7 July 2008

The phrase ‘there’s another random day’ has been used by our kids virtually every day we have been here so far. These random days are brought into a sharper focus, I find, when you blog. Blogging forces you to reflect on the day you have had and get some perspective on it.

Getting perspective on what you experience out here is even harder if you are trying to keep half an eye on what is happening back home in the UK. Today was no different.

One minute we are blogging about our church in Hereford just having £000’s spent on it to give it a much needed face lift and then, soon after that, I am walking from the new offices of the Fishermen Trust to a fairly new slum that has been set up two minutes away. What a contrast to life at home and my blog piece on the Church refurb!

The slum is next to a rubbish tip and swamp and houses about 40 families that are working on building a local bridge. When they are finished, they will move on to another area where there is more work. Nomads I guess you could call them. The consequences of this lifestyle are the kids obviously do not get an education as they are never around long enough.

We went to the slum today just to meet people there and find out more about what kind of slum it was. We met with around 30 odd kids. Raj translated and we found out there were no parents around, they were all working at the construction site – women here work on the construction sites too.

There was just one ‘Auntie’ (the name they use for an older lady) who wasn’t altogether there! The older three kids look after the babies all day.

We spent some time chatting and playing with the kids and gave them a few small presents that a friend had brought out. The look on the kids’ faces when they got the gifts cannot be conveyed in a blog, I can tell you. The kids lived in huts made from old bits of wood and a plastic sheet over the top with four or five to just one room.

In response to the desperate situations we see here, some of which I saw in even greater detail today, I am constantly told when back in the UK: ‘Yeah, but you can’t compare these two worlds can you?’ Or, ‘We need to do both don’t we? Give to the poor and plough more money into our properties’ But is that really right? Are you sure you can’t compare?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing my Church for refurbishing its building – not at all – but at some point, someone somewhere has to shout very loudly “this injustice has to stop!”

Why should my kids, just because of where they were born, have an abundance of wealth and provision whilst these little ones have nothing other than the responsibility of raising their tiny brothers and sisters in squalor? I am writing this piece for a blog for ‘New Start’ magazine. What kind of new start are these kids entitled to? Forgive the rant but I think you may feel the same if you saw what we have seen.

Click here to read on

Dave Hider is head of care and supported housing for Bromsgrove-based West Mercia Housing Group.

You can read more about Dave’s work in India at, www.thehiders.co.uk

7 July 2008

Dave Hider continues his blog about his life and work in Bangalore, southern India

Continued from Part 1:

Then later this evening I went off with another good friend to another slum that he works at in the evenings. This slum is much, much bigger and was much more permanent than the ones we saw earlier today.

We went on the back of the motorbike and got there by 8.30pm. Dozens of kids and adults were out in the street that runs through the middle of the slum. The power was off (an every day occurrence at the slum) and so the atmosphere was very odd – just little candles all over the place. As we arrived, my friend says ‘Dave we need to go careful as the dogs here are mad’. Now we are used to mad Indian street dogs by now but these slum dogs go for anything they don’t recognise apparently!

We went down a very small side street where the shambolic brick built house were crammed together, with everyone staring at the westerner and wondering what he was doing here. At the first house there was no answer so we went over the road to the other house – all in complete pitch black with dozens of people watching.

In the middle of two of the rooms (or houses as they call them) there was a flight of stairs – all broken and battered and up we go using our mobile phones to light the way as by now it was totally blacked out. At the top of the stairs three rooms – all separate houses – and we went to the corner one where a couple and an 18 month old child lived. There was one candle in the corner of the room of no more than 10 square feet, one single bed and one chair and a small TV, no cooking/washing facilities at all – all done outside.

They have no security of tenure at all and could be evicted atany time by the government. Seeing this kind of house brings a rush of emotions. There’s such stark poverty and yet you can feel the community is knitted together – everyone watching everyone’s backs.

I get so depressed going to the slums and yet at the same time they are places of real joy. The kids are generally so happy and content (unlike mine at times!). I love these places – seriously. I find a profound sense of purpose being there.

I’m not trying to be any kind of hero I just think it’s where I should be at times – with people who lives can be changed with so little. All this energises me and gets the adrenaline going again! Something I have needed over the past two days….

Dave Hider is head of care and supported housing for Bromsgrove-based West Mercia Housing Group.

You can read more about Dave’s work in India at, www.thehiders.co.uk

3 July 2008

A fashion designer featured in Vogue for her recycled saris, an east London entrepreneur who brings healthy food and nutrition education to a neighbourhood with little choice of cuisine, a businessman who left the finance world to found a forum providing health care information in a multitude of languages and formats.

These are all examples of social entrepreneurship that springs from or is targeted towards the Black Asian Minority Ethnic Community (BAME), and businesses that exemplify the range and reach of BAME social enterprises.

