$2 A Day

Make your $2 work for a better world! Take the $2 A Day Pledge this Anti-Poverty Week!

$2 is less than most of us spend on a cup of coffee, yet that’s what more than 2 billion people around the world must survive on every day.

As part of Anti-Poverty Week (insert organisation name) has partnered with Fairtrade in a new campaign that helps make our little daily purchases really count for something. 

The $2 A Day Pledge asks supporters to commit to spend $2 a day on their favourite Fairtrade products for two weeks from October 17 - the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. By taking the pledge and choosing Fairtrade, we’re choosing to actively reduce poverty by investing in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities.

It could be your daily coffee or tea, a chocolate treat, or perhaps a gift for a friend (did you know there are now Fairtrade t-shirts and sports balls)? It’s such an easy, effective and often delicious way to make a difference in your everyday life. 

Buying Fairtrade means farmers and workers in developing countries actually receive a fair price for their crops and produce.  Fairtrade also supports them to directly invest in their business and communities through additional funds, which means they can build the things we take for granted every day - schools, roads and hospitals.

Last year alone, AU$25 million worth of Fairtrade coffee sales in Australia and New Zealand helped provide farmers with over AU$2 million in additional funds to spend on their businesses and their communities.

Who says coffee can’t change the world?

Make your $2 work for a better world – pledge now!

www.2dollarsaday.org.au

A Social Justice Grace?

Here is the prayer we will be using before each food time at morepraxis gathering this weekend.

Some have food,
Some have none,
God bless the revolution!

It came from this site while I was looking for an ancient monastic sort of social justice grace thingy. I wrote one myself but thought the ancient link would be fun.

Here was my one “Jesus, As we eat we remember those who will not and covenant to be part of a solution. Grant all who are fed a hunger for justice and you. Amen.”

See the top one looked good, covered the connection between us and food justice and it was shorter to the point.

However, it came with this intro “an old Boston Brahim prayer”. Now while sounding authoritative and like a historic spiritual group it is weird. Brahim are the priestly class in Hindu. Plus, the references I have seen around about ‘Boston Brahim’ are of upper class privilege not social justice. It is basically like saying here is “an old chardonnay socialist” prayer.  

So while it is a bit weird it is a good grace thingy for our gathering of chardonnay socialists, latte sipping ordinary radicals

(I thought of Mike’s Billy Bragg shirt while posting)

Dear Mr Rudd… from James aged 9

Below is a letter to the PM from my 9 yr old son.

7/9/09

Dear Mr Rudd,

I think all the houses need solar pannels to help produce electricty. Australia has lots of sunshine so we should use it. But it is very expensive for many Australians so I ask that you decrease the cost.

please help our country and the world!

from James

aged 9 yrs

UpperRoom Plan Be 4/4 (Peacemakers & Persecuted)

 

The upper room project meets the first Monday of each month (6:-8:30pm) to engage with spirituality and justice as struggled with and fought for by the Prophets and Jesus. We meet upstairs in the Shine Café/Bar (74 Kingsway Glen Waverley) with gallery space, discussion corners, opportunity for practical response and pondering space.

We hope the upper room will be

Space to rest/relax with your tribe

Be challenged by the prophetic call of compassion

Connect with heartbeats for living

There will be food, wine and friends plus

Please bring your friends - all are welcome

This month and the next 2 are a bit different to the norm - we will looking at sections from Dave Andrews book “Plan be” that focuses on practically living out the be-attitudes and Ghandi’s call to “Be the change you want to see in the world”.  There will be  looping interviews of two of the be-attitudes on the wall and the study guides from Dave on the tables. Hopefully this will help people get a handle on these resources for their home based small group/action groups.youth groups etc.  Check out the wecan.be web site for more info on the campaign and resources (and the actions fed from morepraxis  )

For those interested in having their own copy of ‘Plan Be’ I grabbed 10 copies from tear to sell…. so if you want to buy one they are $15 each. 

