Last week I talked a little about a TV programme I had watched. Actually I talked quite a lot about it. This week I am going to do the same because I saw a couple of things on TV that have given me a perspective re-boot. I’m not talking about England’s cricket world cup loss to Ireland, nor am I talking about the league cup final between Arsenal and Birmingham. Those of you following this blog will know why.
What I am talking about is a group of celebrities living in the slums of Kibera, Kenya. This is the largest slum in Africa measuring around 1.5 miles squared and home to a million people. The locals survive in conditions you and I can only imagine, in mud huts with open sewers outside, where 1 in 5 children will die before they reach 5 years of age and latrines are shared by up to 1,000 people. I’m not ashamed to tell you that I was in tears for much of this programme. It’s not a story of hope or of humanity. Things won’t really get better there it seems.
What this programme did for me is to reaffirm just how fortunate I am to be in the position I am in. Compared to the Kiberan people, I have never had a problem in my life. You can argue that life problems are relative and there will be an amount of credit in that, but my worries and concerns do not involve sharing a 12 foot mud hut, located at the foot of a mountain of refuse, with 8 family members mostly dying of some disease or another.
It also made me think about how fortunate we are in our culture in so far as the ability we have to help people in our own towns and cities. Given the nature of the issues people all over the world have to overcome, it is a nonsense that we should have homelessness, child poverty and social injustice at all in a country as rich as we are. I know that I sound idealistic and am probably dreaming but I really do believe that we have the power to change these situations. All we need is enough people who care. I don’t mean people who consider these things and feel some vague notion that something should be done. I mean people who recognise their responsibilities in their own communities to influence the lives of the people around them, and who possess enough get-up-and-go to act.
People like this make Prison Fellowship what it is. In 30 years of operations we have built a base of almost 1,400 committed volunteers who have influenced the lives of countless individuals. Since Sycamore Tree has been running our volunteer teams have taught over 15,000 prisoners and we know what impact we have had on their attitudes. So far as our records go back I can tell you that Angel Tree volunteers and supporters have sent over 30,000 Christmas presents to the children of offenders and we know what impact this has on family relations.
As we race toward the financial year end, we will have run 118 Sycamore Tree programmes which will have benefitted well over 2,000 prisoners once again. We managed to send 4,500 Christmas gifts with Angel Tree which represents our biggest year ever.
I have spent years in retail hospitality management and whilst it was fun and it gave me a massive collection of skills and experiences, it is simply not comparable to working for an organisation that actually makes a difference in people’s lives. I don’t know how many people I have told how proud it makes me to be doing what I do. I don’t know if you can tell!
I am also proud that I can openly talk about the fact that I do what I do in the name of God and for my faith in him. So many people who feel a spiritual duty to help are told they cannot talk openly about their faith. We have seen some high profile cases recently that prove my point, and I am glad that I can take advantage of my freedom, for the time being at least.
While I am enjoying this freedom I am also going to continue enjoying the lime torte my wife made for me for my birthday this weekend…
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