PovertyChallenge

Often when the media presents a story, it does so as a story-teller; the ‘facts’ can be selected to lure you into a certain way of thinking.

Like most ‘covered’ Muslim ladies, I believe Islam has liberated us. Here are just a few of the many myths about Islam that I would like to dispel:

1.       MYTH: The less of ‘us’ you see (i.e. our skin/hair/shape) the more oppressed we are.

TRUTH: Covering is a form of worship to our Lord; what He commands, we obey, and there is always Wisdom behind His commands.

We consider ourselves to be slaves in complete submission to the Creator rather than slaves to His creation (i.e. the society) and its pressure to look a certain way.

If a woman is free to dress HOWEVER she likes, surely she is free to wear as MUCH as she likes (e.g. covered)?

Modesty is the policy in Islam for both men and women. It is our identity and most of all: it is our choice to follow the Commandment of our Beloved Lord.

2.       MYTH: The man controls the woman in every single way.

TRUTH: This is one of the greatest misunderstandings a ‘non-Muslim’ may have.   In the Sight of Allah (God), every soul is equal to one another. However, equality doesn’t equate to being the same. Men and women were made distinctively different. With differences come different purposes, roles and responsibilities.

A narration of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) states that “Paradise lies at the feet of the mother”, displeasing your mother is enough to deny you entrance into Paradise, Paradise being our ultimate goal. This is just one example of the elevated status that women are endowed with in Islam.

3.       MYTH: Women in Islam are oppressed.

TRUTH: Islam is not guilty of oppressing women; Islam is for all of humanity.

As a religion comes into contact with non-native cultures, the two sometimes intertwine. Culture can play a positive role but can easily be detrimental, as much culture-influenced innovation is brought into the religion through ignorance and the contextual passage of time, which can lead to a fundamental changing of the Laws of God to suit the people. This is considered a major sin in Islam.

An example of this would be the Forced Marriage issue that is prevalent within some nations. Dissimilar to the cultural notions, Islamic scripture deems forced marriages as forbidden. If a man or woman is forced into a marriage, their marriage contract is invalid and the forced party can seek annulment immediately.

Despite the distorted image of Islam following 9/11, the conversion to Islam is at its peak in our lifetime. The majority of these converts are women and journalists like Yvonne Ridley and Lauren Booth tell their own conversion stories. They can speak marvellously in volumes, so I won’t go into it any further.

What I hope to have achieved with this, is to make you question the ideologies of groups and individuals – be they religiously affiliated or not, including the content of my entry.

Blindly listening to one person is NOT part of Islam, as Islam is the religion that invites you to think and explore the AUTHENTIC and LOGICAL sources to refine your understanding of the world and its inhabitants. And THAT is what I believe to be liberation, NOT oppression.

Moral of the story: don’t get it from the story-teller. Get it from those living it.

Good News!  The Warrington Guardian is doing an article on me next week – “Warrington Mum shuts up for poverty” or something like that!  David Mowat, my MP, is yet to respond but I’m still hopeful – even if he hasn’t responded to my emails I’m sure he’ll want to take the opportunity of a bit of press coverage to tell the people of Warrington what poverty means to him and what the Government will be doing about it. 

When I started this challenge I thought it would be quite fun to do but I’ve quickly got very fed up doing it.  I was struck by just how many opinions I have - hundreds every day but what I didn’t expect was the speed with which I began to withdraw from life – I would retreat to my room, shun social contact, avoid the news.  If you can’t express an opinion on anything, what’s the point?!  My blog has been a welcome release!! 

What has been lovely has been all the supportive emails and comments I’ve had – I’ve been truly touched and encouraged by that.  I’ve had a tiny taste of what it feels like not to have a voice.  I’ve been hugely impressed by my fellow Poverty Challengers – no shoes, sleeping in a tent, walking miles (in the rain) to earn a water allowance……  I’ve been inspired by them and all the wonderful people at Oxfam who work so incredibly hard.  AND we’ve raised some money to help the people we see on the news all too often – in places like Pakistan and Haiti. 

So heartfelt thanks to everyone xxxx and I’ll be back to my opinionated self tomorrow – Yeah!!!!!!  

I’ve always suspected that the “Big Society” was, as David Miliband put it, a “vacuous” notion but get this: - the World Development Movement and the Jubilee Debt Campaign asked people to send £1 to Andrew Mitchell, Secretary of State for the Department for International Development (DFID), requesting that he deposits it with the UN Adaptation Fund along with the rest of the UK’s climate money.  This fund enables the world’s poorest people to cope with the impacts of climate change and so far the UK has not put a single penny into this fund. 

