Lent: Day 6 // Extend Your Reach

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{Lent} Day 6:

40 acts // Reach // Whether you’re the pastor of a church, a single parent, a Twitter superstar or a self-confessed technophobe, the fact is that to someone, somewhere, YOU are an important voice and what you say and do matters. Consider your 'reach' today, and write a list of the spheres of influence you have in your journal. Pick one sphere (it might be your church, your child’s school, or an online community) and choose a positive message of generosity, love or kindness to share with them today. You might pick a YouTube video, or a story that inspired you. If you share it online, share with us too using #40acts.

Live Free // Read Philippians 4:11-13. Think about everything you own; pray you will be satisfied with what you have and not craving what you don’t have #LiveFree.

{photo credit: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/how-to-live-generously-in-a-fearful-world-tickets-10190842083}

I chose my online sphere of friends and followers to share this message with (both on here and sharing this post, and on http://mandelaproject.com/ronell1984) and luckily my 40acts challenge links nicely with my Live Free challenge! Result! :)  

Philippians 4:11-13 challenges us about the differences between need and want and greed and generosity and refocussing the balance of these things firmly on God, rather than ourselves and our own insecurities.

Here are some ways in which you could choose today to live generously, rather than living selfishly:

- Check out this blog for hard hitting views on our new 
'normal' consumerist culture: http://rth.ms/14drQf5

- Buy Samaritan’s Purse gifts to give that will literally help change 

the world, rather than just filling it with more 'stuff': 

http://www.givingcatalogue.org.uk/

- Or buy Oxfam Unwrapped gifts to give that will also help change 

the world, rather than just filling it with more 'stuff':  

https://www.nectar.com/spend/oxfam-unwrapped.points 

- Set yourself a new year's resolution (any time of the year!) to

be more active in your generosity. Choose a charity (I have chosen

Operation Christmas Child and The A21 Campaign), 

set yourself goals, and get fundraising, 

volunteering or donating!

- Reach out to a neighbour, friend, co worker, etc who you 

know is struggling or has a specific need and be

generous! 

- Start a generosity jar for a specific person or cause and save up

money you would have spent on something frivolous or unnecessary.

Living generously does not have to be a big financial commitment. Generosity can simply be reaching out when you see someone in need or despair, and giving of what you have: time, money,  food, clothing, belongings. 

Don't cling to things, for they have no eternal value! Start seeing all your belongings, including yourself and your time, as being at God's disposal for doing  with as He pleases. The reality is, they are: He has given  each of them to you in the first place! 

So be a faithful and grateful steward, and give them back.. you'll be surprised at the challenges and blessings you will encounter along the way! :)

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Hope your Lent efforts are still going strong!

Blessings!

Ronell x

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,

    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives

    and release from darkness for the prisoners"

{Isaiah 61v1}

Lent: Day 3 // Gift Tool Box

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{Lent} Day 3:

40 acts // Create Your Toolbox // Each of us has a toolbox, and no two are alike. They are full of the things that make us unique: our experiences, our skills, our faith, our resources, our intelligence, our passions, our networks. 

Create a list of the tools you have at your disposal: it might include your creative mind, your enthusiasm, your computer skills, or your savings. Then, use one item on your list to bless someone today, and then tell us which one you used using the #40acts hash tag.

My tool that I used: 

Raising awareness of & giving charitable gifts #40acts #day3 #lent #oxfamunwrapped

Oxfam Unwrapped Gift : see my post on Oxfam Unwrapped Gifts 

using your Nectar points!

Live Free // Choose a regular reminder that prompts you to pray for people living in poverty. It might be a note on your mirror, or your phone background #BeFree #LiveFree.

I opened this gift (soap) this morning.. saw where it was made.. will be using it as a prayer aid/reminder instead #savesyria

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Hope your Lent efforts are still going strong!

Blessings!

