It’s hard to believe, but today ActionAid celebrates its fortieth birthday!
We’ve been out there fighting poverty since 1972, and the world’s changed almost as much as we have since then. We started out in a cramped office in Oxford Street in London, with just 88 supporters sponsoring 88 individual children in Kenya and India. Today, we have 450,000 supporters around the world, and our work reaches 15 million people across 43 countries every single year.
But statistics can only get you so far – what really makes ActionAid special is people’s stories, whether they’re the people whose lives we aim to change through our work, the amazing supporters who make that possible, or the dedication of our staff around the world.
Kimani Ng'ang'a, who we helped to go to school for the first time at the age of 85, fruit farm worker Gertruida Baartman lobbying Tesco at their AGM and Noerine Kaleeba, who lost her husband to AIDS and went on to found an organisation that now helps 100,000 people cope with AIDS every year.
These are just some of the people whose stories we’ve told over the years, so please take a look at the exhibition and help us celebrate our 40th birthday by sharing it with your friends.
You know what they say - life begins at forty!
PS: If you'd like to give us a present, click here! ;-)
