June Sarpong chairs a debate on Africa

Hilary Aked reports on a debate with a difference at Oxford Union.

June Sarpong in Ghana A Ghanaian farmer explains rice cultivation to June Our 'I love subsidies' e-card

As a student I’d previously associated June Sarpong with watching T4 slightly hungover at the weekend and nothing more, but finding out that she was coming to chair a discussion on Africa at the Oxford Union made me promote her high above Vernon Kay in the Saturday morning television presenter stakes.

Some people enjoy making snide remarks about celebrities jumping on the Live8 bandwagon but this clearly wasn’t the case – she came alone to what was a relatively low-key event, and it was obvious that she really cared and what’s more knew what she was talking about.

Why shouldn’t those whose jobs put them under a media spotlight be allowed to voice their support for charity like anyone else? If their popularity and influence can increase awareness of the issues then so much the better – it is the cynics not the celebrities who do the damage. Yes, she wore a slinky little black dress, but there was not a camera in sight, and she spoke with a knowledge and passion which justified her presence.

Having visited her home country of Ghana with Oxfam she had some genuinely enlightening experiences to share. One of the most shocking was her description of a visit to a family in a remote village ravaged by AIDS, where one mother spent the evening boiling stones in a pan so that the children would think food was coming and would be able to go to sleep.

June expressed admiration for the women of Ghana especially, and said that she was truly humbled by how hard they worked. She acknowledged that in the vast continent of Africa there were often very different country-specific problems and that generalising about “corrupt governments” was not always applicable.

However the chief problem of the Ghanaian rice farmers was one which applied across the board: the huge subsidies granted to US farmers by their government means that they can undercut the prices of African farmers; in Europe the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) similarly unfairly prevents African farmers being able to compete in the market. Rather than simply waiting for our governments to act on issues like trade, June was keen to encourage grassroots schemes such as pairing poor Ghanaian villages with wealthy British football clubs, a novel, if perhaps short-term idea.

There were no boundaries to the discussion and it touched on topics ranging from the restrictive bureaucracy which took the Make Poverty History adds off the television, to how Britain’s history of colonialism and slavery meant we have an even greater responsibility to take positive action to help Africa help itself. Despite the numerous problems, she emphasised the importance of recognising the brilliance of Africa’s cultural diversity and natural landscapes as well as its people whose potential is being restricted by poverty.

Many members of the audience described their own experiences in various countries, from Tanzania to Namibia, and though one person felt that gap year companies and young students had a “patronising” attitude, this was dismissed by the majority and June encouraged everyone to see the continent and all it offers for themselves. Personally, I am more eager than ever to travel to countries in sub-Saharan Africa and affirmed in my belief that we Europeans can benefit as much from them as vice-versa.