Each SVP Region in Ireland is twinned with a country or part of a country in Africa. The Cork Region is twinned with Nigeria East and the South East Region is twinned with Nigeria West. The mission of the Twinning Strategy is to support the SVP in their twinned country.
One of the great advantages in helping Developing Countries via the Society is that we know the people with whom we are dealing. Communicating with the SVP in Nigeria, particularly via the National President offers us a great opportunity to offer direct support. We know that Blessed Frederic Ozanam’s mission was to alleviate poverty on as wide a scale as possible. The Twinning Strategy provides an opportunity to further this mission. The poverty experienced in Developing Countries is on a scale that is hard to imagine. Over 20% of the population of the world lives on less than $1 per day. Over 1 billion do not have access to clean water.
Help given by the Cork Region included grants for Conference work, Prison Visitation and Disaster Relief. It was decided that a team from Cork would go out to look at viable projects to fund. After over a year of discussion and planning, the Twinning Teams from the Cork and South-East Regions left for Lagos, Nigeria on the 9th February 2008.
The main purpose of undertaking this visit was to
- Consolidate the Vincentian Friendship between the members in our Regions and the members in Nigeria.
- See the work of the Society in Nigeria and convince the members in the Regions as to why we should be supporting the work of our brothers in Nigeria.
- Look at viable projects which are in progress in Nigeria and see which can be supported by the Region.
Just like the SVP in Ireland, the biggest concern for the SVP in Nigeria is lack of funds. Very few Conferences have church gate collections and there are no other fund-raising systems in place. Conferences may have some benefactors which help fund the Conference. Another source of income may be the running of a small project to generate profits for the Conference.
The work they do was truly impressive and inspiring. In home visitation, they visit the poorest people in their community. To become an adoptee of the Society, the person must have no other source of income whatsoever. One of the major problems observed in Nigeria was the lack of state supports. Because of poor leadership at Government level, there are no State schools, State hospitals, or social welfare systems. The infrastructure is extremely poor; there is no water mains system in the rural areas. Electricity comes and goes; the roads are very unsafe.
Nigeria is a pitifully poor country despite its great wealth in oil reserves. The vast majority of people live on less than $1 per day. The population of Nigeria East is overwhelmingly Catholic and the SVP works closely with the priests in each parish and the bishops of the dioceses. The work of the members genuinely saves lives. Most of the people we met were poor themselves yet extremely giving within their own communities.
After visiting the Conferences and projects the team met with the officers of the National Council to discuss the allocation of funds.
“The help that we can give them is no more than a drop in the ocean. However for some people this is quite genuinely the difference between life and death” - Cork Twinning Officer.
Even a donation of just a couple of hundred euros can help sustain a small farming project into the future.
“It is great to know that the legacy of Blessed Frederic Ozanam lives on all over the world and continues to help the poorest in our communities” - Cork Twinning Officer .