It's just not cricket

Let me start by apologising that I haven’t posted a blog entry for a couple of weeks. I have been unwell and had some time off (cue sympathy). Due to my unscheduled time off I have been particularly busy since my return (insert more sympathy here). Nevertheless I am here now and I have much to talk to you about, starting with the cricket.

Cricket fans among you will be aware that India played Sri Lanka in the world cup final at the weekend. Non cricket fans, prepare to be educated. The captain of the Indian team is a chap called Mahendra Singh Dhoni, an accomplished batsman and also the team’s wicket keeper. He hadn’t had a very good tournament up to the final. His batting had been indifferent at best and he hadn’t managed a decent score in any of the matches. When the final came around, Sri Lanka batted first and posted a pretty decent total. When India’s turn came to bat, they lost their star openers very quickly and when the third wicket fell India could have been in trouble.

The skipper decided to take responsibility. He put himself up the batting order and came out to bat earlier than he normally would, despite the fact he had been having a poor tournament, despite the fact that another quick wicket would have put Sri Lanka in a commanding position and despite the fact he will have felt the weight of expectation of over a billion, fanatical Indian cricket fans, he stuck his hand up and shouldered the responsibility. He finished the game on 91 not out, India won and Dhoni was carried off the field a national hero.

I am inspired by his actions during the biggest game of his career. Against all the odds, he stood up to be counted and put in a tournament winning performance that has changed the lives of his team mates.

In truth I know hundreds of ‘Mahendra Singh Dhonis’ all around the country. People who face adversity, prejudice and a society that wants to say no, but who stick their hand up and change lives. People who freely give so much of their time to help offenders change, to help families stay in touch and to share some unconditional love with people the rest of society wants to forget about. I have story after story about lives changing because of someone who stuck their hand up and took responsibility some of which I have shared with you.

We all want a better society. We all want a safer society. We all want to see victims healed. We all want to see offenders change, stop offending and do something positive. We all want to see children that don’t go without, families who are supported, indeed, who support each other. Well I have news for you. It’s not going to happen by itself. We owe it to ourselves, to our families and to each other to stick our hands up. If we’re not prepared to stand up in any way, to take any kind of responsibility then I’m afraid we have little right to complain.

Have a think for a moment about all the times you have talked about criminals, prisons, victims, justice and the courts over a coffee or a pint. Consider all the times you have shaken your head and tutted at a newspaper report or a TV documentary. Think about all the criticism you have levelled from your armchair. Now ask yourself if you could be a Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Look at Sycamore Tree and see how Restorative Justice tears up what we thought we knew about justice. Look at Angel Tree and consider how many vulnerable children, unsupported by our society are given a little joy.

If you are not a Prison Fellowship Volunteer but you care at all about Justice, reducing offending behaviour, keeping families together and you recognise how little difference there is between you and a ‘criminal’, become a Prison Fellowship Volunteer right now! If you are a Prison Fellowship Volunteer then go and make a cup of tea because you know all this already.

Whatever you do, do something. I spent a lifetime thinking the same as everyone else, judging, offering opinions about topics I didn’t really understand. In the end, it’s just not cricket.

Freedom and Fortune

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…