Philanthropy: Mario Basini

Some years ago I found my self on assignment for The Western Mail,
the newspaper I still write for,
in Pontrhydfendigaid in the hills overlooking Aberystwyth. The village was, and I hope still is, a thriving centre for Welsh language culture. It hosted
a famous eisteddfod and a series of influential pop concerts in the huge pavilion built by one of its sons, the philanthropist, Sir David James. And “Bont” was prosperous enough to boast an energetic population of young people.

As I had lunch in one of the village pubs, I watched a group of those young men and women wheeling a legless old man into the bar. They bought him a drink, fussed over him and made his wheelchair the centre of their group.
The old man had spent a lifetime away from the village, much of it homelessly wandering the world. He had been brought home after an accident or illness – I cannot remember which –
had cost him his legs.

The young people had “adopted” him as soon as he had returned. They called at his house to see if he was all right, cleaned for him, fed him and brought him for these brief visits to the pub. It struck me as a moving example of mutual support and succour in a culture in which compassion was so ingrained it was second nature.

For millennia in this rural society the notion of state social services was inconceivable. If someone had thought of such of thing, he would have been laughed at. Instead, the community recognised that the well-being each of its members depended on the help of the others in times of hardship and illness.

In a society in which everybody regularly faced the life-threatening dangers of famine and disease, compassion became an essential mechanism for survival. I had seen a very similar system of self-help at work in my parents’ villages in the Apennine Mountains of Northern Italy. The rural society there resembled that which had existed in Pontrhydfendigaid closely.

Nor was this notion of mutual aid confined to rural Wales. By far the biggest ingredient in the melting pot which became industrial South Wales was immigration from rural West and North Wales. Newcomers from there vastly outnumbered those from further afield. They brought with them the notion of mutual aid which, if anything, was needed more in the new communities of the South Wales Valley and North East Wales than it had been in the countryside.

In good times, the wages the immigrants could earn in the ironworks and coal mines brought a much better lifestyle than they had enjoyed on their farms and in their rural villages. But life could be much more precarious in the industrial communities of the Valleys. Frequent economic depressions in the iron and coal industries could bring savage wage cuts or, worse, prolonged bouts of unemployment unsupported by decent state benefits.

Primitive methods of production and non-existent safety procedures meant that many suffered horrific injuries which ended their working lives and left their families destitute. Bitter, savagely-fought strikes could put whole communities on the breadline. The unprecedented Depression of the Twenties and Thirties reduced much of South Wales to a life-threatening poverty.

It is not surprising that in these circumstances, the idea of self-help, of the better-off helping those in distress, once again became a fundamental principle of life. It was expressed at the most fundamental level, that of the street. Just as those young people in Pontrhydfendigaid went to the aid of the old man, neighbours in industrial South Wales became each other’s life support systems. Crises from childbirth to the maiming or injury of a breadwinner automatically brought help and comfort from neighbours.

The idea of the ever-open door as a symbol of mutual support was more than a cliché used to lard sentimental novels and newspaper articles. It was an essential fact of life.

If the need for that tradition has waned
a little in a modern society reliant in a complex system of state benefits, it still flourishes. Communities quickly gather round children in need of expensive medical treatment at home or abroad, often raising hundreds of thousands
of pounds. Nationwide campaigns such as the Noah’s Ark Appeal for a new children’s hospital raise vast sums.

Partnerships between public and
private funding have helped to bring fundamental changes to communities and housing estates once ravaged by problems such as that of Penrhys in
the Rhondda.

The arrival of the The Community Foundation in Wales is a welcome development. It will help to shape to this generous instinct for helping others and to channel it to where it is most needed


Dyngarwch: Mario Basini

Rai blynyddoedd yn ôl, yr oeddwn yn gweithio ar orchwyl i’r Western Mail, y papur newydd yr wyf yn dal i ysgrifennu iddo, ym Mhontrhydfendigaid yn y bryniau uwchlaw Aberystwyth. Yr oedd y pentref, ac fe obeithiaf ei fod yn dal i fod, yn ganolfan lewyrchus i ddiwylliant yr iaith Gymraeg. Yr oedd yn cynnal eisteddfod enwog a chyfres o gyngherddau pop dylanwadol yn y pafiliwn enfawr a adeiladwyd gan un o’i feibion, sef y dyngarwr, Syr David James. Ac yr oedd “Bont” yn ddigon goludog i gynnal poblogaeth egnïol o bobl ifanc.

Fel yr oeddwn yn cael cinio yn un o dafarndai’r pentref, fe wyliais garfan o’r gw_r a’r merched ieuainc hyn yn gwthio hen _r digoesau i mewn i’r bar. Fe wnaethant brynu diod iddo, ffwdanu yn ei gylch a gwneud ei gadair olwyn yn ganolbwynt eu hymgynnull. Yr oedd yr hen _r wedi treulio oes ymaith o’r pentref, llawer o’r amser yn crwydro’r byd. Fe ddaethpwyd ag ef gartref ar ôl i ddamwain neu waeledd – ni allaf gofio pa un – olygu ei fod wedi colli’i goesau.

Yr oedd y bobl ifanc wedi’i “fabwysiadu” ef cyn gynted ag yr oedd wedi dychwelyd. Fe wnaethant alw yn ei d_ i weld a oedd ef yn iawn, glanhau iddo, ei fwydo a mynd ag ef am yr ymweliadau byrion hyn â’r dafarn. Fe wnaeth hyn fy nharo i fel enghraifft wefreiddiol o gefnogaeth ac ymgeledd cydgymorth mewn diwylliant ble yr oedd tosturi mor gynhenid, yr oedd yn ail natur.

