OPEN LETTER: Friends of Kisumu Link - An appeal.

11^th November 2010

Dear Friends of Kisumu,

In 1985 the much missed founder of The Rendezvous Society and Global Footsteps, Mr. Dennis Mitchell, initiated a link between Gloucestershire and the Kenyan community of Kisumu. This link was hugely successful in uplifting the lives of many Kisumians while also providing an opportunity for the people of Cheltenham to learn about life in one of the most interesting parts of Africa. Over the last 25 years Global Footsteps has sustained this link through various reciprocal visiting activities, but recently we have been working to breathe fresh life into our links there.

The Global Footsteps programme has set up links with two community capacity building projects with a view to sending volunteers over there on two to four week ‘Global Ventures’. In the centre of Kisumu we are linked to CADIF Kenya who work on everything from vocational training and IT literacy to urban agriculture, education and HIV awareness campaigns. In the rural district surrounding Kisumu we have linked up with Kosimbo Widows and Orphans group which was set up to improve primary health care, education and sanitation in a very remote village, Kirindo. Through Mikidadi Olela and Edwin Ochieng, our long time contacts there, we are also helping to develop ‘Kisumu Link’ which acts as a crucial co-ordinator for us in Kisumu. Without ‘Kisumu Link’ we would not have linked with Kosimbo and CADIF and we would not be able to find host families for our volunteers in the region. Kisumu Link is effectively our presence in Kisumu.

With my good friends Arosh Ali and Mary Paterson I have recently been involved in the setting up of a charitable trust here in Cheltenham called ‘Friends of Nowder’ it exists to raise funding for our linked project in Bangladesh. I would like to propose that those with an interest and a passion for helping the citizens of Kisumu come together to form a similar body ‘Friends of Kisumu Link’ to support Kisumu Link, Kosimbo, CADIF Kenya and potentially other suitable projects in the future.

I should be clear from the outset that while I am keen to help in establishing ‘Friends of Kisumu Link’ and can offer advice in how to do this, I would not personally have the time to contribute heavily to its activities. At the moment Friends of Nowder is quite enough for me on top of my other work! But, I am very happy to help in my capacity as co-ordinator of Global Footsteps and can certainly offer the use of our cafe in Portland Street as a hub for setting this up, but I would hope that a few committed people would be able to come forward to drive ‘Friends of Kisumu Link’ or something similar.

Please forward this letter to any interested parties. If you are interested in finding out more and potentially getting involved in any way, small or large, please get in touch with me.

Email: info@global-footsteps.org

I look forward to hearing from you,

Very best wishes,

Morgan Phillips (Co-ordinator, Global Footsteps)

P.S. The picture is of me with Mrs Margaret Kawala, founder of Kosimbo, it was taken in July 2009 at Kisumu railway station, just before departure. I promised then that I would gather help, please help me come good on that promise.

Local History in Pictures

Last night, local amateur historian Ron Prewer dropped by to show us his collection of historical photo's of Cheltenham.

Ron is a real enthusiast and, over the years has built up a huge collection of photo's showing the different parts of Cheltenham through the ages. We had about 15 people in and they all asked questions, made comments and even chipped in interesting little facts about the houses, buildings and streets Ron showed us.

Ron's pictorial tour took us through St Pauls and then South to Leckhampton, but it feels like we've only just begun, Ron is keen to come back to show us other parts of Cheltenham, we've pencilled in February 2nd 2011 for the next show!

If you'd like to find out more about Cheltenham's history, or even get some tips from Ron about researching your local area or family tree, please him an email to: RonPrewer@hotmail.com

Feedback from Footstep 12 in Slovakia 6

Mikidadi Olela, our man in Kisumu, has sent us his reflections on Footstep 12!

My trip to Slovakia was a learning experience and adventure. My first time to be in Europe and outside Africa. I enjoyed every single bit of it, my journey though long and exhausting, it was exciting all the way.

The programme and the way it was ran was superb, hosting, the conference, the excursions were all marvelous. The Slovaks were very friendly and nice people; I love them all and the volunteers too. I would like to express our (Kenyans) gratitude to all the "KERIC"members, the entire Global Footsteps family and all those who were involved...KUDOS....!!

Feedback from Footstep 12 in Slovakia 5

Jana Eyssel our representative from Gottingen attended Footstep 10 in Cheltenham and has twice been on Global Ventures with us. Jana volunteered to help out at Footstep 12 and was fantastic in organising and facilitating before and during the conference. Here are her reflections.

The week I spent with the other participants of the Global Footstep 12 conference was a very enriching and encouraging one. I had the duty (and the pleasure!) to pick up the three participants coming from Kisumu, Kenya, at the Frankfurt airport and travelling with them to Cadca, Slovakia, where the conference was held. These two days served as a perfect introduction to the conference. I enjoyed talking to the Kenyans and to show them around – sometimes it was like seeing my country and Europe with different eyes.

Having arrived in Slovakia, we all had a very pleasant weekend with our host families, I found myself in a family introducing me to traditional Slovak sweets and liquors, and playing a lot of games. For the conference, the participants moved to a small town close to Cadca. Living and spending all the time together, we could get to know each other and I enjoyed having the possibility to talk to people from all over the world about important and serious things, but also to having fun with them. The projects’ presentations were very interesting and the people were linking their projects to each other. At the end of the week, many “small” links between two or three projects or people were established, but also the network as a whole had been strengthened. I hope we will stick to our plans and goals! I also enjoyed learning so much about different cultures. The task for everyone to prepare one typical meal was an ideal introduction to all those delicious national cuisines. Also, singing Kenyan songs at the fireplace and hearing about Desmond’s beehives was a great pleasure!

I hope to see you all again soon!!

Feedback from Footstep 12 in Slovakia 4

Solene Mouton, a young French lady and volunteer with KERIC in Slovakia has written us some feedback from her participation at the Footstep 12 conference. Solene, devised several of the activities and we hope that one day she will establish an organisation in her home village in Brittany and bring it into the Global Footsteps community.

