The Past Few Weeks

So, I haven’t had my life sorted enough lately to find enough time to write anything. So here is a brief insight into the past few weeks:

I have achieved one of my lifelong dreams of becoming a Pirate! Not one of those super scary ones that like to kidnap people off the coast of Somali (but as my Nan says, “What are they doing sailing in pirate water in the first place?”). But one of those old skool pirates with peg legs and eye-patches that liked to kidnap people, and I’m sure you’ll all agree that they’re much friendlier. Anyways, I am volunteering with the Hackney Pirates, an “innovative education project developing literacy and creativity in young people, by giving them one to one attention in an unconventional learning environment” (click here for more info). We spend the first half of the session helping the kids with their homework and the second half on a creative project which then gets sold to raise funds. The kids have recently finished writing and recording some spoken word poems and are now writing dramatic monologues. Being a pirate is fun.

I have also become a Climber - of sorts. Wilma (roommate) and I completed a three week climbing course at the local climbing centre. Despite almost falling off the wall (and consequently to my death) when stuck four meters up one of the climbing walls it was a lot of fun. You should climb too. 

You should also read Peter Pan. I read it for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Genius. 

I also read Anne of Green Gables for the first time in years (I'm developing a slight habit of making regular trips to Oxfam Books – but surely a habit that benefits other people isn't really that bad). Most Romantic Gesture ever = Gilbert Blythe giving his job to Anne so that she can stay in Avonlea and look after Marilla. Next up on the Oxfam Books reading list is The School at the Chalet (that I now own two copies of - give me a shout if you want one). So I'll be spending the next few days dreaming of quitting my job and starting a boarding school in Austria. Speaking of work...

I have been to Salisbury, home of the Trussell Trust HQ, quite a lot lately. One of the trips was for a Trussell Trust Team Day, where all the staff from different departments came together to meet each other and talk about how things were going. In the last couple of years the Trussell Trust has grown so so much and they really are doing some amazing things (click here to find out more about the children's camps in Bulgaria). It was a great day but it made me sad that I’ll be leaving in September and will no longer be a part of such an inspirational team.*

One of the side-effects of my job has been that I've learned all the tube lines by colour. And now I've discovered another side effect - I can name and locate all the London boroughs, which you have to admit is quite a good life skill to have. You never know when you'll need to distinguish Havering from Hounslow, Bromley from Brent or  Camden from Croydon. You may laugh now but these places are at opposite ends of the city and I'll get the last laugh when you take the wrong turning and end up in Redbridge instead of Richmond. 

I have recently discovered that one of the side-effects of living in Shoreditch is that I am becoming fearless about what I wear. As one of my flatmates put it, “You live in Shoreditch, you can wear whatever you like!” Totally claiming that one! As part of this boldness I have decided to embrace my naturally out of control curly hair and stop straightening it. My beloved GHDs have been put away. Apologies in advance if you have to be seen with me and my hair looks like this:

However if I am wearing my amazingly beautiful new shoes you might not mind the state of my hair so much.  I bought new shoes yesterday. Black five and half inch platform court wedges. They are Beautiful and I LOVE them. I will probably break my neck, but  it's a small price to pay for such beautiful shoes (I am more of a girl than I care to admit). Paolo Nutini was so right.

And now that I own the most beautiful shoes ever, top of my wish list is this set of cake tins:

Combining two of my favourite things: London and Cake (just in case you’re feeling generous here's the link: http://www.lakeland.co.uk/43167/My-London-Cake-Tin-Duo, I can send you my address. I'll even bake you a cake). London really is the best city in the world. I love it. How often can you join city workers eating their lunch while watching some old folks take part in an open air tea dance with a brass band? (Spitalfield’s market y’all). However not all of London is so pretty or fun but I'll write about that later because I doubt anyone will read this far. Five points to you if you're still with me.

So there we go, a random collection of things.

*(don’t ask me what I’ll be doing yet because I simply don’t know – but it will probably involve living in East London because lets face it – outside of Croydon why would you want to live anywhere else?)

Commuters & Food

So it’s been a few weeks now (five to be exact) since I started working for Foodbank.

Five weeks since I started spending almost two hours of my day observing the behaviour of that strange species of the workforce known as ‘Commuters.’

And this is what I have learned:

• A packed train is a totally acceptable place to apply a full face and neck(!) of make-up.
• A packed train is the perfect place to have an argument with your boyfriend (who just started working at the River Cafe - the same place as you) about waiting for the train on the wrong platform (which apparently was so typical of him because he did the same thing a couple of weeks ago when they went to visit her mum. Not that I was shamelessly eavesdropping on their conversation or anything).
• A packed train is the perfect place to catch up on some sleep, even if you’re standing.
• It is a commonly held belief (and practice) that pushing the button to open the train door before the train has completely come to a stop opens the door faster.
• Looking tired and miserable is the only acceptable way to travel on trains.
• You have elbows for a reason – use them or lose them.
• There is no place for weakness in the Commuter’s territory – very young, very old, or just slow – they will not hesitate to walk all over you like they didn't even see you.

As you can see – it’s been educational.

But I’ve also learned about food. In particular, having no food.

People in England really do go hungry. People really do have no money for food.

I mean I knew this when I signed up to Foodbank but now I’ve actually seen it.

