African countries respond to call for international solidarity by raising funds for TeleFood

Since it was initiated in 1997, TeleFood has spurred the global solidarity of governments, NGOs, the private sector and civil society around one objective: drawing attention to hunger and raising funds for agricultural projects to help the least privileged.

TeleFood has successfully staged concerts, sports events and other activities to draw upon the influence of the media, celebrities and individuals; more than 70 countries are now involved in this broad movement of international solidarity. This issue focuses on solidarity in Africa while future issues will look at activities in other countries or regions.

First, it is important to stress that in a world in which many countries enjoy unprecedented prosperity, an estimated 2.9 billion people live on less than two dollars a day, including 1.2 billion who barely survive on less than one dollar a day. Africa is the most affected continent, as one African in two lives below this level. So we can only be moved as well as surprised when we see solidarity coming from Benin, Cape Verde, the Gambia, Togo, Tanzania, Liberia, Madagascar, Senegal, Chad, Guinea and Equatorial Guinea.

This year, a book fair was organized in Mindelo, on the island of Sao Vicente in Cape Verde, with 10 percent of its proceeds destined for TeleFood. Funds were also raised in places of business and in the country's airports.

Music was again the medium for solidarity in Equatorial Guinea where, between an agricultural fair and a football match, a hugely successful concert raised funds for TeleFood. There were also concerts in Liberia and Gambia, and a fund-raising gala evening in Chad.

TeleFood convoys criss-crossed Togo and Guinea to mobilize local generosity towards people suffering from hunger. It is thus also thanks to African funds that small projects will be able to assist poor families throughout the world and enable them to produce more food. Let us not forget that TeleFood has already funded more than 1 850 projects in 125 countries.

According to the famous British anthropologist, Professor Louis Leakey, the cradle of humanity lies in black Africa, near Lake Turkana in Kenya. Black Africa has already triumphed in the West, especially in Europe, with its growing cultural presence in literature, music and dance and its achievements in sports…our challenge now is from African solidarity.