I participated in Footsteps12 in Slovakia - Cadca, because I was volunteer with Keric (European Voluntary Service), so had the opportunity to be connected to this community. At the beginning I didn't understand well the aims of the conference because for me Global Footseps was an organisation that I didn't know. After many exchange, I get the aims of this community. I could learnt a lot about projects that people are carrying out in different countries, in the world around us, the differents cultures, the differents issues that everybody is working on to try to do better the life in their local contaxt.. During the 10 days we shared a lot about our experiences, ideas, culture, point of view.. and this through games, discussion, presentation, and a great great atmosphere that everybody built! This conference was really successful, where we could mix fun and serious exchange, and meet beautiful people. Today, new organisations around the world are connected and start to work on common project: voluntary, international day.. and for this, the conference was a success. To be connected with this community it just give me more and more motivation to pursue common project and be curious about what's happening around us. Let's enjoy future projects together!

Feedback from Footstep 12 in Slovakia 3

The next bit of feedback from Footstep 12 comes from Lenka. Lenka works for KERIC in Cadca and helped to organise and run the conference; her energy and enthusiasm provided so much momentum, she is a star!

I was involved in the conference Footstep 12 as a organiser from host organisation KERIC for first time this year 2010 and it was amazing experience full of positive and enthusiastic people ready for positive changes and open to new possibilities and ideas.

We were sharing experiences, different points of views of ecological issues, voluntary work –how to motivate youngsters, ways of work with children, youth and adults, different kind of outdoor activities (philosophy walk, moving forward, parachute games,…. ). We got new useful skills and knowledge. Different cultures and so similar ideas were leading to cooperation and new projects in local and also international level (especially. – the EU programme 'Youth in Action' - European Voluntary Service)

During conference were participants hosted in families from Čadca. It was big cultural experience for both sides and through international breakfasts and dinners we could taste a bit of different cultures which brought us a little bit closer.

I can only say, I am looking forward to other projects, activities, ideas, challenges, cooperation through Global Footsteps!

Feedback from Footstep 12 in Slovakia 2

More feedback from Footstep 12, this time from Nuran of Trabzon, Turkey

I would like to talk about an activity called The Ecological Walk which we did while in Cadca. There were three ways to go to meeting point: Easy, which I participated in; Medium and difficult! While walking we had to talk about some items about our countries situation (transport, accomodation, rubbish and litter, food, energy sources, natural resources, environmental projection. We talked, talked and talked with Margaret :)) and I learned a lots of things about Kenya. I knew before that Kenya is poor country but I cant imagine so much like that. Along the way was ok for me (even if I dont feel young :)) but Margaret couldnt manage it too easily. I think when that kind of activities are planned more thought for older people is needed. And I would like to say that before meeting you send to us those topics which we will talk about. Because we have to know some topics deeply such as rubbish and litter politics I think.

I would like to say that it was so great meeting for me. As Arosh (from Bangladesh) said, I didn't meet that kind of lovely people in Europe before. I should change my idea about european people :))
All of them are not selfish and cold :))

And Morgan, I would like to say to you that when you were speaking I felt that I was listening BBC News!
Best wishes,

Nuran

Feedback from Footstep 12 in Slovakia

We're just about to post some feedback from those who attended our ground-breaking Footstep 12 conference in Slovakia back in August. First up is Zbyszek from Tilia Forest School in Torun!

For the first time I participated in the conference Global Footsteps. It was a very nice time but also instructive. Cool, because I established many new friendships from around the world, because I know the cool and nice people, because I could see that everywhere, regardless of skin color, race (etc) are good people, that the goodness of people and openness is not dependent on racial and cultural differences.

I might know the reality prevailing in specific countries and problems of people living there. I have read it with the specific work of NGOs and associations. I was able to establish first contacts with representatives of the organization and take the first steps of cooperation between Tilia and NOGs others. It is important also that I could find out for yourself that you can find common ground with people from other countries, continents.

The organization of the conference was done perfectly. The form of each conference, forced to open to conversation, to show himself. It is very important.

Personally, I regret that I could not stay until the end of the conference.

Yours
Zbigniew Szczesniak

Toruń Ecological Association "Tilia"
Torun, 02.09.2010r.

The True Size of Africa

Sometimes we forget quite how big the continent of Africa. This really great image was made by Kai Krause.

Day 3: Vycholovka and home to Stara for Turkey and Bangladesh

Janet Whyte representing Moneaugue College St. Ann, Jamaica writes about our 3rd day here on the conference.

On the 18 of August 2010, the day begin by embrailing ourselves in the delicious display of Polish breakfast. Everyone went to watch the magnificent display of the clock in the town centre of Stara Bystrica. Then board the bus for Vychylovka. Where the Footstep 12 contigent went to visit Ksucke Muzuem in Vychylovka.
At the Muzeum we were on time for the train tour which takes us several metres of elevation by pushing and pulling (zig zag)by switching lines, going up descending. Where we were exposed to how people lived in the past,there culture and lifestyle. However it was amazing to see the typical system of working the train in the past, to carry wood from the forrest. The wood was used to make house, furniture and also help in the infrastructure of the country for a living.
In the eveing the Keyans were cooking Omenyah,rice, beef, potatoes and ginger tea. Afterwhich the Keyans showcase some leso(cloth wrap), nacklace beads,artwork pictures (picture. Which was designed by the youths of the community,which exposed there skills and creativity, who are now in need of a job. At seven pm Emrah presented on the different aspect of Turkey within there culture, how it is used to uplift the people in the country. Through various organization like the youth organization, which is a non government organization operated by him and other members.
Arosh.Ali who represent Bangladash, present about proverty within his community among young people. Wherein the upperclass people didnt pay much attention towards the lower class people, who couldnt afford to make a living on there own. And so he stated that its a very urgent situation where help is needed. Also, before everyone went to bed, we were all entertained by a movie called, Garbage Warrior. Where people in New Mexico used empty cans and old tyres with soil to build houses,equiptment and other materials to reduce the hike of one`s expense.

