Hannah-

Ok...so i've hit day three. not gonna lie am feeling the effects of the pound-a-day now.  i can't even begin to imagine what this feels like everyday of every month of every year of someone's life.  

I'm tired, i'm grumpy and incredibly unproductive. BUT i have also learnt a lot more about myself and the effects my choices have everyday.  We live in a globally interconnected world and everyday I have the choice to make an effective vote in the market place with the products i choose which have the ability to shape the society i want to live in and the option to give people across the world a better life.  I haven't been able to buy Fairtrade produce this week and since writing my dissertation on it and really engaging with the topic I found it a bit of a struggle.  Buying market value products however has made me question what the producer is making back from these? what conditions do these workers live in if this product can be advertised so cheaply?  

  Walking round the supermarket looking for something filling to buy with a pound is no easy task in our society, but what about the mum who lives on less than this with her 5 children to feed, 5 miles to walk to get clean water and a whole days work to earn that wage. how does she keep going?  the meaning of poverty to me is beginning to force questions in my head about it's meaning.

it's so much more than not having money... it's not having the means to provide for your family, the means to provide for yourself and the ability or option to change your circumstances, it takes away your free choice (something i take for granted in my life)- you are constrained in a world which is bounded and limiting... and yet there are stories of these women in these circumstances who do amazing things....  they set up co-operatives within their villages, forming businesses and working with what they've got.  whilst i felt sorry for myself feeling hungry and trying to sleep it off these women are actively utilising everything they have to not only help each other but to making their living the best experience they can.  

so maybe i need to get out of bed and have a bit of a reality check. i have 100 times more and am challenged 100 times less, and the sad thing is that caring at a distance cuts no ice. we need to DO something, we need to make something happen. the worlds problems are our problems too. so why don't we act on it?!

x

ps. watched Blood Diamond the other night- i know unrelated to my post but found it incredibly moving.  Those of you who haven't seen it it's well worth the watch!!