In which I empty a little bit of my brain onto a webpage.

If you are reading this, it means I actually decided to go ahead and publish this, and hold my breath for the reaction.

Right,

Social Justice. Equality for all yo'. Not exactly a new concept is it?

²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:28

It's definitely not new, it's biblical.  But it's something that the world, as a whole is failing at. And when I say failing, I mean, failing. 

As a Brit, by default, I'm in the top 5% of the worlds wealthiest people. The Dominican Republic is officially a 'middle income' country. But there are thousands of children (and adults)  that don't have access to any sort of quality medical care, and the free public hospitals are overflowing, resulting in a lack of proper treatment for those that get in. To be honest, they don't really have access to much of anything. I wouldn't call a tin shack a home.

Haiti, the Dominican's next door neighbour, is far worse off. And there are hundreds of other countries where people's living conditions are even worse.

And it sucks.

It's totally unfair. Horrible. Makes me want to scream and rage and shake my fists.

But that wouldn't help anyone.

And even if I spent my entire life campaigning, and fundraising, and I don't know... digging flipping latrines; It won't change the world. I'm not naive.

It would be incredibly easy to wave it all off sometimes. To say 'I give up, there's nothing I can do about it.'

But then, that would be going against every single one of my core beliefs. I might not change the whole world, but I think it would be a pretty good thing to at least try. Because I could alter someone's world. I could make a difference.

And I wouldn't be on my own. I couldn't do it at all on my own.

 I need God. I'm lucky that I have God.

And I'm not going to deny that over these last few months I haven't had some angry conversations with the man Himself, where I've whined at him like a petulant child. 'It's not fair! Why are there so many people like this? Why do some get help and others don't? What's the point? Why, why, why?'

And do you know, the only answer I've got back is; 'What are you going to do about it?'

That one stopped me in my tracks.

Because really, at the end of the day, it's the Human condition that's the issue here. Nation against Nation, man against man (and I mean that in the gender-encompassing sense of the word, I'm not being sexist here). People are constantly trying to one-up each other, to get ahead, to get better. And you can bet that they don't care who they have to step over to achieve it. Which then, in the long term, translates into countries unable to support themselves, lands full of starving people, and shored up with debts that they'll never feasibly repay.

It's an issue. And in unrelated news, I'll soon be going up for the understatement of the year award.

I'm not entirely sure where this post is going right now. It's currently a long winded ramble. It will probably remain a long winded ramble, even after I've edited it all. I apologise (Sort of. But not really.)

I could quote a load of largely unrelated stuff at you all that I've found out over the years, through spending far too much time reading newspapers and following links on the internet until I end up lost on Google Scholar. But I don't think that's entirely necessary, and it's a blog post you want to read, not a dissertation -- and me pretending to know anything about anything is just silly. And would probably be embarrassing too.

Anyway, I'm just writing down what I think, and trying to be honest about it.

Poverty sucks.

I remember the 'Make Poverty History' campaign, and going down to London to watch the concert in Hyde Park. It was 2005, so I would have been eleven. I was young enough to think that it would work.

It didn't quite work out. But it did make a difference. And I think, realistically, that's all we can hope for.

To make a difference.

To let this generation of people; the most privileged lot of all our predecessors, stop and look around ourselves once in a while. To realise that we actually hold the power within ourselves to change someone's life. It's simultaneously so little and so much to ask of somebody. But we can do it. You can do it. I can do it.

And if you don't think you can, ask God. He's always willing to lend a hand.

Just think about it. That's all I can reasonably ask.


So, that's me done.

And as ever, I send my love and prayers your way, whoever you happen to be, if you've managed to make it to the end of this post. Remember to check out Project Isobel , and I'll update you all soon on how the fundraiser goes. And keep in touch! Feedback (even negative stuff, I can take it) is equivalent to an internet hug.  Which is always good.

Lauren

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