Ethnic Supplies: £ 1 for the deserving poor

Ethnic Supplies: £ 1 for the deserving poor

£ 1 for the deserving poor

I came across this article and it got me thinking about the whole notion of the deserving poor. As a Social Housing Practioner, this is a term I have come across many a times in books and articles that chart the history of social Housing in Great Britain.

The philanthropists referred to in this article are all too familiar, Octavia Hill, William Sutton etc are some of the pioneers of social housing for the deserving poor. If you walk through areas of Marylebone in London signs of Octavia Hill’s philanthropic activities are still visible today.

I must admit that, this notion of the “deserving poor” has left me a little unsettled in far as my own views are concerned and I couldn’t help but wonder whether I too practice according to that notion.

In my time a Housing Manager I looked after a traveller’s site owned by the local authority I worked for at the time. I visited the site one afternoon and on my way out I found a £1 on the through road. I put it in my pocket and went back to the office. As I left the office that evening I came across one of our tenants who regularly sat on the bench outside our office and consumed can after can of beer or cider. I remembered the £1 I had found on the Travellers site and I wondered whether I should give it to him, Christmas was only two days away and I thought he probably needed this pound more than I did. I however very quickly changed my mind as I thought he will only go and buy more alcohol!

I greeted him and walked on. I drove to my local supermarket and found an Eastern European woman at the entry selling the “Big Issue” magazine. I promptly reached into my pocket and gave her the pound I had found. I decided that she deserved this pound more than the man outside our offices because she was doing something to help herself.

This is the same concept I employ at Ethnic Supplies, seek out women who are doing something to help themselves out of poverty and help them access world wide markets with their wares.

Is wrong therefore for international donors to insist on good governance in those countries that Aid is given?

Although I wholly subscribe to the idea of good governance in African countries and in fact fully believe that some of the challenges the continent faces today are down to bad/poor governance, I had not entirely considered the link between, International Aid, the notion of good governance.

In my mind it does make sense that unless there are structures in place to ensure that the Aid goes to the people for whom it is intended then the poor of the developing world will continue to miss out. These structures are part of good governance/administration.

This raises another question for me, how realistic is it for donor countries to insist on good governance as a condition of Aid, and what exactly is meant by good governance in this respect? My understanding of good governance, in this respect amounts to accountability and openness, both of which are routed in trust, trust by the people of those charged with administering the Aid.

How then can good governance be achieved? A quick short answer is “with great difficulty” This is due to that word again “Trust”, in his book Being Afrikan Mandivamba Rukuni puts forward an often overlooked view of why this Trust may elude many African nations. The scramble and partition of Africa displaced peoples from areas of origin and brought together people that for instance do not speak the same language and differ in culture; an example of this is seen in North and southern Sudan, North and Southern Uganda etc.

In my mind this created a form of prejudice “tribalism” and this is a huge contributing factor to the lack of good governance. Different tribes with nothing in common per se other than belonging to a border created by imperialism where thrown together, which makes it near impossible for trust and harmony to exist.

One would argue that, that is a long time ago and surely it is time to move on. I would agree with that point of view entirely as it is unlikely that history can be reversed, but it is not up to me and I suspect I am in the minority with this point view as was evidenced in the aftermath of the Kenyan elections earlier this year.

We as Africans can certainly work on unity and trust if we are committed to and I strongly believe that would go a long way in resolving some of the challenges the continent faces. Trust in each other, trust in our governments etc? Could this also be the answer to the “brain Drain” touched on by the article?

Merry xmas from Ethnic Supplies

It's been a great year for us and I hope it has for you too. We are very excited about things to come. A big thank you to all our customers, friends and supporters.

Much love from all of us at Ethnic supplies

 

Cut backs at Rio Tinto, Implications for Africa

Rio Tinto, the mining giants announced last week that due to the current economic down turn they would scaling back some of their operations.
http://www.riotinto.com/media/5157_16956.asp

My reaction at such news was "oh that is a real pity for countries like Uganda who have only just recently started exploring their mineral wealth"

The main concern here is that although Rio Tinto extracts resources out of developing countires for (one could argue ) the benefit of the developed world they create jobs in these countries.

