Press Release

TwinTownAfrica.com is a new website aiming to recycle household goods to the benefit of developing countries.

There have been many successful appeals recently with bikes sent to Uganda, radios to African countries for educational purposes, sewing machines, tools, computers and much more. Vast quantities of working goods are often dumped or stored collecting dust in the United Kingdom. Goods which could provide someone with an income in the developing world.

www.TwinTownAfrica.com collects and publicises appeals made by UK-based organisations and projects involved in helping the developing world. Appeals can be placed by local aid agencies, VSOs, NGOs, town twinning or school twinning schemes, missionaries, charity shops, etc. These appeals are then compiled with others from their region and distributed to be printed in the relevant local newspaper and council publications.

National aid agencies such as Computer Aid International, professionally refurbish computers and peripherals and sends them to African schools and universities. Moving or house clearing is a time when useful items could end up being dumped. Tools for Self Reliance refurbishes tools and sewing machines and ships them to African countries.

As part of the global awareness curriculum schools up and down the country are linking with schools in the developing world and sending financial and material assistance. Councils are now being encouraged to put the town twinning concept to a better use by forming relationships with councils in Africa or Asia in order to befriend and teach good governance.

The founder of TwinTownAfrica, Julie Napier, said "The starting point for me is to stop wasting and dumping items. In the last decade we've allowed three computers to sit in the garage gathering dust when they could have been donated. I think it's vital we know where to send things and vital we donate goods and money effectively.

A further example, I recently passed a British Red Cross box at the entrance of Tesco, requesting new or used school uniforms - enabling children in the developing world an access to education. This is an excellent example of material aid where someone can spend an extra couple of pounds and immediately make a difference to a child's life. They didn't need to write a cheque, use a credit card, make a phone call. It was possible whilst they were doing their weekly shop, thanks to the cooperation of the local supermarket and the local branch of the Red Cross. This is the kind of thing www.TwinTownAfrica.com aims to publicise.

I was also unaware of the recent Royal Mail appeal for bikes and had already dumped a bike or two due to growing children. I don't think that I would have missed the appeal had it appeared in the local papers. I hope to get www.TwinTownAfrica.com fully up and running in 2008 and hope that all councils and local papers will support the initiative.