Ronell x

"10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: 

bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 

11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might 

so that you may have great endurance and patience, 

12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to 

share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 

13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us 

into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 

14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

{Colossians 1:10-14}

Live Below the Line: 5 days. £5.

Live Below the Line is an innovative awareness and fundraising campaign that's making a huge difference in the fight against extreme poverty. Quite simply, they are building a movement of passionate people willing and able to make a meaningful difference to those who need it most.

Live Below the Line is challenging individuals and communities to see how much change you can make out of £1. By living off just £1 per day for food for 5 days, you will be bringing to life the direct experiences of the 1.4 billion people currently living in extreme poverty and helping to make real change.

Think about that figure - 1.4 BILLION - that's over 20 times the population of the UK - living every day in extreme poverty.

WHY £1? The international Extreme Poverty Line was defined by the World Bank as $1.25 US dollars a day, in 2005. If you live on less than that every day, you’re recognised internationally as living in extreme poverty.

Our usual response to this would be, "that's not so small, US$1.25 actually buys quite a lot in most developing countries". Unfortunately that's not true - the US$1.25 figure is calculated using Purchasing Power Parity - which works out how much you would have to live on each day if you were living in extreme poverty in the United States.

Converting this to the 2005 equivalent for the UK and adjusting for inflation, living below the Extreme Poverty Line today would be the equivalent of us living on £1 a day.

And for people who live in extreme poverty that £1 has to cover far more than food and drink - we're talking everything - health, housing, transport, food, education... It's impossible to imagine, but that’s the reality for an incredible number of people.

Gandhi said that "Poverty is the worst form of violence" - and the folks at Live Below the Line agree. We can all feel and see the injustice of extreme poverty, whether it be directly in our neighbourhoods or in countries far away, Live Below the Line is here to help each of us do something about it.

In 2013, Live Below the Line is running in the UK, Canada, Australia and the USA simultaneously, with more than 20,000 people spending 5 days living below the line. Across three continents people will join the movement to tackle extreme poverty- join the challenge!

HOW DOES IT WORK? Here are the basics:

•    From the 29th April – 3rd May you can spend no more than £1 a day on food and drink.

•    This means you have a total of £5 with which to buy all ingredients for your meals.

•    The full cost of all the items you consume must be included in your budget. This means budgeting for whole packets of food items such as rice, pasta, noodles and eggs etc.

•    For items such as salt, pepper, herbs and spices, simply work out the cost of each item per gram and budget your shopping proportionally. Separate your items before the challenge so there’s no need to be digging around in your cupboards.

•    You can share the cost of ingredients amongst a team, as long as no participant spends more than £1 a day or their total £5 budget. Working as a team will allow you to pool together funds and do more with your cooking.

•    You can’t grab a cheeky snack from the cupboard unless you include the cost of buying the item new in your budget.

•    You can use food sourced from your garden as long as you can account for the price of production!

•    No combination of meals on any given day can exceed the £1 spending limit. Remember this is a challenge to eat creatively and be enjoyed – don’t at any point deprive yourself of three meals a day.

•    You cannot accept ‘donated’ food from family or friends, but monetary donations towards your fundraising goals are acceptable, and encouraged!

•    You are allowed to drink tap water – remember you should try and drink at least 6-8 glasses of water each day.

•    Remember that cigarettes don’t come cheap either! Can you Live Below The Line and still manage to smoke?

For guidance such as recipe ideas and meal planners, go to: https://www.livebelowtheline.com/uk-guidance

Whether you join in with this effort or not, remember to spread the word to your family and friends!

Blessings!

Ronell x

 "Poverty is the worst form of violence" {Gandhi}

Oxfam’s Big Spring Sale

Oxfam’s Big Spring Sale has arrived with 50% off thousands of second-hand items. Add some individuality to your wardrobe from their unique range of women's and men's clothing and accessories or browse over 10,000 books on sale as well as thousands more sale items throughout the shop. And remember, everything you buy helps Oxfam fight poverty!

