Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!
26 June 2019
Post No. 97
The Week’s Contents
• Thanksgiving Days: Supporters’ Days
• DRC’s Happiness Appeal
• Arts and Design Project: Skills in Art and Design
… and much more!
Key Messages
~ Thanksgiving days: Supporters’ Days
From 24 to 30 June 2019, we are thanking all our supporters (current and past ones). We would like to take this opportunity to thank them (and you if you are one of them) for helping CENFACS IN ENHANCING AND SUSTAINING FREEDOMS AND CAPABILITIES BY WORKING IN ALLIANCE WITH LOCAL PEOPLE TO DEVELOP SUSTAINABLE INITIATIVES.
For more information about these thanksgiving days, please read under the Main Developments section of this post.
~ Happiness Appeal for Children, Young People and Families Victims of the Ebola Virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo
After discussing last week (via CENFACS’ be.Africa Think-Together Initiative) the relationships between war (insecurity), health (via the outbreak of the Ebola Virus) and climate change; we are this week launching an appeal to support the victims of the Ebola virus and those at risk of it in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
This Happiness Appeal, which kicks off our Summer Humanitarian Relief in a Changing Climate, is designed to support the victims and those at risk of the Ebola Virus in the North Kivu Province of the DRC.
According to the World Health Organisation (1) in its Ebola situation reports, the total cases of those affected by Ebola in DRC were 2204 on 19 June 2019 while the number of deaths for the same was 1479. Although these may fluctuate, there is an emergency to beat this deadly disease.
As long as this deadly virus is still rampant and running, there will not be happiness for the families and individuals affected by the virus. Likewise, there will not be happiness for other persons and families who may be at risk.
This Appeal is therefore about helping to end the Ebola virus and bring happiness to the victims of Ebola, particularly but not exclusively poor children, young people and families. The Appeal is meant to help deliver the well-being and happiness outcomes that can be met through the following six key variables: income, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on in times of trouble like of the outbreak of Ebola, generosity, freedom and trust. These variables are explained in World Happiness Reports edited by Helliwell, Layard and Sachs (2).
From the World Happiness Report 2019, DRC has a 2016-2018 ladder score of 4.418 and is ranked as the 127th country of the world in terms of Gross Domestic Product per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption.
To support or enquire about this appeal, please contact CENFACS.
(1) https://www.who.int/ebola/situation-reports/drc-2018/en/
(2) Helliwell, J., Layard, R., & Sachs, J. (2017, 2018 & 2019), World Happiness Reports 2017, 2018 & 2019, New York: Sustainable Development Solutions Network
~ Arts and Design Project: Skills in Art and Design
To carry on our Arts and Design project, we are dealing with skills in art and design for poverty relief and sustainable development in this last week of June.
The focus in this activity is on finding out ways of helping people to develop skills in arts and design to communicate their poverty relief and sustainable development messages.
The interest in doing it is to explore ways of making Arts and Design Skills that poor people possess to use them in achieving tangible poverty-relieving and sustainable development outcomes.
For further details about this third key message, please read under the Main Developments section of this post.
Extra Messages
~ Summer Programme with Humanitarian Relief Appeal in a Changing Climate
Climate change has notoriously changed the way in which we dress, eat, house, care about health, and feel happy and unhappy. It also changes the way in which poverty is relieved and our perception of poverty. For example, cutting trees and burning woods at any times and any costs to get the fire to heat homes and cook meals are no longer regarded as a sustainable solution against poverty.
Today, any humanitarian relief action conducted has to appeal as well to sustainable development. In terms of this piece of work, it has to take into account the changing climate. So, our humanitarian relief action for Summer 2019 needs to be sustainable or environmentally-friendly despite the pressing needs of the beneficiaries of this action. The temporary support in terms of money, food, clothing, education, transport and so on given to people in pressing and special need should as well consider the changing climate, which in return may or may not change their needs.
In practical terms, when bring happiness to the victims of Ebola virus in the DRC, one needs to take into account the new needs that the changing climate pattern that influences upon those requiring this happiness.
For further information about this Summer programme, please continue to read CENFACS over this Summer.
~ Coming soon: Appeal to Support Projects for Needy Children, Young People and Families (Edition 2019)
Our Humanitarian Relief Appeal making Part One of our Summer Programme has kicked off with the Happiness Appeal for the victims of the Ebola Virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sooner there will be another appeal, which is the main one, to support poor children, young people and families (CYPFs) in Africa over this Summer.
