A casual Sunday morning chat with Edith Bowman and free fall over Oxfordshire...

"What would you think if I jumped from a plane,

Would you stand up and think I'm insane?

Sponsor me a few pounds and I'll be grateful,

And I'll try to release my canopy.

Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,

Mmm,I'm gonna fly high with a little help from my friends,

Mmm, I'm gonna SKYDIVE with a little help from my friends."

(Sung to the tune of the Beatles- With a little help from my friends)

WELLL that was my poor attempt at writing a song to aid my fundraising... it must have worked a little as I have raised over £600 for ActionAid! 

On Sunday 20th March 2011 after only a few hours sleep, much to their dismay I woke my whole family up so that we could set of to Hinton Airfield. With the arrival time of 8am we had to set off just before 6:30am. On our way up we were dancing and singing along to Edith Bowman on Radio One and I decided to try to text in to get a shout out for all of the wonderful Bollocks to Poverty vollies that were preparing for their skydive later that morning! 

THE TEXT: Hey Edith, I am on my way to Hinton airfield to join 10 other ActionAid bollocks to poverty supporters and jump out of a plane at 10,000ft! We have been raising money since November and most of us have beaten our targets. I can't believe the day is finally here! A big shout out to everyone raising money for charity especially everyone taking part today...you are all AMAZING! Aliceja Fisher-21-Basingstoke

Little did I know that this text would lead to a bit of airtime on her show! A few minutes later I had a missed call on my phone, I didn't really think anything of it as I had text off a new sim that noone has the number for so I assumed it was just a prank call and left it to ring through. I then received a text saying I had a voicemail so I rung 901 to pick it up and another call came through, so I answered and it was Edith's production team. After having a little chat about what was happening, they asked me if we could pull over so that we didn't lose signal and whilst my family sat in the car listening I hopped about outside the services with excitement. I was put through and this is what happened next...

We were then in a bit of a rush to get to the airfield on time but we arrived dead on 8 am and met up with everyone else taking part. We had our training with Neil Long who prepared us for what to expect and had us all on our tummies practising the free fall position and actions.

It was then a waiting game for our turn, the first group set off, with everyone wishing them luck and then waiting to be able to see them falling through the clouds above us. They all landed safely and were very excited by the whole experience. The rest of us were still waiting anxiously for it to be our turn and to be called to get into our harnesses and meet our tandem instructor. My group were finally called and we set off to kit up and meet the person we were then to be trusting with our life! I was lucky enough to have Neil, who although at first had made me feel a little nervous with some wisecrack jokes was really great and chatty and helped me to relax a bit and not feel so nervous.

We headed down the runway to the plane in a Top Gun like fashion (minus the aviators) and clambered (in a lady like fashion of course) onto the plane. All ready to go my fear of take off set in and I kept my eyes firmly shut, waiting for a nudge from my cameraman when we were up. The wait to get to the right height was probably the most nerve wracking, nearing 13,000 we buckled up and prepared for the jump. Hats and goggles on, tightening up the attachments and last positive thoughts that in a few minutes we would be safely back on Earth! The hatch opened and I watched the girls in front of me fall with their instructors and cameramen out of the plane. Nicole was clearly nervous and wanted to back out but went for it (not that she had much choice). I was then suddenly hovering out of the plane eyes wide open, and ready to go....

The first bit was pretty scary, my goggles shifted position right into my eyes, so I had to sort them out, which freaked me out a bit, and I found it a little hard to breathe (which you can kinda tell from my video) OTHER THAN THAT it was AMAZING! I loved it! It was MEGA scary but totally worth it! Shouting Bollocks to Poverty on our way to land distracted me from the instructions on landing, but luckily we didn't land in a heap we were safely back on our feet. 


This post has mainly focused on the day of the event, but what I would like to highlight before I finish is the whole reason we all reached to the sky and leapt from a perfectly good plane. We were all raising money for Bollocks to Poverty - ActionAid who work to improve people's lives every day and work relentlessly to change whatever is keeping them trapped in poverty. Which means they have a better chance of ending poverty for good. 