Footsteps 12: Day 2!

Day 2 at Footstep 12 was our first in the village of Stara Bystricia, 20 km from Cadca. Jana Eyssel reports on the goings on!

The second day of the Foostep 12 conference began early at 8 o'clock in the morning with a Slovak breakfast served by the KERIC volunteers. We had sweet bread and Zavin s makovou naplnou, sweet bread with poppies, together with jam. For our first workshop we had a walk through the hilly area around our acommodation – but this wasn't to be a normal walk, it was a Philosophy walk. The group got in pairs, discussing different questions. The questions tackled the issues of sustainability, consumerism, over-population, happiness and travel experiences. After having come back to our accomodation, we discussed the questions together: very different views and experiences came together.

The Philosophy Walk was followed by the Kenyan project presentations. Introducing the „Kisumu Links and Sister Cities“ project Mikidadi gave a short introduction of the roots of the link between Kisumu and Cheltenham, reemphasizing Dennis' role. Margaret was next, presenting Kosimbo, a charity founded by her supporting widows and orphans. Third, Steven spoke about CADIF Kenya, a youth based organisation, coping with a wide range of different problems people face in Kisumu (e.g. HIV/AIDS, climate change, children becoming orphans).

After a tasty Slovak lunch we went on with the project presentations: Monika presented Tilia, an ecological association based in Torun, Poland. Among others, they run a forest school providing ecological education.

We hoped Ramnicu Valcea, Romania, would be represented at the conference. I travelled to Romania in March this year on a Global Venture meeting Irina who took me to several projects willing join the GF network. Despite their enthusiasm, their resources are so stretched currently that they could not spare the time to join us here. Teo, a student at the University of Gloucestershire, is here at the conference also representing her home country Romania. Together, we presented the current voluntary and social work situation in Ramnicu Valcea and Romania more broadly.

I also presented my home town Göttingen, which used to be one of the strongest link in the GF networks. However, this connection lapsed in the last years and needs to be reestablished. As I don't live there anymore, we do not only need to identify projects interested in linking with GF, but we also need a contact person in Göttingen.

Being the last group presenting today, Desmond, Janet and Michael from Saint Ann, Jamaica, told us about their college, Moneague College having implemented a very sustainable way of waste recyclying. All the presentations gave an insight into the backgrounds out of which the projects have developed in their communities and also highlightened difficulties they are coping with. However, the representatives already started to connect with each other, discussing possible solutions. If we move on like this for the rest of the week the conference's goal might be in sight!

Right now, we are having a break waiting for the first national dinner: It's the Jamaicans' turn. It already smells very nice!

Hello from Slovakia

Teo Craivan, who is here representing Cheltenham, UK and Romania simultaneously, was the first to pick up the pen to write us a blog entry.

Hello from Slovakia!!! The first conference day started a little melancholic – everybody had to leave the host families we got so attached to, but promised to return another time. Then we all met at KERIC headquarters and we had the official opening. After this we went to the K Museum, where we’ve met the manager of the museum and the manager of the culture house that welcomed us to Cadca and the surroundings. The museum was amazing, participants having the possibility to play the Slovakian ‘building’ game and they were all very excited of what they’ve made. After the visit at the museum we went back to KERIC where we had to find the presents they prepared for us in different parts of the building. After discovering some interesting facts about our host we went to eat. (The food here is really nice) Then Morgan had an introduction of the week. I have to tell you that this conference is dedicated to the person that made all this possible, Dennis Mitchell. The one that had the idea and the courage to not just want a better world but make footsteps in order to achieve his goals. We thank you Dennis and we promise to continue making those footsteps you taught us. Later this day we went to the Culture house for a special program – Slovak music and dance – you must have a lot of energy in order to try the traditional dance. In the evening we boarded on the bus to Stara Bistrica, a small village near CADCA. We are living in wooden cottages and it’s the best thing ever – we are four people from four different countries under one roof. Everybody should try it at least once!!! Jana’s turn to write tomorrow, until then Dobry vecer!!!

On the eve of Footstep 12

Footstep 12 is soon to begin and the participants have started to arrive here in Cadca, Slovakia.

Participants from Jamaica, Kenya, Germany and the UK have already arrived ahead of the conference, most are staying with host families in and around the city, but we all congregated in the town square last night to take in the All Slovakia Handball Championships.

Over the next week or so, we will be reporting on events here at the conference as we attempt to link together community capacity building projects from across the whole world to form a Global Footsteps network fit for volunteer exchange.

Global Venture to Bangladesh

On July 6th four young Global Footsteps members will depart for Bangladesh on a twp week fact finding visit to the newly established community capacity building project, the HRA Foundation in Nowder village, Bishwanath, Sylhet. The visit is being led by Global Footsteps co-ordinator Morgan Phillips who will be accompanied by two young film makers, Josh Sanger and George Allen, who will document the trip and a trainee teacher, Alice Matthews. Alice has made links with the Gloucestershire based education initiative ‘Sharing Communities’ and will gather resources on their behalf.

As well as the HRA Foundation the four will visit several other NGO projects and several other key people involved in improving life for the ordinary citizens of Bangladesh. On returning to the UK they will report back to the Global Footsteps membership the wider community through a short documentary film and a series of presentations.

Global Footsteps has closely assisted Mr. Arosh Ali, founder of the HRA Foundation, in creating a new charitable trust The Friends of Nowder. Mr Ali has lived in the UK for over thirty years but felt moved to transform land and buildings left to him by his late father into a centre to serve his home community. The HRA Foundation is two years old and provides primary healthcare and education for all as well as vocational training for men and women. The Friends of Nowder is a grant making organisation and hopes that the HRA is the first of many similar projects it will support. The goal, in time, for the HRA is to be a self sustaining project funded primarily by an on location women’s textile cooperative and eco-tourism facility. It hopes to grow in line with Social Business principles.

