Can Social media help the poor of Africa?
HOW? Is the question that comes to mind immediately! A good question I would say.
So how does one actually go about doing this! My understanding of Social media is simply that these are online tools that enable you to build relationships with others.
It is for instance through building and maintaining a relationship with Sarah Arrow that I was invited to contribute to this forum. I was pleasantly surprised to find that most of the others that have been invited are people I have built and maintained relationships with online too.
The amazing thing about this is that some of the contributors here especially Sarah, Suhad, Nikki and Su and others I know online have over the last 2 years be advocates of my work or shared their knowledge with me and thus saving me a lot of money in the process.
On 28 December 2009 I found myself on a quarry above a slum area just outside of the capital Kampala Uganda with someone I met on twitter! , you can read about how we met at his blog
It was a very wet day and I was there to meet the women for the first time. The women are what is referred to as internally displaced refugees. They escaped the 20 year old conflict in Northern Uganda and made their way to the south of the country and ended up on this quarry.
Kireka Quarry Uganda
What happens is that someone sells them a huge boulder and they have to crack it up into smaller stones with their hands and these are then sold on to construction companies. If they don’t do this they literary go hungry that day (as was the case we visited because it rained all day). I sat with them and listened to some heart wrenching stories of what had happened to them before they got here and some still had the physical wounds.
Women of Kireka
One of the women (facing) lost her legs and has to be carried to the top of the quarry daily and if there is no one to carry her she goes hungry that day. This is the “wheelchair” that she uses to get around; it is at the end of its life. She needs a new one and Teddy and his team are working on this
wheel Chair used by one of the women of Kireka
My role in all of this is to find a market for the women’s work and advice on style and quality. I must say their bracelets made from recycled colour magazines were very well received here in Surrey
Back to the original question, Can social media help the poor of Africa?
I certainly think so, for those of us working with the women directly, we share their stories with you through blogs, photos, video, Twitter facebook etc and for you that read about them you advocate for our work and soon enough an order for the women’s work comes through.
I would ideally like to get to a situation where the women tell their own stories through social media or even find customers for their wares without the need for the likes of me to get involved. Yes that might to me out of job, but I am not really bothered as I would have achieved my underlying goal.
Have you got a view as to how else I could use social media to promote the women’s work? Looking forward to hearing it.
About IdaHornerFounder of Ethnic Supplies a social enterprise working to alleviate poverty amongst East African women involved in textile and handicraft production. Managing Editor of Africa on the blog
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8 Responses to Can Social media help the poor of Africa?
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We must get together and chat soon, Ida. The things I would love to help with… And am not letting myself think that I cannot help, but instead want to explore “how”.
Thank you for your insight – it is more welcome than you can know. We need to know what is really needed, to know people who know people there – getting closer gives us more impetus and more of an ownership of the situations that we can make a difference with.
Twitter: babssaul
Ida, I think you do a fantastic job of raising awareness of Africa, in the UK. What's more important to me is you do it in such a way we don't feel guilty if we just observe. Slowly we have all become more involved and now we have our girl that we sponsor, talking of which, I have to ping you over the advertising revenue for the last month from this site.
Thank you Babs, I get the sense that most folk want to help but are not sure how or think that helping is simply giving money. But the downside to giving money for instance is that it is not a sustainable form of helping. If you taught me a skill that would enable me to help the women, or put me in touch with someone that you know and that resulted in more sales for the women, that is a more sustainable form of help.
Let's compare diaries and set a time a side to explore this further
Thank you Sarah. I think making people feel guilty would be a disservice to the women all of whom are very proud. I remember standing next to someone at a networking group who told people, that the wine they were drinking was worth a lot of money to the people in the village she was working in in Africa. As you can imagine one by one left the group. She lost the chance to have us advocate for her work by making us feel that we had sinned to enjoy a glass of wine!
I am really grateful for all the help that you ladies have given me. Which reminds me too, to ring Ann in Uganda for photos of our girl
Would selling the merchandise via some sort of “party plan” scheme be an option here? I would think it would be quite successful, especially as it's for such a good cause.
Twitter: SuzeStMWrites
Suze, that is a fab idea, I have two ladies only doing party plans and only do them over the Xmas time, so I am always on the look out for more to join. if you know of nay please send them my way. There is something in it for them too as they get get a percentage of the slaes for their trouble
Another thoughtful post Ida – and one that has had me mulling again for a couple of days!
I guess the short asnwer for me is that it probably already is and so the bog question is how can it help more? It seems from you last post on tackling the issues and your comments above about evolving to a point where the ladies themselves can tell their own stoires comes right back down to communication and information – facilitating access to social media tools and distribution opportunities. I wonder whether it is worth approaching one of th Unis (Warwick springs to mind) who are proactive in encouraging their students to solve issues through technology as part of their Degree Courses? It may be that a project to improve communication access may be something they would consider.
And by the way, my websites are quite practical/DIY in nature, but if I can help with a link or by maybe showcasing kitchen or dining related products I would be very happy to do so.
Elaine
Oh dear, I completely missed this Elaine and I am sorry. I think We should speak in order to explore some of your suggestions