By Archbishop Desmond Tutu

In 1979, a group of friends in Portsmouth set up a charity. They had been working in Africa. They had seen how Africans often lacked basic ‘tools’ – hammers, saws, and much more – to build their community. So they began collecting and refurbishing hand tools and sewing machines to send to village workshops in Africa.

Twenty-eight years later, Tools for Self Reliance has hundreds of volunteers working across the United Kingdom mending tools and sending them to Africa, where thousands are benefitting wonderfully from their hard work.

Many years ago my friend Father Trevor Huddlestone asked me to join him as a patron of this charity. I am honoured to be a link with dedicated people in Britain joining hands with Africans – helping them to help themselves.

Yet in Africa, even simple tools are hard to come by and can be impossibly expensive for working people. But you cannot build up a country with bare hands.

This year, young women in Ghana and Uganda will learn how to start their own tailoring businesses. Blacksmiths in Sierra Leone will learn how to serve their customers – making tools for farmers so they can grow food.

With your help, Tools for Self Reliance will do more. It is a tremendous organisation. You’ll be giving a livelihood to someone who has empty hands.

Give now either online via the Radio 4 website or by calling 0800 404 8144. Or you can write a cheque to ‘Tools for Self Reliance’ and send it to Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal. Please mark the back of your envelope Tools for Self Reliance.

Thank you and God bless you.