It Shouldn’t Happen Here

Save the Children UK Campaign

Well, gosh. That’s got people talking, hasn’t it?

Save the Children launched a new fundraising appeal yesterday; the first ever one to raise money to help children living in poverty in the UK. The appeal coincides with a new report ‘It Shouldn’t Happen Here’ which details the experiences of children and parents living in recession-hit Britain.

Every time you started up your computer, opened a paper, turned on the TV or listened to the radio yesterday, there was someone in front of you, sharing their opinion on it.
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A Race Worth Winning

David Beckham global hunger summit

Back in February, I did a post about the launch of Save the Children’s Name A Day campaign, which called on the Prime Minister David Cameron to name a day when he would host a global summit on child malnutrition.

In May, he did name a day, and now that day has almost come. The Global Hunger Summit will take place next week – on the last day of the Olympics.
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A Message from Mozambique

Save the Children Liberia

Dear Dorky Mum,

First, thank you for your patience. Me traveling two out of three weeks is not easy on us. The Dorkys like proximity.

I have been to Africa to do my job. Liberia, first, then Mozambique. In both places we drove away from the cities and well into the bush, looking for the outreach and effectiveness of the work Save the Children does.
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Take Action to Give Girls Power

Save the Children Give Girls Power

Last night was one of those occasions when being a blogger feels like a real honour and a privilege. Along with around 25 other women – bloggers, vloggers and journalists – Save the Children invited me to a dinner in London. Hosted by the Guardian’s Zoe Williams, who has recently travelled to Nepal with Save the Children to learn about family planning there, the event gave us the opportunity to hear from a 17-year-old Ethiopian girl called Aselefe (centre in the photo), along with her interpreter Bethel (left in the picture).

Aselefe’s best friend has gone missing. Her boyfriend left her and she was thrown out by her family after becoming pregnant. Right now, Aselefe doesn’t know where her friend is.
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Can I still call myself Green?

Surfers Against Sewage campaign

I have been having a bit of a political identity crisis recently, as I question whether I can still call myself green.

I think it’s possible to say that you are ‘life-long Labour’ or ‘a committed Conservative’ even if you’re never been an activist and all you’ve ever done is vote for that party. But I’m not so sure that the same applies to Greens. I think there is an expectation that being Green means putting the politics into practice.

Five years ago I was Green with a capital G. A fully paid up member of the Scottish Party, an occasional candidate, present at every committee meeting. I knew exactly what ‘being Green’ meant. It meant knocking on doors, delivering newsletters, carrying the end of a banner at a demo, street stalls in the rain, boycotting Nestle, working for an environmental charity, wearing anti-war and pro-renewable badges on my jacket…  Being Green was about trying to make a better world possible.
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