TALKING ISSUES - A Modest Proposal on behalf of the Luddites capital who benefited. The Luddites saw a way of life disappearing before their eyes and objected to the social dislocation, the family break-down and the material inequality that was to be the inevitable consequence. The factory system was born – a model that we exported across the globe to our shame – and its scale and shape were never again seriously to be challenged. The rougher edges of its practices had to be regulated in no fewer than nine Factory Acts in the UK in that century alone; it was not until 1891, for instance, that it was finally made illegal to employ children under 10! India, China and South East Asia are only cheaper places for goods to be produced for the enrichment of the few because they have yet to catch up on the need for the Perhaps the right starting point is to same constraints on pure selfishness. reappraise the role of the Luddites in the early 19th century. Although often Unfettered capitalism never was going depicted as figures of ridicule, to operate for the common good – unless clod-hopping, dull, stupid peasants in solidly undergirded by that same the victors’ history books we read at Christian faith that informed the school, their leaders went to the leaders of the Luddite movement as gallows for a worthy cause. They were, they went to their deaths that morning, in fact, small-scale craftsmen and singing hymns and asking for skilled textile workers in the main, forgiveness for any wrongs they might many home-based, who saw that the have done. The Financial Times has new technology that powered the yet to report an apology, I believe, from Industrial Revolution in the UK was any of those CEOs and Boards of falling into the hands of a few rather directors, regulators, politicians and than being made available to the many. journalists who have led us into, or Lord Byron famously supported them allowed to occur, the events of the last in his maiden speech in the House of few months. Lords in 1812 thus: We need to look again at the question ‘These machines were to [the of scale in the context of our economic proprietors] an advantage inasmuch as activity (see ‘Looking beyond they superseded the necessity of Leviathan’, newsletter 34) and to employing a number of workmen, who challenge the received wisdom that big were in consequence left to starve. In is best and that all growth is good. We the foolishness of their hearts, [these need to ask again why the study of workmen] imagined that the economics was allowed to wriggle free maintenance and well-doing of the of the caring arms of moral philosophy industrious poor were objects of greater and to declare itself (with all the consequence than the enrichment of a truculence of a surly teenager) to be a few individuals by any improvement in science. We need to ask who has what the implements of trade, which threw resources available to them and why. the workmen out of employment, and Above all, we need to examine why you rendered the labourer unworthy of his should take a part of the reward of my labour even though you have not worked hire’. for it and have risked little or nothing, There could have been ways at that and have thus not earned it in any sense of stage to have ensured that the that word that is comprehensible to an technology was adapted and applied ordinary person. And why you should for the common good and in a manner have my well-being in your hands as that enabled families and their my employer when you do not know bread-winners to remain in their me and do not care about my family. communities and to keep the full rewards of their labour. As it was, there Mohammed Yunus, Nobel prizewas of course no such political will, and winning founder of Grameen Bank in it was only those few who had access to Bangladesh, once said, ‘If labour had In March 2007 (in ‘Your Money or Their Life’, newsletter 35, www.besom.com), I wrote in the context of the current system of untrammelled capitalism that ‘the interests of society – first local, then national and now global – have long since been subordinated to those of the individual and his …. desire to enrich himself. [Can we] happily be blind to the injustice, the inequality … which goes hand-in-hand with this approach? Pretty soon we are going to have to address this issue, whether we wish to or not’. Now that it has come to the fore around the world and as we gaze out at a financial and economic system in the West that has failed us, it is time to address this imbalance in greater depth.
C ON TAC T I N G T H E B E SOM H Q
If you would like to discuss giving m on e y please call: 020 7223 0119
If you would like to give th i n g s , s k i l ls or ti m e please call according to the borough in which you live: - Wandsworth: 020 7223 1271 - Westminster and Lambeth: 020 7223 6548 - Kensington & Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham: 020 7223 2259
access to capital, this world would be very different to what we have built now…. Wage employment would only come into the picture as an alternative to self-employment. The more self-employment became attractive … the more difficult it would be to attract people for wage jobs’. It is time to recognise that the problems we face across the globe (for what has started in the West will soon need answers in the rest of the world) stem from the scale and shape of the economic activity that has become the norm. Large numbers of family-scale and locally accountable businesses trading locally in a free market across the globe are a far superior model for a just society than is the large and distant public company. Any business that employs more than just a few people should need constantly to justify (to a very local electorate) both its existence and its size – as did the old chartered corporations of yore – and should revert to having a defined purpose and a limited life. Any larger businesses that are found to be necessary should be owned mutually or cooperatively or through a trust mechanism by those whose livelihoods depend upon them and by those affected by their activities. The age of the outsider having perpetual rights of ownership and control by way of an equity shareholding (or any strange instrument based on it) should come to a close. The small, privately–owned, local bank should again jostle for business on the high street alongside the butcher and the baker serving those in the immediate neighbourhood in the same way. Oh, and central government could then stop trying to tell us how to do it and could narrow its ambit to ensuring that we are safe and that we are not using up the resources of the planet that we borrow from our children’s children. We are at another stage in history where we could easily choose that our economic activity be focussed on the common good. But will there be the political will this time? I see no sign of it yet.