Cheltenham MP, Martin Horwood, is a keen supporter of The Friends of Nowder and will become its patron. He had the following to say about the project and the forthcoming visit:

‘Having worked for Oxfam in the past, I know the immense value to poor communities of well thought out projects based on local knowledge. This project should improve health and education in this very poor part of Bangladesh and empower local people to earn more income and improve their situation. But it’s essential to make sure the project is well run and this trip by Global Footsteps is an important part of that plan. I wish them well.’

Open House

We had a really lovely 'Open House' event last night at FootSteps. It was great to show people around and learn more about what they do and their interests. We told them a little bit about what we do and heard their thoughts and ideas on what we could do with the building and as a charity!

Here are some of the ideas, suggestions and comments we had and I've tried to feedback a little:

Clarify the focus of your charity and its aims and mission; prepare an elevator pitch.

This is so important and something we recognise we need to address. How about: 'We connect people at a grass roots level..... We do this through a variety of events, clubs and activities that all aim to bring people together in ways that are enjoyable and positive for the environment and society.

Offer the space to existing local charities to use for their meetings and so on.

We are very keen to do this and hope local like-minded organisations come along and use our space for meetings and events.

Word of mouth is very powerful as is networking through events like this.

We are trying to network as best we can through things like Transition Cheltenham and we hope our events create a buzz around the charity... please spread the word!

Charge users a nominal fee [to use the space at FootSteps]

We do intend to charge a small fee to hire out our space once it is in a nice usable state. We also have an option for organisations to be members of Global Footsteps, which would give them discounts on hiring spaces etc, as well as in the shop/cafe.

Screen environmental and educational films

We are very keen to do this and are working out a way to do this without breaking license laws, if anyone has any suggestions please get in touch!

Could you benefit from using Community Service people for labouring?

I'm sure we could, we are desperately in need of someone to help co-ordinate the manual work that we need to do, someone with DIY skills who wants to get their teeth into a worthwhile project, do you know anyone?

Contact the Eco-housing set up in Stroud, about their ecological building experience.

Thanks for this suggestion, I looked them up and the co-housing project sounds brilliant, perhaps we'll invite them up to FootSteps to give a talk and some advice. Follow this weblink for more: http://www.cohousing.org.uk/springhill-cohousing

Focus on Poverty in Cheltenham + Gloucester(shire)

We recognise the huge social and economic inequalities that exist here and would love to do something practical to address this as well as spread awareness of this problem. .

Run day trips / weekend trips for people on modest income

This feeds in to the above and is a great idea, who wants to come help us to make this happen? Where shall we go?!

Use the space for various craft-making classes

Yes please! If you want to start something up please get in touch!

More language classes

We have a history of providing language classes and want to resurrect it, we already have people who can teach French, Russian, Tamil and Bengali in our membership. If there is a demand for lessons then I'm sure we can get them going.

Bike repair clinics, maybe located at Freinds Meeting House

Another great idea, we have a few people who I think could offer this, I know that I could do with learning a bit more myself! One of our members has even written books on Cycle craft!

Frock Swap

Simple but really great idea, thanks for this, whoever wrote it down are you up for helping to organise and run a Frock Swap event?!

Have a low cost meal night - meal and a drink for a fiver

Great idea this, the shop floor is a nice cosy spot to have a meal and we have the facilities downstairs for people to join together to cook it. Any budding chefs fancy it?!

Thanks again to everyone who came last night and contributed your ideas, you've seen the resources we have, but the most important resource we have is YOU! Please get in touch if you want to help us to bring people together by the grass roots!

Email info@global-footsteps.org to get involved!

Can you host students from China this summer?

I'd like to draw your attention to a request in the Cheltenham Weihai Link newsletter. I hope you can help.

Students from Weihai

In July two groups of young people from Weihai will be coming to Cheltenham to study on the summer English Language courses at Gloucestershire college. The College are short of families to host in the Cheltenham area and ask that if anyone would be interested in having some Weihai students please contact Wendy Clark at GlosColl on 01242 532007 or Annette Wight, 01242 264311 (Annette.Wight@cheltenham.gov.uk) for a form. The first group will be here from 11 July for 3 weeks and the second group from 19 July for 2 weeks.

If you can offer any accomodation that would be great. We are keen to build our links with Weihai over the next few years, hopefully if we can host one or two students it will help us to build this relationship.

Alison and Glenn meet up with like minded organisations in Torun

As part of a holiday in Poland, Morgan (Woodland) and I met up with Glenn “Our man in Torun” and over a 3 day period (9-11 May) met up with representatives from 4 different organisations with a view to them participating in the Cadca conference, and identified a possible 5^th organisation. A productive time.

Our first call was to the forest school in the Barbarka Forest near Torun, an organisation previously identified and visited by Howard. www.szkola-lesna.torun.pl/index.php?id=102 At an extremely productive meeting we met Monika Krause, who works there, and Zbignew from the environmental NGO Tilia, who help to fund the project. www.tilia.org.pl They were extremely interested in attending the conference, and have subsequently booked, without requesting any subsidy. They run an environmental centre deep in the Barbarka forest (12km north of Torun). They educate school children about nature and have a really good set up (funded by EU support from Iceland, Norway, etc). During the week they educate school children and then at weekends members of the public and tourists swarm to the place for pleasure (there are many trails, a lake, mini golf, tree assault course, etc). So although there is tourism, with its impact on the environment they are primarily an educational and environmental organisation, and share our ethos on sustainability.

They have a hostel and hotel which would actually be a perfect location for a future Global Footsteps conference with a large room catering up to 150 people. They are looking for similar minded NGOs to link up with...and so they would be very beneficial to join the GF network.

As we returned to Torun, we came across a poster advertising a picnic and barbeque the previous day in aid of Fair Trade day. Some detective work on the computer on our return to the hostel revealed a website which seemed to have information about various environmental activities throughout Torun www.ekologiczny.torun.pl It also included a map and addresses of other environmental NGOs, so we got emailing, and managed to set up two more meetings at short notice.

Rowerowy Torun is a cycling campaigning and capacity building group www.rowerowytorun.com.pl
We met Joanna (nickname Asia) and Pawel in their run-down offices, and gave them the presentation and explained about Global Footsteps.