As usual the edition of Summer 2019 Appeal will focus on poor CYPFs who do not have any means to have a Summer of Relief because of poverty. They get bound in their remote land and community without any hope. They have never known any other ways of life except distress, hardship, desperation, vulnerability, helplessness and hopelessness.
CENFACS’ appeal will be about asking supporters to bring some relief to them over this Summer.
Further information about this second appeal will be released soon as mentioned above.
~ “Quadranscentenniality” and Humanitarian Relief
Although humanitarian relief is a short term or temporary help, we can however have a “quadranscentennial” view of it. Humanitarian relief is generally defined as a temporary support in terms of money, food, shelter or clothing given to people in special need. We can “quadranscentennialise” humanitarian relief by making it the removal of distress or poverty for 25 years or more.
Humanitarian relief is conceived to deal with what appears to be an emerging or erupting crisis. Relief (that is assistance in difficult time) should be as well as lasting endeavour so that people and communities affected by crisis do not go back to the same painful and distressful situation again.
Therefore, there could be a need to “quadranscentennialise” relief by making it a lasting enterprise to a period of 25 years or more. “Quadranscentennialised” humanitarian relief is more than just a painkiller or palliative. It is a curative approach or cure against the disease of poverty, epidemics etc. “Quadranscentennialising” humanitarian relief in this way is the most effective and efficient way of solving the problem of underlying poverty and hardships.
For more information about the possible link between “quadranscentenniality” and humanitarian relief, please contact CENFACS.
Main Developments
• Thanking Days or Supporters’ Days
These are Special Days we would like to dedicate in thanking all those who contributed to our work for any types of support they have given us over this financial year. This dedication is normally held in the last week of and by the end of June. For this year, they are held from 24 June to the end of June 2019.
As we are in CENFACS’ Month of Creation and “Quadranscentennial” Year, we shall find all sorts of creative, innovative and communicative ways of thanking our invaluable supporters and backers. These thanking ways may include:
√ Conversing with our supporters over phones
√ Signing and sending thank you cards to them
√ Telling them the stories about the people and communities they helped through their support
√ E-mailing and tweeting them with messages of gratitude
√ Thank-you stories
√ Music and songs of thank you
√ Thank you videos and films
√ Giving back to you by volunteering our time to the cause you deeply care about
√ Free translation service (French to English and vice versa)
√ Telling African poems and poetry
√ Digital and technologically animated thank-you messages
√ Creative and design works symbolising thank you
√ Designed and hand crafted made objects and crafts of acknowledgement etc
If you are one of the CENFACS’ supporters, please we would like to let you know the Thanking Days at CENFACS are your Days. Do not hesitate to get in touch, if you do not mistakenly hear from us, we will welcome your human touch, reconnect with you and thank you on the occasion for the helpful difference you made to our work and project beneficiaries.
Your invaluable support has meant a lot for our programme and project beneficiaries over this financial year.
We would like to express all our sincere gratitude to you for helping us to help reduce poverty.
For further details, contact CENFACS’ Thanksgiving End of June 2019 Team.
• Arts and Design Project: Skills in Art and Design
Developing skills in arts and design can help to overcome poverty and enhance sustainable development.
~ Art and design skills as a poverty fighter
Skills in art and design can be a rewarding way of fighting poverty and hardships by giving to the poor an artistic occupation or by buying their artistic makings to raise the funds they need to make ends meet, let alone helping them to make a career in the creative industry.
~ Art and design skills as an enhancer of sustainable development
Art and design skills can help to create and innovate products and services that do not pollute, deplete or destroy the nature, while meeting poor people’s needs and reducing carbon prints.
These skills could be handled on papers, digitally or physically with objects.
But, what are these art and design skills?
Art or artistic skills consist of the following:
Drawing, composition, identifying colours, painting, dress making, dealing with shapes, digital art handling, and visual art management.
Design skills can include:
Knowledge, observation, visualisation, experimentation, validation, communication, problem-solving and digital design.
Also, as part of the Skills Data Bank run by CENFACS, one can registered their skills in art and design with the CENFACS Community.
For further details about Arts and Design for poverty relief and sustainable development, please contact CENFACS.
FOR ONLY £1, YOU CAN SUPPORT CENFACS AND CENFACS’ PROJECTS, JUST GO TO http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/
Thank you for visiting CENFACS website and reading this post.
Thank you as well to those who made or make comments about our weekly posts.
We look forward to receiving your regular visits and continuing support throughout 2019.
With many thanks
