Comic Relief also took an interest in Maraba. The 2001 Red Nose Day campaign had brought in £55 million for projects in the UK and Africa, some of which they pledged to the Association des Veuves du Genocide (AVEGA), an association of widows of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.[8] The charity discovered that many of the Maraba smallholders were also members of AVEGA and could thus provide funding and support.