You can check out where any donations to ActionAid go here!

The amazing group who particapted in the Big Bollocks to Poverty Skydive raising over £4,500 for ActionAid

Schtop Tax Dodging!

Tell SABMiller's Chief Executive to SCHTOP Tax dodging NOW! 






In the early hours of Friday 18th March 2011 armed with a cup of strong coffee I joined 4 other ActionAid campaigners in Woking to campaign outside SABMillers offices. Dressed in dashing beer bottle outfits our aim was to target employees as they entered the office and hand them a leaflet about ActionAids campaign. 

WHY!? Our objective was to influence staff moral and force an internal communication on SABMiller's approach to tax planning.


WHAT IS THE MESSAGE? SABMiller's approach to tax planning undermines the positive work the company does on sustainable development, they can take the lead and develop a socially responsible approach to tax planning.


WHAT DO ACTIONAID WANT? SABMiller to stop using tax havens to siphon profits out of poor countries and to make tax justice a key part of their sustainable development programme.


For more information about this campaign head to the ActionAid website now. Find out how you can be a part of the campaign.


Key Facts:


SABMiller:

• The world’s 2nd biggest brewer and number 1 in Africa
•  Owners of over 200 brands, including Grolsch, Peroni, Castle and Miller
• Make profits of £2 billion a year
• HQ just off Park Lane in London

Why should you take action?!

• Developing countries lose more to tax dodging than they receive in aid.

• SABMiller, owner of Grolsch, dodges its taxes by siphoning millions into tax havens.

• The money African countries lose each year could put an extra 250,000 children in school

ActionAid - Don't be a biofool...

DID YOU KNOW?... 

The amount of corn required to fill a 4X4 tank with biofuel would feed a child for a year – that’s a staggering 1,000 meals, or the equivalent of 40 meals in every gallon of biofuel.

Using industrial biofuels means putting poor people’s food into rich people’s cars ... in a world where one billion people are hungry, this is simply wrong. 

ActionAid's campaign against biofuels - explained
Uploaded by ActionAidUK. - Watch original web videos.

Back in September I attended two days of training with ActionAid Activista in London. A group of young people from Universities across the UK met to learn about the new biofuels campaign and look at ways to campaign on campus, gain signatures for our petition and lobby our local MP. It was a really great experience and I was enthused about going back to Southampton and shouting "Bollocks to Poverty!" and trying to encourage people to sign up to be a part of an Activista group in Southampton. I massively failed though... 

James Blair from the ActionAid office came down for our stall during freshers week at the end of September and together we managed to sign up a good 50-60 people, of which I was hoping at least 3/4 people would attend the first meeting. I booked the room for the meeting, spread the word, bought some chocolates and capri-suns for refreshments and eagerly planned what would happen in the first meeting...I planned away and the evening of the meeting arrived. I convinced a friend to come along for moral support and to find out more, and we headed to meet people on campus...after 15 minutes only one person had turned up. I was gutted, at the time I thought that I had done enough to rally the troups to be a part of Activista. This blow knocked me off course for a while. I was convinced noone wanted to be a part of it, I thought I had done enough to get people interested and I decided for the simple reason of not having the time to spend organising things on my own I would back off for a bit and try and spend my time in a different way.

However recently I have seen the great things that other Activista groups are up to and I realised that I most definitely have not tried everything and I am now more determined than ever to get University of Southampton Activista group up and running properly. I graduate in July and I really want this campaign to run on campus. I don't want to let my fellow Activistas from across the UK and across the world down! 

I have spent a lot of time recently learning more about biofuels so that I am able to tell people more about this campaign. I am determined to inform students at the University of Southampton about the negative impacts that the use of them can have, even if I am doing it as a one man band! I would also encourage anybody reading this to learn more and look to join the biofuel debate. It would also be great if you could email the UK Secretary of State for Transport now to remind him that biofuels cause hunger and climate change!

