Blogs

We hope you'll find topics that provoke thought and discussion, but please note the views expressed in these blogs are the individual's own.

• May.21, 2013

  Four brilliant things you can do to make IF happen

  Laura Selman, Campaigns Officer

  Question: What do you do when the ‘leader of the free world’ comes to town?

  Bake a cake...
  Make a banner... 
  Take to the streets...
  All of the above? 

  

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• May.10, 2013

  What If?

  Kristyna Myles, Musician

  Kristyna Myles has written a song to support the Enough Food If campaign. Find out the story behind the song and how you can get involved in launching the music video!

  

  Photo: Sven Eselgroth

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• May.1, 2013

  The most physically and mentally challenging month of my life

  Hayley Faulkner, this article is taken from the Spring 2013 edition of Tear Times.

  Across the world, 1.4 billion people live in extreme poverty, living off less than £1 a day. That’s an outrage and I wanted to do something to fight against this injustice.

  

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• Apr.22, 2013

  Growing up isn’t easy under the shadow of conflict

  How cruel the world must seem to Nina. At 18 months old, she has already lost her mother, and had to flee her home when it was fired on. With conflict returning again and again to Ivory Coast, Nina has never known what it’s like to live in a time of lasting peace.

  

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• Apr.16, 2013

  Dreaming big for South Africa

  Jonathan Jansen, Tearfund Inspired Individual

  Jonathan Jansen is a Tearfund Inspired Individual, living in a violent and drug-ridden community just outside of Cape Town, South Africa. His dream is to offer young people in his community and eventually across the whole of South Africa the choice to live a life free of gangs and drugs.

  

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• Apr.15, 2013

  From hatred to hope: the struggle of Rwanda’s children

  Jean de Dieu Munguyiko, AMU

  Jean works for one of our Rwandan partners, Association Mwana Ukundwa (AMU), meaning ‘loved child.’ AMU believes education is key to ending child poverty and is empowering orphans, foster families and child headed households through small business loans and training in skills such as tailoring and embroidery.

  

  Kwizera Aimé (far left in photo) is 18 years old and lives in Rwanda. After his mother died of HIV/AIDS and his Father abandoned him, he was left as the sole carer of his five younger siblings at the age of just 16. With no means of income, Aimé had to drop out of school and start working to try and provide for his family. After failed attempts at reconciliation with their father the children were referred to AMU.

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• Apr.12, 2013

  A 'school run' unlike any in the UK

  Sarah Newnham, Head of Eurasia, Latin America and the Caribbean

  I wonder how you used to get to school?

  

  I grew up in a very rural part of the UK, 7 miles from my school, and so the local council used to provide a car to pick us kids up from far flung areas to take us to the central bus stop to get the school bus.  It wasn't really a hassle thanks to the provision of the local council!  Recently I visited San Pedro Sula, one of the major cities in Honduras where I met Angela, mother of five.  I met her doing 'the school run', an experience that I will never forget.

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• Apr.11, 2013

  What life for a teenage girl in Honduras?

  David Bainbridge, International Director

  When I visited a community of slum dwellers recently in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, I met a teenage girl who really got me thinking about the contrasts between her life and that of my own teenage daughter growing up in suburban London.

  

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• Apr.10, 2013

  The most violent country in the world

  Ian Causebrook, Head of Corporate Strategy

  I’d never been to Honduras before.

  
  

  

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• Mar.22, 2013

  Enthronement and first sermon of Archbishop of Canterbury

  Matthew Frost, Chief Executive

  I’m returning from Canterbury where I’ve just witnessed the ‘enthronement’ of Justin Welby as Archbishop, from a far better seat than I was expecting.

  On arriving, I was a little surprised to be led to a front row seat in the Nave, right next door to the choir and only a few metres away from Prince Charles, the PM, Speaker, and Opposition Leader. This was thanks to the Archbishop’s advisor on development (Rachel Carnegie) who made sure that all of us working on development, poverty and justice issues were not forgotten!

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