SOLIDARITY AND SUBSIDIARITY. PDG Franco Marchesani - MD 108 Italy

Transcription

1 SOLIDARITY AND SUBSIDIARITY PDG Franco Marchesani - MD 108 Italy 1

2 INTRODUCTION Given the difficult global economic situation, today fundraising for services is extremely hard 2

3 LCIF offers priceless support, but often difficulties arises when there s need to find funds for cases not defined by the LCIF or for services with a relatively small extent, but which can create problems for Clubs. 3

4 A practical enforcement of the concept of subsidiarity can help finding a contact point between beneficiaries and possible service providers without any expense by the Clubs. 4

5 There s an ongoing service using this method, which involves putting in touch a small African (from Burkina Faso) women s community that produces shea tree s (Karité) butter, with an Italian cosmetics company. 5

6 YELEN COMMUNITY 6

7 The Association Yelen (We for you) was created with support from the Community of Missionary Nuns of the Immaculate Regina Pacis, located in the neighborhood of Kuinima Kura, on the outskirt of Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso, since 1999, in order to make local women aware of the most urgent needs of the area, such as feeding children from the most pauper families, orphaned by AIDS. 7

8 Purpose of the Yelen community Give relief to many widowed (mainly because of AIDS) or abandoned women who need to provide the most basic necessities for their families 8

9 They have thought about the most easily available local resource: shea tree, which is the basic ingredient for food preparation and can be used in many other different way, mainly in cosmetics manufacturing. This way they wanted to offer dignity and bread to their less fortunate sisters. 9

10 This activity has started in the courtyard of one of them, after having received technical training offered by a local project to stimulate agricultural and food micro-enterprises. 10

11 Little by litte the undertaking has gained size, thanks also to the good quality of the product. In addition to the butter that is offered as food to the poorest families, it is marketed also outside Bobo- Dioulasso, including the share related to cosmetics production. 11

12 Day by day, the group organized their work in a better way, finding their own premises and new equipment, thanks to aid they received, namely a small electric mill for nut crashing as well as a kneader. 12

13 They expect to consolidate the group s motivation and work capacities, as well as gain more tools for their work, such as a gas burner of a good size to replace wood fires, in order to guarantee hygiene more and more. 13

14 All this aims at providing for the most urgent food needs as well as offering dignity and work to the weakest, but, at the same time, most reliable class of population in the neighborhood, to promote skill, energy, positive attitudes for the common good. 14

15 Shea tree butter s production phases. 15

16 The Shea tree 16

17 The nuts are picked out 17

18 The nuts are ground to a paste 18

19 The paste is mixed with cold water; it's then whisked to obtain the raw product 19

20 The butter is melted in aluminium pots 20

21 The melted butter is filtered for two successive days 21

22 The paste is washed repeatedly 22

23 The final product 23

24 The butter is packed in sealed bags by machine 24

25 For Ladies... beauty 25

26 The Yelen s Board (and, at the same time, Staff ) 26

27 The Service: From Burkina Faso to Italy At the beginning, problems were caused by logistical difficulties and costs of transportation of the raw materials to the factories, locally or, hopefully, abroad. 27

28 The gap was closed by a non-lions friend who got acquainted with the problem and spontaneously offered to transport the materials for free, so that the first 100 kilos of butter reached Europe, and, in particular, a cosmetics factory willing to buy it, in northern Italy. 28

29 The path of the butter 29

30 Such an operation is within the goals of Lionism and also helps cementing relationships between the international and local communities. 30

31 RECOMMENDATION Considering today s needs, we ask the Lions European Council to focus on the ways of subsidiarity, recommending to MDs, Ds, Clubs Undistricted and Leo Clubs to resort as much as possible to this path, which is often not taken into due consideration. 31