Do something about it TODAY! Don't be a biofool! Understand the impact of biofuels and shout Bollocks to Poverty! Don't let anyone else be pushed into a life of hunger! Use your voice, stand up and shout out, tell the Secretary of State that this is unacceptable...

Continue the fight for a HungerFree world. Help put the brakes on biofuel production by demanding Zero Meals Per Gallon

Fairtrade Fortnight 2011- Show off your label!!!

This year Fairtrade Fortnight is the 28th February till the 13th March! Campaigners are being asked to be LOUD AND PROUD and show off their labels!!!

Order some Fairtrade cotton and make some Fairtrade bunting! Before doing this perhaps you would like to find out more about this years product focus which is Cotton. 

So what can you do to further your understanding of Fairtrade?! Ask questions and do research, find out about the supply chains of products that you regularly buy! If you aren't happy with the results, and find that your dress was made by a child working in poor conditions in a factory, or your chocolate was made from cocoa that was picked by children trafficked  from their homes and taken from their families with the hope of earning some money?! DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Ask the shop selling the product why they are stocking it!? Ask them to look at making their products more ethical and environmental. If they don't respond, or make changes you can decide to stop buying the product. We (the consumers) are the people that are demanding cheap products, but this comes at a price to other people! We are the only ones that can make the change, it is the consumer demand that companies listen to and we are the ones with the power in our hands.

ENTHUSE about your cotton socks,

GOSSIP about your roses,

PARADE your instant coffee

RAVE about your Brazil nuts

Make Fairtrade your favourite this year, be proud to support Fairtrade, be part of a new bunting world record and show off your lable because...TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE TRADE FAIR!

Reflections on my past year...

It was around this time last year that I threw myself into volunteering my time for different causes that I care about. I started to get more involved with Fairtrade in my home town Basingstoke and started to attend meetings in Southampton, where I studying at Uni. I then applied for a training course with My Social Innovation, applied to be on the Campaigner Advisory Group (CAG) at the Fairtrade Foundation and applied to volunteer with ActionAid at some festivals over summer to raise awareness of their Bollocks to Poverty campaign. I feel really lucky to have the opportunity to be involved with all of these organisations and work with them to raise awareness of the work that they do. I also got involved with People & Planet in the summer of 2010 and I attended their annual conference Shared Planet in November 2010 for the first time. I had the opportunity to attend a conference titled 'Trust and Integrity in the Global Economy' (TIGE) in Caux Switzerland in August 2010, where I met some incredibly knowledgeable and interesting people through Initiatives of Change.

I have had such an amazing year, I have met some really great people, and I have learnt so so much about myself and about the campaigns that are being run by different charities. It seems that before this I was stuck in a bubble of my own life and although I study Sociology I hadn't ventured much outside of this bubble of friends, family, socialising, baking etc. If you had asked me this time last year what I would be doing today, I would never have thought that I would be involved in everything that I am. Recently I was introduced to a fellow student by someone who said "this is Aliceja she knows everything about ...well everything" but this is so so so untrue, it made me feel a little uncomfortable. I am still a beginner in this I feel like I have so much to learn and so many people to learn from. This is a continuous journey and without the help and support of people working for all the organisation I have mentioned I would never have been inspired to carry out the work that I have been doing! It is the kindness and accepting nature of the people that I have worked with as a volunteer that has allowed me to develop with everything. I find myself signing up to things because I am really keen to find out more and do more to help, and also to develop myself. I can't even begin to tell you how much this past year has meant to me and how grateful I am to have met everyone I have along the way.

I cannot wait to finish my degree so I can develop my knowledge and experience in this area even further and spend a little more time learning and volunteering.

Over the next few weeks I will be promoting different campaigns that I have been working on and looking at the work of different charities and organisations that I have been working with. Perhaps if you see something that is of interest to you, you can follow the link and find out more for yourself and maybe volunteer a bit of time. I would recommend it to anyone that has a bit of spare time, it will be the best thing you do with your time I PROMISE!!!

And in the coming months I will be revealing what I have been working on since I completed my training with MySI last year. :-)

That is all for now

MyFairLady89 :-)

2011 - The year of the revival of my Blog...

