Embracing the random

Rockaway Taco, A Selby Film from the selby on Vimeo. 

[Inspiration]

So I've had something of an Renaissance in terms of thinking. For so long I've been focusing on the things I'm lacking i.e. full time employment, money, my own place, the biggest quandary being 'Why am I not being hired for the jobs I want?' 
This is the wrong question to be asking as it focuses too much on external factors. What I should be asking is 'what opportunities can I seize?' 

Sometimes through embracing the random we develop and create something far surpassing our earlier expectations. Take for instance the following example. From an early age I wanted to be a vet and for several years this was my chief aim in life. I got as far as college and began to realize there was no hope in hell that I'd make the cut. Quite randomly my biology teacher at the time suggested I enter an essay competition to win a summer school place with the London Natural History Museum, to learn about conservation. Lo and behold I won a place. Random. 
The experience fueled an interest in Wildlife Conservation which led me to university, to working in Africa and exposed me to the plight of people living in poverty. Now my interests lie in sustainable development, how can we help people living in poverty whilst protecting the environment? 

So you see I'm looking at the current lack of employment as an opportunity, a sign if you will, that my attention should lie elsewhere. I began working with refugee youth because I looked outside my peripheral and saw something that I could throw my heart and soul into. Now its one of the highlights of my week. 

It got me thinking about community. Surfing got me thinking. And suddenly there was something tangible. I'm setting up a social enterprise because I need a purpose but more importantly because we should all care about our own communities. 

This is the basic premise: 

We'll take disadvantaged inner city kids (refugees, asylum seekers, delinquents and below the poverty line youth) on surf weekends in the UK. Surfing has such positive impacts not only because of the interaction with nature but in building confidence in the individual. The enterprise part of the equation will come from Birmingham's first and only 'landlocked surf cafe' where I'll teach yoga, sell vegan cakes, have surf movie nights and community art groups. 

So what do you think? 

This idea might not get through past the planning stage, the paper work, or even survive its first year of business. But you know what I have a vision and this, I feel, is the most important part. I've got to give it a go. 

Why not? 

Fighting with the sky.

I found this song on one of my favourite blogs
The Mermaid Chronicles 
Its called Die, Die, Die by The Avett Brothers and just really resonated with me today. 

(P.s. The 'Die' lyric is a singing sound, the song isn't about death)!

She’s fighting with the sky
She thinks she can
Livin’ within a lie
She thinks she can
But nobody knows what lies behind
The days before the day we die
Die, die, die, die, die, die, die
Die, die, die, die, die, die, die
Die, die, die

She puts her hands against
The life she had
Living with ignorance
Blissful and sad
But nobody knows what lies behind
The days before the day we die
Die, die, die, die, die, die, die
Die, die, die, die, die, die, die
Die, die, die

You can try to swim the sea
But say goodbye to you and me
You can try to swim the sea
You can try to hold the breeze
You can try to hide the sun
But say goodbye to everyone
Die, die, die, die, die, die, die
Die, die, die, die, die, die, die
Die, die, die

Perhaps because I'm sat behind a computer screen I feel brave enough to admit that I'm not feeling all that great today. An Iranian refugee I know, told me a little of their life history and its really perplexed me. I moan about frustrations within the parameters of my own life without really knowing a thing about real suffering, of knowing loss and sadness beyond myself.

I'll soon be posting about the residential weekend I had in Yorkshire with the Birmigham refugee youth group. This will explain more about our experiences as a newly formed group and our ambitions for the future.

Meanwhile today the weather is all connotations of the word grey, so perhaps I'm mourning the passing of summer too. Eitherway my mood is unmistakingly melancholy - for now. We all have the power to change our perspectives so I'm going to make a cup of tea, put on some reggae and paint until I'm happy again.

Have sunshine my friends

<3

Tea with Africa

So Monday I was sat with two Rwandan refugees drinking tea, laughing from my belly and trying not to drop biscuits after dunking. Believe it or not I was on a job interview with a tiny community project who are looking for someone to help organise a youth programme in Handsworth, Birmingham. Suzanne and Henry set up the project having escaped genocide themselves (over ten years ago) and now want to reach out to the refugee community in Birmingham. 

I think it highlights that if you give someone a helping hand they go on to not only help themselves but others also. Suzanne wishes to go back to Africa and set up an NGO.

The word is INSPIRATIONAL.

There is something about Africa that draws me back again and again, it gets under my skin and is a big driving force for me pursuing the career I am. Below are some photos I found from my time in the Gambia, to me they sum up a lot of what Africa is about and why I'll continue to have a love affair with the continent.

Places. People. Wildlife. <3

The funny thing is I may have two jobs but I will need a third to afford them both!

(My Dad thinks I'm stupid. I like to think I'm just hard working)

Job 1: Internship with Responding to Conflict (Unpaid)

Job 2: Working with refugee youths (wage may as well be unpaid)

Job 3: Anything that gives me money (soul destroying job)!

My life is starting to have a little direction but I think its important to emphasise the point of looking around you. We often stare so fixedly onto the future we forget to acknowledge the present.

Until next time loved ones, be merry and live well

X