The programme featured the story of Berit Gronvold who was involved
in a local FIOH campaign in support of the Laps whose land was threatened
by the proposed construction of a dam on the Alta River.
As
a result of the interest generated by this programme, a UK branch of
FIOH was launched at a meeting at the Africa Centre in London on 30th
Oct 1982.
It was my introduction to the philosophy of the Future in Our Hands
movement and the book of the same name by the founder, Erik Dammann,
that led me to believe that there was much more that I could do on a
personal basis. I realised that whatever I decided should be coupled
with a commitment to a relatively simple way of life, a greater sharing
of my wealth with those who were poor and a commitment to campaigning
for changes in unjust systems of trade and finance. The message was
clear and simple, but I also realised that trying to apply this philosophy
would require complex solutions that were in direct opposition to the
conventional economic growth approach to development and the distribution
of wealth. I came to realise that the fundamentals of economic growth
were exploitation, greed, competition, gambling, corruption and extreme
inequality between the rich and the poor. Seen in this light, it was
clear that the FIOH philosophy was counteractive to the status quo and
would be seen by most politicians and business people to be both foolish
and naive. Indeed, most people in the West were likely to share the
view that the increased consumption associated with economic growth
was something to be applauded. Even if the wealth created was not shared
fairly, at least some of it would 'trickle down' to the poor!
Another aspect of FIOH that appealed to me was that it was not primarily
a structured organisation and what mattered was that its participants
should try to adopt a lifestyle that reflected values like co-operation,
sharing, fellowship and truth. Different groups and branches could adopt
different structures for practical organisational and legal purposes,
but should encourage their participants to accept the value-based philosophy
of the movement. Of course there are no guarantees that this will happen
in practice because this approach is based on trust.
Since I became the UK co-ordinator of FIOH the efforts I have made to
increase the number of participants have not so far yielded very much
success. A similar experience followed the efforts I made with Richard
Douthwaite to establish a branch of the movement in Ireland. Richard
later wrote several important books on alternative economics including
'The Growth Illusion', 'Short Circuit' and 'The Ecology of Money'. He
also helped to found the increasingly influential 'Foundation
for the Economics of Sustainability'.
I came
to an early conclusion that although the movement's message was initially
aimed at 'affluent' people in the West, the value emphasis had international
relevance. The first interest from the inappropriately named 'third
world' resulted from an article in an internationally distributed magazine,
'The New Internationalist'. From the correspondence I had with individuals
abroad, groups were formed in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Kenya. There are
also womens' co-operatives in Kenya and the Cameroon bearing the FIOH
name. My activities have been strongly influenced by the concepts of
'counteraction' and 'the unfinished' as described in Erik Dammann's
book 'Revolution in the Affluent Society'.
Despite the
disappointments in the UK and Ireland, the registered charities, Future
in Our Hands Education and Development Fund and Plant a Tree in Africa
that I have been able to establish with the help of my wife and some
friends, have supported many sustainable projects in poor countries.
These initiatives have also brought me into contact with individuals
from around the world who have expressed an interest in the movements'
philosophy and provided me with the opportunity to experience the problems
that poor people face at first hand. I visited Sierra Leone (with my
daughter Clare) in 1988 and again in 1992 to help with work in a slum
area named Kroobay in the capital Freetown. I visited again in 2001
in connection with a project
to help people affected by the civil war re-establish farming activities
in Yonibana and Lunsar (90 miles form the capital), but had to return
home after only 2 days because of a threatened rebel attack on the capital.
The cancellation of my outward flight from Heathrow because of an instrument
failure during take off, proved to be fortuitous. Had I left when I
had planned, I would have been in Lunsar at the time of a rebel attack.
In 1998 I visited Kenya in connection with tree planting projects around
Kisumu near Lake Victoria.
During my visit Rom Wandera (co-ordinator
of FIOH Kenya) and I helped women from ten local groups establish a
womens co-operative. We also took the first steps towards establishing
a 21st Century Kisumu Forum (Agenda 21) and organised two meetings at
the local museum to facilitate this.
In 1999 I visited Bamenda and Kumbo in the NW Province of the Cameroon
in connection with a project
to cut down half a million eucalyptus trees which had been lowering
water tables and reducing crop yields. One of the outcomes of this problem
was that many women had to walk up to 15 miles to find new farming areas.
The eucalyptus were to be replaced with indigenous nitrogen-fixing trees
for agro-forestry. I also ran some workshops with the partner NGO, Strategic
Humanitarian Services to introduce the idea of a savings and credit
union co-operative to several womens' groups. During my visit a pilot
nursery for 80,000 tree seedlings was established.
I returned to the area in 2001 with my wife to monitor the main project.
In 1990 my wife and I visited Orissa and Tamil Nadu in India to see
the work of the New Hope Rural Leprosy
Trust and the Rural Integrated Development Organisation. We were
able to see the houses built by the tribals of the Sitheri Hills with
money raised in Swindon during 1987 (the UN International Year of Shelter).
We both visited Orissa again in 2001 to see some of the areas devastated
by a cyclone in the previous year. We were also able to see the considerable
expansion of the work of New Hope which even included the building of
a hospital for surgery on people with leprosy and eye cataracts, including
postnatal care and rehabilitation.
We have also been
privileged to receive many visitors from abroad into our home - from
Guatemala, India, Sierra Leone, Tibet, Pakistan, Kenya, Ghana, Sri Lanka,
Uganda, Zimbabwe and Brazil. In association with our contacts abroad,
we hope to build a web site that will offer some perspectives on the
way poor people live and present practical and hopeful ideas for creating
a better and fairer world for everyone.