...this time I have made a New Years resolution that it will be updated regularly and full of things to think about! (Inspired by one of my followers who reminded me that I haven't blogged in a long time.) I am going to make sure I take the time to update you all on a regular basis with great things about how we can all make small changes to the way that we live...things that might benefit us and others around us.  I am also going to give my blog a new look for its new year!

So before I embark on making these changes I am going to leave you with a few links :-)

• If you haven't already made any New Years resolutions, here is a great article that will help you to form ideas for promises that you can make for 2011 that will help to make a difference! 
• Or perhaps you would like to get active this new year and help raise money for charity?! PICTURE THIS: Flying in a plane at 10,000 ft...then falling at 120mph with the wind screaming past your body, "an unbelievable experience of total freedom"...plummeting to the ground...before deploying a canopy and landing safely back on two feet (hopefully) ...Have you ever thought about doing a skydive?! Have you got it in you to take the plunge!?...By participating you will be raising money for Action Aid UK. Feeling brave?! Check this out...!
• Or perhaps you would feel more comfortable with two feet firmly on the ground?! Maybe instead you wouldn't mind sparing £1 to help me reach my fund-raising target?! My Sponsorship page

Before I sign out I will leave you with a link that leads to some incredibly stunning photographic images African Lens "seek to tell the story of Africa through visual elements which captures the essence of (their) everyday lives."

Banking on Change

Two-thirds of India’s population of a billion people live in the nation’s 600,000 villages. Despite India’s economic growth, the disparities between wealth and poverty are enormous. Many villagers migrate to the cities in search of work and end up begging on the streets. South Indian bank manager J S Parthiban set out to do something to help their economic circumstances. He encouraged beggars to open bank accounts in New Delhi, and pioneered micro-loans to villagers in his home state of Tamil Nadu. This is his story—and theirs.


Banking On Change (12 min version) from Pilgrim Films on Vimeo.

A taste of the Arctic

A video I found on Youtube...

The Start of Summer....

So I thought things would calm down a bit after exams, this didn't happen! 

Since my last post on May 26th I have been relatively busy, Exams finished, lots of celebrations were held, I attended the first meeting with the Campaigner Advisory Group at the Fairtrade Foundation, I attended Beach Break Live with Action Aids campain 'Bollocks to Poverty', I have been busy working with the Basingstoke and Deane Fairtrade Steering Group, I had my last session with My SI and wrote my project proposal for My Social Innovation.

The meeting with the Campaigner Advisory Group was a really informative day, (I arrived at the Fairtrade offices about an hour early because I was so nervous about being late), the offices were brilliant, (we were shown around after the meeting) and the staff were lovely and really welcoming. During the day we covered a lot of ground, and at times I felt like I was out of my depth, but it was encouraging to talk to everyone about their experiences and their journey with Fairtrade. I learnt a lot and it was great to meet everyone in the Group. I am now looking forward to the work that I will do with the group in the future even more. 

http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/get_involved/news_events_and_urgent_actions/campaigner_advisory_committee.aspx

Beach Break Live with the Bollocks to Poverty Campaign team, WHAT an experience, we left the sunny Action Aid offices in London and embarked on a long coach journey to Pembrey Country Park in Wales, arriving to pitch our tents JUST as it starts to chuck it down with rain! However it turned out that that would be the last of the rain for the whole week, so it was definitely worth it! A week camping with 17,500 other students ... Sun, Music and Campaigning, right by the beach, activities galore. It was incredible. I met some amazing people, together we signed up over 2000 people to the No More Hunger campaign, taking photos of festival goers dressed as rock stars in front of our specially designed NMH Magazine front covers, holding up a hunger headline. The enthusiasm was incredible, and the BTP tent was popular day and night! A chill out tent with bean bags and giant games of connect four and jenga, which turned into a dance tent in the evening with our own dj sets. The end of the week came around quickly and noone wanted to leave!

http://www.actionaid.org.uk/101564/bollocks_to_poverty.html

Basingstoke and Deane Fairtrade Group are working hard towards their application for Fairtrade Borough status. We are now on Facebook : 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Basingstoke-and-Deane-Fairtrade-Group/120403077995233

and are also working hard to set up a website!!! keep an eye out!

