Charity begins far from home for children's aid worker

Miss Rebecca Sirrell, aged 36, flew home to Middleton St George this month for a short break from her job as a health education worker with Children's Aid Direct(CAD).

She arrived back to discover that typhoons had left a trail of destruction in her in her absence, in a country which traditionally has hunger months between last year's harvest running out and the autumn crops being gathered in.

"This year's crops have been quite poor," she told the D&S Times. "Winter was colder and lasted for longer and there have been more pests. The rains came late.

"If you get a bad harvest this year it will affect next year. The food is distributed as fairly as possible but this year that stopped in June. So in July and August people have had to find their own food. Some rely on relatives in the country bringing some in."

Her contract with CAD, which aims to give practical help to children and their carers who are affected by conflict, poverty or disaster, started in March this year.

The North Korean Democratic People's Republic was set up in 1948 under Soviet rule, while the US backed South Korea. The anti-Japanese resistance leader, the late Kim Il-sung became president. His son, Kim Jong-Il, is now the country's foremost politician.

The economy has suffered in recent years from the collapse of the USSR and China's growing need for foreign exchange, which has meant a decrease in barter with its traditional partners.

Miss Sirrell is based in Hamhung City, in the mountainous South Hamgyong province, a run-down industrial area with little chance of providing its own food.

"Over the years the country has been hit by typhoons and suffered famine and flood." said Miss Sirrell. "They had an excellent health and education system set up, but now everything is run-down.

"They are a very private, proud people who have been isolated from the West for a long time and you have to work within their system.

"So we have worked through kindergartens, nurseries and orphanages to help the children.

"The climate is extreme, with very cold winters - minus 20C- and hot, humid summers."

Providing materials, seeds and tools for hundreds of greenhouses; units for rabbit breeding and water purifiers have been three of CAD's objectives.

"We have tried to expand on the growing season for their basic crops, such as rice, maize and sweet potatoes. They can now grow cucumbers - not very nutritious, but part of their culture - as well as spinach and other vegetables with dark, green leaves.

"We are also piloting a rabbit production scheme. They are an excellent source of protein and don't compete with the human chain for food.

"Water sanitation systems are breaking down as well. The pipe work is deteriorating and by the time water reaches people it can be contaminated with sewage. We issue portable purification units to schools to treat it on the spot.

"You get a lot of diarrhoea in the summer months and children need basic things like soap, washbowls and drinking cups

"We have a project to make padded jackets and trousers for children under the age of seven, to see them through the bitter winters. We were able to use Korean factories for that and the work is very good.

"It is getting more and more difficult to get fuel for heating and there is now a big problem with deforestation as they cut down trees for that."

The charity - which has spent £78m in ten years on children all over the world - has also provided thousands of blankets; mattresses, items of underwear and rice cookers for baby homes and orphanages.

Miss Sirrell returns home in February, but confesses she is fascinated with the cultures of other countries and is likely to want to work abroad again.

She is a trained psychiatric nurse, who followed in the career footsteps of her parents, Mr Gordon Sirrell, who is clerk to Neasham Parish Council, and his wife, Christine, who is a Middleton St George parish councillor.

They went out to Uganda to work for a couple of years in the 60s and their daughter did the same thing in 1990.

"That was a coincidence. I went out on a VSO scheme for three years, initially to help set up a school of nursing, and stayed on for another two when I became involved in an HIV support programme.

"I was in Kisoro, south-west Uganda about 12km from the Rwanda-Zaire border, now the Congo.

"The UN moved in there in 1993 because the government was supporting rebel forces by bringing arms in."

She arrived the weekend the Rwanda Patriotic Front became active but says: "I always felt quite safe, probably more so there than I would in London. When the massacres started most people moved further into the Congo, although some did come through Kosoro."

She was a clinical instructor, teaching in the school of nursing and training local staff.

"Later I became involved in establishing a clinic to support people who were HIV positive. It is mainly transmitted through sex or blood transfusions.

"Men go to work in the urban areas where it is more prevalent and come back and infect the women. Then, of course, babies can be born HIV positive."

"I got involved initially in counselling. Then we decided to set up a programme of support and community education.

"Clients who were HIV were concerned about what would happen to their children after they died. They wanted a support programme and came up with ideas for raising money.

"They would try to attract audiences, rather than give lectures. They got the crowds along to enjoy traditional music and dance and then tried to educate them.

"They stood up and said 'We are HIV positive'. It was very courageous of them. It is a big stigma."

Some people died relatively soon after discovering they had the deadly virus. They had little access to life saving drugs and poor diet coupled with having to use local wells for water made them more prone to infections.

"They wanted support, not in an orphanage, but for the extended family who would look after their children. They wanted to avoid institutional care. They had ideas and wanted to do something positive to maintain their independence. Our job was helping them put the ideas into practice."

"I left in 1995, otherwise I felt I would have stayed there for ever. Also I needed to do some training to update my own skills."

A Dutch professor took over when she left and since then Ugandan staff have been trained and the project has continued to blossom.

Back in Britain, Miss Sirrell took a course in health promotion and education at Leeds university and went on to work at North Tees hospital at Stockton for a time in health promotion and later in the adult mental health unit.

Then she saw a job advertised in Macedonia with Children's Aid Direct. "But when I went for the interview they said there was also a vacancy in Korea, so I took that."

When she went abroad to Uganda and Korea she was ready to face massive changes in the way people lived. But she admitted: "In some ways I have found it more of a culture shock coming back here. I think the thing I notice most is the amount of waste."