For the Blue Peter Stampede Viewers sent in over 900-million used postage stamps to raise money for the rehabilitation of hundreds of victims of the north-east Ethiopian drought and famine. Oxen, ploughs and seeds enabled refugees from Kombolcha Camp to return to their village of Dinser, and an irrigation scheme in the Danikil Desert was constructed by nomadic Afar tribesmen. The experience proved invaluable for aid agencies dealing with the later crisis in the south-east of the country. report by Tony Hall, OXFAM/Blue Peter March 1974 Until oxen and villagers could finally be brought together, we had to be active in two places: 1. From Kombolcha , gathering the resources 2. In Dinser, working out where and to whom they should go, and arranging to distribute them. For the second purpose I have been into Dinser eight times, and will be going again, I could not have done it properly without the voluntary help of Ato Bekele Wegayehu , who has been in with me on most occasions
Left wing commentary from the heart and the head