A lifestyle blog
Supporting is something that I think we can all do more of, either at home, or as part of a larger community. When I decided this year to really focus more on the four tenets I want to be known for supporting was definitely one of them.
This category will be where posts of support to others will live. It will feature people or causes I am supporting directly, discuss ways people can support their own passions, or I will share stories of support others have received.
I feel like I am on a mission to save the world at the moment. No sooner am I back from a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan with World Vision than I am knee deep in helping jump start the Team Honk bus for Sport Relief this year. And please don’t mention the other trip to west Africa with another charity that I have just turned down on health
As I look at the rain outside again, and see on the weather forecast that we might get snow at the weekend, I realise how lucky I am in to be at home. When the 700,000 Syrian refugees currently in Jordan are not. Through no fault of their own they are no longer not only not in their own home, but not in their own country. Thousands of them are
The news is dominated today by news of a conference in London where 70 nations are coming together to discuss #SupportSyrians. What needs to happen to not only stop the civil war in Syria but how we can all help the Syrians displaced and the host communities now breaking under the burden of looking after the migrants. Six hundred and ninety thousand Syrian refugees are currently in Jordan, the country
On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light Swap the colitas for oranges and the shimmering light for a young chap with a tea tray and this could have been California. Except it wasn’t it was Jordan, and it was the road known as the desert highway. The
It was his eyes that got me. And his eyelashes. One of the most gorgeous little boys I have ever met. With a smile that lit up the room. And a cheekiness about him that I knew we wouldn’t see today but I wanted to know more about. Ahmed, on the right in the above picture, is 14 and a keen footballer. Back in Syria he used
I wasn’t sure what to expect during our day at the Azraq refugee camp, 80Km from the Syria border. I have so much I want to say, so much to process and share. I wanted to get this out though as we have just half an hour before dinner. The white shelters are iconic now. They are the picture you see when the media talks about the camp. There
This is a post about friendship. I need to process the things we have seen today, and think about the people we have met before I fall asleep and of all the stories we have heard today the overwhelming thread to is all is friendship. Two different families hosted us today, in an area in the north of Jordan called Ajloun. It’s on the tourist route as Ajloun
In three classrooms of a school in Irdib, the third largest city in Jordan just 20 miles from the Syrian border, is a bustling student community. From the outside it looks like any other. A basketball court to the side, an area for playing football at the back. Nestled amongst houses and small businesses you might not think anything of this building. But what goes on
. Four years ago in the middle of night Aintifar woke to the sound of shelling. Louder than usual she soon realised that her house had been hit. The house she lived in with her husband, who worked in construction, and five of her six children, the eldest, Muayed away in Lebanon doing his National Service. Her children had been injured by shrapnel and the family soon
. I am off to Jordan today, for four days, accompanying WorldVisionUK as they look to mark five years since the conflict in Syria caused the largest migration of people since the second world war. As part of the charity’s #BarefootCoatless campaign we will be visiting refugee camps and also meeting refugees living with host families in the community. More than that I don’t really know if I am
. I first wrote about Syria on my blog in May 2012. It was more of a rant than an informative piece. A rant at the lack of media attention for the Houla massacre that had taken place overnight. A few days later I was at it again, asking “Will you Look Away”, part of a campaign suggesting this was Syria’s tipping point and that the violence had to stop.
. I have spent a lot of time recently thinking about how lucky I am. I know I often whinge out loud about how tired I am, how busy, how broke etc, how the house is a mess and how the laundry pile is never ending but do you know what, actually, things are okay. For many they are not okay and I have become increasingly aware of those