Cheesy but its true.
My single step was in 2010 when I attended a free presentation at Strathclyde University. We had got an e-mail about it, and my friend Louise (who had volunteered in Mozambique before) thought it might be interesting. We figured we'd check out and then discuss over pizza and beer later!
You see global issues - poverty, gender inequality, unemployment, cultural change, have always interested me. I've always been involved in charity drives, raffles, car washes, food drives, shoebox collections, but just as a donor, sometimes as a volunteer, but I never really had a true awareness of the issues.
You see I've never seen myself as a person who can make a difference. Sounds terrible, but I've always been happy with my lot. I did well at school, always had a job, aimed for just about average and always achieved it. Growing up I was encouraged to watch the news, read the papers, discuss the issues. My Mum and Dad are charitable as well. But, I never really had the desire to go spend 6 months in some hot, isolated, dirty place and build a well or a school. I cared about people, one of the reasons I am now a social worker, but I never went the extra mile.
Until I walked into the 1.4billion reasons presentation. I was literally blown away, the striking facts, heartfelt stories and positive message made me realise that I could make a difference, and I didn't have to step onto a plane to do it. In fact - I was encouraged NOT to.
I made 2 commitments that day...learn more and do more. I have steadily worked my way through some inspirational books (some of which I have named on this page) and tried to keep up with the politics, blogs and issues streamed through the media and Internet. Sometimes I felt overwhelmed, I would scared and back away, or life would take over, but I've always came back.
Where things really changed was when I tried my 2nd commitment - to do more. I decided to take part in the Live Below the Line challenge. Were you are tasked with living on £1 of food and drink a day! By day 2 my caffeine and sugar withdrawals were so bad I had a splitting headache from there on in, Day 3 onwards I never went to the toilet for a poo once (disgusting but true - and there is nothing worse to drag you down than not going!) but day 4 was a real eye opener for me.
Day 4 saw me attempting to finish an essay for university and this is no exaggeration when I tell you that I could not sit longer than 10mins at a time. Trying to ignore the nagging voice in the back of head screaming "YOU ARE HUNGRY! YOU ARE HUNGRY!" was hard enough, coupled by the extremely distracting feeling of emptiness in your stomach made it nigh impossible to concentrate. Not only that - my eyes physically would not focus, my brain simply could not take it in - I was so tired, exhausted, that all I wanted to so with sleep.
Why this was such an important moment was because it made me realise that we ask children to sit in schools we build, adults to participate in education programmes we fund, they are accused of being lazy, of not trying hard enough. I had only lived on £1 a day for 4 days and I was struggling to function - imagine that was your life - how on earth can you be expected to do anything!
I re-committed - once again: learn more and do more.
So here I am in 2012 - one of the 1st batch of Global Poverty Ambassadors, trained to deliver the 1.4billion reasons, ready to spread the incredible message: a message of disgust, of passion, but predominantly of hope, and faith, and most significantly of pure belief.
Faith that things will change, Hope that others will join us, Belief that extreme poverty WILL come to an end in our generation.
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