My 'My Social Innovation Project' now has a name!!! 'Closing the GAP (Globally Aware People)' I have written up the proposal for it, struggling at times, but hopefully it is ok!!! There could also be an opportunity to attend the International Caux Conference with MySI's help, so everything is crossed that this goes ahead and I am able to go! 

http://www.caux.iofc.org/en/2010

That is all from me for now,

My Fair Lady xxx

Updates

Updates (these are becoming monthly! this isn't on purpose, I am just crazy busy at the moment! One more week until summer!)


A couple of weeks ago (13th May 2010) I handed in my Dissertation Proposal, I decided that my working title would be How well does the National Curriculum for Key Stage 3 accommodate the Global Dimension? I spent a long time thinking about how to phrase the question, what age group to look at, whether to focus on Fairtrade/green issues. I decided to use the policy for the Global Dimension because it is recognised by schools as a new important area of the curriculum.


Since my last post I have also been accepted to join the Fairtrade Foundation Campaigner Advisory group. We have our first meeting on the 3rd June 2010, so will blog after that to let you know how it went! I have also been offered a place volunteering for Action Aids Bollocks to Poverty Campaign at Beach Break Live, this is an opportunity that I am extremely excited about. Lets hope some of my applications for other festival volunteering get accepted as well!!! 


Short but Sweet!


A real update after exams next week! :-) 

An update on my journey...

... I seemed to have neglected my blog a little, so today will try to produce an update on what I am doing. I think there are four main areas that I will talk about :-):

• Having joined the Fairtrade steering groups in Basingstoke (my home town) and Southampton (my uni town-http://fair-trade-southampton.org.uk/), I am working with both groups to raise awareness of Fairtrade amongst young people. Firstly making contact with the schools, and encouraging them to sign up and register their interest in becoming a Fairtrade school, and then working with the school and the students to help them achieve this goal. I will actively be involved in helping them to increase the education about Fairtrade and other global problems. I am currently working on activity packs which I can take into the schools to provide a fun and educational experience for the students. 
• I have also joined the Green Action group at the University of Southampton (http://www.soton.ac.uk/~gaction/gaction.php?page=home) I am hoping to volunteer at their event Environmental Rock on the 3rd of May http://www.environmental-rock.org.uk/ I have only attended one meeting so far, but I really think it is something that I would like to get more involved in.
• Since I last wrote I have also started a training/learning experience with a charity called My Social Innovation http://www.mysi.org.uk/ I am having an amazing time learning new skills and meeting new people. It is every Saturday for 8 weeks in Richmond, but the travelling and time is totally worth it. I will be sure to update about this very soon! It will have its own post!
• I am also working towards my Dissertation next year! Planning it and writing up my proposal this term. I am still a bit unsure of my exact focus and question but I am hoping by the end of the week I will have a clearer idea. 

My second goal that I have set myself is:

GOAL TWO: Reduce my carbon footprint. I recently came across a campaign called 10:10, by signing up, making a pledge and using the resources that they have given me I am on my way to achieving this goal. With the aim to reduce my carbon footprint by 10% in 2010!!! http://www.1010global.org/uk

I will be sure to create a more detailed update of each point during the week. I can say that I am thoroughly enjoying myself, and I feel like I am learning a lot, and still have A LOT to learn about everything that I am doing.


Watch this space :-)


Thanks for reading


My Fair Lady

Stand up and Speak out

Have you ever heard of the idea of 'Paying it forward'...

The idea was formed by Catherine Ryan Hyde in her novel "Pay it Forward" (which was later made into a very moving film).


A simply inspirational idea, instead of paying a favour back to someone when they have done something nice for you, paying the favour forward to someone who is unrelated to the situation. Whilst reading through information about the pay it forward movement I came across a quote by Princess Diana which I feel sums up the idea quite well ...


"Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you."


The idea seems to raise a few questions, which I am just going to put forward and answer in case you are thinking them as you read this:


Does this actually work?! : Yes I truly believe it can, if we all believe in it, and we all do this, is there any reason to doubt that it can!?


How will we ever know?! : Perhaps we will never be able to prove it, but if we believe in ourselves and each other, I don't see why it can't work. If we all make a promise to carry out a random act of kindness then of course it can work. I would like to think, and I hope, that this wouldn't just be a one off act, what is the harm in making a conscious effort to do this regularly!? Every day?! Every month?! Every year!?


Perhaps by writing this blog entry, I can spread the word about the idea of Paying it forward?! Perhaps I can persuade YOU to make a difference, starting, like I have on a small scale, something that won't take much effort from you. It doesn't matter how big or small the act is, just do something that you wouldn't necessarily normally do, something that is totally unselfish, something that won't benefit you, something that most likely won't be recognised by anyone except the recipient. Don't tell anyone about it, just live in the knowledge that you did something that has made a positive difference to someone else's life.

The beginning of my journey started in Feb 2010...

...with the decision to make more of an effort to help to make a visible difference in some way by the end of the year. I guess this can be my new years resolution, however I don't want to officially call it that as I fear resolutions have some kind of "curse", I never seem to keep to them. 


At 20 years old I haven't exactly got much to show for what I have done over the years. I feel that although I may have achieved a lot personally, nothing that I have achieved yet has had any visible positive consequence for anyone other than myself. I guess for lots of people this is the same, but I want to change this, I want to make a conscious effort to make a difference where I can. I don't want to be another person to say that I will do this, I want to act on my thoughts and actively do something to help. I have spent a lot of time contemplating how I can do this, I have signed up to a lot of volunteering opportunities, looked at charity trips to Africa etc, never actually carrying out any of the ideas that came up. I decided I should start small, make changes to my life, and the way I live; reducing my carbon footprint, buying ethically etc.. This is basically what triggered the next stage of my journey; Fairtrade. I have known about Fairtrade and the work of the foundation for a while now (we are talking a few years here not just months) yet I have never consistently made an effort to buy everything that I can Fairtrade. I remember doing a bit for Fairtrade fortnight at college over the two years that I was there, however I never did anything that I can say proudly..."I organised this..." or "I helped achieve this...". So I took a step forward, a step towards a goal which I set myself...


GOAL ONE : Raise awareness of Fairtrade and the work of the foundation amongst friends, family, and the communities (at uni and home) that I live in.


I got in touch with a few people who I hoped would help me on my journey. I emailed the Fairtrade steering group for my home town and asked how I could help to raise awareness and help them to gain the Fairtrade status for the Town/Borough. I also emailed the Environment and Ethics officer at my University and asked about what had been organised for Fairtrade Fortnight and how I could get involved. I was overwhelmed by the speedy and informative emails back. I was able to start my journey sooner than I had expected. I got stuck in straight away and made sure that I didn't miss any opportunity to get involved. It was around this time that I was having to think of a topic for my dissertation. I had been through a variety of ideas and had met with my tutor to discuss them, and was thinking about carrying out a study about healthy food and healthy bodies in primary schools, then with all of the developments with my work with Fairtrade I couldn't think of a more appropriate topic to study, than the awareness of Fairtrade amongst young people, and from then on I knew that I was about to make a lot of changes to my life to succeed in achieving my goal. It would be time consuming and tiring but the achievement would be completely worth it. 

My Journey

I am one person and there is only so much that I can do on my own to make the changes that I hope can happen to create equal opportunities for everyone across the globe. I want to share my story and the stories of others to help people understand the small changes that need to be made by US to help others and ourselves. Working together we can collectively help to ensure future generations live in a more equal society. 

I have decided to start my journey here using this blog, and hopefully along the way, more people will join and follow me on my journey, and be inspired to start their own journey and talk about it.

TOGETHER we CAN make a difference, TOGETHER we count!