals’ Haiti aid (1)
• Mary’s Meals appeal for Haiti’s worst slum whom no one helps: Cite Soleil (1)
• Mary’s Meals launches appeal for donations for relief work in Haiti (0)
• Dalmally-based charity, Mary’s Meals, links Argyll to Haiti and aid mission (2)

---

The Latest News from ForArgyll delivered via email, weekly or daily. You know it makes sense!

---

Comments (rss) | Respond | Ping | | Print This Post