Burkina Faso

Justice Matters founding member, Sara recently spent a few days in Burkina Faso with Josephine, an amazing 13 year old. This is her story:

"Five News’ Peter Lane reports from Burkina Faso as new figures expose the scale of world hunger."

Shared from the Justice Matters Facebook Page

The surprising power of people in parks

On Saturday 8th June, members from Justice Matters joined with 45,000 others at Hyde Park to demand that the G8 take action on the silent scandal of world hunger.

As film director and Olympics opening ceremony maestro pointed out, this was just the latest in a series of moments where people in parks stood up and demanded action on injustice - from female emancipation to workers rights, nuclear weapons to apartheid, Live Aid to Make Poverty History and Drop the Debt, the Big IF London, the people of Britain have a track record of coming together in parks to make history. This felt like one of those days - indeed, during the afternoon, we were informed that the G8 had agreed to provide a further £2.8bn in aid to ensure proper nutritious food is made available to children in the developing world. Exciting times...

Here are some photos from our preparation...

 

... and of the event itself...

 

Enough Food If...

As you know, since the start of the year we have been taking part in the Enough Food If... campaign, which aims to eradicate hunger through firmer aid commitments, greater transparency, tackling tax dodging and stopping neo-colonial land grabs.

On the 8th June, Justice Matters will be joining with thousands of others from across the country for the Big If London gathering. The day will include inspiring speakers, stories, family activities and music. The symbolic centre of the day will be the planting of a breathtaking field of paper flowers, with two million petals representing the two million children that die from hunger every year – lives that could be saved.

Read our blog post on why this symbolic act is important and and then sign up to come along. We'll be discussing logistics at the June 5 pub session (8pm at the Bohemia).

What difference can a paper flower make?

On the 8th June, Justice Matters will be joining with many others from across the country for the Big If London gathering. The day will include inspiring speakers, stories, family activities and music. The symbolic centre of the day will be the planting of a breathtaking field of paper flowers, with two million petals representing the two million children that die from hunger every year – lives that could be saved.

The obvious questions is: Aside from being a visually impressive stunt, exactly what good will two million paper flowers actually achieve?

Its easy to get disheartened when campaigning for change. We look at the scale of the problems facing our world and tell us ourselves that we don't have enough power to make a difference; that only the rich and influential like Bono, Bill Gates or the Prime Minister can make a real impact. Standing there in Hyde Park with our paper flowers could seem a bit of a pointless gesture, but maybe there's more to it than meets the eye.

At St Barnabas last week,  David Brown talked about Gideon, an unlikely Old Testament leader who God used to rescue Israel from overwhelming enemy odds. Having already radically thinned out the Israelite army (from 32,000 men down to 300), God had Gideon equip the remaining force with highly unlikely weapons - trumpets and torches concealed within clay jars. In other words, Gideon's army was vastly outnumbered and had no hands free to draw their swords against the enemy forces. This sounds a lot like the situation we find ourselves in when facing the seemingly intractable evils of the world - a small voice for justice amid the howling gale, armed not with sword and spear, but paper flowers and wry placards.

Despite expectations, Gideon's army saw a great victory:

"Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.

When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords." (Judges 7 v19-22a)

As the final verse highlights, the victory was not Gideon's but God's (indeed, God had told Gideon to reduce his army to ensure that this point was abundantly clear). So too, when we take our stand against the silent scandal of hunger, we should remember that our paper flowers are like those trumpets and torches - laughably fragile, ridiculously inconsequential and yet of heaven-rending, world-changing power in God's hands.

So join us and thousands of others to make a big noise and demand G8 leaders take action to tackle the silent scandal of hunger. We may not only have limited power by ourselves, but with God anything is possible...

Enough Food IF...

On Saturday 8 June David Cameron hosts a hunger summit. This is our big moment, our chance to make our voices heard and to push the G8 to take action on hunger. Together we will make sure David Cameron goes to Northern Ireland with our demands ringing in his ears. We want the G8 leaders to take action on aid, land,tax and transparency - the four big IFs needed to help end hunger.