James Odgers Founder The Besom and FACE to Face
If you are thinking of starting a Besom please call 020 7223 6522
General enquiries: 020 7223 6544 Fax: 020 7223 6548 e-mail: info@besom.com website: www.besom.com The Besom is a Christian charity.
This newsletter has been printed with funds given especially for that purpose Registered charity no. 1104026 Editor: Cate Christie
A big thank you to all who have given money, time, skills or things
UPDATE
Since the last newsletter in March, those giving through The Besom have provided the funds for the purchase of…
A block of seven toilets for a primary school for former child soldiers and orphans in Northern Uganda Irrigation pumps, hand tools and vegetable seeds to enable sustainable agriculture in the Mundri district of Sudan A pick up car for transporting orphaned children to school and hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa Toys and a CD player for a education drop in for families in temporary accommodation in North London Building materials for a kids club and toilet block, for the children of severely poor families in Northern India A clean water source for drinking water and irrigation for an organic farming training programme in Malawi Fencing materials for food gardens to help rural families become self-reliant in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. A dishwasher and a freezer for a community group for the Afro-Caribbean elderly in Tottenham, London Roofing trusses for a new youth centre in Botswana, that gives HIV/Aids information and support to orphans 30 pairs of skis, boots and poles for a youth group in Northwest Russia, to enable the youngsters to participate in PE lessons and obtain their high school certificate Three delivery beds and an infant warmer for a new maternity ward in Malawi Bed linen, mattresses, a medicines fridge, scales, a blood mixer and an ESR machine (useful in the diagnosis of a wide range of diseases) for a medical centre in Northern Ghana Five computers for an IT training centre for youth in Hanworth, West London Materials for 80 benches for prison classrooms at Fiche Prison in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Sports equipment for a high school in the Philippines Chairs, desks and cabinets for a school for orphans and children from disadvantaged families in Kenya A maize mill for an orphan feeding project in Malawi Materials for a new garden at a community centre in a deprived area of Bath Computers for an outreach programme to slum children in New Delhi, India A camera, laptop, sports equipment, cabinets and giant beanbags for a youth drop-in centre in Northern Ireland 45 sewing machines and two knitting machines for a sewing centre for women in Lahore, Pakistan, who have no other access to education or training Building materials for apprentice housing, store room, dining room, classrooms and toilets at an agricultural training centre in Zimbabwe Building materials for a counselling centre for war victims in northern Uganda and southern Sudan A UVGI light (to protect patients from unnesscary exposure to microorganisms in the air), beds, a gas heater, a needle incinerator for a the female ward for an Aids hospice in South Africa Donkey loans to enable rural families to collect water and mosquito nets to avoid malaria in Darfur, Sudan A four-wheel drive to obtain food and take orphaned children to hospital in Northern Uganda A cooker, a microphone system and office equipment for a drop-in centre for single parents in London Computing equipment for a youth club for underprivileged kids in Kilburn, London 33 bicycles for community health workers in rural areas in Southeast Madagascar Items to furbish six safe houses for vulnerable women in South London Baking equipment for a street-children feeding project and vocational training for older youth in Paraguay Eight wells that will provide clean drinking water for rural villages in Andrah Pradesh, India Materials for guttering and a well for clean water in Southern India Furnishings for a childrenʼs home in Northern India Materials for six new en-suite bathrooms for the elderly in Mozambique A washing machine and a fridge for a rehabilitation centre for drug addicts in Haifa, Israel Materials for a wood workshop on a restoration farm for street children in Fortaleza in Northeast Brazil Cabinets and cupboards for refuge for women fleeing domestic violence in Powys, Wales Materials for two showers and bathrooms for a rehab home in Devon A vehicle to be used as an ambulance and to take baked goods to market in Nagaland, India A water well in Shantambu, Zambia A washing machine and a tumble dryer for a rehab move on house in South London Materials for fencing for an orphanage in Romania Sewing machines for an income-generating project for ex-prostitutes in Mongolia An industrial dishwasher for a community centre in Liverpool
The Besom helps people make a difference. It provides a bridge between those who want to give money, time, skills or things, and those who are in need. It ensures that what is given is used effectively. The service it provides is free.