I understand that the biggest consumer of these resources China, has stopped spending in a big way thereby reducing the demand for these resources. Whilst on the one hand this means that resources such as precious metals do not live African countries by the bucket loads, on the other hand if this is a big source of income for an African government or a source of jobs for a given country clearly the ordinary man on the street is bound to feel a real pinch as result.

I remain hopefull that the downturn will be shortlived as the people who will suffer the most are those at the bottom of the pile.

Our producers here at Ethnic Supplies have already seen the consquences as the price of raw materials has gone but they are unable to raise the prices of finished products to match.

My year in pictures

Ethnic Supplies: Handmade cotton bags from Ethnic Supplies

Ethnic Supplies: Handmade cotton bags from Ethnic Supplies

Growing a business during a recession

Times are currently tough for most, and here at Ethnic Supplies Ltd we have felt a little vulnerable since our products can be seen as "little luxuries that we cannot afford" by would be customers. We have certainly heard the words let me go away and think about it time and time and again.

Read more at

http://www.ecademy.com/module.php?mod=club&t=939826#articletitle

Ethnic Supplies: Business support for Women

Ethnic Supplies: Business support for Women

Handmade cotton bags from Ethnic Supplies

What Is Stopping You?

This the theme that Business Link have adapted for their Road shows aimed at women wanting to go into information. The day is packed with seminars on all manner of things including a session from women "who have been through the system" so to say.

This session consists of a panel of women who speak about how they got started in business, ups and downs they have encountered, what help was available to them along the way, as well as any tips they have for the group. I have been very fortunate enough to be selected as a panelist 3 times in row by local Business Link in Woking.The latest of these Roadshows was on 18 Nov 2008 and details of further events are here

http://www.eventskent.co.uk/desktopDefault.aspx?tabIndex=0&tabid=646


They are two things that happened to me that day one of them is here



The other thing that happened to me is I have not stopped thinking about the question WHAT IS STOPPING YOU? each time I am about to put off doing something and the result has been that I realised that I do not have a justifiable reason not to make that follow up call, send that email or get out to that network meeting!

It is all common sense you would argue, but how easy is it to motivate yourself to do things you do not particularly enjoy?

The WHAT IS STOPPING YOU QUESTION has in effect created fear in me of the consequences of not getting on with tasks however dull they maybe and the results over the results two days have been amazing.

I have followed up two leads, one of them has agreed to a meeting in two weeks time as she feels Ethnic Supplies products are a fit for their shop, whilst the other has recommended me to her possible as a possible guest speaker for their event next month.

The other side of the question WHAT IS TOPPING YOU? is one of commitment to see things through and I have found that the degree to which I am committed to something will influence the results!

So I ask WHAT IS STOPPING YOU?



View my page on Business Fights Poverty

going now where slowly

The Commonwealth countries league fair in Kensington

Their charitable arm supports girls in the commonwealth through secondary

Please drop in and support them tickets are only £3 for a whole day of fun
and education of course.

Girls are still excluded from formal edcaution in certain quarters of the world and this means that they face a life of poverty for the rest of their lives. Given teh important role that women play in eceonomic development of African countires in particular I strongly believe that it is vital that they get a good start in life.

Further details are at



Hope to see you there

Business support for Women

On Wednesday 29 October 2008 Business Link Surrey hosted a Prowess UK Women's Enterprise Study Visit

The aim of this study visit was for the working party to see the type and range of business support offered to UK women entrepreneurs and to meet real business women telling their story on the trails and tribulations of starting and growing a successful business.


Karen Skidmore and I were the Showcase case studies of women that have been through the 'system' and we had the chance to tell our story from 'birth to growth'. Specifically how business support did or did not support our needs and the lessons learnt.


On the day SEEDA were on hand to discuss the regional vision in relation to women looking to go into business, specifically SEEDA set itself a target of increasing women owned businesses in the South East to 10.000

There was a detailed discussion on the sustainability of networks a practical Illustration of programmes that work effectively across the Region as well as an understanding of the barriers and the successes of starting up in business in the UK including how easy or hard it is to access the right type of support.


There was only one man amongst the delegates Paul Davidson: Chief Executive - Bolton Business Ventures Ltd www.bbvonline.net
He was very keen to understand the right ways to encourage women to support women looking into get into business.


There was a general feeling that strong role models for women looking to go into business are a good idea, but then this threw up some challenges. Who and what makes for an ideal strong role model for women?