All will feature in Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic social enterprises – the business of opportunity and empowerment, a publication being launched by the Social Enterprise Coalition at an event next week. It shows that a majority of the case studies featured began as something other than a social enterprise. But as they continued to succeed, and in some cases expand, they outgrew their initial business models and found that being a social enterprise worked best for their needs.

Somali Development Service is one such example. Jawaahir Daahir, its founder, left Somalia for Holland in 1990 and in 1998 moved to Leicester. When she arrived, she felt that the needs of the large Somali community were not being met. She started Somali Development Service as a voluntary organisation whose aim was to be a first point of contact for Somalis needing guidance and advice as they navigated life in Britain. In 2003, with the help of the Social Enterprise and Co-operative Development agency, it was set up as a co-operative.

Social entreprenuers like Jawaahir Dahir find that social enterprise offers flexibility. They also allow them to generate an income from commissioning and contracts to avoid a reliance on grants.

We know there are many social entrepreneurs from the BAME community and at the event , Dr Rebecca Harding of Delta Economics will be releasing data from a five-year survey that will shed more light on the makeup and prevalence of BAME social entrepreneurs in the UK.

A misconception regarding BAME social enterprises is that they only serve their own communities, but that is a narrow and patronising view of what is already a powerful force in the UK. The Social Enterprise Coalition believes this is a momentous time for the social enterprise movement and that BAME social enterprises have a huge role to play in the coming months and years.

BAME social enterprises are successful in creating jobs, providing quality services and transforming lives and communities across the UK, yet few people know about them. The Coalition is committed to understanding and campaigning for the particular needs of BAME social enterprises.

Caroline Borge is senior press officer at the Social Enterprise Coalition

Social Enterprise and the BAME community takes place 9 July in London. For more information call 020 7793 2525 or email events@socialenterprise.org.uk.

5 June 2008

Dave Hider continues his blog about his life and work in Bangalore, southern India

Raj and I went to work today and set up a month’s worth of activity. June is going to be a busy time with the Trust!
We agreed what we needed to talk through and work on and when we are going to focus on what area. All good stuff. We agreed a list of what we want out of our time here and our lists were virtually identical!

We started to look at a leadership academy programme for 11 to 13th July. based at a place called the NBCLC. We went there for our chats today and I stupidly asked what these letters stand for and got this answer:

The National Biblical Catechetical and Liturgical Centre

Anyway, it’s a Catholic retreat centre with a whole load of resident Nuns, but a place where they are 100% engaged with the community and open to people just walking in and using the place.

We met the Father, who took charge of the place just a few weeks ago, for about 10 minutes. Talk about a quality guy. Just says a few words and it leaves you gobsmacked. He said we are welcome to use the place at any time for peace and quiet/prayer etc.

It’s a gorgeous place and best of all is that it is five minutes walk from our house. Raj and I plan to meet there to chat and I think I will be up there a fair bit too when I get time. Need some peace in this mad city!

Dave Hider is head of care and supported housing for Bromsgrove-based West Mercia Housing Group.

You can read more about Dave’s work in India at, www.thehiders.co.uk

28 May 2008

Housing expert Dave Hider recently swapped Hereford for Bangalore in Southern India, along with wife Sarah and children Esme and Josh. He is blogging for New Start about his work with the Fishermen Trust, an organisation that supports street children.

Spent the morning with Raj discussing some of the possibilities for ‘work’ which we may get involved with out here. Here is a quick summary of what we might be up to:
1. Helping to kit out the Fishermen Trust’s offices which Raj has secured. Desks and other furniture need to be got. If you fancy chipping into this pot do let us know…
2. Meeting with and mentoring Raj’s first employee, Nandu, and helping with roles and responsibilities
3. Establishing the Trust’s first hostel for street kids and drop in centre
4. Regular visits to local orphanages with our kids, and getting to know and support the staff there
5. Setting up regular visits and ‘drop ins’ for the street kids at the local train station
6. Regular visits to an AIDS hospice for kids
7. A variety of work in local slums
8. Two camps – one next week (with just me and the kids) in the forest in Ooti (seven hour truck drive) with all their wonderful wildlife (!!!) and one two weeks after that with a church group which again is a seven hour drive and then train home – in the hills north of Bangalore. I have to speak at both camps so have some work to do to prep.
Raj has been really good at hooking us into a great support network here and we look forward to us and the kids making good relationships.
About to all go to bed and checked the temperature outside…....a staggering 92 degrees at 9pm at night!

We are so looking forward to the end of this month when apparently it starts to cool. All the Indians we have met have been saying how hot it is too!

Dave Hider is head of care and supported housing for Bromsgrove-based West Mercia Housing Group.

You can read more about Dave’s work in India at, www.thehiders.co.uk