Helpful Hints for a Horrendous Holiday
Issue No. 38
THE BESOM
Growing Up
Planning on visiting the capital city of Paraguay? The American Overseas Security Advisory Council provide some helpful advice on their website: “Robberies, car thefts and burglaries are common. Street crime, including pocket picking and mugging, is prevalent in the cities, particularly in the downtown area of Asuncion and on public buses... Avoid the Chacarita area of downtown Asuncion. Chacarita is a high-crime area where even local police refrain from entering.” Which is exactly why a small cluster of committed people have set up home not far from that desolate district. 65% of the population of Asuncion are below the age of thirty and it is estimated that there are over 15,000 street children in the city. Highly dysfunctional families wrench their children out of their homes and onto the streets – their charge to provide a daily wage, with the threat of punishment should they fail. Prostitution, illegal drugs and crime lie waiting to poison lives. Further horrifying risks lurk around the city, with the threat of abduction by sex traffickers increasing. Disturbing stories haunt the streets of children sold for up to $40,000 to the United States and Canada, forced to prostitute themselves on the streets of their cities. The “Mother of Cities” (Asuncion’s nickname as one of South America’s oldest cities) appears to mother no one. Back in London, an The children will have food to eat, even smaller team the young people will have access are acting as the to training, and the bridge between project will be more self-sustaining. those in need and those who desire to give in the Besom money department. As money is entrusted into their hands, 100% goes to those who need it, partnering grassroots projects that permanently improve the quality of life in a needy community. Every day they are seeing glimmers of hope emerging in challenging circumstances.
One of these glimmers is called Ko’eju, situated in the heart of Asuncion since 2005. Ko’eju, which means ‘Dawn’ in the local Guarani language, is very close to Chacarita, the same sprawling shantytown in the city that is apparently to be avoided. Reaching out to the children and young people on the streets is at the heart of Ko’eju, starting with lunch Slurping soup: one of the 150 children Ko’eju feed every day for 350 children daily. Vocational training is provided, with the hope that they will be able to make their livelihoods from fulfilling and legal work, rather than continuing in their painful and destructive daily patterns. From hairdressing to cooking, dressmaking to decorating, young people begin to try out an utterly different way of life.
Some money-givers through The Besom have specifically requested that their money is used to support projects that work with street children in South America. Meanwhile, Ko’eju applied to The Besom for support for rolling and kneading machines, so they could teach young people how to make bread. The three-fold objective in this project brings streams of life all over the Chacarita area: it provides the young people with vocational training in bread making, it brings bread to the feeding project at Ko’eju and furthermore it will generate an income for the project by selling the surplus locally. The children will have food to eat, the young people will have access to training, and the project will be more self-sustaining. This fits The Besom’s criteria brilliantly – with hallmarks of a long-term, sustainable project, bringing hope to many.
‘The bakery is now in production and they are making croissants and doughnuts,’ The Ko’eju group updated The Besom excitedly. ‘Two young men, recently rescued from drug addiction and drunkenness, went out selling the produce in the street and returned within minutes having sold the lot. They were so excited because now they have proper jobs and can look forward to earning a living by working.’ The suffering around Chacarita is gently twisting into a glimmer of hope – another to add to the already spectacular view from the Besom bridge.
Bright eyed: these children look to a future of earning their own livelihood
Linking Love It is wonderful to witness gusts of life sweeping through the network of Besoms across the UK! During the summer, the BIAS (Besom In A Suitcase) team from HQ heard joyful stories of local Besoms getting together and unexpectedly bumping into each other at various events across the country. Besoms are looking less and less to HQ and more to one another, as some who have walked the path longer take a supporting role. This transformation has happened very naturally and is what we’ve longed to see for years – Besoms standing on their own two feet and helping others to do the same. We watch The Besom in Sheffield run a well-attended Northern Besoms’ Conference in June, with HQ playing a very minor role. We see The Besom in Woking invite an emerging Besom in Camberley over for food and laughter! From the deepening of friendships between established Besoms to the ever-growing excitement of newer friends hearing about the vision, the web appears to be growing deeper, more intricate and increasingly beautiful.
