This is the VOA Special English Development Report.
From time to time we examine different organizations involved indevelopment and relief work around the world. This week we tellabout Oxfam. Oxfam is an independent British organization. The groupworks in poor communities with local organizations. It says it triesto find permanent answers to poverty and suffering. It says everyhuman being has the right to self-respect and a chance to succeed.
Oxfam was formed in nineteen-forty-two. The organization was partof an effort in Britain to get food and medical supplies to starvingpeople in Greece. At that time, Nazi Germans occupied the country.Allied forces had ordered a naval blockade in the Mediterranean.Groups formed in Britain to urge the government to let humanitarianaid get through. One of the groups was called the Oxford Committeefor Famine Relief.
After World War Two, Oxfam decided to continue on and extend itsaid to more than just war victims. It saw a need for humanitarianrelief in all parts of the world.
Today, Oxfam has programs in more than seventy developingcountries. It says that in each case, it employs local people whoknow the issues affecting their communities. Oxfam also carries outeducation campaigns and policy work. It says it wants to make suregovernments and international organizations understand the problemsthat face the world’s poor.
Oxfam depends on money from supporters to operate. A committeegoverns the organization with the help of a lower-level group. Themembers of the two committees are not paid. A chief executivesupervises the daily operations of Oxfam.
Over the past fifty years, Oxfam has carried out numerousprojects. It has helped communities to set up schools. Theorganization will pay for building classrooms and for equipment andteacher-training programs. Oxfam has helped communities improvetheir health services and water supplies. And it trains local peopleto teach others in their villages about cleanliness and healthyfoods.
Oxfam says poverty is not a fact of life but instead an injusticethat must be overcome. For more than half a century, it has beenworking alongside other international aid organizations to help makethis happen.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by JillMoss.