This Month = Peacemakers & Persecuted

See you all there!  Age

facebook event link for those on it

the aftermath

So we’re in Telford, slowly recovering energy after a full-on Greenbelt. Post-Greenbelt, ‘just wait til you hear what you missed’ posts can be horrible to read… and they feel indulgent to write. Which doesn’t seem to be stopping me…

I had a great Greenbelt. One of the best I’ve been to, i think. It was filled with the kind of unexpected moments that serve to knock me out of my jaded, comfy, cynical corner of the world.

As always, the very best thing was the people who inspire, provoke and make me feel like i’m at home in the work i’m doing and the place I am. I know I say that every year, but I’m so grateful for the chance to feel normal for a while! The absolute highlight in terms of the program was HFASS bluegrass liturgy, which was captivating and beautiful… it swept me away with its confidence and grace… and serving communion with Nadia felt like such a gift. And Nadia’s talk on Monday gave me my best Greenbelt line – a throwaway line in the middle of sentence: ‘the stranger always messes things up’…

Ikon was lovely on the Friday night. I rely on Ikon to push me into another place, and for the first ten minutes I was anxious that I’d done my dash with them, but then the punch came and I remembered again why i loved them so much.

Being on a panel with Cary Gibson, Heather Cracknell and Nadia Bolz Weber was really fun. i love those women.

And Foy Vance on the Monday night was simply extraordinary. One of the best hours of music I can remember…

And I wondered if we might have it in us to do worship again next year…

We spent Tuesday night in Cheltenham, where we remembered how fabulous it is not to sleep in tents… and yesterday we came to Telford to meet with Mark Berry and Safe Space. We have a great group of people travelling this year [like every year, of course!]. In fact I must go join them for drinks…

Renovate or detonate: Lin HD at morepraxis gathering

‘Renovate or detonate: disturbing the UCA to fully become the movement for social and personal transformation we wish we were.

 Lin Hatfield Dodds and her cool kids will be joining us at MPG and speaking at the dinner on the Saturday night. Above is the title for her input… sounds cool hey?

For those who don’t know Lin she was at Fed square for NCYC and here is the ‘Age version’ of her bio:)

Lin  is a thoughtful, people loving female leader and social activist who likes to laugh, talk and drink red wine. She is a mum, partner, daughter and friend plus the National Director of Uniting Care. She would fight for anyones right to be themselves and is keen to see the UCA as movement of personal and social change to be proud of.

 

If you want the offical bio here it is.

 Lin Hatfield Dodds is the National Director of UnitingCare Australia. UnitingCare is the community service network of the Uniting Church. It is Australia’s largest non-government provider of community services, with 400 community service agencies located across every State and Territory, providing services to more than 2 million Australians each year. UnitingCare employs 35,000 staff whose work is supported by 24,000 volunteers nationally and provides services to children, young people and families, people with disabilities, and older Australians, in urban, rural and remote communities.

UnitingCare Australia is committed to advocacy,  speaking with and on behalf of those who are the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, for the common good.

Lin serves on the Boards of the Australia Institute and the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture. She is immediate past President of the Australian Council of Social Service and chaired the ACT Community Inclusion Board for four years. Lin has given expert testimony to Federal Parliamentary inquiries into poverty and disadvantage, welfare reform, community service delivery, taxation and income support, refugee policy, mental health and other issues.

Lin’s background includes working as a counselling psychologist and policy advisor. She has worked in government and community settings, including in drug rehabilitation and with young people at risk, with a particular interest in trauma and abuse. She has worked as a public policy advisor on health, health ethics, and community services within federal and state governments.

Her contribution to the community was recognised by an International Women’s Day Award in 2002, and in 2003 she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to study anti-poverty strategies and issues associated with the delivery of welfare services in North America and Europe.        

Lin was the 2008 ACT Australian of the Year.

 

Check out the event site for other fun friends at MPG …. Oh and if you could register this week so we can work our food and all that, it would help. Ta!