Is it some one like Karen and I or someone like the late Anita Roddick?

What about the Press, do they have a role to play in promoting women's enterprises? If so what should that be?



Ethnic Supplies

View my page on Business Fights Poverty >>

Be an Ethnic Supplies Advocate

We are looking to expand our Advocate programme as it helps us help African women help themselves out of poverty.

Advocates are people that go out and promote our work either by telling people they know about our work or by helping us to sell our products.

The advocates that help us to sell our products can be anyone looking to earn an extra income or stay at home Mums.

We offer a handsome commission to the sales advocates as well as an opportunity for them to buy the products from Ethnic Supplies at a whole sale price.

If you would like further information about this programme or our work in general please take a look at our website www.ethnicsupplies.co.uk

Millennium development goals, trade and street children

At the UN summit of September 2000 the richest nations in the world made pledges to the development world that are summed up in what has become to be known as the

Millennium Development Goals.
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

Each of these goals is further broken down for instance here is how goal number 1 is broken down

Target 1a: Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day

* 1.1 Proportion of population below $1 (PPP) per day
* 1.2 Poverty gap ratio
* 1.3 Share of poorest quintile in national consumption

Target 1b: Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people

* 1.4 Growth rate of GDP per person employed
* 1.5 Employment-to-population ratio
* 1.6 Proportion of employed people living below $1 (PPP) per day
* 1.7 Proportion of own-account and contributing family workers in total employment

Target 1c: Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

* 1.8 Prevalence of underweight children under-five years of age
* 1.9 Proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption

Source : UNDP website

Goal 1 is the most applicable to our work here at Ethnic Supplies this is because we strive to promote financial independence amongst African women. Why women you may ask, simply because they are the nerve centre of the home and if they are financially secure then the family benefits.

But there are challenges along the way to achieving Goal 1, the most common one is perhaps the unfair trade terms. If we look at cotton farmers for instance, whilst such farmers maybe subsidised in the USA there is no such luck for African Farmers. This makes their cotton very expensive and in the end they cannot sell it anywhere.

Then there are the second hand clothes that are shipped to Africa by the barrel load. Although these are given in good faith they actually have implications for those cotton farmers for African. Almost always these clothes end up on market stalls, are cheaper and fashionable, and with this in mind the African cotton farmer does not have a look in.

Just the other day I heard that some charities have decide to reconsider the practice so sending cheap clothes to Africa due to the implications for cotton farmers, not to mention the cheap imports from China.


When all this happens women and children are most affected and in order to understand the impact of all this on children it is important to look at reasons why children end up on the street.The single biggest reason is due to the breaking down of family and some of the reasons that families break up include violence in the home as well as poverty. Worklesseness, lack of education, lack of access to markets are some of the reasons that families may be poor.

Families will send children out to work or simply ask them to live because they cannot afford to keep them. In certain instances these children simply go out to work to contribute to the family's income and return home each day but some are unable to return if there is violence or insufficient resources to enable the family to keep them. The children then end up on the street.

A UK based charity Street Child Africa is leading the way on addressing this issue.

So as you can see by supporting our work at Ethnic Supplies you not only do your bit to support the achievement of Millinnium goal 1 but you also contribute towards ending child poverty as well as reducing the number of children on the streets of Africa

this young boy passes his days "harvesting" stones.

Views from south africa

Pilanesbag giraffe



cheetah sanctuary



seal island



bird life at table mountain


African penguin

The wild side of life

River Nile elephants

what can 1 person do

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=GzxtBWQvXAU

housing poverty

[YOUR CONTENT GOES HERE]

Views from our homes and places of work

www.lethemhelpthemselves.com/events

We all like to have a good view from our homes and some amongst us are prepared to pay a premium for those views. Estate Agents know this and capitalise on it.

This was the view from my bedroom window one Sunday morning earlier this year a very rare view indeed as we don't always have snow during winter




We don't stop at wanting good views from our hotel rooms whilst on holiday, or our homes but we also like views from our desks at work. I had a boss who when we were planning to move office decided to keep the seating plans a secret. I asked him why and he said "two things that get people excited in a work place are the wage packet and where they sit, so I don't want a riot on my hands"

This was before he had to hear a complaint from a member of staff who had been told off for taking a colleague's cup without her permission, failed to wash the cup and did not return it to her desk!

