When Bristolian Vashti Seth heard that her father was dying in Australia she packed in her job, rented out her home and flew out to spend her time with him during his last months.
He passed away within a few weeks of her arrival and left her £2000 in his will with his wish that she made good use of it in helping others. She started a charity, DEKI, which has gone on to transform the lives of over 40,000 women and their families in Togo, sub-Saharan Africa.
Deki, the charity is named after an Indian girl that Vashti had supported for some while, was established with a vision for 'opportunity, not poverty', and Dekis' mission is to improve the lives of the women in this territory. They are living terribly hard lives without respect from their menfolk, and in extreme poverty due to lack of finance, clean water, family planning advice and lack of knowledge about growing their own food.
Vashti, using her inheritance, quickly established an ethical long term low interest person to person micro-finance charity, ( similar to Lend with Care), which enables people in developing countries to work their way out of poverty. By offering very cheap finance and providing education and guideance the womenfolk are soon able to grow fruit, vegetables, chickens and eggs. They should eventually even have surpluses which can be sold at market enabling them to repay their initial loan.
It is a common sight to see women walking long distances carrying huge vessels of dirty brown water on their heads for the family to drink, cook and wash in. Some years ago a major charity drilled boreholes and installed a pump in most villages. They then walked away moving on to the next village to repeat the operation. Most of these facilitiies no longer function as the villagers were not educated as to how to maintain them. Deki has commenced restoring service to these life-lines and are doing so at a fraction of the cost of replacing them. In those villages where Deki has overhauled the equipment and educated the local people on how to maintain them, the women no longer have to spend hours each day in the onerous task of supplying the filthy water which has most probably caused so many families sickness and, all too frequently, death.
Family planning is an important issue as too many of the women are having to support very large familes. By educating and providing care and pregnancy protection they are starting to bring the birthrate undercontrol.
Agricultural cooperatives are being set up by small groups of 'gardeners' who can then plan, purchase seed and fertilisers and produce food more efficiently and economically.
The charity is also providing basic healthcare and education to help improve their quality of life and enable them to raise themselves out of the impoverished conditions they endure.
Deki, now working in conjunction with partner groups, is a fine example in demonstrating how relatively modest sums in the right hands can work wonders for many thousands of impoverished peoples.
President Michael thanks Vashti for a giving us a wonderful insight into just how a relatively small charity with limited resources can do so much for so many .