Britain is still in the middle of election fever! Who has really won the general election? One of the teams I work with in Plymouth recently facilitated three election hustings for the different local constituencies. It was interesting to hear questions asked about the economy, schools, policing, defence budgets along with many other topics. What struck me most however was that almost all of the questions were asked from a perspective of “what’s in it for me”? Where was the concern for others?
I was later reflecting on that and couldn’t but help think of the 30,000 people in this world who die each and every day due solely to poverty related issues. And I wondered who thinks of them? Who is a voice for them? Who will stand up for them?
It seems bizarre to me that something so enormous and so terrible could be going on in this world – and it seems that few notice.
A couple of weeks ago someone asked me what I was now up to with my life since moving back to Plymouth. My answer was that I am putting my time, energy, passion and resources into doing something to help the world’s poorest.
Many of you will know that I am currently involved delivering a presentation called ‘1.4 Billion Reasons’ on behalf of The Global Poverty Project.
25% of the people on this planet live on less than $1.25 (£1) per day – that’s 1.4 billion people.
The presentation ‘1.4 Billion Reasons’ educates, inspires and mobilizes ordinary people to be able to make a difference in our everyday lives and is a message of great hope. People will feel truly inspired and motivated with the feeling that whatever our age, stage or ability, each one of us really can make a difference.
Ending extreme poverty within a generation is a challenge for all of us – and one that I hope we can all play our part. Most of us are fortunate enough to have been born in one of the richest countries in the world. Together, we can make an enormous difference – one that literally saves millions of lives every year. Many of us might consider we are already doing enough, but the fact is there are many additional things we can do for comparably little effort. So if you’ve not already seen the presentation as part of the UK tour, I would encourage you to do so – or consider hosting a local GPP presentation yourself or in your area to encourage others to join you in doing more to help. Go to www.globalpovertyproject.com/events for more info.
At the beginning of June I will be returning to South Africa for six weeks. During this time I will be visiting the projects we worked with during our previous 5 years there and also helping to facilitate Kids Clubs for 1,000 boys during the World Cup tournament – mainly in the form of football tournaments and big screen events. Who knows? At least England might be able to win something at this event!!! The boys will be taught valuable life skills lessons using the uBabalo curriculum which has over forty lessons now developed.
One of the things I was most passionate about during my time in South Africa was networking – helping organisations achieve more together than they could by themselves. One of the networks I helped to start and run was the Sport 4 Development Network. This consisted of over ten organisations in the Cape Town area who used sport as a medium to deliver various community development programmes. I continue to be involved supporting this network by email and was delighted to recently find out that Sony – one of the world cup sponsors had donated 300 tickets to the France / Uruguay match in Cape Town on 11th June. As a network we divided the tickets up among ten organisations – so it means that three of my coaches and twenty seven kids will get to experience the real thing – at the first world cup game in the new Cape Town stadium – a memory they will all treasure forever! That’s what working together can do!
Sindi is still working for Bell Valley initiative – one of the projects that we are still supporting financially. She continues to do a great job and is an amazing example of serving others in and around her community. The main aim of her job is to support grannies with orphans or the older orphans themselves in the community to be able to care for themselves as a family so that the kids don’t get put into an orphanage. It’s way more cost effective and better for the kids to stay together and look after each other. Sindi is the support worker to dozens of kids.
She still faces enormous challenges personally with family and financial issues and yet she serves with an incredibly big heart and a big smile to match. She is seen here with her social worker Marilyn (lady in black) who also does a fantastic job! Please continue to support us so we can continue to support her.
Finance – since leaving Africa in April 2009 our funding support has reduced considerably. Whilst I am not living in Africa permanently now delivering front line services, we still support several projects and people in Africa in a financially significant way each month as well as management support and guidance.
I am convinced that the role with which I am now engaged is potentially even more critical if we are to see an end to extreme poverty. Despite economic challenges in this country – we are all still enormously wealthy compared with the majority of the world. We will shortly need to take some significant financial decisions. Please contact me if you feel you could support us as a family each month with a direct debit as we seek to play our part. andy@hawkinstribe.org.uk