On the other side of the world 70KM from where Besi and the others live is Edirisa, Ruth works at Edirisa as a Seamstress. Edirisa provides valuable income and skills through volunteers in this community



This is the view that Ruth enjoys daily whilst she works and no wonder she is smiling.






Lake Bunyonyi(many birds) Kabale SW Uganda

But amongst this beauty is a tale of the worst kind of betrayal a woman can face and untold. Irene here, was married with 9 children when her husband upped and left to start a new family with another woman. Irene was the main bread winner as her husband's money was spent on beer which is common practice amongst men in this community. Ruth does not own any land or other property for that matter. She hires a a vegetable plot from someone else and is able to grow enough food to feed her children.

She earns a living weaving baskets and teaching other women to weave and through Edirisa she is able to access buyers for her baskets such Ethnic Supplies. When I met Irene in September she was in tears as she told me her story and as a woman I can understand her sense of betrayal




The awful truth of this situation is that it is not unique to Irene, I spoke to 2 other women in similar situation, absent or drunk husbands, abandoned children etc? How can there be such sadness in such a beautiful, serene and calm place?

What do you do with your old shoes

www.lethemhelpthemselves.com/events


October 17 is child poverty day, there are many events going on around the world to raise awareness and funding to alleviate poverty amongst African children in particular.

Responce Source have come up with an interesting schemes and are inviting people to give them their old shoes. Read more about their project here


This young child and many like him SW Uganda passes his days "harvesting" stones in bare feet in order to feed himself.



We would would be grateful if you would join us too in our effort to make life easier for children and women in Africa.



More village children that could use your old shoes

Have you ever seen a coffee tree?

Yes, Maybe, No,, does coffee grow on trees, well what do you think?

I don't know I buy mine at the supermarket!


This is a coffee tree and it in Besi's veg patch. It takes 4 years from the point of planting to the point of bearing fruit (the coffee beans)Besi doesn't grow enough to sell but were she to sell, she would earn 50pence per kilo. Her tree is for personal use.




This is the other side of Besi's vegetable patch. Here she grows bananas and for the benefit of those that have never seen a banana tree that is what it looks like. She grows other vegetables too and if she has more than what she needs she swaps with Mary and the others



In this village children do not normally go to school until they are 7 years old. The villagers felt that this as not ideal situation and thanks to their friend
Ann McCarthy their dream of having a nursery school. It is not quite finished as the floor is yet to go don and there are no windows. It is however usable, and on Ann's last visit she had a go at taking a class of 30 children for a whole afternoon!



This is a camping space outside the nursery school and doubles as a play area too.




This is papyrus, it is the main raw material in basket weaving and useful for making mats. This fascinates me because on it's own it is useless but with the concept of value addition it brings financial independence to Besi and the other women in the village




This is a temporary youth centre where the young people come to watch TV and video. It also double as a village hall, and although it is not completed in any sense they have electricity and oh those mats are made out papyrus.

Would you like to learn more or support our efforts in this village?

If so please drop me a note

The other side of the world

The other side of the world is home to Mary, Joanna and Besi

It is a beautiful hillside village with views to die for. The sunrises are as amazing especially through the mist over the hills. It is a place of peace tranquillity and you can lose yourself in the hills for hours on end, time becomes immaterial in this place.
This is an unusual African village because you are unlikely to find those starving children with flies on their faces as seen on television. There is a lot of food here, carrots, onions, bananas, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, coffee etc. The soil is fertile and you can grow almost everything here.
The people are incredibly welcoming too, they will easily put on an instant performance (traditional dance and song normally) to show how happy they are to welcome you. They will feed you on the best treats their land has to offer.
Because of the altitude this place has fewer mosquitos than the low lying places. But the downside is the lack of clean water; this is not something for to worry about though. Besi and the others will go fetch the water regardless of the distance they have to travel and boil it on an open fire to ensure that it is safe for you to use.
There is nothing much here by way of jobs for Besi Mary and Joanna to and the only skills they have from which they can earn an income is basket weaving. They would like to earn an income by teaching other women in village how to weave baskets. This is possible and as soon as the training centre is finished they will be well on their way to financial independence.
Something else about this is place, the average is 47 years, I am not 47 yet but I can’t believe that anyone aged 47 years would be considered elderly