Join us and make your voice heard at the Big IF in London's Hyde Park on Saturday 8 June.

http://bigiflondon-enoughfoodneutral.eventbrite.co.uk/

Shared from the Justice Matters Facebook Page

The world is not impoverished

Via Phil 'Hoylus' Hoyle

IF, the UN and a mysterious request

Great to see lots of you at our gathering last Wednesday and special thanks to Natalie and Ian for the fascinating ideas and insights on Fairtrade and ethical consumerism.

At that session, Victoria highlighted the Enough Food... IF Campaign and challenged us to arrange a meeting with our local MPs to raise the campaign with them. Following that discussion, Victoria has identified some resources to help us with that challenge. These include a briefing note to share with your MP (and handy for reminding you what the campaign is about too!) and a longer Executive Summary. 

Victoria and I have set up an opportunity to meet with Theresa Villiers on Saturday 9th March for those living in Chipping Barnet, while Dave is speaking to Mike Freer's office for those in Finchley & Golders Green. We'd like people to come along with us and will be preparing for those meetings at our next pub session (this coming Weds, 8pm at The Catcher in the Rye, Finchley Central).

Two other things to flag: 

Firstly, that our esteemed member Ann-Marie is speaking at the UN in the coming days. We're very excited that our local Network has such a wide reach! If you're the praying type, do remember her this week.

Secondly, hang on to your plastic tubs (of the sort that fruit and veg sometimes come in) and bring them along to the next cafe session, where they'll be put to good use...

See you again soon!

Enough Food IF

The world produces enough food for everyone, but not everyone has enough food.

We can change this in 2013. IF we act together, we can make this year the beginning of the end for global hunger.



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

Justice Matters is proud to be involved in supporting this exciting new multi-agency campaign to bring an end to hunger around the world. Watch this space for opportunities to play your part. In the meantime, here's a video from the launch event...

Food, glorious food!

Food plays a huge role in our society. Eating together is a sign of hospitality and friendship, popular (and sometimes colourful) chefs are celebrated in our media, and programmes like Come Dine With Me and the Great British Bake Off are hugely popular.

Food is something that we love and often take for granted. We learnt this week that vast amounts of food is being wasted by consumers in the developed world. Meanwhile, we know that there are many people around the world - 870 million according to the World Food Programme - who go to bed hungry day in, day out. This inequality is truly shocking.

Over the coming few months, we will be looking at food and how it relates to justice. We will be exploring a range of topics - from hunger in the developing world to grow you own in the UK, from Fairtrade and unjust trade barriers, to Foodbanks and poverty closer to home.

Both the Old and New Testament of the Bible speak regularly about the issue of food justice, including guidelines to benefit those in need at harvest time, to strong words for those who seek to cheat the hungry out of their resources and those who embrace religion but lack a heart of compassion for those in need. We will be looking at some of these verses as we learn about the facts and seeing how faith and justice are inextricably linked.

Other charities are also focussing on the issue of food at this time, so we will be looking to get involved with Tearfund's new campaign, the Live Below the Line challenge and other opportunities to make a practical dent in this injustice.

It all begins this Wednesday at Coffee Republic from 7:30pm. We're kicking off the series with a guest speaker from Friends of the Earth and a practical activity to have a go at. As you can probably tell, we're really excited about this new theme and the gatherings we have planned, so we hope to see you at Coffee Republic or the Bohemia soon.

Oh, and to anyone fasting this week as part of the St Bs week of prayer and fasting, you might think its a little inconsiderate of us to be doing all this talk of food while you're trying to avoid it. But just consider this, as God says through the prophet Isaiah (58 v6-7):

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"

So there you go. See you on Wednesday! 

Oxfam petition for action on hunger

On Sunday 12 August, world leaders meet in London to discuss hunger and nutrition. As they talk, 18 million people face severe food shortages in West Africa. Leaders must act now to protect families in desperate need across the region. And they must commit to supporting vulnerable farmers worldwide, so they can feed themselves and lift their communities out of poverty. It's not too late. If leaders prioritise hunger, we can save lives now - and create a future where everyone always has enough to eat. Join Oxfam, Africans Act 4 Africa and Avaaz in demanding that world leaders act now to provide food and water for the hard months ahead and invest in long-term solutions to ensure this never happens again.

Sign the petition now at www.oxfam.org.uk/sahelcrisis