The art of blogging

I'm Sophia, I'm twenty three years old and I have blog envy.

I read amazing posts written by other bloggers and get distracted by the infinite number of followers they

have in comparison to mine.

Don't feel sorry for me I'm not fishing for compliments in fact I've deduced that I need to be doing a number of things to up my readership;

a) Post more pictures from my life

b) Get a mascot i.e. a dog

c) Blog more often

All these things are fairly easy to accomplish. However do you really need to see more pictures of me? Do I really need to write something everyday, (believe me I can be inane) and a mascot... OK the mascot I could love- you know how much I aspire to rescue a Dogue De Bordeaux!

I worry endlessly that my writing is artifice that I'm trying too hard or just not interesting enough and then I remember something surfer girl Sanoe Lake once wrote

'Let go of the ego, it robs you of all things.'

This blog brings me much solace and whether its read or not I will continue to write because it makes me feel good.

Live. Love. Surf.

So my bf suggested I write more about what I actually do (aside dreaming of ocean) as a very big part of my life is wrapped up in International Development, inspired largely by Africa. I'm working towards doing a Masters degree in the subject and wish to study the impacts of surf tourism in post conflict Liberia (this isn't as hashed together as it sounds, there's actually a very interesting livelihoods study there).

So below are some photographs from 
'On Yer Bike, cycling for change,'
a campaigning group me and my friend Craig have established to raise awareness on different global issues (we work primarily with the Millennium Development goals).
 Saturday was our maiden voyage and other than being a lot of fun we cycled six hours distributing information on the theme of water aid, from helping those who have shortages to conserving your own.

Every man has the right to decide his destiny
- Bob Marley

Starting in July I'll be a project coordinator for the youth program in the Birmingham Refugee Women's Association. I am so excited to get stuck in as it means I'll be able to really make a difference (hopefully) in my own community. I have lots of ideas and will certainly be using art as a way of helping Birmingham's refugee community express themselves. 
That and the Responding to Conflict Internship starts soon, which will expose me to work in a UK NGO context and how peace building and conflict resolution actually works.

STOKED!

Until next time, mermaids, water babies, and everyone else in between, live well!