Lou Kenney Over 30 Current Besoms Across the UK Ashtead & Leatherhead Ballynahinch Barnet Basingstoke Bristol Cambridge Dorking Ealing East Belfast Gateshead Greenwich Guildford London (HQ) Manchester Mid Norfolk Milton Keynes Norwich Oxford Portsmouth Preston and Chorley Purbeck Runnymede Sheffield Saint
Home sour H om e
Austell South Norfolk Taunton Thurrock Witney Woking Worcester York
What on earth is going on in the Besom Internship? Dave Ward
As I entered the Besom internship house, I began to question my sanity. What would possess me to spend a year living and working with five random people? What if my roommate snores like a badger? Thus begun the most hilarious and heart-breaking twelve months of my life. The questioning of the Western ‘values’ I was quietly seduced by began. Is the mark of success really how much I have, whilst my neighbour struggles to buy food? Is the starving man on my road simply a statistic irritating my conscience? So easy to walk away from a Is the starving man on my statistic – what would happen if I came face to face with these road simply a statistic people, with their names and irritating my conscience? feelings? With Tommy, a homeless addict rotting on my local Clapham streets? With Maria, in care from the age of three and now living alone? Shane Claiborne’s words occupied my thoughts… the tragedy is not that the rich do not care about the poor – they do not know them. I began to know them and I could not walk away. Inside our bungalow, I was increasingly challenged to love all five of my housemates. Released to stop pretending, we learned vulnerably and slowly that we would be loved for our bad bits as well as good. This love could not be a tingly feeling or hold conditions – this love was a commitment. Sometimes a sacrifice, but always a privilege, we learned the beauty of relationship.
Andrew felt he was not ready to settle down. His life had been a chaotic one, with regular bouts of homelessness and a constant drone of depression. The flat he was staying in was small and uncarpeted, with walls in atrocious condition. He slept on the floor, without a fridge or anything to cook on. When The Besom offered him whatever he wanted, from the wealth of beautiful furniture some things-givers had offered, he was not sure where to begin. “Just small and foldable things,” he replied. After all, he would be on the move again soon. A week later, The Besom van arrived, full of furniture to offer Andrew. To their surprise, Andrew had bought himself a bed. “I’ve decided to settle down!” he said. Gently, Andrew was starting to feel better about his flat, and himself. Meanwhile, a church group from a London church were in touch with us, keen to paint a flat that needed it. Andrew’s was ideal. His bedroom was utterly transformed – Andrew himself choosing the specific shade of cream for the walls. Friendship between Andrew and the group grew, and they were soon back in the flat painting the kitchen and hall. They even paid for the entire flat to be carpeted, and are returning for a third painting session soon. “I’m stoked!” Andrew cried, watching his flat and himself receive love and respect. He is not so keen to be on the move anymore. He would rather stay at home.
Originally I had hoped that post-internship I would be fully qualified to change the world with one holy glance. I am not. But thankfully, the world is not in need of an extraordinary person elevated to the lonely role of saint – but a commonplace people with a heart to love. These days I live on a London council estate with three of those interns, continuing this strange malarkey called community. I got ‘Besomed’ and I am so grateful. Andrew enjoys showing the view of his garden
A Little Light-headed In May 2003, Tracy walked through the doors of the FACE to Face course with a heavy head. Depression and weighty debt burdened her mind, unhealed by drink and drugs, surviving on meagre benefits to raise her three children. This month, Tracy Ritson, Managing Director of Angel Creations, walked out of our FACE to Face warehouse and into her own brand-new kitchen in Battersea. Her cake business has thrived over the last five years, and this further step of independence marks her unyielding success. It is unsurprising her head is wonderfully light. It was The Five Pound Challenge on Tracy’s first FACE to Face business course that began it all. Encouraged to add value to £5, Tracy bought ingredients, baked a carrot and orange cake and sold it to a café owner for £10. The same started owner Tracy laughing in her new kitchen placing orders week after week. Cafés across Battersea now stock her delicious goods, and this summer Tracy secured a contract with the Orient Express. ‘Love, support and companionship is what I’ve received here,’ she explains. ‘If things get tough, there is someone here to sit with you.’ Now one of thirteen women actively involved with running FACE to Face, reaching out into their communities, Tracy is cheering on new women to come on the courses and off benefits. She surely shines more than ever and paves a trail so desirable and light, it is hard to resist following.
