Bringing Africa into the Irish classroom

Africa is no stranger to Irish classrooms. Successive generations of schoolchildren have been visited by missionaries or aid agency workers and have been urged to collect for the poor and starving there. Images of babies with bloated stomachs and young mothers with tear-drenched faces have informed young people's thoughts of this continent. As they accepted the collection boxes and fund-raising cards they may have quietly considered that at least they were doing something to help. Yet despite all this we still know little of Africa.

This will change somewhat for eight Transition Year students and their teachers next February. In a pilot scheme organised by Carlow-based development agency Self Help Development International, the students and teachers will embark on a week-long visit to Ethiopia in order to assess how best schools, and specifically Transition Year students, can help those in need in Africa. They will travel to two Self Help projects in Ethiopia and observe how the educational programs are carried out. On their return they will form a working group which will decide if such a scheme can be extended to other schools and how schools can develop their activities and fund-raising efforts to coincide with work being done in Africa.

The plan is the brainchild of Seamus Hayes of Self Help and a former president of Macra na Feirme, who says it is a direct call to schools to consider how best they can help. "Rather than coming up with a scheme and handing it out to a school principal we are saying to schools `can you help us' or `tell us if you think there is no way this will work'," says Hayes. Hayes believes the plan is a natural extension of the work that has been carried out by Self Help since its establishment in 1981. Co-operation with local groups in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Malawi and Uganda in the areas of agriculture, education and health is the basis of their work. Getting schoolchildren involved at this level allows them to understand the needs of the these countries rather than just throwing money at them from afar, Hayes says. "We are trying to give schools a clear picture about how to approach these projects and how important education is," he says.

Hayes explains that their educational programs in Africa are not just confined to the classroom. Practical projects are under way to teach people about health and hygiene, agricultural methods and how to read English. Hayes is also quick to point out that, "we don't send out any white faces, all our staff are African".

The eight schools involved in the pilot scheme have already begun raising the £3,000 needed for the teacher and the pupil to go. In Loreto College in Co. Cavan a sponsored fast, a Christmas concert and a raffle should bring in enough money to fund the project for Kathleen Buckley, the teacher from the school, and the lucky pupil, who has yet to be chosen. "They are all dying to go," says Buckley. "I think it's the way Self Help do the project. You are just going out to give them the means to do things."

Yet Buckley says it is not just the Transition Year students who are excited about the project. "It is good for the whole school because it makes them aware of how well off they are. Working on projects about the Third World shows them that life for a 14-year-old there is very different. Some may even be married."

Geoff Penney, Transition Year co-ordinator at Villiers School in Limerick, also believes the project brings students close to understanding how people outside well-off western countries live. "Up until now it's all head down, follow the books. But now they can get involved in learning about people less well off than themselves. There's a huge gap between rich and poor and it is getting wider. The youth of today and young adults need to know about this."

Mark Clendennen is the pupil from Villiers who has been chosen from an essay competition to go to Ethiopia. At only 15 years of age, he will witness life in one of the poorest countries in the world. Yet Penney believes he is a pragmatic individual who will be able to take it in his stride. "You can shelter people but reality is reality," he says.

Seamus Hayes echoes these words when asked how the teachers and pupils will be prepared for their visit to Africa. "No level of discussion could prepare them," he says. "You have to live with it. All day long you are surrounded by poverty." No aid agency worker, Hayes believes, will get that message across to schoolchildren as well as a peer and friend.