As I stood in front of the large photo of displaced Kurds, I realised that exactly two years ago I was doing much the same thing. Typical me. Here I am again, standing in some exhibition about displacement. Two years previously, on World Refugee Day, it was a UNHCR thing that we randomly snuck into…
Enough is Enough – a book I’ve just read about building a sustainable economy in a world of finite resources – was both inspirational and depressing. Inspirational because it fuelled my suspicion that an alternative economic paradigm and way of living in the world really is possible. Depressing because when I looked up from…
(originally published here on Breathe) When I ‘lived below the line’ last week, I was really only poor in the same way that someone who posted a make-up-free selfie on Facebook was brave. Nevertheless, taking part in a week-long challenge of living on £1 a day to raise awareness and funds in the fight against…
Last week I joined thousands of others around the world to ‘live below the line’ (£1 a day for food and drink) to raise awareness and funds for the fight against extreme poverty. Here’s how it went! Pre-challenge prep Tried really hard to rustle up a team of people to do this together. Epic fail. Even my housemate…
“It could be worse,” said the nurse as she shoved the needle in my arm. “Think of all those poor people in Kabul and Somerset.” I’d just confessed that I was more nervous about my jabs for Afghanistan than I was about the trip itself. But yes, it could be worse. I could be in…
(This post was originally published here on Threads. Feel free to comment there!) “The language in this passage makes me tremble, because it is so surprising,” said Saul Cruz from Armonia, reading out words whose familiarity has eroded their cutting edge. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Or, as…
“Where are the Christian people today who see the status quo, who do not like what they see (because there are things in it which are unacceptable to God), who, therefore, refuse to come to terms with it, who dream dreams of an alternative society which would be more acceptable to God and who determine…
Friends in high places made the Jubilee flotilla much more fun and much less wet. By friends in high places, I mean Harriet and her first floor office in County Hall by Waterloo Bridge which gives us all fantastic views of the boats going past. I put on the earrings I’ve made for the occasion…
My post yesterday morning: On the one hand, Tearfund is asking me to help Agnes leave despair behind her. On the other, Boden is reminding me that they give 365 days of peace of mind. I open the letter and flick through the catalogue. Agnes’ soundbite in the letter is: ‘Last year I had malaria…
Yesterday I spent most of the beautiful sunny day hidden away inside SOAS’ library trying to pull together some thoughts about my first essay: ‘Does modernisation necessarily imply dependency?’ And I can tell you that it’s no small task moving, in just two months, from a place of knowing very little about development to trying…
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