Joanna explained that they are quite a new organisation, about 4 years old. They are working on the council to improve the cycling infrastructure in Torun, and they want to improve the image of cycling as a means of transport, once the infrastructure is improved. She said In Poland it is only quite recently that cars have become affordable for many people - and everybody wants one. Although they are quite well known in the city - they have a regular critical mass cycle ride - she feels that people don't understand why there is a need for an organisation for assisting cycling. They are a very grassroots organisation - I think they only have volunteers, although they had some funding for a specific project to advise the council on cycle lanes etc. They have just got a rickshaw bike which they use to generate electricity for their sound system on the critical mass. We told them about Dennis’s adventure cycling from Torun to Cheltenham on a similar machine. Like Barbarka, they understand the sustainability agenda. They are circulating details about the conference to their members, and are keen to be represented, but would certainly need some funding if they were to come. I would certainly recommend that they would be good candidates. Joanna said how hard work it was, and that working so locally on such a specific issue, it was hard to see how they fitted in with the big picture, but of course she agreed with think global, act local etc. So encouragement through links with what else is going on in the world would be great.

The following morning we had a very interesting meeting in a lovely cafe (sampling the cheesecake and apple cake) with Basia Witek from Pracownia Zrównoważonego Rozwoju, a sustainable development organisation based in Torun. www.pzr.org.pl Again they are quite a new NGO - about 4 years. Basia is a fairly new volunteer, in her 20s, who got involved in helping to apply for funding and do community consultations. Krzysztof Slebioda the director, wanted to join us, but his wife is pregnant and they had a medical appointment. So the people involved seem to be young. The main event they organise is laying turf on the main town square, for a day in June - with stalls selling eco-goods, local food, etc etc. encouraging a family day out with an important message. They are very much into the Global Footsteps message about making connections and community building, as well as sustainability.
As she is a fairly new volunteer, Basia couldn't commit the organisation to anything, but they have weekly meetings on a Monday, and she will report about our meeting, and possibly arrange for Glenn to visit at a later date, or come back to us with more questions.

Our meeting with Bartosz from AIESEC was also very promising. www.torun.aiesec.pl He is interested in sending a representative to the conference, and I think they will be useful, as they are good networkers, like us. For example he told us that they arrange for international students to run workshops in local schools about the country that they come from. Also they take part in summer camps for local school children, and they have organised skills workshops for local unemployed people. They are interested in the international links we have made, and also in the local links in Torun - they don't seem to know about PZR at the moment. I think it would be useful for them to attend as networkers, but also as an organisation who can give a presentation on what they do. I encouraged them to send a representative, and he said he would report back to their committee and be in touch. He indicated that they would need financial help.

Finally, Monika from Barbarka put us in touch with Zbigniew Szalbot, who organised the Fair Trade picnic. We didn’t have time to meet him, but he responded to my email with interest, saying they will “soon be creating an organization (a co-op) that will have as its goal taking on board unemployed people and offering them work.” He said they could not afford the fee, but I encouraged him to arrange a meeting with Glenn to take discussions further.

It has been great to get a brief sense of what is going on environmentally at a grass roots level in another country. I was inspired to meet these people, and hope we develop lasting links with their organisations.

Sophie in Annecy

Sophie Franklin took time out from her Easter break with her family in France to visit Cheltenham's twin town of Annecy for us. Here is her report:

In view of the difficulty in getting to correspond with our Annecy counterpart at the Borough offices, Morgan asked me to go and see what I could find out on the ground, which I did.

I had found out that there is an officer solely working on the environment for the town of Annecy, so I knocked on the door of the municipal Offices and asked to speak to him.

Unfortunately, he was away on a course, but the receptionist was very friendly and helpful and I promised I would contact him by email on my return.

In the morning, I also tried to speak to someone at FRAPNA, but they are a Federation of local associations which deal with all sorts of local environmental problems, but really nothing that matches up with Cheltenham.

So I then went to Prioriterre, with whom I had established contact before going and who were really hospitable and helpful. Prioriterre is an Annecy organisation trying to empower people to protect the environment in whichever way they want, green buildings principally and renewable energy, through consultations, talks to schools and colleges, etc.

Prioriterre’s new building is carbon neutral, even better, it produces more energy than it needs. Even the armchair in the reception area are made of cardboard... Very comfortable too, but the staff don’t think they will last very long, not the perfect sitting room armchair as it might age rather quickly!

I explained what we did and that we wanted to establish links with like-minded organisations, especially in order to organise exchanges between young people. They said they would certainly find youngsters interested in going abroad to one of our partner organisations, like Kisumu, and also possibly to go to our next Youth conference in Slovakia.

I met Anne Hughet, who does not speak much English but some of her colleagues do, so future contacts should be easy.

Their web address is: http://www.prioriterre.org with a couple of pages in English.

Anne also gave me the address of another organisation “La Terre en Heritage”, specialising in sustainable consumption. I really look forward to finding out more at a later date.

Jana visits Ramnicu Valcae for Global Footsteps! Part 4!

Fourth day, 17th March 2010

Irina and I went to see another project, which had been implemented in the community a short time ago. With the help of the Göttingen waste management, a system of waste separation had been installed and a new waste land was being built. As the other projects we saw, this too is EU-funded.

Back in Irina’s office, we did not stay for a long time but left for La Journée de la Francophonie, the French days in Valcea. Schools were presenting short plays by Molière and Romanian playwrites in the library and this was a nice opportunity to join some local cultural events without struggeling with the language barrier – at least almost, as the Romanian plays were in Romanian. We had lots of fun watching and couldn’t take our eyes off the smallest children running around in their traditional costumes.

Later, we went to the market place again to get some food for my journey from Valcea to Sibiu, which was due the next morning. In the evening, I went out alone and strolled through Valcea’s city centre, taking pictures and being happy with the experience!

Jana visits Ramnicu Valcae for Global Footsteps! Part 3!

