Oxfam America

OXFAMExchange Fall 2009

csoares — 2010-05-17T16:33:10Z

Part of our role at Oxfam is to look hard at the face of poverty presented to the American public. Many of us were raised on images of hungry children with bellies distended by malnutrition, their eyes vast, hands extended. This was, we were told, the face of hunger.

But a hungry child exists in a larger context: if we nourish communities, they can nourish their own children.

The woman on our cover, Fatou Doumbia, and other women in her village in Mali, pooled their resources last year. They set aside nearly a ton of millet as a defense against the hunger they’d seen as food prices spiked. Hers is another face of hunger: determined, resourceful.

After the last harvest, Oxfam reached out to supporters to respond to the food crisis. We’ve devoted much of this issue to looking at what communities have done to avoid the kinds of hardships they confronted. When people living in poverty are hit by a food crisis or natural disaster, they lack resources to tide them over.

Oxfam works to help people build their resilience. Let respect and hope fuel your efforts to support women like Doumbia.

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OXFAMExchange Fall 2005

lmcfarlane — 2009-04-30T19:32:57Z

For some people in the developing world, the chance to overcome poverty takes the form of pipes and pumps to irrigate fields. For others, it's the savings group that allows them to put aside income for bigger goals and to borrow money when they need it. It's electricity and a freezer. It's learning to read and write. It's a chance to sell cotton or corn at a profit.

The stories that follow testify to the fact that aid can be used effectively—in Africa and beyond. By investing directly in people, by helping them gain access to education, credit, and natural resources, by challenging the policies that perpetuate poverty, Oxfam puts the systems in place that can end poverty. Without this work—and your support—people remain hungry, poor, and lacking meaningful ways to change their lives.

Together, we have the chance to make that change.

OXFAMExchange Winter 2003

mborum — 2009-04-30T20:38:40Z

Her Excellency Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland from 1990-97, served as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 to 2002. Widely recognized as one of the world’s most eloquent and courageous defenders of human rights, she was recently appointed Honorary President of Oxfam International. As High Commissioner, Mary Robinson pursued accountability for violations of economic and social rights, as well as civil and political rights. Her term helped increase the visibility of human rights violations associated with the spread of HIV/AIDS and helped highlight the connection between institutionalized discrimination and poverty. She is now Director of the Ethical Globalization Initiative based in New York City. In this issue of EXCHANGE, we reproduce the remarks given by Ms. Robinson on Human Rights Day in Moscow, Russia.

Also in this issue, working together to save the family farm, the power of reading empowers women in The Gambia, and updates on Oxfam's work in Bolivia and in eastern and southern Africa.