The Start of the Edinburgh University Anti Slavery Society

This September we are launching the Anti Slavery Society at the University of Edinburgh.

It is a project that means a great deal to us, and we are excited to get it under way… raising awareness and funds for this multi billion dollar industry. 

We want to fight against slavery, and change the fact that there are currently 27 million slaves in the world today.

We believe that the deliverance of this profound message will be enjoyable, fun and highly rewarding.

To get involved and find out more contact us at:

antislaverysoc@yahoo.co.uk

Black and White Favourites

Some of my favourite black and white photos…

Beautiful Colours!

If you watch the news at the moment, read the paper, or over hear a conversation you will hear all about the terrible things happening in the world at the moment… We are living in a ‘broken society’ says David Cameron. Everywhere you look there is violence and corruption. There are currently a series of attacks across Iraq, riots and the aftermath of the riots affecting London, Norway’s shock and despair over the horrific shootings that killed 85 people.

All of this is truly horrific and of course needs our attention, but through all this we must not forget the bright side of life! All of this is black and grey… but there is plenty of colour left in the world…

Holi Festival in India

There are beautiful people, beautiful acts of kindness and beautiful colours in our world that need to be remembered in conjunction with the darkness.

Love, Actually

Love/ləv/

 A deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person or people, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying oneness.

Love…

Although the world is filled with corruption, and it can feel like we are fighting a losing battle, as the film so accuratly put it, love actually is everywhere.

I’m constantly finding new campaigns, organisations and charities that are fighting for human rights and freedom. The 27 million slaves in the world today are, of course, not bound to chains because of love, but the thousands of people fighting for their freedom work in the name of love.

I believe that love is much stronger. Evil, corruption and greed can be hugely powerful, but if enough people care and enough people choose to love those who need it, the world will change.

But the challenge is enormous, the numbers are phenomenal and the task is dangerous. To tackle it we have to have the right mentality and philosophy…

“I think first of all it will take the audacity to believe that we CAN end it. Considering the overwhelming stats of how many slaves exist today and how much money the sale of human beings generates, some would call it naive or idealistic to believe we can end it. I prefer to think that it is audacious. And it has only been people of audacity that have ever changed the world. Was it naive or idealistic for a William Wilberforce who fought against the trans-Atlantic slave trade in Great Britain to believe that it could and should end? No. It was audacious. And it came to an end. Was it naive or idealistic for a Martin Luther King Jr. to stand up on the Washington Mall and cry; “I have a dream!” No. It was audacious.”

Rob Morris

So, the combination of audacity and a great deal of love…

If you consider the number of people involved in the ’business’ of modern-day slavery, compared to those who want to fight against it… we far out  those involved in the world of human trafficking… We should be stronger, and justice should prevail.

x x x

Fabulous Food

Today has been a delicious day of eating! Starting with a breakfast at Le pain quotidien, lunch at Ottolenghi and a home-made Thai curry by Violet and Butty McConville.

If you don’t know yet, Ottolenghi is a fantastic restaurant… According to them ‘It is a way of life, somewhere between a healthy obsession and a bad habit we can’t kick.’

I live to eat, I don’t eat to live.

Too Full For A Monday!!

For someone who shares a love (of food with me…)

Love x

Sebastião Salgado

 A UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and an honorary member of the Academy of Arts and
Sciences in the United States.

These pictures speak a thousand words.

The suffering and starvation shocks me. I always think of the moment the photograph was taken… is it cruel to stand by and document, or is it right to show the poverty of this world to those of us living in abundance of everything, even if that means standing by at that exact moment, not helping… but maybe eventually helping make a change?

These photographs disturb me, but are so so important. We cannot keep this distance between ‘our world’ and ‘their world’.

We have one world. The suffering and starvation can be prevented by those with power; we are those people, we have the power to change the lives of these people in these pictures and the millions of others who are dying of starvation as I type.

If we can change the lives of these people, why don’t we?

“Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today.”

Gorgeous spaces and beautiful light… Letting beauty dominate.