Also remember to check out Oxfam Unwrapped to buy life-changing gifts for people in desperate situations.

Blessings!

Ronell x

Oxfam & Comic Relief: Red Nose Day!

15 March is Red Nose Day. Oxfam shops have sold Red Noses to support Comic Relief right from the beginning, in 1985.

It’s been 25 years since Red Nose Day first burst onto our screens and this year, once again, the nation is gearing up to put on their Noses, pull out all the stops, and get fundraising!

Whether it’s at work, at school or at home, the money you raise is used to transform the lives of countless people, both here at home in the UK and across Africa.

Oxfam is one of the many charities to receive grants from Comic Relief, to support some of their projects in Africa. So, like in all the very best partnerships, they help one another in ways that really count.

In 2013 there are three "Dinoseaurs" to choose from instead of classic red noses! Each of these "Noses with Toes" costs £1 - with at least 60p going to Comic Relief. Deely boppers, wristbands and pin badges are also on sale, all at your local Oxfam shop.

In 2012, Comic Relief awarded Oxfam £2.2m to fund a programme in Ethiopia. There, they were providing training and equipment to honey farmers, particularly women. With their support, honey production had already increased by 400%. That meant a greater income for the families, so they could become self sufficient.

The grant from Comic Relief will help Oxfam repeat this success many more times in Ethiopia over the next five years. Oxfam will help women farmers improve the quality and quantity of the honey produced, gain access to export markets and improve their families' incomes.

You can help raise money for this cause by fundraising, sponsoring or donating. You can also order Red Nose Day accessories from the online shop, including the schools shop (including free downloads and packs). Your contribution will help to fund projects both in the UK and in Africa.

Blessings!

Ronell x

“A merry heart does good like a medicine” {Proverbs 17:22}

Oxfam: Mother’s Day Gifts

Mother’s Day is just around the corner in the UK and I bet many of you are starting to fret about what to get your mums! I have already bought my mum something that I know she wants, but I also want to get her something that is meaningful and representative of the incredible person that she is.

My mum is really amazing- she is an incredibly loving parent, one of my best friends and a phenomenal teacher. I am by no stretch of the imagination the only person that would agree with all of those statements, but countless people that she has actually taught will testify that she was/is their favourite teacher and that she is unlike any other teacher they have ever met. My mum sees teaching as her true calling and she pours her life into the children that she works with, so I thought to myself, what better way to celebrate this than to give a gift in her name that will continue this legacy with children she has never even met. I knew exactly how: Oxfam Unwrapped gifts!

I am purchasing a gift based around educating children and training up teachers in countries where education is a privilege, not a right.

Make Mother's Day extra-special with an Oxfam Unwrapped gift: you can either choose any gift from their hand-picked selection for mums, or check out our full range to find something really personal. You can pay for these gifts in cash. Your second option is also to use your Nectar points to purchase an Oxfam Unwrapped gift, which costs you absolutely nothing (apart from giving up your discounts and bonuses that you have earned through using your Nectar card).

So go online and support incredibly worthy causes to help change lives on behalf of your Mum! If she is anything like my mum, she will love this gift!

Blessings!

Ronell x

"A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take." {Cardinal Mermillod}

Oxfam & HIJRA: e-cash for Somalia

In August 2012, HIJRA (Humanitarian Initiative Just Relief Aid)  together with partner OXFAM, launched Somalia’s first ever E-Cash livelihoods program.  The initiative, designed jointly with Nation Link telecom, is the first of its kind to be piloted in the country, benefiting 2,090 urban poor Households in Mogadishu.

The program, a 150 USD mobile cash distribution, has been designed to target skilled urban poor residents for use in business and resilience building activities.

Oxfam and Hijra’s innovative new “e-cash” project to deliver aid to people helps women like Kadija Mohammed, who uses the $150 she receives to invest in her small shop, say receiving mobile cash gives her far more options than traditional food aid:

“The money gives me choices, it gives me the power to buy and sell things… all you can do with the food is eat.”

