Let's face it, most people who volunteer are passionate about helping people - but for some influencing social change is also important. Volunteering for a campaigning organisation allows volunteers to help make things happen for large charities. Find out what the grass roots activists get up to here.

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Monday May 15, 2006

Why Oxfam?

Oxfam is perhaps one of the most heared about charities which works towards overcoming poverty and suffering and poverty on an international scale, so following joint initiatives such as 'Make Poverty History' last year, you may not need me to go into much depth about why Charities like Oxfam are so important.

So why do i volunteer for Oxfam? im not completely sure myself - it just kinda happened! i was pretty fortunate being brought up in a family where there was a lot of support for Oxfam and other international charities - by the age of 16 i was already running a Fair-Trade stall for our local church! So it wasn't too surprising when i ended up going to Swaziland or setting up the People and Planet group at Liverpool uni.

While at uni i casually got involved in Liverpool's Oxfam Campaign group...but when i realised that volunteering for Oxfam could get me into music festivals for free...my enthusiasm grew rapidly! i found myself volunteering at WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) Festival 2004 standing on fire-towers making sure people didnt set fire to the campsute at night and enjoying the music during the day! In 2005 i found myself enjoying Glastonbury, a slightly more muddy experience, stewarding at a gate - letting people in and out and directing lost souls in the right direction for wellies etc! As well as getting in free to festivals and meeting lots of groovy people - its also a cool way of fundraising for Oxfam, (they have struck a deal with festival organisers who offer donations in return for stewards)

Living in London, has given me the opportunity to become more heavily involved in Oxfams work as a member of their London Outreach Team. This involves going to local gigs (already seen Feeder and Bellx1 this year!) events such as the Brick Lane Festival and pretty much anything else that offers the opportunity for us to get lots of people signing petitions for relevant campaigns - the main one at the moment being the Control Arms Campaign ( www.controlarms.org).

Having had so much fun campaigning for Oxfam and a real passion for everything they get up to - i have managed to combine this with my present job, setting up an Oxfam campaign group at the university where i am based. I have been able to engage students in Oxfams campaigns through fun and imaginative ways - making Fair-Trade Candy Floss to raise awareness of Fair-trade issues on the lead up to the WTO meeting in December and more recently getting messy turning biscuits into faces using icing and sweets as part of the Control Arms Million Faces campaign.  

Posted by Helen Bryant ( 9:36 AM )
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