MARKET shopping in Senegal means a harsh choice: local produce or cheap imports? When the British actor and playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah visited Senegal in 2003 as a goodwill ambassador for Christian Aid, he found that fish, rice, tomatoes, oil and onions — every ingredient in tieboudienne, the country’s national dish — was being undercut by subsidised imports from Europe, Asia and the US.

The plight of Senegalese fishermen and farmers who cannot sell their produce and cannot afford to eat imported food is just one stark consequence of the unfair trade by which, according to Christian Aid’s calculations, the rich world has sucked $1.4 trillion out of Africa since 1970.

That one-way traffic in wealth is one of the targets of Christian Aid Week, which begins tomorrow. The charity’s aim is to collect one million signed Vote for Trade Justice cards and forward them to No 10 Downing Street. Catching the Prime Minister’s attention in a year when he is basking on the international stage — in July Britain hosts the G8 summit in Scotland and takes over the EU presidency — is a key part of the strategy.

“These are wonderful opportunities to build a global movement,” says Daleep Mukarji, director of Christian Aid since 1998. “We have welcomed the Government’s findings on what can be done in partnership with African governments. It has been great to take the lead, but now Britain needs to get the US and friends in Europe to sign up.”

Mukarji, who was born in Lahore and worked for eight years as a doctor in a leper colony in southern India, believes no one is truly safe until global poverty is tackled.

“Unless you are committed to international development you’ll never win the war on terrorism,” he says. “For a safer world people need to have peace, justice and a degree of economic security in their own countries.”

Christian Aid’s latest campaign slogan — “We believe in life before death” — is a twist on the “abundant life” promised in John x, 10. The charity’s ideas for tackling political, social and economic issues head-on are also rooted in the Bible.

But isn’t the Christian-ness of Christian Aid a turn-off in a predominantly secular age? “It is always a handicap with some people,” says Mukarji. “But the reality is that we work with secular and Christian organisations and we’re not missionaries. We give to people in need, regardless of creed, ethnicity, colour or religion. Money and resources are not used to proselytise — at the most we will explain why we’re inspired by the Gospels.”

Just as many aid agencies work with other organisations in the field, Christian Aid has partnerships with local churches or community groups. This allows it to draw on decades of experience and knowledge, without being a “suitcase organisation” that merely sends volunteers abroad.

“True to Christian faith we are speaking out against injustice as the prophets did — reclaiming a tradition of care, compassion and action; and, like the Lord, we need to be radical and revolutionary,” says Mukarji, who believes that the radical campaigning helps people to see Christianity in a better light. “If we are to achieve the perspective of the kingdom of God then we have to be kingdom builders.”

Christian Aid began “kingdom building” in the months after the end of the Second World War, under the banner “Christian Reconstruction in Europe”. Its work in this millennium has focused on how the power of ordinary people can make a difference when they come together. The high point of Mukarji’s directorship was the campaign by the Jubilee 2000 coalition of churches, charities and trade unions for the cancellation of Third World debt and making the British Government commit to allocating 0.7 per cent of GNP to the aid budget.

“But aid alone won’t get people out of poverty,” says Mukarji. “We believe that trade is the engine to get people out of poverty.” He cites the problems caused by the EU subsidising its farmers and then dumping their surpluses on developing countries — with the devastating results that Kwame Kwei-Armah saw in Senegal.

While these problems remain intractable, Christian Aid can point to significant achievements in its 60 years. For example, the number of children in developing countries who died before their fifth birthday fell by more than half between 1960 and 2000. During the same period, according to Unesco, the number of adults able to read rose from half the world’s population to three quarters.

But Mukarji peppers his conversation with sobering statistics: a child still dies every three seconds, and 800 million people will be hungry tonight. Global inequality has increased. “While wealth has increased and we can cure diseases that were once fatal, half the world’s population still lives on less than £1.30 a day. The advances in technology, medicine and standards of living have not been shared equally.”

Christian Aid Week, which aims to redress some of that imbalance, has become an institution in the UK. The first Christian Aid Week, organised by the Inter-Church Aid and Refugee Service, raised £26,000. By 1991 the week was raising about £10 million, and the little red envelopes had become a familiar reminder of the world’s needs. Last year the total sum raised was £14.5 million — almost a quarter of the charity’s income.

Next week 300,000 collectors — backed by 4,000 local organisers and 20,000 churches — will mount Britain’s biggest house-to-house collection. There will also be scores of fund-raising events and activities ranging from fasts and car-washing marathons to sales of antique books.

“It’s the greatest event of Christian witness,” says Mukarji. “I’m always amazed what the British will do.”

Christian Aid is the official relief and development agency of 39 church denominations ranging from the Baptist Union of Great Britain to the Russian Orthodox and the Religious Society of Friends.

“Christian Aid has broadened its umbrella to represent today’s plethora of churches,” says Dionne Gravesande, head of Churches Networks at Christian Aid and the representative for black-majority churches. In London, for example, more non-whites than whites attend Sunday services. “Helping the poor resonates with the black-majority churches. Congregations are naturally warmer to their countries of origin in the Caribbean and Africa. They are motivated and increasingly mobilised not just to send remittances to their families but to help with root causes of poverty.”

Perhaps this vast mobilisation of charitable generosity under the banner of “belief in life before death” will one day mean that Senegalese farmers and fishermen can afford to eat their own national dish.

Christian Aid Week runs from May 15-21. Details: www.christianaid.org.uk