It takes special skills to transform yourself into an active doer of good, writes John Downes

It is a typically human reaction to look at the world and want to change it.

Faced with humanitarian crises such as the recent Asian tsunami, the ongoing situation in the Darfur area of Sudan, as well as the poverty in which so much of the world's population lives, it is not surprising that many people wonder what can they do to help. But just how easy is it to set up a charity to address the injustices which exist in the world today?

Is it enough to be passionate about changing the world - or do you need other skills as well? It was a visit to Africa eight years ago which first provided Brian Iredale with an insight into the conditions of the people living there.

But it wasn't until two years later, after he returned to the Nansana area of Uganda, that the full extent of the HIV/Aids crisis there hit him.

"There were a lot of grandparent-headed households, where their sons and daughters had died of the HIV/Aids virus," he explains. "The kids just weren't going to school." So he started small. By asking his friends and family to sign up to a direct debit, he aimed to improve the lives of children living in Nansana, which is six miles from Kampala, the capital of Uganda.

Through raising money for local schools, he was able to help them improve their facilities.

"The whole thing was that 100 per cent of the money would go to the school," he says. "I was getting it from people who knew me and trusted me." Eventually, however, Iredale - who had subsequently returned to Ireland and trained to become a nurse - realised that if he was going to expand the scope of his work, he needed to officially register as a charity.

This involved setting up as a registered company, with no share capital, and registering with the Revenue Commissioners as a charity.

"I initially thought it would be very difficult," he admits. "I thought there was no way I could do it as it was such a small operation." But, for a relatively small fee, there are companies which can help you get together the essentials, such as a memorandum, articles of association and a board of directors, he points out.

The name he chose was the A-Z Children's charity.

Iredale says formalising the work he was doing was essential in establishing A-Z as a legitimate charity.

"What it means is I could get a bank account in the charity's name. Asking people to write a cheque made out to your name, for example, is not exactly ideal," he says. "On any letterhead which we send out, people see a registered charity number. So they know it is an official charity."

Iredale also admits that the question of how he should develop A-Z in the future is an important one.

It can be frustrating knowing the work he could do if he were able to act as director of the charity on a full-time basis, rather than continuing to combine his activities with his work as a nurse.

Subject to funding, this could allow him to continue to develop other projects to help Ugandan orphans affected by the HIV/Aids crisis.

For example, the provision of HIV/Aids medication, although relatively cheap by Western standards, is beyond the reach of most Ugandans, he says.

If Iredale is an example of someone who set up a small charity that still operates on a voluntary basis, then John O'Shea is arguably at the other end of the spectrum.

One of the best-known charity activists in Ireland, he is the chief executive of Goal, an international humanitarian agency he set up in 1977 to help alleviate the suffering of the poorest of the poor.

The list of things that people can do to help is endless, he believes, ranging from fundraising at home to taking the time to talk to a leper on the streets of Bombay to getting involved in initiatives impacting on the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

But although there is no such thing as a template, it is important to experience what it is really like in developing countries by spending time there, he says.

"I think if we want to breed a nation of carers, then we should let every school child that wants to see the Third World go there," he says. "Young people can bring vibrancy, enthusiasm and laughter they only want to solve problems."

Simply caring about a situation is not enough in itself, however. It is also important to look at what is being done already by the existing people and organisations on the ground, O'Shea points out.

In this regard, he says experience is crucial.

One way you can gain this experience is through spending time with Irish missionaries, who O'Shea believes have invaluable knowledge of how the society you hope to help actually works.

This can include dealing with officials who expect to be bribed, for example.

"There is a lot of naivety out there. Know what your strengths and your limitations are But if all else fails, then do what I do. Start your own," he says.

"I always say that if you have a person with brains and a vocation, you have the perfect Third-World operative.

"The Third World is an extraordinary place, so it requires extraordinary talents to get assistance to these people. Having a heart is only a part of it don't be put off by anything people say to you. Be as determined as I was."

These are sentiments with which people like Brian Iredale would doubtless only too heartily agree.

www.goal.ie

www.azchildrenscharity.org