Our video presentations give examples of projects OA is supporting, from our Appeal materials:
- agriculture in Uganda - rural and urban development in India - work-skills in Sri Lanka - healthcare in Nicaragua - rebuilding rural livelihoods amid AIDS (audio only)
The videos are each about 10MB in size, and the picture is smaller and fuzzier than the real thing (which weighs in at about 200MB just for this short 5 minute presentation). There is normally also a ten minute version, and/or a children's version, on the same DVD or video.
Clicking on the link should (eventually, depending on your connection speed) open a window with the video in it. You will need RealPlayer or QuickTime, or something like that, for this to work. Alternatively, right-click and choose 'Save target as...' to copy the file to your computer.
Uganda
In Uganda, East Africa, Operation Agri is involved in agricultural help to poor rural communities. Pastor Paul Kyalimpa, a trained agriculturalist, shares his experience with pastors and community leaders. Operation Agri has provided teams of oxen, so farmers can cultivate more land for a bigger harvest.
In India, rural and urban development. See work we support with farming in a remote part of Orissa, and in a Mumbai (Bombay) slum with pre-school children.
Congo (the Democratic Republic of Congo) is a country with great resources and potential. Sadly, ever since independence in 1960 it's been racked by war and corruption. But the cry today is one of hope for the future, and hence the theme of Operation Agri's 2006 appeal - Congo Calling.
In Sri Lanka, Operation Agri works with Farms Lanka. This Christian agency gives small loans to families - for a fishing boat, chickens, or to stock a small shop. Following the tsunami disaster, many families were helped to rebuild their lives.
Operation Agri held a special seminar at the 2008 Baptist Assembly weekend in Blackpool: which looked at the ways in which AIDS undermines rural people's livelihoods and considered options for helping poor, rural families to recover from the ravages of AIDS.
The speaker at the OA seminar was development economist Dr Rachel Sabates-Wheeler (pictured), who is a trustee of Operation Agri. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Development Studies, and is the daughter of former BMS missionaries David and Yvonne Wheeler. She and her husband Ricardo are members of Holland Road Baptist Church, Hove.
Rachel spoke about how the AIDS pandemic needs to be treated as a livelihoods crisis, rather than simply a health crisis. While screening, prevention and treatment remain of fundamental concern, we need to recognise that the disease sharply reduces the ability of a family to support itself and entire livelihood systems are being undermined. Effective intervention must include ways of replacing lost livelihoods and preventing affected people from becoming lastingly dependent on outside aid.
OA Chairman Russell Ashley-Smith says: "This is a timely airing of the subject of great concern to those with a heart for world development. It is also very relevant to our appeal focus this year, which is development work in Uganda, one of the first countries to be ravaged by AIDS."