Am filoedd o flynyddoedd yn y gymdeithas wledig hon, yr oedd y syniad o wasanaethau cymdeithasol a ddarperir gan y wladwriaeth yn beth y tu hwnt i amgyffred rhywun. Pe bae rhywun wedi meddwl am y fath beth, fe fyddai’n destun sbort. Yn hytrach, yr oedd y gymuned yn cydnabod bod lles ei holl aelodau yn dibynnu ar gymorth pawb arall ar adegau o gyfyngder a gwaeledd.

Mewn cymdeithas ble yr oedd pawb yn rheolaidd yn wynebu’r peryglon a oedd yn bygwth bywyd sef newyn ac afiechyd, fe ddaeth tosturi yn beirianwaith hanfodol i oroesi. Yr oeddwn wedi gweld cyfundrefn gyffelyb iawn o hunangymorth yn cael ei gweithredu ym mhentrefi fy rhieni ym Mynyddoedd yr Apenninau yng Ngogledd yr Eidal. Yr oedd y gymdeithas wledig yno yn debyg iawn i’r hyn a oedd wedi bodoli ym Mhontrhydfendigaid.

Ac nid oedd y syniad hyn o gydgymorth yn gyfyngedig i gefn gwlad Cymru. O bell ffordd, yr elfen fwyaf yn y pair a dyfodd i fod yn Dde Cymru ddiwydiannol oedd mewnfudo o gefn gwlad Gorllewnin a Gogledd Cymru. Yr oedd newydd-ddyfodiaid o’r ardaloedd hyn yn llawer iawn mwy niferus nag eraill o’r tu hwnt i Gymru. Fe wnaethant ddod â’r syniad o gydgymorth gyda hwynt, ac yr oedd, os rhywbeth, mwy o’i angen yng nghymunedau newydd Cymoedd De Cymru a Gogledd Ddwyrain Cymru nag a oedd ei angen yng nghefn gwlad.

Ar adegau da, yr oedd y cyflogau y gallai’r mewnfudwyr eu hennill yn y gweithfeydd haearn a’r pyllau glo ddod â llawer amgenach ffordd o fyw nag yr oeddynt wedi’i mwynhau ar eu ffermydd ac yn eu pentrefydd gwledig. Ond fe allai bywyd fod yn llawer mwy enbyd yng nghymunedau diwydiannol y Cymoedd. Fe allai dirwasgiadau economaidd mynych yn y diwydiannau haearn a glo esgor ar ostyngiadau llym mewn cyflogau neu, yn waeth, ar gyfnodau hirfaith o ddiweithdra heb gynhaliaeth budd-daliadau gweddol gan y wladwriaeth.

Yr oedd dulliau cyntefig o gynhyrchu a dim math o weithdrefnau diogelwch ar gyfer y gweithwyr yn golygu bod llawer wedi dioddef anafiadau arswydus a roes ddiwedd ar eu gallu i weithio gan adael eu teuluoedd ar y clwt. Fe allai streiciau chwerw a milain eu natur arwain at dlodi mawr mewn cymunedau cyfan. Fe wnaeth Dirwasgiad digynsail y Dauddegau a’r Tridegau greu cymaint o dlodi yn llawer o Dde Cymru fel ag i fygwth bywydau.

Nid ydyw’n syndod yn yr amgylchiadau hyn y gwnaeth y syniad o hunangymorth, y syniad o’r rhai gwell eu byd yn cynorthwyo’r sawl sy’n anghenus, unwaith eto ddod yn egwyddor bywyd sylfaenol. Fe gâi’i fynegi ar y lefel mwyaf sylfaenol, ar lefel y stryd. Yn union fel yr oedd y bobl ifanc hynny ym Mhontrhydfendigaid yn barod i gymorth yr hen _r, y cymdogion yn y Dde Cymru ddiwydiannol oedd cynhaliaeth bywyd y naill a’r llall. Yr oedd argyfyngau a amrywiai o enedigaeth i glwyf parhaol neu anaf i’r enillwr cyflog yn dod â chymorth a chysur yn syth a diymdroi oddi wrth gymdogion.

Yr oedd y syniad hyn o’r drws sydd bob amser yn agored fel symbol o gydgymorth yn fwy nag ond ystrydeb a ddefnyddir i roi bloneg ar nofelau sentimental ac erthyglau papur newydd. Yr oedd yn ffaith hanfodol o fywyd.

Os yw’r angen am y traddodiad hynny wedi crebachu fymryn mewn cymdeithas gyfoes sy’n gallu dibynnu ar gyfundrefn gymhleth o fudd-daliadau gan y wladwriaeth, y mae’n dal i fodoli. Y mae cymunedau yn chwim i ymgynnull o amgylch plant y mae arnynt angen triniaeth feddygol ddrudfawr yn y wlad neu dramor, yn aml yn casglu cannoedd o filoedd o bunnau. Y mae ymgyrchoedd ledled y wlad, megis Apêl Arch Noa ar gyfer ysbyty newydd i blant, yn casglu symiau aruthrol o arian.

Y mae partneriaethau rhwng arian cyhoeddus a phreifat wedi cynorthwyo i ddod â newidiadau sylfaenol i gymunedau ac ystadau tai a oedd unwaith wedi’u hanrheithio gan broblemau, megis un Penrhys yn Y Rhondda.

Y mae dyfodiad y Sefydliad Cymunedol yng Nghymru yn ddatblygiad i’w groesawu. Fe wnâ gynorthwyo i ffurfio’r reddf haelionnus hon i gynorthwyo eraill ac i’w sianelu i’r man y mae’i hangen fwyaf.