Deacon Blue frontman Ricky Ross has launched the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund’s (SCIAF) annual Lent appeal.
The Wee Box Big Change campaign asks people across Scotland to donate their spare change in a SCIAF box in the run up to Easter.
The money raised will be used to fund a range of projects in some of the world’s poorest countries.
Ross, the voice behind 80s hit Dignity, has recently visited Zambia, where SCIAF funds have contributed to new sustainable farming programs to ensure that families are able to grow enough food to feed themselves.
He said: “We were there during the rainy season and it does look beautiful, but in a few months time people were telling us this will be very dusty, and the rain of course may not come during the rainy season. People’s lives here are very delicate.”
Despite the fragile existence of those he encountered in Zambia Ross found much in common between them and people back home.
He added: “We were out in a village and we saw how little people had there. Then we’re aware that they were making us a chicken supper, this was a big thing, they don’t kill chickens every day, it’s a luxury, and they were feeding us.
That generosity is my experience of people the world over, and it’s my experience of people in Scotland. Poor people in Scotland will want to get involved and will see people in Zambia as their neighbour.”
SCIAF’s director Alistair Dutton agreed with Ross’s assessment, saying: “Everywhere I go people are incredibly generous and very forthcoming with their generosity.
That’s perhaps a bit different from what you’d see down in England and Wales. I’m English, but I’m up here now and the average giving up here per capita is higher than the UK as a whole.”
Anyone wishing to find out more about the appeal or to donate can do so here.
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