The first couple of weeks I spent most of my time visiting the London Foodbanks (we have 15 open at the moment and another 12 due to open soon). I saw how the Foodbanks operate and got to meet some of the volunteers and clients.

The first client I met was a guy who was probably in his early thirties. He’d been brought to the Foodbank by a couple of plain clothed policemen. He was pretty emotional. Turns out he’d been caught shoplifting bread and eggs earlier that day. His benefit had stopped 23 days ago and since then he hadn’t received any income. He said that once his food had run out he had to beg. He said hadn’t eaten for four days. Four days. And he’d gotten so hungry that stealing seemed to be his only option. He said he’d been off drugs and alcohol for six years and this was the first time he’d been in trouble with the police since then, he was really upset about this. He started to cry when we gave him some food. He was so thankful.

BOOM

That was when I realised. People really do go hungry. People really do have no food. In England.

That was when I realised what Foodbank was about and why it’s needed. Since that first week I've met a whole range of clients who for some reason, have no food or the means of getting any. 

This not something I expect to see in England.

So yeah, an educational few weeks to be sure. 

What Rachel Did Next

So, it’s been an interesting year. The first six/seven months –Fun Times. The last five months – less of the fun and less of the sun (did we even have summer this year?).

Don’t get me wrong, it’s been great to be home and see everyone that I missed while I was away. But since then it’s been fairly average. I’ve spent most of the so-called summer filling in job applications and receiving emails telling me I’m not qualified/experienced enough to do whatever job it was I applied to.

Ever been unemployed? Then you’ll understand my pain – trying to find motivation to fill in another form, being too lazy to read the Job Description and skipping straight to the Person Spec, feeling guilty for any time not spent job hunting, finding inventive ways of avoiding answering the dreaded question of “don’t you have a job yet?” (My favourites – jumping out of a window, or [if you’re not on a ground floor] pretending you haven’t heard and start asking them if that’s their car being towed), wondering if you should abandon your values and apply for a job as a manager of a Nike store, wondering if you should have sent in the application to be London Met Commissioner as you don’t think the current candidates will be any better than the previous ones and wondering why the media keep finding new statistics about high rates of graduate unemployment.

But back to my main point – it’s been an interesting year:

•  September 26^th 2010 -  the official start of DTS lecture phase (if you wanna know what I’m talking about and have a serious amount of time on your hands then read this: www.rachelgoestonz.blogspot.com)
• September 26^th 2011 – the official start of my working life as an intern for the Foodbank Network. (Farewell unemployment, hello having to set an alarm to wake up before the sun)
• September 26^th 2012 – the official start of my reign as world CEO? Intern to world domination in one year? Easily achievable

Interesting times. And its about to get even more interesting. As of next week I start a programme called Mission Year (www.missionyear.org.uk).

Mission Year (MY) is a framework equipping Christians to live in community with others, to serve the local church and to reach their neighbourhood. MY participants work with a number of ministries tackling social exclusion in areas of high social deprivation.

And so, in a few weeks I’ll be moving to Bethnal Green, East London, to live with three other MY participants. I am super excited about being part of an inner-city community where there is such a desperate need for Jesus. As part of MY I will be working, as an intern, with the Foodbank Network four days a week.

The Foodbank Network is a Christian charity that provides emergency three-day supplies of food to those in the UK who due to some kind of crisis, such as benefit delay, unexpected bills, illness etc, are without any food, or the means of getting any food for the next few days.

Clients are identified by frontline care professionals, such as social workers and Doctors, and given a voucher which they take to their local Foodbank and exchange for a three-day supply of nutritionally balanced, non-perishable food. They are not just given the food but tea/coffee, sometimes a meal and someone to talk/pray with. All food is donated by the public and sorted by volunteers. Last year the Foodbank Network fed over 60,000 people experiencing food poverty in the UK.

London currently has 14 Foodbanks up and running, with another 12 planning to open in the next few months. I will be working with the Regional Director for London in supporting current Foodbanks and establishing new ones. I am super excited to be working with an organisation tackling food poverty right on our doorstep. See www.trusselltrust.org for more info. 

Now the mathematically minded among you will have noted that I will only be working with Foodbank for four days. Fear not. On the fifth day I'll be working with the church I’ll attend in Bethnal Green. I'm not entirely sure what I'll be doing but I do know it will involve working for and with the local community. Possibly: kids work, youth work, teaching English to refugees or volunteering at my local Foodbank.

However, as an intern I don’t get paid, instead I get expenses. And although my expenses will be pretty generous for an intern (not quite parliamentary stylee though) it won’t quite cover my contribution to the house living expenses. I am short by £100 a month. This is where you come in...

If 10 people gave me £10 a month for one year I would be able to cover rent, food, bills and if I’m careful I might even have enough left over for some chocolate biscuits. Or, if 12 people gave me £100 I’d be covered for the year. You see where this is going?

Would you partner with me by donating a monthly sum/one-off donation of £5/10/15/30/45/60/75/100/whatever you find down the back of the sofa so that I don’t starve/freeze/become homeless over the next year? (Although that would be ironic). Anything and everything will be much appreciated. If this is something you could do then simply hit the Donate button on the right or send me a message/email/letter/leave a comment and I can send you my details.

Thanks guys.

With love from Rachel

P.S. If you happen to know any super rich people who might like to help me out then by all means, pass the message along. Thanks people.

P.P.S. This new blog  will chart my adventures in London.