Third day, 16th March 2010

Irina came to my place to pick me up at noon and we drove to her office together where I had some time to prepare myself for holding the presentation about Global Footsteps and the conference in August. At 2pm Irina, some of her colleagues and I went to a conference room in the municipality building for installing the beamer and the laptop. The head of the Social Department, Simina, Carmen and other employees joined us. When I started giving the talk, Irina translated from English into Romanian. After I had finished the women had a quite long discussion about the subject – everyone was impressed and thought of it as a great idea, but, as I understood, there were also doubts about Romania’s role in this network. How helpful could be their community for the network, as they have so many difficulties to cope with themselves? And could they profit from their engagement in conference and the future cooperations? Although I only understood a bit of what they were saying and Irina could not translate everything for me, it became clear to me that the conference and the linking between the communities and projects means something different depending what the basis of the respective project is. For the project in Valcea, becoming active in the GF network and investing time and work into it, seems to mean investing much more than a project from e.g. Germany would, because they have such a great lack of funds and employees. Being part of the network can be a great chance for them, but becoming active only seems to make, if they can really profit from this.

Having come to an end, everybody thanked Irina and me for the presentation and I felt quite relieved that it had gone well.

After a short break and some cookies, Irina, Simina, Carmen and I drove to the outskirts of Valcea to visit the MARA centre for autistic children, another project realized by the Social Department. The centre offers therapy for children and advice for their parents. The children live with their families but come to the centre for their therapy every day. The MARA also is EU-funded and the only centre dealing with autism in the area of Ramnicu Valcea. Studying psychology, this visit was very intersting for me as I already had courses about autism but never had met autistic people before. A worker from the centre gave us a tour through different therapy rooms, presenting different groups of children to us, who ranged between 2 or 3 years up to about 11 years. The groups also differed in the children’s type of autism, and so did the therapy. Some therapists were working on the children’s concentration through drawing or making simple crafts, others focussed on language, as some autists hadrly ever speak. We also saw a gymnastics room where the children can play and move to music during their therapy. There we encountered a little boy having the svant-syndrom. According to our guide, he was very gifted doing all sorts of calculations. At the end of the tour we all were sad for leaving.

Jana visits Ramnicu Valcae for Global Footsteps! Part 2!

Second day, 15th March 2010

Irina picked me up in the morning and we went to her office in the municipality building. We had a short meeting with the deputy mayor to whom we presented Global Footsteps, the conference and the purpose of my stay in Valcea.

purpose of my stay in Valcea.

Most of the projects that exist are being implemented by the city council. The reason for this is, as I understood it, that it is very hard to get financial support for projects, as the country does not have much money. Therefore, many projects are funded by the European Union, because they can not get money from the state or the community. Getting these funds and running projects seems to be easier for a city coucil than for a private person.

Irina had chosen some projects, which are being run by the Social Department. So, after we met with the deputy mayor, we went to a meeting with the head of this department. The head seemed very interested in the charity, the conference and her department having the chance to participate in this network. She even called for an employee, a young woman called Simina, who spoke English very well and showed a great interest in representing the Social Department at Footstep 12.

Together with Simina, Irina and I went visiting a project realised by the Social Department. The IOANA centre gives support to homeless people and tries to make a normal life possible for them. The centre can host 21 persons, who share seven bedrooms à three beds. Every day, one meal is served. The project in EU-funded and has been opened 1,5 years ago – since then, 100 people have been enlisting the centre’s assistence and 62 have lived in the centre’s rooms. The stays are ment to be temporary, but there is no fixed time limit – the beneficials can stay until they have the possiblity to move to another place. People can also get medical, social and psychological help. A priest is coming to the centre several times a week and meets with the people. He also offers small loans if necessary and has been a great supporter of the centre since its foundation by donating books and other useful things. Unfortunately I could not meet him – this would have been very interesting. The centre tries to reintegrate the homeless people into the job market as well by offering help with job applications. At the centre we met the director of IOANA, who showed us around. She told us, that the centre had difficulties regaring financing and staff: As the payments for employees are very low, it is almost impossible to find specialists willing to work for them. In this moment, there is no psychologist and no nurse avaliable. She also showed a great interest in the conference and especialily in the type of work other centres in other linked communities are doing and how they are dealing with difficulties. We also met two people living in the centre and in the end were shown some pictures of homeless people taken in the moment of their arrival at the centre and after some time later – which made a great difference. As I understood, this centre is very important for the community as many people are poor and a great amount of them are living on the street. This is the only project in the area of Valcea to deal with homeless people’s problems.

After the visit to the IOANA centre for homeless people, we went to see an NGO, which does mainly environmental and youth projects. A friend of Irina’s is working for them. One of their last activities was a litter pick around Valcea, because litter is a very serious problem in Romania. Now they are trying to protect an old oak, which has historic importance for the community. Another future project could a small farm for endangered species in Romania. Apparently they have many good ideas, but a great lack of funds, which is a serious limit to their possibilities. The director told us that he would like to send a younger member of the NGO, being more receptive and open for those experiences than older people. He promised me to send a short overview of their projects and goals to me via email. Irina also told him about the charity shop in Cheltenham and he had the idea to open a similar shop in Ramnicu as well, selling products from the communities connected through GF. He would send the money back to Cheltenham. He also thought of sending some craft products from Romania to the FootSteps shop.

To end the day, Irina took me to a very very nice market, I could have taken about 100 pictures of all the farmer women selling there fruits and vegetables. Then I was brought back to my room and had a rest. In the evening, Irina came back to take me with her to her home for dinner.

Jana Eyssel visits Ramnicu Valcae for Global Footsteps!

Jana Eyssel from Gottingen, a long time member of Global Footsteps and part of the Footstep 12 conference management team paid a visit to our Romanian link, here is the first of four reports on her Global Venture.