And the response – DFID didn’t want it!  Instead of passing it on to the UN Adaptation Fund they sent it back.  The explanation – “they didn’t have the legal authority to accept public money.”

Back at the start of George W Bush’s first administration, two women, Jane Roberts and Lois Abraham, were concerned by cuts to the United Nations Family Planning fund (UNFPA).  They asked people to send $1 to the UNFPA to help provide family planning and reproductive health services to women living in poverty.  The money flooded in.  Staff at the UNFPA devoted their lunch hours to opening envelopes and finally the UN Foundation gave grants to hire staff to handle the mail.  Jane and Lois raised £4 million dollars!  President Obama has since reinstated the funding for UNFPA and Jane and Lois continue to fundraise[1].

The “send a £1” campaign strikes me as a good example of the “Big Society” in action – people coming together to do something about climate change, sending the Government some much needed hard cash towards climate change adaptation.  But what happens?  The Government just doesn’t want to know!

I am being to tire of being patronised by this coalition Government.  They have been ramming it down our throats about the budget deficit being all down to Labour - this I believe is designed to make me feel:

• ignorant (I didn’t know this was happening) or
• duped (Labour lied to me) or
• complicit.  (I knew about it, so it’s partly my fault)

We’re all encouraged to become part of the “Big Society.”  Well in case you didn’t notice Mr Cameron – there’s a lot of us out there already – just not within the Department for International Development.

Perhaps David Mowat, my MP, could get an explanation from Andrew Mitchell as to why DFID didn’t want the money.     

[1] Taken from “Half The Sky, How To Change The World” by Nicholas D Kristof & Sheryl Wudunn

Last night I watched “What the Green Movement Got Wrong” on Channel 4.  This type of programme would normally have me drafting a letter of complaint by the time the credits were rolling but last night I felt surprisingly unmoved by it.  Rumour had it that it was going to paint the green movement in a very bad light but as it turned out, despite the hype, I didn’t think it was all that bad.  Along with the ensuing debate, it just seemed to illustrate the diversity of opinion held within the green movement. 

There were some serious accusations and omissions in the film.  For example, it suggested the environmental movement in the west was responsible for denying technologies such as nuclear and GM to poor countries and the role of corporate power was barely touched on.  Craig Bennett, Director of Policy and Campaigns for Friends of the Earth and Dr Bhaskar Vira from Cambridge University both pointed out that opposition to GM had come from within the developing countries themselves, namely Zambia and India who have their own environmental movements.  On GM as the solution to world hunger, George Monbiot said there was a global food surplus and the problem was political and not technological, Mark Lynas said that was rubbish and so forth and so forth…..just your average exchange of views between a bunch of educated, articulate, and passionate environmentalists. 

So am I becoming disinterested because I can’t express a view; am I content to rely on others to express my views for me; do I defer to their judgements because they’re better informed or more articulate; do I think no-one’s going to listen to what I have to say?  I’ve been an environmentalist as long as I can remember and these issues really matter to me but I am definitely feeling uncharacteristically unengaged at the moment.  

And I can imagine this is generally what happens to you when you can’t express your opinion - when you have no money, no access to education, no energy beyond what it takes just trying to feed yourself and your family.  It does make you realise that poverty is about so much more than not having enough to eat and it doesn’t feel good.

Ok so I’m a waitress too, a natural servant you might say, and I’m fairly used to being at the beck and call of customers and management.  Sometimes I even enjoy it, the social atmosphere, the chance to meet different people accompanied by the vibrant Latin American soundtrack playing loudly from the bar. It’s an intense job, with lots to keep on top of constantly and all for the pitiful minimum wage, but I wouldn’t be there were it not for the tips!  But I can’t just do my shift as normal and have it count towards the poverty challenge, so I’m donating my tips from tonight to the fund.  Conscience alleviated!

I read a blog about an Indian woman in Deli, a domestic servant in the houses of the wealthy middle classes. She served several different households, constantly changing as families move about to accommodation in other cities or overseas. The fluctuation in her income and that of her unemployed husband means that at one stage she was able to afford a refrigerator. A universal appliance in the UK and across the western world, something we don’t give a second thought to.  A place to store food, medicines, water (there’s no running water in her home), all of which give her the physical capacity to actually do her job rather than being left weakened from exhaustion and vulnerable to the dangers of spoilt food.  But that’s where she is now because she can’t afford the electricity to run it, instead it’s now used as a bookshelf.

On the absolute breadline what other typical ‘luxuries’ are absent?   Health care?

According to Channel Four News, in India medicines are readily available if you’re ill, and you’re actively encouraged to buy them too, but that’s the point, you have to pay.

This leads to people taking antibiotics – but not the full course because they can’t afford it – allowing viruses to build up resistance to anything we have previously managed to concoct to fight them. That is the current fear for a new superbug NDM1 expecting to be making a big appearance on hospital wards internationally, emanating from the Indian sub-continent. Maybe it’s more fear mongering, or maybe poverty is just as dangerous for the people who don’t suffer deprivation, who don’t care because they feel it doesn’t actually affect them. Well, it does.

Unlike some of my fellow Poverty Challengers, I haven’t yet had a response from my MP and I’m a little miffed by that.  But in fairness I’m sure he’s got much better things to do than comment on my self-absorbed musings on the difficulties of not having an opinion.  It turns out he’s been busy asking some very pertinent questions about the financial services industry and the banks http://www.theyworkforyou.com/   

Apparently we spent about £150 billion on the banks over the last two years.  I think we need to get some of this back.  I wonder what my MP's views are on the Robin Hood Tax?  The bank levy announced by the Government in June this year will raise about £2.5 billion, whereas a financial transaction tax, a tax as small as 0.05% could raise £20 billion annually.  Some of that could go towards climate finance.  And having read Duncan Green’s blog, we’re going to need it.  A new study puts the cost of environmental damage by human activity at 11% of global GDP ($6.6 trillion)!  Two thirds of this cost is attributed to CO2 emissions. 

The Robin Hood tax seems like a very good idea to me.

By the way, David Cameron had an “austerity breakfast meeting” this morning – apparently it was just a meeting - no breakfast included!  Glad to see the PM’s doing his bit. 

Today was a revision day for the impending exams this week,  but sneakily also a day for a lie in.

Not so, of course I was aroused to find that for the whole day I was the designated driver, o joy!

The first on the route was my sister, in a frantic rush for college and insisting on driving her to the door of the classroom. – This means to save her legs a 30 second walk with me instead dropping her off round the corner, I drive into the car park with other less savvy people, prepared to queue for 15 minutes to get out of the car park onto the main road at rush hour. Thanks. I haven’t even had a coffee yet.

Of course I had fewer distractions a home while everyone was at work, and I felt guilty that no one was around to make my life a misery so I cleaned the oven of my own accord. There’s far too much solidarity with my fellow slaves I fear!

Though, the masters reins were picked up once again when I discovered that at a long anticipated gig tonight in Liverpool, from the amazing dan le sac and scroobius pip, I was the designated driver. That would be fine normally, but I was quite looking forward to a few JD and cokes to help the dancing evolve.

On a day off, I managed to hit rush hour traffic twice , that is injustice in itself I feel!

The gig was fantastic even without the alcohol, and a car fully of rowdy people on the drive home, but to quote the artists themselves:

“I feel sick tonight

Something in my stomach ain't sitting right

But I've gotta overcome it, keep spitting tight…”

Because there are estimated to be around 12 million people internationally in some form of slavery according to the US State department. A severe underestimate some might say. Regardless one person living a life of servitude is too many, and there are still some 60 members of the UN left to sign a resolution against it. And in the absence of that, we are all guilty of buying and using products created as a result of someone forced into a role they can’t escape. I feel sick tonight.

OK, I confess, I got on the computer today and before I knew it the opinions were coming thick and fast – I just totally forgot!!  Disaster!  But perhaps it doesn’t count if it’s online – I’m allowed to blog after all – but feeling very contrite – must try harder!  

Off to meditation class tonight - that should get me back on track – we’re learning how not to have any thoughts at all, never mind opinions so that should help! 

Of course, there’s a world of difference between not having a thought or an opinion and having an opinion and not being able to express it - it must be so frustrating – well it is – three days in and I am struggling…... if I could never give my opinion I think I’d explode.  The normal day-to-day stuff is proving the most difficult – my views on the USA mid-term elections can probably wait a few days but just everyday interaction with people is tricky.  Expressing our views on the weather, the traffic, what’s for lunch - it’s all just such an ingrained part of our daily life. 

So feeling a little humbled to-night – this is going to be harder than I thought!

