Tools for Solidarity

national | environment | event notice Monday September 06, 2004 17:40 by Hamish Arrowsmith - Tools for Solidarity tools.belfast at virgin dot net Unit 1B1, edenderry industrial est, 326, Crumlin Rd, Belfast 028 90747473

20TH BIRTHDAY OF SENDING REFURBISHED TOOLS TO AFRICA AS AN ACT OF SOLIDARITY

On Saturday 11 September, Tools For Solidarity (TFS), a non-profit making development organisation, celebrates 20 years of collecting & refurbishing hand tools & sewing machines and sending them to skilled tradespeople in Africa as an act of solidarity.

The event will take place at their workshop, Unit1B1, Edenderry industrial estate, 326, Crumlin Rd, Belfast

We are hosting 2 guests from our partner organisation in Tanzania. They are Isidori Kiyenze, the technical programme manger of SIDO (Small Industries Development Organisation) and Job Msimanje, blacksmith trainer for SIDO. TFS works with indigenous locally run partner organisations like SIDO which evaluate and assess groups of tradespeople in need of tools on behalf of TFS.

PRESS RELEASE



20TH BIRTHDAY OF SENDING REFURBISHED TOOLS TO AFRICA AS AN ACT OF SOLIDARITY

On Saturday 11 September, Tools For Solidarity (TFS), a non-profit making development organisation, celebrates 20 years of collecting & refurbishing hand tools & sewing machines and sending them to skilled tradespeople in Africa as an act of solidarity.

The event will take place at their workshop, Unit1B1, Edenderry industrial estate, 326, Crumlin Rd, Belfast

We are hosting 2 guests from our partner organisation in Tanzania. They are Isidori Kiyenze, the technical programme manger of SIDO (Small Industries Development Organisation) and Job Msimanje, blacksmith trainer for SIDO. TFS works with indigenous locally run partner organisations like SIDO which evaluate and assess groups of tradespeople in need of tools on behalf of TFS.

At 12 am there will be exhibitions & photos of TFS history, a timeline mural, videos, tours of the workshop & the launch of TFS website:- www.toolsforsolidarity.org.uk

At 1pm there will be a buffet lunch.

At 2pm there will be speeches from our Tanzanians & other European tool sending organisations. One minute’s silence in memory of Betty Wood (TFS volunteer) & Joseph Mashinji (Tanzanian blacksmith)

At 3pm cutting the cake, then at 3.30pm, “It’s a knockout” tournament. Light hearted fun & frolics.

At 8pm–Music & comedy at the Crescent Arts Centre, University Rd with
Talking Drums (from Zimbabwe & Ireland), Engine W. Fader, (local Belfast band), Tim McGarry (‘Da’ from the Hole in the Wall gang), Bar until 1am & disco with Terry Hooley until 3am.


Further information from: Hamish Arrowsmith, Tools For Solidarity
tel 90747473 or tools.Belfast@virgin.net

Notes to picture editor:- There will be a photo opportunity at the TFS workshop between 1pm – 2pm with the refurbished tools and sewing machines and the representatives of our African partner organisations.

Enclosure
Celebrating TFS

You can’t address poverty without addressing the poor. You have to deal with them…and the people in the villages want tools. They’ll need millions of hammers.
Julius Nyerere, Former President of Tanzania

In twenty years TFS has developed from two volunteers doing weekly door-to-door tool collections to operating two full time workshops with 10 full time and 40 part time volunteers.

Over 100,000 tools and 1000 sewing machines have been collected from all over Ireland and the Isle of Man.

TFS has shipped out more than 25,000 high quality refurbished hand tools and 300 sewing machines to groups in Nicaragua, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda. Local organisations supported include disabled village projects, women’s groups, blacksmithing co-operatives, vocational training schools and youth economic groups. With tools in their hands groups have been able to take on more people, generate more income and produce a wider range of items. This benefits not only the individuals involved but also their families and the wider community. This is a real grassroots, bottom up approach to sustainable development.

TFS has received numerous environmental credits and was the first group in Ireland to receive the prestigious Schumacher Ireland Award.

The work of TFS is not solely about providing assistance to people in the Third World. TFS is committed to raising awareness of the issues of sustainable development; waste, over consumption and social, economic and political injustice. We have given presentations to hundreds of different groups throughout Ireland ranging from primary and secondary schools to community groups and statutory agencies.

One of the main reasons TFS opened its full time workshop in Belfast was to provide people with disabilities and with learning difficulties the opportunity to get involved in our work. We believe that our work is empowering, giving people the chance to get involved directly in real solidarity, to undertake work that has real meaning at many different levels, to learn new skills and to feel part of a movement working for change. TFS continues to work with a range of organizations assisting people with learning difficulties.

What TFS is celebrating most of all are the people who work towards change, who give their time and energy to advancing a humane value system and to those whose lives are full of hardship but whose spirit acts as in inspiration to us all.