Morgan Phillips had asked me to help with organising the next Global Footsteps conference in Cadca, Slovakia, in August 2010. My job was to visit communties, which are part of the Global Footsteps network, to identify community capacity building projects and to invite project representatives to the forthcoming Footstep 12 conference. Therefore, I prepared myself to travel to Ramnicu Valcea, representing Romania in the Global Footsteps network. Irina Sandulescu, whom I knew from the Footstep 10 in 2005, was my contact person in Valcea and organised my stay on ground. She is working for the municipality and thus has a good knowledge of projects in her town. Before my departure, she presented me a list of projects, among which we hoped to find one or two, that could be part of the conference and the future network.

First day in Romania, 14th March 2010

After a very long ride on the coach from Leipzig to Romania, which took about 26 hours and served as a nice introduction to the country of my destination, since I was the only German on the trip and everybody spoke Romanian, I finally got off the coach in Sibiu. Irina's husband was in town and picked me up. Since we had to wait for Irina’s brother who would arrive a few hours later from Italy by coach, we went for a drink to the historic centre of the town.

Sibiu is situated in Transylvania and for a long time has been the centre of the Saxons living in Transylvania, or Siebenbürgen, as they call it. This German heritage is still apparent, for instance in the architecture. Some streets reminded me of old German villages, which seemed very paradox to me, as I was quite far away from home and was being prepared to discover a country and a culture very different from mine.

The town also hosts a great deal of sights and has an important cultural heritage. In 2007 it has been the European Capital of Culture and therefore the picturesque historic centre is very well renovated. To profit from our time in this nice place, we visited the Brukenthal Museum, which exhibits a large collection of paintings and beautiful furniture from the 18th century.

In the afternoon, having picked up Irina’s brother, we left Sibiu for Ramnicu Valcea. Irina had prepared dinner for us and later brought me to the room where I could stay during my days in Valcea.

Election Fever: HUSTINGS

With Election Fever gripping the country I thought I'd turn this email into a blog post (I got permission)! It is from an intern at Oxfam and is all about the upcoming HUSTINGS in Cheltenham next week. Try and get along if you are about!

Hi,

May I introduce myself? I am Alison Shaw, currently working as an intern assistant political campaigner in the Oxfam South West Campaigns office. We are active on a range of campaigning issues seeking to work with many individuals, organisations, local communities and coalitions to promote our concerns to politicians, the media, activists and young people.

We form part of many coalitions, one of which is Ask the Climate Question. This is an initiative to make climate change a key issue for the 2010 General Election. It is organised by Oxfam, WWF, RSPB, Christian Aid, Tearfund, Greenpeace, CAFOD, Stop Climate Chaos & the Green Alliance. The campaign is focussed on key marginal constituencies, of which Cheltenham is one.

With the General Election fast approaching there are lots of events, debates and discussions happening across the country. You are invited to join us to Ask the Climate Question.

Your local hustings is on Tuesday 27^th April in Cheltenham

Time: doors open 7.00pm for 7.30pm start, 9.30pm finish
Location: The Sanctuary, St. Andrew’s United Reformed Church, Montpellier Street, Montpellier, Cheltenham GL50 1SP
Question time panel:
James Green – Labour Party
Martin Horwood – Liberal Democrat Party
Mark Coote – Conservative Party
Peter Bowman – UKIP Party

Come along to listen or ask your Prospective Parliamentary Candidates questions on climate issues.

To submit your questions email Roger James at rjames@oxfam.org.uk

News from Kosimbo

We have just received some positive news from one of our linked projects 'Kosimbo' in our linked community of Kisumu in Kenya.

Margaret Kawala founder of Kosimbo will be representing Kisumu at the forthcoming Footstep 12 conference in Cadca Slovakia, in an email to us she tells us:

'Kosimbo projects are changing the faces and the mindset of our community. They know that a woman can do wonders when given a chance.'

The Kosimbo Women's and Orphans project was set up in the rural area of Kirindo on the shores of Lake Victoria. Its major aim is to provide basic primary healthcare for people in this marginalised community. This healthcare is currently given a few times a week from a temporary structure. Promised funds to allow the construction of a more permanent community dispensary and some permanent staff have yet to materialise from the Local Government pot. Kosimbo, is however making significant progress in other areas and Margaret remains positive:

Other doors are opening and people are getting treated in our temporary structure. We initiated an adult education class and it was very pleasant to see old and young women involved in different sporting activities during our district sports day held on 8th april.

We are partnering with the national library and at the end of this month we shall be given two hundred books to keep and we'll manage them so that people can get fair access to the books.This is a great achievement as more people and students will get a chance to read.

As more people understand that our work is actually benefiting a lot of people, they are beginning to offer their services, I believe that the library will really be of benefit to our people.

I'm really praying for more networks so that Kirindo moves from being a fishing village with girls getting married at 14 years and boys also going fishing at the same age to a community where our next doctors will come from.

I'm also happy to report that Plan Kenya wants to work with the youth and our youth department is soon to be registered.

Global Footsteps offers opportunities for individuals to travel to projects situated across our network of linked communities. Volunteers who choose to travel on Global Ventures have a unique experience, learn about the community they visit at a grass roots level, develop their professional skills and make a significant difference to the project they work with. There are many opportunities at Kosimbo from health and education through to construction and social work. In her latest email Margaret has expressed a particular interest in finding a volunteer child counsellor. If you think you could spare two weeks, two months or more to help make a difference in this beautiful but marginalised part of the world please get in touch with Global Footsteps co-ordinator Morgan Phillips via info@global-footsteps.org

[This of Global Footsteps member Aby Morley interviewing Margaret Kawala of Kosimbo was taken in summer 2009 during a Global Venture to Kenya, which you can read more about on earlier posts to this blog. If you would like to hear the interview in full please follow this link: Kosimbo Interview 2009]

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Dennis wasn't able to make it to our last 'book club' meeting, so he sent us his own reflections on the book, it is a fantastic review!

(A ‘Book Club’ reaction to Mitch Albom’s novel)

This extraordinary ‘adult Fairy Tale’* is remarkably stimulating in its treatment of a taboo subject – death. So readable and unconventional a biography – chronologically backwards and forwards at the same time – portrays with great honesty the life of Eddie, a fairground maintenance man, through the mundane and momentous events shaping his life.

