I was listening to the BBC Radio 4 programme Saturday Live this morning. Not a programme I listen to very often, as I'm usually out on my bike at that time; but today was an exception, and I'm glad it was.
One of the guests on the programme was a lady called Camila Batmanghelidjh, founder of an organisation called Kids Company (http://www.kidsco.org.uk if you want to know more). Kids Company was set up in 1996 to provide emotional, practical and educational support to vulnerable inner-city children, and it now 36,000 children from its centres in London and Bristol.
There were two things that really hit me about what Camila was saying:
1. the inability that so many of the children have to dream or hope about the future. They are so trapped in excruciatingly dysfunctional and chaotic lives, so focussed on just getting through each day, so consumed with just trying to find food and shelter for the next 24 hours, that there is no capacity left to dream, or imagine, or hope.
2. the waiting list that they have for winter coats. Over 3000 children on their books don't have a winter coat. And that's just on the books of Kids company, who only works in London and Bristol - how many more children are there without a coat living in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Glasgow, Newcastle etc? Quite apart from children living in rural poverty?
These are the sort of things you expect to hear about in a developing country, one which is known for its poverty-related problems. Not issues you expect to hear about in an apparently 'developed' country. Yes we have a pretty good set of infrastructure - roads, rail, sanitation, power, access to internet etc. Yes we have a health system accessible to all. Yes we have education accessible to all. And yes I know this is a lot more than many countries.
But as was pointed out today we also have far too many children who are without even such basic items as a winter coat, and who don't have the space in their lives to hope or dream
It's sad to say that the plight of these children won't make the headlines, this is just an ongoing problem that has been there for many years, and sadly will continue for many more years, given the current financial trends and growing gap between rich and poor.
But, that doesn't mean we can't do anything about it. For me, my immediate response is that there are some winter coats in this house that will be taken to the Bristol centre this week (and if any Thornbury folk want to add a coat to the pile I'll take those as well), and I'll be praying about what other response I could make over a longer term. For you it could be a very different response - please just take time to remember these children for a moment, and consider what that response could be.
One of the guests on the programme was a lady called Camila Batmanghelidjh, founder of an organisation called Kids Company (http://www.kidsco.org.uk if you want to know more). Kids Company was set up in 1996 to provide emotional, practical and educational support to vulnerable inner-city children, and it now 36,000 children from its centres in London and Bristol.
There were two things that really hit me about what Camila was saying:
1. the inability that so many of the children have to dream or hope about the future. They are so trapped in excruciatingly dysfunctional and chaotic lives, so focussed on just getting through each day, so consumed with just trying to find food and shelter for the next 24 hours, that there is no capacity left to dream, or imagine, or hope.
2. the waiting list that they have for winter coats. Over 3000 children on their books don't have a winter coat. And that's just on the books of Kids company, who only works in London and Bristol - how many more children are there without a coat living in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Glasgow, Newcastle etc? Quite apart from children living in rural poverty?
These are the sort of things you expect to hear about in a developing country, one which is known for its poverty-related problems. Not issues you expect to hear about in an apparently 'developed' country. Yes we have a pretty good set of infrastructure - roads, rail, sanitation, power, access to internet etc. Yes we have a health system accessible to all. Yes we have education accessible to all. And yes I know this is a lot more than many countries.
But as was pointed out today we also have far too many children who are without even such basic items as a winter coat, and who don't have the space in their lives to hope or dream
It's sad to say that the plight of these children won't make the headlines, this is just an ongoing problem that has been there for many years, and sadly will continue for many more years, given the current financial trends and growing gap between rich and poor.
But, that doesn't mean we can't do anything about it. For me, my immediate response is that there are some winter coats in this house that will be taken to the Bristol centre this week (and if any Thornbury folk want to add a coat to the pile I'll take those as well), and I'll be praying about what other response I could make over a longer term. For you it could be a very different response - please just take time to remember these children for a moment, and consider what that response could be.
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