To my friends, a plea.
A couple of months ago I received an email from NABS the media charity, which I am ashamed to admit, I normally delete...however, on this occasion I read it.
It was about a trip in November organised by NABS and Habitats for Humanity to Bangalore in India to build houses in slums. Proper building, you know, with shovels, bricks, cement and basically anything that requires donning steel toe cap boots and a hi-vis vest....not my usual choice of wardrobe whatever you may have been led to believe. After careful consideration three main factors have swayed me (see below) to sign on the dotted line.
1. Up until now, I have never done anything more worthy than the 24 hour famine when I was about 12 so it must be about time to 'give something back'
2. The dates coincide with my 30th birthday
And one which I have thought better of sharing with these noble charities....
3. The combination of heat, manual labour, terrible food and possible dysentery should amount to considerable weight loss (a veritable boot camp for the good-hearted). I may start a spread bet.
Presents = donations so stop those orders to Sotheby's/Tiffany's/Cartier and divert funds here! Any spare change you can muster would be most appreciated, in fact, anything at all and I will be forever in your debt. Come on...help me get thin! Sorry what I really mean is please please contribute and help make a life-changing difference to families that need it.
For those of you sceptics who might think that this is a dossy holiday in India disguised as charity work, one previous participant told us, "don't worry you get used to the smell in a couple of hours". My nasal hairs are already retreating at the prospect.
Joking aside, this really is vital work. More than 60 percent of the country's estimated 180 million dwellings are temporary or in a dilapidated condition. Poor quality bricks with cement or mud plastering are common. In rural areas, shelters often rely on mud, grass, leaves, reeds and bamboo.
In urban areas, the poor, and migrants from the countryside, live within water conduits, under bridges, on train and bus platforms and in overcrowded slums. Alternatively check out the links to these amazing charities.
India needs some 2.5 million new homes each year, just to keep pace with its growing population. The current shortfall is more than 41 million homes. We will be helping to create clean and most importantly, safe, housing for families who are desperately in need.
I will keep you posted on all the fun (the true sense, not the organised kind) events that I shall be organising forthwith!
Just make sure you remember your wallets........ Robbo!
Amy xx
