Time for the Government to change

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/26/jacob-zuma-township-rally-kwazulunatal

Having just returned from South Africa, it is clear that the SA government needs to start acting on its promises to the poorest of the poor. To see wealth and absolute poverty rubbing shoulders one has to wonder why, after 15 years of an ANC government, the end of apartheid, a period of economic growth and prosperity which only in the past year has reversed, the divide between the haves and the have-nots is still so stark.

Having been in kwaZulu-Natal in February this year, just prior to the April election - and seeing roads in the rural township areas being built (creating jobs in these communities, creating hope about change, inspiring votes in the existing governement) - to returning a few months later to find these same roads not completed...you can see where the priorities lie.

I hope that Zuma takes this latest promise seriously. South Africa is a country rich in culture and potential. I dream to see this potentail released, and would love the Zuma government to be working towards this rather than contradicting at every turn.

Israeli soldiers admit "shoot first" policy in Gaza offensive...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/15/israeli-soldiers-human-shields-gaza

It's crazy how quickly the recent events in Gaza have faded from our memories - even as I prepare to go out to Israel myself this coming Sunday for a two-week project, I'm amazed that I had forgotten just how bad things were a couple of months ago.

The situation in Israel/Palestine is notoriously messy, so I'm going to decline to add my voice to the vast array of strong opinions that are held about it... and at the end of the day, it's ultimately about ordinary people, trying to live ordinary lives in the midst of a massively complicated and misunderstood situation. When I go next week, we'll be working with Israelis, Arabs, and Israeli-Arabs (as well as the Druze people, who are a whole new category altogether), and I know that having a brief insight into their lives will complicate things further in my mind - it is never as simple as we like to think (and the British media like to portray).

But the guardian article above shows just how awful things have been, continue to be, and probably will be in the future. And also the horrific acts that humanity perpetrates, and that all of us, through our passivity, are complicit in. It may be overused, but I'm always challenged by a quotation from Martin Luther King - "nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity". I'm wanting to fight against the "sincere ignorance" I see in my own attitude. But more than that - I want to be able to use the knowledge I do have to bring about change. What that looks like I don't know. In fact it often seems pretty futile, and I do nothing as a result.

But here is something we can do - call on Israel to fully co-operate with independet Gaza fact-finding mission. Click on the link to an Amnesty campaign - it will take two minutes max. And whilst you might not think it will do much, do nothing surely is worse?

A South African Adventure

I thought it might be a good idea to kick start this blog with a little bit about what Oaktree UK - the organisation which I have established in the UK over the past two years - is up to this summer.

We're all about young people and education. We want to see empowered young people in the UK and across the world taking action to create lasting change in their communities. This July we are launching our Schools 4 Schools Programme - which links schools in the UK with schools in impoverished and underserved communities in South Africa.

Three sixteen year old pioneers from local Oxford schools are heading out to South Africa TOMORROW to meet their partner schools. It is going to be an incredible time to see young people from different cultural and national backgrounds discussing ways in which they can work together to combat poverty and injustice.

Keep up to speed with the developments of the trip on the Oaktree UK website - under blogs - www.theoaktreeuk.org. Is it bad to promote another blog in your first post on your own?!

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