Running to help transform Ethiopia

RONAN Scully has spent the past 22 years working in the developing world, having lived in varying areas in that time, while working for the Irish charity Self Help Africa.
Ronan, whose family hail from Spancilhill, recently completed the Great Ethiopian Run and told The Clare Champion about the influence his work has had on his life.
“I have worked in the developing world for the past 22 years living in Calcutta in India for three years and then three years in Angola in Africa, also some time in Sierra Leone, Kenya and Ethiopia and a little time in Malawi. I work for the Irish charity Self Help Africa. I have something of a vested interest in what happens in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. It’s a connection that started way back in 1984, when the images from Michael Buerk’s BBC report on the famine prompted me to change my own life and begin a career that has seen me spend my life since then working to support the poor of the developing world,” he explained.
Ronan worked in Ethiopia with a relief agency for a number of years but in recent times, a very important little part of this incredible country came closer to home when he and his wife Jacqui adopted two beautiful Ethiopian girls, Mia and Sophie.
“I have travelled to Ethiopia many times and was back there only last month when I travelled with a group of Irish volunteers to take part in the 10km Great Ethiopian Run, and raise vital funds for the charity I work with – Self Help Africa.
“Ethiopia is a magical place. From Old Testament times, it was Abyssinia, home of The Queen of Sheba. It is unique in so many ways having its own language and written script, its own very distinctive and distinguished people, its own culture, music and food. Ethiopia is a proud nation and the only country in Africa that did not have a colonial occupier for a large part of its recent history,” Ronan outlined.
He was able to share his vast knowledge of the country during the Great Ethiopian Run when he regaled his travelling companions with his many stories about Ethiopia such as their 13-month calendar where Christmas is in early January and the remarkable life and career of its emperor Haile Selassie, and his place in the hearts of Jamaican Rastafarians.
“I also talked about the changes that have taken place, changes that I believe had been made possible in large part as a result of the growth and development of agriculture in Ethiopia, in recent times. As we ran the recent Great Ethiopian Run through the streets of a booming capital Addis Ababa, it is impossible not to note the transformation that is taking place in the country today. There is still great poverty for sure but so too, there are emerging new glass-fronted office blocks and hotels, major new multilane roads and a city that is alive with enterprise and thriving businesses,” Ronan recalled.
Ronan was a leader on the RTÉ television programme Operation Transformation programme in early 2011 and this was another motivation to do the run. The run also gave him an opportunity to bring funds out to Ethiopia for the two orphanages from which Ronan and Jacqui adopted their two little girls.
While Ronan went through transformation this year, he explained there have also been changes to the Ethiopian countryside, which he says was evident when the Self Help Africa’s Irish runners travelled to Sodo and met some of the communities who work with the organisation.
“We visited several households in their thatched roofed homes and ordered compounds. We saw farmers, co-operative groups and women who were making a living as a result of small credit loans they had received to set up their own businesses. These are simple people living simple lives, many without electricity and nearly all without running water to their homes but they are getting by and are doing much better than they had done in the past. When we visited, we saw their grain stores were full, they had vegetables growing in their compounds and they were proud to report they could afford to send children to school and were in a position to invest in small luxuries such as pots, cooking utensils and clothing for the family,” he added.
As with all major humanitarian crises, there is never just one cause and according to Ronan in Africa in 2011, the crisis was the result of severe drought, political instability and other factors.
“There was evidence too of some progress as Ethiopia, which despite enduring the worst of the drought, was not as badly affected in terms of human suffering as neighbouring Somalia. The recent history of Somalia is a troubled and difficult one but suffice to say, in my view, the impact of the crisis in Ethiopia was not felt as severely precisely because of the progress made by its agricultural sector,” he explained.
According to Ronan, in Ethiopia up to 80% of people rely directly on farming for their survival and economic well being.
“So it stands to reason that better farming where people can grow more, earn more and can have different crops from which to make a living will be able to cope better when a crisis does occur. The fact that no area of Ethiopia was hit by what was officially defined as famine is a testimony to the hard work of a great number of people to increase the country’s farming production systems in the recent past,” he said.
While Ronan admits Self Help Africa cannot take credit for this situation he believes the organisation has been a contributor and has played its part in helping the people of Ethiopia to move towards a time where hunger and poverty will no longer be a part of their future.
“It is a long and slow road certainly but as my running friends and I saw on our recent visit to The Horn of Africa, it is a journey that is both richly rewarding and worthwhile,” he concluded.
Anyone wishing to support Self Help Africa’s work in the developing world can find out more information by visiting www.selfhelpafrica.org, phoning 1850 757678, or by post to Self Help Africa, Kingsbridge House, Parkgate Street, Dublin 8.