Reaching out to friends in Africa from Hay on Wye (From Hereford Times)

Reaching out to friends in Africa from Hay on Wye

8:00am Sunday 14th February 2010 in

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The days when a twinning committee meant a pork-pie buffet and a mayoral photo opportunity are long gone, according to people in Hay-on-Wye. The border town gained national headlines from the start when it won a national competition to be paired with Timbuktu. Four years on, the link has continued to attract praise from esteemed sources – this week coming in the form of an award from the United Nations. But Hereford Times reporter JESS CHILDS has discovered that the real reward from the link is how the people of Hay and West Africa have changed one another’s lives for the better.

“WHAT gets you a star is if your whole community is behind you in both countries,” says Hay-on-Wye GP Dr Julie Grigg, “It’s not just the setting up of the twinning, it’s what’s been achieved.”

She is talking about two United Nations Gold Star Communities Awards that Hay and Timbuktu have just received via the Welsh Assembly Government’s Wales for Africa scheme for the monumental changes made since their union began.

Evidently, we are not talking about raising money for a commemorative statue or providing new playground equipment here.

This is about antenatal clinic attendance in Timbuktu almost tripling in the last 12 months, hungry children being fed through a market garden and a trade agreement between Welsh and African artisans bringing sustainable income to Taureg craftsmen currently hit by tourism issues.

Aside from this you have the BBC filming Gwernyfed High School pupils in the region and subsequently appearing at the world famous Hay Literary Festival, and a graduate winning four medical school interviews through her involvement with the scheme where she had previously been unsuccessful.

So how does a traditional twinning venture come to be a clearly acclaimed charitable organisation driven only by the voluntary determination of a small-town population?

Dr Grigg, who confirmed the antenatal project will run for another three years following a recent visit to evaluate its success, says the continued dedication is down to the benefits of each community learning from the other.

“The organisation of their health system is incredible and a lot is achieved with a few resources,”

she said.

“Our Hay doctors have learned a lot about the importance of population education to ensure the success of initiatives.”

It’s a stance Chris Armstrong, who sells Malian jewellery at a town gallery as part of Jump4Timbuktu, backs up.

“There are these trade projects and health projects which are trying to boost the economy, but the cultural challenge and understanding is what is most important,”

he added.

“The whole schools thing is really exciting. A lot of people knew a lot more about the twinning after that was shown on TV.”

To date around five of the complex journeys Timbuktu is famed for demanding have been made by more than 20 locals so that educational, medical and trade relations could begin. Now they are established, so can the next phase.

This is likely to involve communication between Hay vets and African ones, a local string quartet studying the guitar-like Kora with Malian musicians and youngsters at Clifford, Fynnon Gynydd and Hay Primary Schools learning about Fairtrade ethics.

So, despite its novel beginnings - when posters in the town excitedly screamed “It’s Twins!” - there is clearly nothing pie in the sky about this twinning effort.

“This is not something dished out to any community in Wales,” Mr Armstrong explained.

“The communities of Hay and Timbuktu have earned recognition.”

Timbuktu twinning facts.

■ Hay2Timbuktu, Medics4Timbuktu, TextBooks2Timbuktu and Jump4Timbuktu all operate under an umbrella organisation run by the town council.

Medics4 oversees health projects, TextBooks runs links between schools and Jump4 spearheads trade schemes.

■ Since it began a year ago the number of women in the West African district having a trained birth attendant has jumped from 40 per cent to 58 per cent under an antenatal care project set up by Hay doctors.

■ Just five communities in Wales will receive one of the second ever Gold Star Community Awards when they are handed out in Cardiff on St David's Day, with Hay being one of them. The award goes to the town, not the initiative.

Medics4Timbuktu sucessfully applied for a health award and Jump4Timbuktu applied for and received a livelihood star.

■ More information on the twinning is available at hay2timbuktu.org.