Make Poverty History

This mosaic is on the side of a church round the corner from my house. I'm not at all religious, but I like the creativity that goes into a mosaic, and I reckon they're the sort of thing that are much, much harder to do than you think they'd be.

The message is also a good one - Make Poverty History. Surely there are few people in the Western world that didn't have that message rammed down their throats at one point or another. I would absolutely love for there to be more equality across the world. Financial poverty isn't necessarily what I'd concentrate on, as different cultures value different things. This scheme seems to me to be a group of (admittedly well-wishing) Westerners - a lot of whom are ridiculously rich - encouraging other people to allow themselves to justify buying the new Xbox because they've donated to charity. I know that MPH actually focussed on getting the world's superpowers to write off the debt that many developing countries can never hope to pay off, which is a good way to go, but all I see is Bono and Bob Geldof and I think 'bloody do-gooders', and I fear that when people think of Africa, they see Bono telling his take on the situation.

Which is a real shame, because the idea is a good one.

When it comes to charity, I tend to volunteer my most precious commodity: TIME. I will buy a homeless person a sandwich instead of giving them money, and I've spent a total of a few months over my 31 years volunteering in orphanages and schools, have met the most amazing people and heard the most heart-breaking stories. The one that still makes me want to cry is the 13 year old girl I met in Lusaka, Zambia, who was pregnant from a rape that she'd experienced because there was a belief in the community that sex with a virgin can cure AIDS. Aside from falling pregnant, she also contracted AIDS and was disowned by her parents for no longer being 'pure'. She was overwhelmed that a 'Muzungu' (white person) would take the time to talk to her. I'm not sure how you can console somebody that's been through something so traumatic at such a young age. It just seems so disproportionatly horrific compared to the now celebrated 'first world problems' that the joke in the latter is, unfortunately, no longer funny.

I'd recommend to anyone to go and experience charity, instead of just putting some dollars aside. The difference that you can make to someone's life just by being there is amazing, and one of the most rewarding things that I have ever done.