Tale ved ambassaderåd Inger Lisbeth Sørensen
Her kan du lese tale ved ambassaderåd Inger Lisbeth Sørensen på åpningen av det nye barnebygget på ARO senteret.
ARO Development Center, Saturday 11 March 2011:
AMOSO WU DUTO!
It is a great honour to be invited here today on behalf of the Royal Norwegian Embassy, and it is indeed a great pleasure for me to take part in the opening of the new Children Care building here at ARO – the “Sirdal’s Heart for Children” Center! I bring you greetings from the Ambassador of Norway to Kenya, HE Per Ludvig Magnus, who unfortunately could not attend today.
First, let me say a few words about ARO and Arc-Aid, and of the cooperation between communities in Norway and Kenya. Arc-Aid’s work in Kenya is a good illustration of the close ties and the cooperation that have been existing for so many years between our two countries.Arc-Aid is a Norwegian NGO based in Kristiansand, a coastal town in the sunny south of Norway. It is partly funded through NORAD – the Norwegian Development Cooperation Agency – but the main funding is raised locally in the community in Norway and by contributions from different Norwegian foundations and organizations.
In Kenya – Arc-Aid being Arc-Kenya – works to train individuals to promote self-reliance and development in the local community. The aim is to improve health and living standards for people, and as a base for this work they have created ARO, the center where we are today. Children are main targets for their care and program, children being their change agents for building a better future. This region unfortunately has many victims of HIV/AIDS. This and other circumstances, has lead to a large number of orphans, young people needing welfare, love and attention.
A municipality in Norway called Sirdal decided to help Arc-Kenya in their endeavor to care for these children. Sirdal lies inland in the south-west, called the southern gate to the fiords. It is very beautiful, with hills and mountains, and this time of year it is all white, covered by snow, and cold. Sirdal is in fact the main donor to the new centre and the name for it was decided by children in that place in Norway. It shows that Sirdal certainly has a heart for children!
The opening of this centre is testimony of the success of Arc-Aid and its children’s program in Majiwa and the Nyanza region. This is a truly beautiful center, with facilities and program that I am sure will contribute to an easier life for you, by providing care and comfort, food and clothes, and by teaching you “skills for life” such as nutrition and health and your children’s rights.
On Arc-Kenya’s web-page it says that to fulfill our potential for creativity and action we need to cooperate, enhance and strengthen understanding and learning between people in the North and the South. I absolutely agree, and I think that by opening this centre we have made a long step forward towards that goal. So many bright, young faces here today – so much reason to hope for a better future and so many reasons for that hope to succeed!
I am very happy to be part of this, and I know my husband too will tell you the same. We believe that the Sirdals Heart for Children will last for many years to come, and we congratulate Arc-Aid and all those who have contributed to the realization of this center.
On a finishing note I’d like to contribute to the new library which I know you have started here at the center, by leaving you a book by Thor Heyerdahl, the Norwegian explorer. Thor Heyerdahl travelled all the oceans of the world and invented new ways of doing it. He was a very courageous man and very wise, he said: “Borders? I have never seen one, they are only in people’s minds.” So remove the borders – that is the limitations inside you, because without them you can achieve anything you set your mind to do!
Thank you for your attention.