Nooooo. I rolled a 1 today.

And what a terrible day its been. Without money for public transport I decided it was time to fix that puncture on my bike.

I didn't have any food in the cupboards at home and I was running late so I cycled in without making any food. I got really hungry at lunchtime from all the extra exertion and stupidly blew my 1 pound on a Greggs pie. Silly I know. I should have invested that pound in a loaf of bread. But no I wasted it on a pie.

Now its quater to 4 and its pouring it down outside, its going dark and I just checked my bike and the tyre is flat again. I didn't bring a coat either. No money for the bus - so I'm walking home.

I've got to cook for my whole house tomorrow so for their sake I hope its not another 1.

Today I've learned a valuable lesson from today's mini-disaster: I need to plan ahead for when times get hard.

Oxfam supports governments in making disaster preparedness plans in countries like the Philippines which are vulnerable to climate change: http://www.ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=48718

In looking at those who do not have an opinion, I am looking at those who do.

Albert Einstein wrote in a letter to Sigmund Freud in 1932: “The minority, the ruling class at present, has the schools and press, usually the Church as well, under its thumb.

“This enables it to organise and sway the emotions of the masses, and make its tool of them.”

Today, the UK Government is making cuts that are going to affect the poor more than the rich, but people aren’t rioting.

Recently, on the unsettling show This Week, Michael Portillo, openly and unchallenged said: “All politicians are fairly out of touch.”

According to Giles Bolton, head of ethical trading at Tesco, the media is failing its responsibility to report on international aid and corruption in foreign countries.

Political and media leaders are often paid six-figure sums, while the media cover the unrest of those who earn less than them with distant wonderment, often considering how ‘the markets’ will react.

In a representative democracy, how are they so far removed?

Stephanie Flanders, economics editor at the BBC studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University. She was in a tutorial group with Yvette Cooper, our new shadow foreign secretary.

Both women then worked at the Financial Times, where both, according to the Daily Mail had a relationship with Ed Balls. Who also studied PPE at Oxford.

Ms Flanders is also said to have had a fling with Ed Milliband, who, you guessed it, went to Oxford to study PPE.

We have teaching in schools and universities across this country that is outstanding, according to various quangos, and although sharing it with the masses would improve the whole nation, who wants to share their ‘smarts’, and therefore wealth, with everyone?

It is in their interests to keep the majority of people uneducated enough so they won’t be a problem.

The MPs' expenses scandal, the banking crisis, and the lack of any real action, prove this.

Similarly, the relentless coverage of the Chilean miners was a tool of distraction- a happy ending, diverting attention from wars and disasters that persist every day.

Those stories don’t look hot on rolling camera and if you look at the people affected, they are disproportionately poor. 

The world appears to be dominated by rich, and therefore powerful people, often men, which leaves poorer people, and women in particular with their throats cut.

I am officially the chai wallah of the office, I’m managing to do this with infinitely less flair though, it is a skill of course. Making the tea and coffee is what many perceive an internship to be, I thought I was safe with Oxfam, until now!

However, in taking up this role I have managed to avoid requests to sing, or even to choreograph a dance, which I have seen others fall victim to. (I won’t mention your name here!)

My family have begun to enjoy this challenge too.

For the first time, I backed down in a debate with my brother which I know has earned him eternal gloating rights.

The moment was made all the more poignant because I was responsible for the clean up operation after dinner for six, while everyone else was free chill on the sofa rather than assist or at least keep me company.

Never mind, solitude gives me time to reflect, I thought of what a colleague said of servitude at work today. That people waging infinite power over others is an ugly thing. Why is it that we relish the opportunity to boss people about, take advantage and designate them the most menial tasks? Concluding that it is a common trait humanity, she immediately countered it with an order to check myself out in the mirror, and tell myself, “looking good”!

I’m hoping for more tasks like that, but I’m not betting on humanity getting over a deep evolutionary trait quite so quickly.

Tonight I would normally be going to a Warrington Friends of the Earth meeting but it’s been postponed – just as well – when you get a bunch of campaigners in a room there’s no shortage of opinions – and I’ve struggled enough today to not express an opinion on a lot more mundane stuff than trying to save the planet from catastrophic climate change.  I shall use the time to write to my MP David Mowat instead and ask him what the government is doing about poverty.  David already knows me through my Food Chain campaigning - he’ll probably welcome a break from having to listen to my opinion! 

