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Aug 28 2006 - 16:00

Palazzo della Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Trento e Rovereto

W Nairobi e W. Give voice to Africa

Alex Zanotelli and Monica Di Sisto

Moderated by Vincenzo Passerini



The debt owed to Western countries weighs heavily on African populations, depriving millions of people of the resources needed to fight poverty, illiteracy, and health emergencies.

Kenya is not exempt from this situation: in just over twenty years, the population forced to live below the poverty line has increased from 40% to 57% of the total population. Nairobi has more than two hundred slums where over two million people live on less than a dollar a day.

The mission of the W Nairobi W campaign is precisely to achieve the cancellation of Kenya's debt to Italy, by implementing policies in favor of Nairobi's slums with direct interventions in the regulation of international trade, as well as improving the quality of life through the creation of schools and collaboration with local entities.

Alex Zanotelli, a Comboni missionary and the director of Nigrizia, a monthly magazine of the missionary order, has used its pages to denounce the conditions of poverty and exploitation in the Global South. Zanotelli later dedicated himself to a project in Korogocho, one of the slums surrounding Nairobi, Kenya. Since 2000, he has been living in Italy, in the Crescere Insieme community in the impoverished Sanità neighborhood of Naples.

Monica Di Sisto, a professional journalist for over 10 years, focuses on economic issues, solidarity, and social and health policies. She received a significant award for her work at the 2004 ministerial meeting in Cancun. She collaborates with numerous publications and is the creator of [fair]watch, a project dedicated to information and in-depth analysis on environmental issues, social responsibility, and solidarity economies.