A bad crisis is affecting the entire world, worsening everywhere the already unbearable situations of poverty and suffering. It carries even more serious risks that get closer and closer to our countries too. For this reason Trafiltubi aims to give its own contribution in supporting the people who live in hard situations, so much worse than ours, in the belief that a more widespread wellbeing could be advantageous for everyone. In particular, we decided to fund programmes in aid of those women who live in very disadvantaged areas, promoting the improvement of their hygienic conditions and self-determination; in this way, their economical and moral development could become the source of a widespread social improvement, starting from the country where they live. Thus, Trafiltubi supports educational programmes for little girls, social programmes of microeconomics for women, as well as programmes of health care: since 2008 we have been active in India and since 2011 in Africa. We promote development programmes together with locally operating NGOs, through projects whose different phases are under the supervision of workers whose transparency and efficacy we personally can vouch for, and who maintain continuous relationships of conversation and collaboration with us. The Italian referent personally provides the resources in loco and is responsible for their management.
2015 - 2016
2014
In 2014, a serious epidemic of Ebola has affected in few months 4 African states, counting some cases of infection also in the USA and Europe. This was a health emergency that was stopped thanks to the brave undertaking of doctors who acted among serious difficulties. Through a direct relationship with volunteers who collaborated to the project, and who were coming from the Ospedale San Gerardo in Monza, for the Ebola Healthing Center in Sierra Leone, Trafiltubi funded the purchase of 10 intensive therapy beds. This kind of device is less available in Africa because of its cost, but it is also essential to facing such a debilitating and contagious disease, that forces healthcare professionals to undertake particularly complex conditions for intervention.
Trafiltubi’s commitment to 3 African projects, that had already started in previous years, remains active: the production of shea butter, the farming cooperative and lastly, the healthcare project for the prevention and treatment of women’s health.
2013
After the positive results achieved in the field of healthcare and business promotion, we have continued our support to projects in collaboration with the NGO Smomonlus .
2012
As planned in 2011, after the realization of the tomato preserves activity, in 2012 we decided to enhance the shea resource, and thanks to the growing trust women had developed in their own skills, a new activity for the production of high quality natural soap started, using the precious vegetable butter called also “the gold of women”. Since the end of 2012 these products are being imported into Italy, too.
Still in 2012, Trafiltubi launched a heathcare project for prevention. It joins the international campaign aimed to urge the UN to definitely ban the serious issue of female genital mutilation, a problem that causes huge pains to millions of women and little girls and that is still hard to eradicate today, although most countries have forbidden it. The project concretely results in the realization of a clinic to treat the frequent infections caused by these practises, providing also education and prevention. It is managed in collaboration with the NGO Smomonlus in Burkina Faso, a country where approximately 80% of little girls are still victims of mutilation today, even though this practice has theoretically been forbidden.
2011
In 2011 Trafiltubi took part, together with other sponsors, in a socio-economic project aimed at the creation of a farming cooperative, managed by women, that produces and transforms farming products into preserves and then sells them in loco. The project had been under development for three years: finally, in 2011 the production and the sale of tomato preserves started (until then, Burkina Faso and other African countries would import this food from China and Europe)
In the following years the production of derivatives from shea butter, called in Africa the “gold of women” also started.
2010
In the same operating area of 2009, the Khrishna District (Andhra Pradesh, India), in 2010 Trafiltubi supported the launch of 10 sartorial activities addressed to as many poor women. It has also promoted triennial programmes to sustain and support the education of 10 little girls.
2009
In 2009, Trafiltubi funded the realization of 10 small shops, each directed by two women, to support 20 families. Women managing this kind of shop can earn money for self-maintenance and often also create resources to reinvest; within such contexts, indeed, this kind of business allows to save up to 50% of income. The other inhabitants of the village enjoy a service with time and economic savings.
In the two-year period 2009-2010, Trafiltubi has sponsored a very articulated project in the rural areas of Mudinapalli District (India). The aim is to promote women’s education and self-determination, allowing those who are extremely poor to earn income and achieve economic autonomy through the creation of small businesses.
Location of the Project, Italian Partner and warranties:
Krishna District (Andhra Pradesh, India). The programme promoted by Trafiltubi is carried out together with the association "Mano nella Mano - onlus" Onlus Registry Number IPS070314007 CF 90040530470.
The local partner is the Social Service Centre, Diocese of Vijayawada (SSC Gunadala, Vijayawada - A.P.), which is entitled to get in touch with women living in conditions of misery, mostly illiterate, oppressed, and with no power to take decisions autonomously. The SSC promotes training aimed at educating little girls and at making these women aware of their rights and skills, suggesting different ways to get income and become independent.
Andhra Pradesh, in the Bengal Gulf, is one of the poorest Indian States, the one most affected with leprosy, AIDS and illiteracy as well as one of the most subject to natural and human catastrophe. Its coast is hit by frequent hurricanes and buildings and villages are in a condition of widespread degradation, so much so that in 2009 only 52 out of 1038 anti-cyclone shelters were at people’s disposal (we do not possess data referring to 2010). Floods alternate to drought; wrong farming practises caused desertification in some areas, while the excessive production of shrimps through aquaculture, increased since the nineties, has modified many coastal areas into no longer farmable saline lands. The ground, now only rich in salt-water, forces women and children to walk for hours covering long distances looking for drinking water, while animals must be put out to pasture further and further. Devastated by such difficulties, many families move to the shantytowns outside the cities; women often going as far as prostituting themselves to survive. Consequences are tragic, as Andrha Pradesh is the second Indian state for HIV infections. These communities lack information about the imminent disasters and the existence of anti-hurricanes shelters, but also about the reason why agriculture collapses, about the value and shortage of mangroves (which used to protect from nature’s fury), about the appropriate ways to recover after the frequent catastrophes that cause huge disasters to nourishment and health. A direct consequence is the continuous growth of the debts abyss, while since infancy children are forced to hard work in order to increase the scanty resources of their families. Local authorities, advocates of aquaculture, when the industry collapsed were not able to assist the villages that had gone broke. After the Tsunami, many local NGOs and international benefactors supplied food and clothes, but the situation of persistent desperation of the population damaged by aquaculture did not improve. Every farmer should have more or less 5 acres of reclined worn-out land, which could become again cultivable only after a desalinization process; despite this, authorities do not care about this reconversion, which could give new fertility to the ground.
Trafiltubi for solidarity: the choice of the project
Trafiltubi is involved in directly and indirectly monitoring every single project, not only before its launch but also during the progress, in order to verify the actiities and the results. Other than children, the most affected victims are women. Often they have to carry the heavy burden of families’ maintenance; despite this, weighed down by jobs and reproductive roles even in disastrous circumstances, they come constantly penalized by religious beliefs and taboos limiting their freedom. Deprived of any decisional freedom, women are subject to domestic violence and social abuses: for instance, the lack of latrines and water causes them the biggest discomfort, because local taboos allow them to leave the house to use toilets only before dawn or after sunset. On the other hand, women have the largest responsibilities towards children and the community; those who best conform, face these disasters with the patience of infinite micro activities supported by reciprocal solidarity. Under these circumstances, it is increasingly obvious that the help addressed to the most disadvantaged women is the one that produces the most fruits for the whole community.