The Food Chain is a good example of how our behaviour in this country can impact on the lives of people in poor countries.  Our increasing consumption of meat and dairy has led to the destruction of the tropical rainforests and many small farmers’ livelihoods along with it. 

The proposed “super dairies,” like the one in Nocton in Leicestershire, will make it harder for small farmers in this country to make a living too.  My cousin’s a dairy farmer and he gets 24p per litre for his milk, yet I pay 79p for a litre in the supermarket.  “super dairies” are not about keeping milk prices affordable or producing enough food to feed a growing population – they’re about maximising profits - and the profits will end up in the pockets of a few big producers and supermarkets. 

Farmers in this country deserve a fair price for their products and so do farmers in poorer countries.  And we need to consider the true cost of food production and consumption – the environmental and social costs.  Poor people need to be able to trade their way out of poverty and this is why Oxfam and other charities campaign on Fair Trade. 

I could go on……….but there are already way too many opinions in that last paragraph…….

Today is national equal pay day, supported by the feminist Fawcett Society and the National Union of Journalists.

At the office, people try to draw me into discussion that would lead into my expressing an opinion.

Which I’m not allowed to do.

Unless there were any unintentional slip-ups, I manage the day, ordering cups of tea as diplomatically as possible.

I suppose what sticks out, is how often the opportunity to voice an opinion happens. I make choices and seem to be in charge of my own destiny.

Although we live in a 'globalised' world with 24 hour news, technology and money, this isn't the case for everyone.

I have written extensively for Oxfam on the subject, mums matter.

In the developing world, millennium development goals to eliminate extreme poverty were set by world leaders in the year 2000.

Goal five, to improve maternal health, stop women dying during pregnancy and childbirth, is the one that governments are making the least progress on.

In poor countries, women are more likely to do unskilled, badly paid jobs and despite the phenomenal emergence of Fair Trade, the reality is still that many men and women are not given a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.

Even in the UK, British woman are more likely to be paid less than men or overlooked for a promotion.

In all worlds, women do hours of unpaid care work.

National equal pay day goes without picket lines, rioting, or even a simple mention, in one of the richest nations in the world, in a democracy where 50 per cent of people are women, so it is easy to see why women’s voice are not heard in the poorest.

In some countries, there isn’t a stable political system where people have the right to vote in, and vote out, representatives which mean their opinions fall on deaf ears. 

Even with a stable system here, many people sacrifice their right to an opinion by not voting.

Is gender the main barrier to voicing your opinion, or is there something else?

 I am going to live without giving my opinion for the week (except in this blog).

As the comment writer at university and a blogger for Oxfam, I voice my opinions more than enough. Other women in the world, especially those living in poverty do not have that luxury.

I'm going to ask my MP Helen Jones what her opinion on all this is too ... what do you think?

My challenge is to not express my opinion for a week (except in my blog).

I want to deepen my understanding and show solidarity with those women whose voices aren't heard across the world because they live in unequal communities. I'm also raising money for Oxfam by doing this ... why not sponsor me?

I live in Warrington and am asking my MP David Mowat what he thinks about my challenge ... will he reply?

Today I start eating only rice and beans. I am doing this because hunger is such a massive issue  for so many people and I am trying to see how hard it is for me to get by on such a basic diet. I want to have a small understanding of just one of the challenges that people in poverty face.

I am definitley going to miss chocolate, and sweets, and crisps!

For one week I will roll a dice every morning to decide how much money I will be allowed to spend that day (£1-6). This will include all the money I spend excluding my rent.

I am hoping that this challenge will open my eyes to some of the daily struggles faced by many across the developing world. I set myself this particular challenge because low incomes and food insecurity are common for those living in poverty; I want to know what it feels like to have no control over the amount of money I have to live on each day. 

I live in St Helen's and will ask my MP Dave Watts to respond to what I'm up to ... What will he say?

I am giving up freedom of choice for one week, I will only work and act as a servant to others. I will clean, tidy, run errands and attend to the needs of friends, family and colleagues; they alone can dictate if I can be dismissed.

I am doing this because I am a very independent person with a lot of freedom and few responsibilities; I know that if I had to live a life in which my actions were dictated by others I would be terribly angry and frustrated. Freedom to me is a human right, and the only way that humanity can continue to evolve, sadly the freedom enjoyed by so many in UK is only an exotic luxury to others.

I live in St Helens and will be asking my MP Shaun Woodward to respond to what I'm up to - will he respond?