Hello lovely people!!

I hope you are well :)

Sooooooo, on the 5th of February I'm going to be sleeping rough outside St Giles' Church in Cambridge in solidarity with the homeless on the streets of Cambridge and the refugees currently residing in Northern France. 

I am lucky enough to have never spent a night without the safety net of a home to return to. The key word here is luck. Sadly, many people across the world do not have this safety net - nobody should sleep outside in winter but many people have no choice. For the homeless on the streets of Cambridge and the refugees in northern France, who sleep on waste land around Calais and Dunkirk, homelessness is not their fault. They may be in this situation because they have lost their job, have family or health problems, have fled persecution, or because their home was destroyed by bombs. They all face the same struggles, conditions and stigmatisation. 

The donations raised  by this sponsored sleep-out will aid in funding CamCRAG's convoys to Northern France to join in helping the incredible NGOs that work tirelessly all year round to support displaced communities. Donations will also be received by the Cambridge Churches Homeless Project (CCHP), a collection of churches and a synagogue that work together to provide practical care and support to those who are sleeping rough in Cambridge. These are two truly wonderful organisations and, as ever, any donations will be deeply appreciated.

A question which I anticipate to be asked after completing this fundraiser, which I was confronted with many times since returning from volunteering in Calais last February is...

 Are you proud of yourself?

The answer to this question is no, I don't think I am proud of myself - the truth is, I've never felt more ashamed. I've never been so angry before. Humanitarianism is not my struggle, nor is it the struggle of NGOs; all of this simply shouldn't exist. How can I be proud of having to offer people as a privilege what is a fundamental human right?

The part I am proud of however, is the love that is at the root of all this anger. I am proud to be a part of this energy of solidarity that draws together communities - and by donating however much you can, you are a part of this alliance too.

Love, 

Freya x