Although in its early stages, many people find the mobile money transfers to be safer and quicker than other methods.

In drought-hit Somalia, vulnerable people are buying food with mobile phones – thanks to you. Oxfam and local organisation Hijra are distributing cash as text messages. It’s an easy, secure way of transferring money, and gives people the freedom to spend it on what they need most: food, school fees or an investment in their small business. 

Watch this clip from news agency Al Jazeera to see the brilliant scheme in action.

The e-cash Program Components Include:

•               Distribution of Mobile phones

•               Training on usage

•               Security Sensitization

“Before we waited too long sometimes spending all day in the hot sun to receive our monies. I never felt safe after to carry cash in town! Now it comes straight to our phones! I can go to anywhere and transfer the monies to shopkeepers for what I buy. I am too happy for this! Thank you HIJRA, you are truly a blessing.” - Halima Omar, Mogadishu

Support Oxfam and Hijra online to help with this work.

Blessings!

Ronell x

Oxfam: Beautiful Rice

Oxfam has a Beautiful Rice initiative to help rice farmers in Liberia to feed their families.

Rice has changed everything for Susana and her family - that's why she calls it "beautiful". You can watch Susana’s story here. Over the next year, Oxfam will be working with even more people in Liberia like Susana.

Oxfam urgently needs funds to open up their life-changing swamp farming project to 700 of Liberia's poorest families. 

As well as helping them to grow enough rice to beat hunger, your support will help these farmers to grow extra to sell, too. And that means 5,000 local people will be able to buy food at an affordable price. Watch Susana's story to see what a difference you can make.

Donate online to this cause:

£25 can buy enough seeds to help five families boost their rice harvests. New rice seeds provided by Oxfam mean that farmers like Beatrice Quayee can grow more rice. Thanks to the new seeds, she has doubled her family's rice harvest. A gift from you will help other determined, hard-working people to do the same.

£35 can train five farmers to grow enough rice to feed their families. With your help, we will train farmers like Garrison Seoh in new farming techniques, water management and pest control. Your generosity means people like Garrison will be able to feed their families long-term and earn a better income to pay for school fees and other essentials.

£113 could irrigate a swamp farm so rice crops thrive in all conditions. Unpredictable weather makes it difficult to grow rice in Liberia. Before Oxfam helped communities here to set up swamp farms, rice plants used to burn in the sun. Your donation will provide canals and dams to irrigate nearly an acre of land - helping families to control water and protect the crops growing on their farms.

Blessings!

Ronell x

“Rice feeds the body, books feed the mind, beauty feeds the soul” {Imelda Marcos}

Oxfam: Enough Food for Everyone IF…

1 in 8 people go to bed with the pain of hunger. It's a scandal. We can be the generation to end global hunger IF we make our politicians pay attention and Oxfam aims to make this happen!

Sign up to the campaign and you can help the world's poorest people have enough to eat by persuading your MP to act.

After you sign up you'll have the option to email your MP and ask them to raise the issues of aid and tax with the Chancellor George Osbourne ahead of the UK budget.

Let's make 20 March - UK Budget Day - the day that delivers aid to help the poorest families feed themselves and highlights the tax dodging that keeps millions of people hungry.

We have the power to help end the global hunger crisis IF we act today.

Everyone can have enough food IF world leaders act now and we can make it happen!

This year, many of the world’s most powerful leaders will meet in the UK. They must change the future for millions of people who live with the day to day struggle against hunger. But that will only happen IF we get together and make them act.

So sign the petition now to take a stand on this issue.

Blessings!

Ronell x

“We must go, live to feed the hungry

Stand beside the broken, we must go

Stepping forward, keep us from just singing

Move us into action, we must go”

{Tim Hughes, God of Justice lyrics}