Category Archives: Doing my bit

The Foodbank App

Cardiff Stuff, Doing my bit, Money

This is the second time I’ve started this post. The first time, it turned into a sweary rant about how in TWO THOUSAND AND FOURTEEN we need food banks at all, FFS. Ooops – there I go again. Sorry…

Ok….What I want to tell you about is the Foodbank App. As you’ll no doubt know, all the food distributed by food banks is donated by the general public, either at dedicated collection points, or through workplace collection schemes, or at a supermarket donation point.

One of the problems food banks come up against is that they’ll often end up with a glut of one type of food, and not enough of another. For example, my local food bank is running short of fruit juice and sugar at the moment, but has plenty of baked beans and teabags. While nothing goes to waste, and all donations are welcome, it can be difficult for volunteers to make up balanced food parcels with an unpredictable supply.

Which is why the Foodbank App is such a great idea. It’s a really simple app, that doesn’t take up much space and is free to download, and it features a straightforward red/amber/green system. Foods highlighted in red are needed urgently; those in amber are running low, while green list items are those which aren’t needed just now. It’s a great solution to the difficulty of managing an unpredictable supply of food at your local food bank.

So if you give to your local food bank, please download the app so your donation can be used as effectively as possible. If you don’t donate food already, please consider it – Cardiff Foodbank alone fed 800 people in February – your support is needed.

Thanks for reading,

Michelle

foodbank app

 

 

 

I’m an unemployment clichĂ©, get me out of here!

Doing my bit, School

I was listening to the radio walking home from work yesterday, when the actress Jenny Seagrove came on for an interview during which she mentioned the Everton Free School. Whatever your thoughts on the concept of Free Schools generally, Everton Free School looks like it does some pretty good work – set up by Everton Football Club, they offer alternative education to kids aged 14-19 who are excluded from mainstream provision.

Here’s what Jenny had to say about it
‘D’you know, it’s an amazing place
this school takes in kids who literally are three generations of unemployment. And they’re kids who are I hate to use the expression, but I would think it’s their last chance. They’ve dropped out of school, and the system’s failed them’.

Not much to argue with there – except, oh yes, this: THREE GENERATIONS OF UNEMPLOYMENT. That old chestnut. These kids are on their last chance because their feckless parents, grandparents, AND great grandparents were all unemployed. Right. No other factors.

There was some fairly well publicised research done by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation not too long ago, looking at the much hyped culture of worklessness. Despite actively and intensively searching for families with three generations of unemployed in two of the most deprived regions of the UK, they were unable to find even one such family. They did – just about – manage to find 20 families who presented with two generations of unemployment, but noted that there were a variety of long term and complex factors at play in these families, a major one being ill health. So on balance, whatever the issues faced by the kids at the Everton Free School (and I don’t doubt that the issues are are many, and real) it seems fairly unlikely that three generations of unemployment is one of them.

It’s really great that wealthy folk in the public eye are in a position to promote initiatives that work with excluded and disadvantaged kids, and clearly Jenny Seagrove is doing a good thing by supporting them. But I can’t help thinking that it would also be a great thing if the same celebrities took some time to understand the back story, and used their influence to help break down the negative myths and stereotypes, rather than perpetuating them.

 

You can access a summary of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation study, or indeed the whole report, here.

On Momina, on World Aids Day

Doing my bit, , ,

On World Aids Day 2013, I am really pleased to feature this guest post from the International HIV/Aids Alliance, an alliance of independent civil society organisations that are dedicated to ending AIDS through community action. The post tells the story of Momina, a brave young lady. Please, take 5 minutes to read and share. Thank you, Michelle.

Meet Momina

Momina is a 22 year old single mother of two who lives in the city of Adama in central Ethiopia and was diagnosed as living with HIV three years ago. Although she wears a smile, sadness is etched across her face when she talks about her younger son, Yerosa. Born HIV positive, he is now three but Momina knows very little of his life save for the occasional photos she is sent by the American family who adopted him. Momina took the agonising decision to give him up for adoption in the hope that he would be able to receive medical treatment.