It is a story of considerable novelty; a novel that dwells on the absolute virtues in a way that stirs the reader’s own perceptions of life, death and the after-life.

Inevitably, one’s own values and beliefs are challenged. To my mind heaven is in the realm of the imagination, (where Albom excels). Hell is in the realm of truth. It’s where all us are; trying to find our bearings. Eddie winds up in purgatory. It’s unfinished business since he’s inspired by the five most significant influences of his existence, but he ages again in the process. Does he in turn become a soothsayer? Or does he transmute yet again? Maybe that’s to be Albom’s sequel.

To my mind heaven as an after-life is a pipedream – a construct of our mystical mindset. The birds and the bees have no such inkling. Or do they? How would I know? I actually prefer the Hindu concept of returning as some other species, rather than the fantasy of dwelling with angels or their infernal counterparts.

In my life there have been major turning points and role models that I revere. Like Eddie, we are shaped by circumstance and the limits of our nurturer’s horizons. We are indoctrinated for our own good and that of society, but the handed-down mythology is for each new generation to confront. Our ultimate wisdom derives from one’s personal experience, learning through experimentation.

It is tempting to guess which personal forbears or compatriots, be they family or friend, familiar or foreign, would be among my five. Why only five? I’d appreciate the reflections of so many influences. Would Mac claimed that I killed him? He was run over when he should have been on the lead. And what would Bobby say to me? “Give us a kiss!”? As for our canary whose name I’ve already forgotten, would she still sing sweet arpeggios, having escaped the cage?

Heaven is a state of mind; the emotional pinnacle to which we are transported by some miraculous fusion ot all the senses in a perfect accord with all around. It is inspired by beauty, be it art, music, discovery, or a revelation that projects us beyond ourselves. Life after physical death is incredible, except insofar as the material of our physical being persists and the fact of our being endures within the consciousness of humanity. The Christian burial service declares ‘from dust to dust’ but life has two metamorphoses; from sperm to species and from species to spirit (and compost). I shall be drowned or buried, but never divined.

I use ‘adult’ in its original, innocent sense.

Mitchell Bomb (18/2/10)

Friends of Nowder

On Sunday 24^th January Global Footsteps members Arosh Ali, Mary Paterson and myself met at the Friends Meeting House in Cheltenham with a host of others involved in the formation of The Friends of Nowder charitable trust.

Arosh Ali has been a member of Global Footsteps for about a year now, he came to us to see how we could help him establish a UK based charity that would support the work of the HRA Foundation, a community capacity building project in Arosh’s home village of Nowder in rural Bangladesh. Since the day Arosh first walked into FootSteps we have been helping him conceptualise, organise and now formally establish the Friends of Nowder. Friends of Nowder will perform three roles. In the first instance, and most importantly, it will raise money to send as grants to the HRA Foundation to help it grow and flourish in three main areas: Education, Primary Health Care and Women’s Empowerment. Secondly, Friends of Nowder will raise awareness amongst the UK population of the issues surrounding development in Bangladesh and the wider developing world. Thirdly, it will advise start-up or emerging community projects that have similar aims and goals as the HRA Foundation. The HRA Foundation has been in operation for just over two years, thanks to the tireless work and enthusiasm of Arosh Ali, once it is well established Friends of Nowder will look for other projects to fund and support.

Sunday’s meeting was also attended by Jerry and Sue Barr from Bishop’s Cleeve who continue to provide invaluable advice and support to the project. Friends of Nowder are also tremendously fortunate to have Martin Horwood MP as a patron and he was on hand on Sunday to witness the official signatures of the first three trustees of Friends of Nowder: Mary Paterson, Tariq Rashid and myself.

Mary visited Nowder early last year and has since been very keen to help the HRA get off the ground. I will visit Nowder on a Global Venture later this year to assist in the production of promotional materials including a documentary on the work being done to cope with and eradicate poverty in Bangladesh. Tariq is also keen to visit Nowder in the near future and we hope to invite an employee of the HRA to the UK on a Global Venture later in the year as well as to Footstep 12 in Slovakia this August.

The links between the HRA Foundation, Friends of Nowder and Global Footsteps represent a fantastic step forward for our charity, it will bring with it many opportunities for improved intercultural understanding and education about many environmental, sustainability and development issues. We will do everything we can to help it flourish and grow.

by Morgan Phillips, Global Footsteps Co-ordinator

Kenyan Venturers in the Echo

Daisy Blacklock at the Gloucestershire Echo interviewed our Founder Dennis Mitchell following the recent Film screening held at Friends Meeting House. Please click on the article to read it in full.

Book Club: The White Tiger

Tina McCausland discusses another successful Global Footsteps book club discussion.

We learnt about the character Balsam who grows up in the underbelly of Indian society, which Balsam also refers to as 'the darkness'.

The story is told in Balsam's voice as we experience life in the slums of India, the caste system and the lives of those in servitude.

The group commented on the many animal references throughout the book such as Balsam being also known as The White Tiger and the metaphor of a chicken in a coop to descibe how Balsam feels about his life and the society that he lives in.

We were encouraged to discuss politics, religion and prejudice as we explored Balsam's long desperate journey from the darkness into the light of a higher 'better' society and so Balsam's apparent freedom from servitude. We commented on the the ugly sacrifices that he makes to move into the light (as he eventually believes that the key to the door of his cage was always open).

We admired the author's language such as "Every now and then an egg will crack open - a woman's hand, dazzling with gold bangles, stretches out of an open window, flings an empty mineral water bottle onto the road - and then the window goes up and the egg is resealed" (p. 134).

Everyone had lots of particularly positive things to say about this book and it also generated discussion about personal experiences of India (and the suggestion to read the book Shantaram, also a book about he slums of India).

The White Tiger opens the door on the harsh injustices experienced by the poor in India and could be applied to other countries. We found it inciteful, brutal, tender, witty and poetic.

Book for next book club session

The 5 People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

Suggestions of books for future book club sessions

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafis

The Winter Book by Tove Jansson

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy