Seventy years ago charitable Americans sent Christmas food parcels and emergency supplies to a Britain devastated by war. Today the charity that organised the parcels, Care International, is calling on the British public to help with its latest Christmas campaign – and has revealed a remarkable archive of pictures, unseen for more than half a century, of the Hollywood greats who backed its campaigns in the 1940s and 1950s.
Care International was founded on 27 November 1945 to send “Care packages” to millions of people, not just in Britain but across Europe, in danger of starvation following the second world war.
Josephine Broughton, a spokeswoman for Care International’s UK arm, told Guardian Money that in researching its history ahead of its 70th birthday the charity had unearthed some striking publicity photos of Marlon Brando, Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Ronald Reagan and Marlene Dietrich.
Britain received its last Care packages in 1955 before the organisation expanded its remit in the 1960s to set up pioneering healthcare schemes. In the 1970s it responded to massive famines in Africa. Currently, it works in 75 poor and developing countries and is playing a key role in assisting in the refugee crisis – it is helping families in urgent need in Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Serbia.
Now Care International is giving people the chance to treat their loved ones to an ethical Christmas gift that’s a little bit different: a voucher that can help an entrepreneur in the developing world who is trying to build a better life for themselves – and this year it is offering the opportunity to transform two lives for the price of one.
The vouchers, which Money first featured in 2011, are offered by the charity’s microfinance website Lendwithcare, and allow Britons to lend relatively small sums to people overseas. When you buy someone a Lendwithcare gift voucher they have to go online and choose an individual in one of 11 countries that they are going to lend the money to. It might be a rickshaw driver in Pakistan, a chicken breeder in Ecuador or a farmer in Vietnam. The entrepreneur will use the loan to start or expand their small business, thereby helping them feed their family and send their children to school. This year the charity is running a buy one, get one free offer whereby if you buy a gift voucher you will also get another £15 voucher free.
The gift vouchers are available in various amounts from £15 upwards and can be emailed to the recipient or printed out and tucked inside a Christmas card. Some of those who received a voucher last Christmas told the charity that it was one of their favourite gifts “because it gets the whole family gathered around the computer to pick an entrepreneur to help,” says Broughton.
The 11 countries represented are Togo, Benin, Cambodia, Vietnam, Ecuador, Pakistan, Philippines, Malawi, Zambia and – the two most recent additions – Zimbabwe and Rwanda.
Remember that the gift vouchers are loans, not handouts; the money is paid back in instalments over anything from four to 36 months (each entrepreneur has a set repayment schedule). When the loan is repaid the voucher recipient can then choose to reinvest in another entrepreneur, or even withdraw the money. Care International UK says most people choose to recycle the money to another individual, which means this really is a gift that keeps on giving.
The amounts being sought vary hugely. Muhammad Haneef, for example, is a traditional men’s barber offering haircuts and shaves from his shop in the city of Kasur, Pakistan, and is seeking a loan of £142 to buy new chairs, equipment and lotions. Others, such as Sokunthea Hun, a cassava farmer in Doun Ba, Cambodia, are requesting larger sums: she is seeking £1,349 to invest in her farm and buy items such as insecticide.
Many of the entrepreneurs are women. Some have been widowed and are carrying on running the family enterprise or setting up a new business, and there are several groups of women seeking loans, such as the 24-strong Timeke group based in Lundazi, Zambia, whose members try to make money by selling vegetables, clothes, meat and beans. In fact, 56% of Lendwithcare’s loans are to women.
Lendwithcare says the default rate is virtually zero. To date, only 10 loans have been defaulted on. In the case of five of these the individuals died, and the other five were made to groups in Malawi who lost their businesses or incurred difficulties because of severe floods. In such circumstances Lendwithcare writes off the loan.
• The kindness of strangers: Care International’s postwar packages – in pictures
From goats to gloves
The Christmas charity goat, the quirky gift that first captured the public imagination a decade ago, has spawned an array of ethical presents aimed at those looking for something that will help make a difference to, or even transform, people’s lives.
This year’s crop of charity gifts include several that provide vital supplies to Syrian children who have been displaced by conflict. For example, Unicef’s UK website is offering warm hats and gloves for four Syrian children (£12) or medical check-ups for 10 Syrian youngsters (£25).
Some of the quirkiest charity gifts can be found on the Good Gifts website run by the Charities Advisory Trust. Here, you can buy a medical “sniffer rat” that can diagnose tuberculosis in Tanzania (£15), a worm composting kit for African farmers (£8), or £10 worth of prize bull semen so that subsistence farmers in Africa can have healthier cattle.
You can still buy a goat – or one of a range of other animals. Present Aid, a website that supports the work of Christian Aid, is offering a whole farmyard full, including a chicken (£4), sheep (£10) or nanny goat (£22).
With some of the websites, including Present Aid, the money will go towards relevant projects rather than actually being used to buy that animal. However, Good Gifts – which also offers animals such as cows (£100), goats (£24), pigs (£25) and donkeys (£135) – gives a guarantee that your money buys the gift described.
• This year’s Guardian and Observer charity appeal is in support of refugees across the world. We have partnered with six charities making vital contributions to the refugee relief and support efforts across the globe who we are confident will put your money to good use. For more information go to guardian.charitiestrust.org
