Bernard Cribbins has made a personal appeal for Africa Now, featuring the story of Mr and Mrs Lubinda and a herd of sneezing elephants!
A big thank you to Bernard and the many kind individuals who have already given to the appeal.
You can read Bernard's script below.
This project is run in partnership with the Elephant Pepper Development Trust and supported by the European Union.
Africa Now Radio 4 Appeal
First Aired: 3rd June 2007 Read by: Bernard Cribbins
If keeping slugs off your vegetable patch feels like a losing battle, imagine what Gardeners Question Time would say about elephants! They might suggest making the elephant sneeze!
In the dry summer heat in Zambia, food is hard to come by, and elephants are a huge problem for local communities. If an elephant spies a tasty crop, he'll head straight there, no matter what!
Mr and Mrs Lubinda, a hardworking retired couple, have been battling with elephants for 10 years. Their vegetable patch should have fed their 7 orphaned grandchildren, with enough left over to sell - that money then pays for schooling. But elephants regularly destroyed everything in their path.
What would you do faced with an elephant? I've been charged by an elephant. It was terrifying. Just imagine. You are alone and you are the only thing between a hungry elephant and your small children, and the tomatoes!
The Lubindas tried everything - beating tins, banging drums, lighting fireworks. Nothing worked.
This is where the charity Africa Now comes in. Farmers are given seeds to grow chilli hedges and are helped to make dung cakes laced with chilli oil, to burn at night! Why? Because chilli makes elephants sneeze!
Mrs Lubinda could not believe her eyes. The elephants fled, and their crops were saved. What's more, Africa Now linked the couple to a buyer so they could also sell the chillies for a fair price.
Africa Now, a small organisation, makes a big difference. They've helped over 200,000 people but need your support to help more.
In Zambia alone, over 4,000 farmers, who live than on less than £1 a day, regularly lose their crops to elephants. Without opportunities to protect their vegetables and increase their income, it's impossible to afford the basics - like feeding and clothing their children, and sending them to school.
Just £15 could give a family the tools they need to grow chilli hedges and improve their lives for good.
Africa Now has lots of clever projects, like beekeeping and making sweet potato crisps, which help poor farmers get more money for their hard work. They give people chances to earn a decent living, not handouts. That's how lasting change happens.
Please make a donation now by calling 0800 404 8144 or by sending a cheque payable to Africa Now, to Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal - marking the back of your envelope Africa Now. You can also give online - just go to the Radio 4 website.
Thank you.