Stuck Stiletto
“I’m not coming any further!” Stilettos stuck in the mud and sweat breaking under her hairline, Maureen was frightened. She loathed heights, and the climb was ridiculously hard work. What are this FACE to Face team asking of me? Encouraging cries filled her ears, beckoning her on up the hill. With one last breath, she squeezed her heel out of the mud and pressed on, one foot in front of the other. Suddenly she could see the view. A raw, serrated cliff face plummeting into sand, with an ancient, beautiful, blue sea lapping its rough edges. The climb was worth it, and it was the insistent cries of ‘Come on Maureen!’ that got her there. This entire drama takes place on the Saturday afternoon walk of our annual FACE to Face weekend in Swanage. 25 women, and some of their children, jump on a bus in Brixton and arrive at the sea in Swanage. Two full days of teaching on personal money, workshops, business games, hilarity, music and friendship await their arrival. Perhaps this hillside ordeal represents the painful and joyous journey we witness every year at the FACE to Face weekend. Arriving with heels dug in the mud, with debt overhead and low self-esteem underneath, life is too difficult. But encouraging cries fill their ears and they begin to believe – particularly in the cries shouted by Christine, Shereen and Cheryl, the women who have walked the path of setting up a small business already and stand with us at FACE to Face. One foot in front of the other, we watched these women climb again, and even on one weekend, we saw their joy erupting as they rediscovered the view.
FROM BRIXTON TO BEEF To order from Angel Creations, please call Tracy on 07834 691820
Sarah and Sheila getting to grips with their personal spending
Ten years on, we see the FACE to Face vision surging forwards from the streets of Brixton to the valleys of Somerset. Stream Farm is an organic farm situated in a hidden valley high up in the Quantocks in Somerset. Our aim at Stream Farm is to show that the English countryside is far better served by large numbers of small farms selling their produce directly to those who are going to eat it, rather than by a few large farms selling to the supermarkets. To that end, a number of small farming businesses have been started on this 250-acre farm with the intention of handing each one on, once it can be seen to be profitable and can earn a livelihood, to farmers who want to be part of the vision. Those consumers joining this vision know that what they buy will (soon) come from small-scale farmers whose livelihoods they are helping to sustain and whose products will be traceable to their doorstep. And what they buy, we promise, is second to none!
ORGANIC BEEF BOX
Our pedigree herd of Dexter is a rare breed renowned for its quality, flavour and the marbling of its meat. The beef is available in small and large family boxes. The price is £11 per kg. The box contains rib of beef or fillet, topsides, sirloin steaks, rump steaks, braising steaks, stewing steak and mince.
ORGANIC LAMB BOX
Distinguished for its flavour and a solidly British breed, our pedigree herd of Hampshire Down is sold by the half (between 6-10 kg). The price is £11 per kg; the box contains a shoulder of lamb, leg of lamb, loin chops, chump chops, rolled breast and kidney.
ORGANIC CHICKENS
Our Devonshire Gold Chickens arrive whole with giblets. The weights vary between 1.6 and 2.2kg. The price is £6 per kg.
Our animals are slaughtered at a local, family-run, organically–certified abattoir just a few miles away. Our beef is hung for at least 3 weeks and the lamb for a week. The meat is jointed, vacuum packed, labelled and (usually) frozen. Luscious recipes are provided for the less common cuts.To encourage you to move towards buying in larger amounts less regularly, we will even sell you a 3.7 cu.ft. chest freezer for half price with every first order of beef box or lamb. We provide free delivery within a 5-mile radius of central London and anywhere up the road from Somerset by arrangement.
Two of the Stream Farm Dexter breed grazing on a sunny morning
HOW TO BUY STREAM FARM MEAT:
go to w w w. s tre a m fa r m . c o. u k , e-mail i n fo@s tre a m fa r m . c o. u k call our London Office on 0207 223 2166 or Somerset 01823 451 191