Tags
5050, fairtrade, food, global poverty, labour, ONE, poverty, poverty project, world poverty
Weeks 44 & 45 Summary
I was very ill in week 44 so that is why I did not write my blog, (the first time I have missed a week) then I had to prioritise getting ready to go to Labour Party Conference in Brighton.
I attended a number of seminars and fringe events regarding International Development and world poverty and learned a lot. It was an amazing experience and brought all the various aspects of my life together in a way that I did not expect.
Report
After 3 days of feeling very unwell with a very unpleasant sickness bug I had to set about getting ready to go to Brighton for the Labour Party conference as I was the delegate for our CLP. I had been looking forward to this for some time but I have to say that it exceeded all my expectations and I enjoyed it immensely. The main reason for this was that I was able to attend events which covered all my interests and it brought many parts of my life together in a way that I could never have predicted. I did not imagine for one moment that I would be writing about the conference in my 5050 blog in fact, it had been my intention to keep it separate. In the event however it became impossible to separate it as my interest in world poverty dictated much of what I chose to do outside the conference hall. At one of the presentations someone commented that politics are all about your beliefs and I found this to be very true. I really felt ‘at home’.
Firstly, at the Women’s Conference on the Saturday there was a lot of talk about gender inequality including the problems of domestic violence. While there are serious problems in this country they are of course much greater in the developing world and this was acknowledged. It was pertinent that it was the world day of peace that very day.
The next day, Sunday, I chose to attend the church service as it was about modern day slavery. The focus was about people trafficking. I was shocked to discover the extent to which this occurs. There were fair trade and information ‘stalls’ and Ed Miliband came to do a short speech in which he talked about poverty in this country and the world. He said that it was important for Britain to continue to help and support people in the developing world even in times when we ourselves are having to make cut backs. I was very happy to hear this!
The next day, Monday, Ivan Lewis talked about Britain’s role in Europe as a leader, particularly when it comes to aid and international development. He talked about long term development and sustainability and said that he was in politics to help poor people. Music to my ears!
Later that day I attended a seminar on ‘Britain’s Global Role’ and was pleased I did as it was excellent. Speakers from the morning were there and it was good to experience them answering people’s questions. They talked about the EU and Britain’s role in many areas including peace, defence and foreign aid.
A fringe event that evening entitled ‘The Big Pay Debate’ was hard to follow as they were using corporate language but I got the gist of it. One point for discussion was the pay differential, something that greatly interests me. I already knew that the differential between low and top earners is growing fast but I did not know that it is not so great in say, Germany. We really are letting a few wealthy people do what they like at the moment and I feel Labour will look for a model that tries to redress the balance. More good news!
On Tuesday I went to a Prayer Breakfast at St. Paul’s Church before conference started and this was very well attended by people of all denominations. It was focusing on social justice so was right up my street. It was excellent with a wide variety of speakers and prayers. Some of the prayers that people contributed in the open prayer space were very heart warming. It was good to see so many people concerned about the same things that worry me.
After conference I went to a Co-Op Labour event sponsored by OXFAM. This was all about International Development and I was totally reassured that Labour would do as much as they could for International Development. The CEO of OXFAM explained how the world issues were really the same as local ones – people’s concerns are the same the world over and it is our duty to do everything we can to help. Social justice across the world!
I also attended a number of fringe events about education issues so, the five days in Brighton really did bring most parts of my life together, apart from music! My politics (definitely socialist), my huge concern for world poverty, my work as a teacher – concern for the future of education and my profession – and my Christian life. Underlying them all is a desire to make the world better, fairer and defend the most vulnerable. This is what the Labour party is all about. I am immensely proud to be a part of it.
Since returning I have been to the 3W shop and spent all the profit from the last sale at church on more fairly traded goods!
Finally on Saturday evening I tuned in to some of the live stream Global Citizen Festival in America. It was a concert (with music not really to my taste!) but it was good to see people talking about world poverty and so many people there supporting the cause. Maybe the GPP will organise something similar here? I think people are starting to realise though that this is a long term issue and we are not going to raise enough money in one event to sort it!
Training / Exercise
I did very little for the first part of week 44 as I was too ill to even get out of bed for two days! On arrival in Brighton, however, I walked everywhere apart from the station to my hotel (I did not have time to do this). My hotel was a good 20 minutes from the conference centre and the other venues were all further away. I had to do a lot of dashing about to get form one event to another but, even on the last day I did not get a taxi but dragged my case to the left luggage and then later all the way up the hill to the station. I really did do a lot of walking and all very quickly. The days were long and I prioritised going to as many events as I could as I may not get this opportunity again.
After my return and a day of recovery I went to early birds to try out my new lap counter! It was great. I was able to swim up and down thinking about the exciting week I had had instead of trying to remember how many lengths I had done. I managed 42 in just over an hour so I should be fine to fit in 50 in 80 minutes on the challenge day – as long as I’m there for when they open!
Next week
The main thing I am going to try to do this week is do half my challenge – i.e. 25 lengths, 25 miles on the bike and 2.5 miles run / walk. In half the time of course – 7am to 1pm on Friday!
Getting involved
Please read week 1 of this blog to see what my project is about and consider sponsoring me. My giving page is: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/5050project
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