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Faith Mall, Communications Officer for HelpAge International
Meeting disadvantaged older people in Africa really put work as a Communications Officer for HelpAge International into perspective for Faith Mall.
She’d exchanged emails and phone calls with Victoria before. But Faith Mall saw a different side to the 70-something South African over a coffee in Nairobi.
“She started crying when she told me about her daughter and granddaughter who lived with her, and both had HIV,” says Faith, media communications officer at HelpAge International.
“I had no idea. I was really moved when she told me about the kind of things she goes through on a daily basis. It really put the work I do into context.”
For the last two and a half years, Faith has worked with HelpAge International’s partner organisations in 50 countries, raising awareness of the issues faced by older people in developing countries. She visits older people living in Africa and other continents around the world six times a year.
“I’ve heard such amazing stories and I just want to get them out there in the media so others can read them,” says Faith. “I really believe in the power of communications and the impact media coverage can have in changing the lives of people like Victoria.”
Victoria was one of three older representatives of HelpAge’s partner organisations who joined Faith on a particularly memorable one-week long trip to Kenya. Representatives from older people’s organisations in Zambia and Uganda came together to help plan a campaign to get new member states in the European Union to raise awareness of issues in Africa.
“The man from Zambia was in his late 60s and survived on very little money but he still volunteered to help co-ordinate support for older people in his village who didn’t have a social pension or easy access to healthcare,” says Faith. “And the woman from Uganda told us how her sister had AIDs but she couldn’t tell her children. I didn’t realise the extent to which the issues we campaign on had affected her.”
Faith’s role on the trip was to convey these stories to the media in the Czech Republic and Slovenia, so they in turn would put pressure on policy makers to get the EU to set up funding supporting older people in Africa. “It’s an opportunity for the older people we represent to make sure they’re happy with what we give to the media,” she says.
Back in HelpAge’s London office after the trip, Faith went about her normal work with renewed enthusiasm. “At times you can feel removed from the issues unless you’re meeting people affected by them,” she says. “What’s exciting is that in communications, our reports, our website and our case studies give a voice to older people in developing countries,” says Faith.
Working to raise awareness of issues affecting older people in developing countries is a long way from Faith’s former career as a journalist writing for women’s magazines. But the former RNIB Communications Officer prefers life in the third sector.
She’s currently working on a campaign for International Day of Older Persons (October 1st) which will encourage delegations of older people around the world to lobby their government on key issues.
Faith adds: “We have so much more to do make a difference to older people in developing countries and the comms team at HelpAge International have a big role to play in communicating that.”
Interview by Trina Wallace.
Comments
Help him name God JESUS CHRIST!...
Good afternoon and happiness to You!
Many people to help to destroy the SOVIET UNION, who will help this family
today!
For each comes the moment in the life, when it is necessary to lengthen the
hand of aid,if you desire to itself good.
We has already been turned in charities organizations. They threw out our
rotation. We request you by name God- help them.
This is a letter from a group of college students from Omsk, Russia. We
have formed this team in pursuit of one common goal charitable fundraising
to help Maria Komeliagina, a very sick girl who needs urgent medical
attention.
Both her parents are handicapped and hardly able to be of any financial
assistance.
The Bible says, Give to Those Asking. Instead, many prefer to deprive those
who ask of their last bits. The Bible also says that even dogs sometimes
get leftovers from their master s table. Now, we are asking you: is this
sick girl inferior to dogs? Does she deserve to die an excruciating death
because of her illness? We have been trying to raise funds for this
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world s cruelty, human cold-heartedness and indifference toward someone
else’s distress. However, we also met good and charitable people who sent
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money, too.
If you are able to provide Maria and her parents ANY assistance at all,
please do not hesitate to do so. Anything will do, even if you just advise
us of an organization that really helps unfortunate people like this poor
family.
The amount that this family needs is huge, it totals to $16,000. We are
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mercy and grace are still alive in your heart, please help them with
whatever you can. If you have an opportunity, any information about this
family published in the Internet would help, too (please see the webpage at:
http://www.helped.boom.ru/english.html
It can also be any money, or medicine, or food, or old toys, or second-hand
clothes (they will make it over for Maria). They would greatly appreciate
any assistance.
We hope you will extend your sympathy to this family and their daughter.
Their address is:
Leonid Ivanovich Komeliagin.
y. 20 n/c - 51A, k-24
Omsk-53,
644053.
Russia.
Telephone: +7(3812) 67 39 07
Speak only Russian.
Donations accounts:
For: SBERBANK Zapadno-Sibirsky head office, Omsk, Branch 8634/0195
Account wich institution: SWIFT: SABRRUMMTN1
Account number: 42 307 840 6 4500 0334041
Name: Komeliagin Leonid Ivanovich.
Details of payments: Donations for Medical Treatment.
Or web money:
$USD - Z173009435209
EURO – E475092545542
Or send WESTERN UNION
For Leonid Komeliagin
y. 20 n/c - 51A, k-24
Omsk-53,
644053.
Russia.
Please!Writer Your answer only this email:
leonkom@pisem.net
Sincerely-Evgeny Filippov,Stepan Shpeht, Student Team member.
May God bless you for your kindness and grace!
Passing by the grief of others, you will stumble against its.
He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.
There can be who that will not regret 100, 200 dollars for this family.
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