Pic1

Photo credit: Benjamin Chesterton\duckrabbit\International HIV/AIDS Alliance

 In telling her story today, Momina hopes that she might help other young women just like her, to know how they can protect themselves from contracting HIV and get the care and support they need through projects like Link Up being led by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance.

 

Momina’s Story

When Momina was a teenager, she left her family home as she was afraid that her parents would marry her off to an older man as they did with her older sister – who later died of AIDS. After falling pregnant with her first child Rapira, and without the support of her parents, she was forced to move from community to community, taking temporary jobs where she could, to try to provide food and shelter for her son.

“I don’t want my child to starve or get hurt,” says Momina.

pic2

Photo credit: Benjamin Chesterton\duckrabbit\International HIV/AIDS Alliance

“There are times when I feed my child and I do not eat at all. I sometimes come home late from work, there are times when I wake him up and feed him because I don’t want him to sleep on an empty belly.”

 Without life being tough enough already, three years ago Momina was diagnosed as living with HIV. At that time she had no idea that she was pregnant and subsequently she was not able to receive the treatment needed to protect her unborn child from onward transmission of the virus. When her youngest son, Yerosa was just four months old, Momina learned that he was HIV positive and took the agonising decision to give him up to a family in the US with the hope that he would receive the medical care he needed.

 “I convinced myself that it’s better to see my child well. If he had not been seriously ill, I would have not given him away. I would have fought until the end. I am praying for him to be well wherever he is.”

Living with HIV

Determined not to be defined by her HIV status, even when her own mother will not allow her into her family home for fear that she might infect her siblings, Momina remains candid about her condition with friends and colleagues. But in a country where HIV stigma and discrimination still prevail, her openness sometimes costs her and she is presently between jobs.

“I do not let myself down because I live with HIV and have my own objectives.”

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Photo credit: Benjamin Chesterton\duckrabbit\International HIV/AIDS Alliance

“I want to continue my education and qualify as a nurse. I have always had a passion and love for the profession and I want to serve people like me, people living with the virus. I would be happy if I could do that. My biggest aim is to get educated, get a job and live my own life but at the same time I don’t want to cry over split milk”

Momina is assisted with access to HIV treatment and care by Ethiopia’s largest NGO working on HIV, the Organization for Social Services for AIDS (OSSA), who in turn is supported by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance. Every fortnight she attends a support group meeting organised by OSSA where she and other members of her community living with HIV meet to share their experiences.

OSSA have also helped contribute to her son Rapira’s annual school fee. Momina is determined to see that he gets a good education.

 pic4

Photo credit:Benjamin Chesterton\duckrabbit\International HIV/AIDS Alliance

 

“I wish for him something much greater than I had,” she says with feeling. “I hope he can go all the way and graduate which I was unable to do.”

In another world, life for Momina and her family could have turned out so very differently. If she had known how to protect herself against HIV. If she had gone through proper antenatal care when she was pregnant with Yerosa. If she had not felt compelled to run away from home for fear of early marriage. If she was able to work freely without worrying about becoming a target for discrimination.

“I would like people to see me a strong person,” she smiles. “I know that there is strength in me; I got that strength from the life I have had. I want young people of my age to be strong and to have the strength to face and overcome challenges.”

The International HIV/AIDS Alliance and Link Up

Ethiopia is one of five countries currently being targeted by the Alliance and its partners through Link Up, an initiative that aims to improve the sexual and reproductive health and rights of more than one million young people living with and affected by HIV.

Over the course of the next three years, Link Up will reach more than one million young people aged 15-24 by implementing tailored HIV and sexual and reproductive health interventions to increase uptake and access to services and reduce unintended pregnancies, new HIV infections and HIV-related maternal mortality. In Ethiopia the initiative aims to reach 140,000 young people to improve their sexual health.

What can you do to help?

Show your support to Momina, Link Up and the International HIV/AIDS Alliance by:

  1. Sharing Momina’s story (use the social icons at the bottom of the post) #LinkUp
  2. Keeping up to date with the work being carried out through Link Up at www.link-up.org
  3. Follow the International HIV/AIDS Alliance on Twitter @theaidsalliance and on Facebook

Thank you for taking the time to read Momina’s story today. It means a lot to everyone involved in this project.