Sorted Magazine

Category: Comment & Columnists

  • From the archive: TV’s galvanised my faith

    Throughout the UK lockdowns, I often spent my evenings lying down in the house – trusting in God’s care. Suspended in that strange season, I buried my nose in more books, consumed more online productions and viewed more TV than ever before.

    Now as the night’s draw in and a new sofa season is rapidly approaching, I sense broadcasters tempting me with their creative offerings once again. But before I recline with the remote, let me tell you what the telly has taught me about God:

    Visualising Deconstruction: The Repair Shop (BBC)

    Observing the skilled experts of The Repair Shop thoughtfully assess, lovingly deconstruct and carefully conserve all manner of precious family heirlooms is quite something. With patience and courage, they undertake the lengthy surgical deconstruction process. They remove every single shard of rust, every fleck of baked on glue, varnish, paint, oil or grime. All carefully executed without inflicting further damage on the already fragile artefact. Every trace of these ancient contaminants must be removed as they hold the potential to undermine the strength, structure and function of the object. Original materials which have been lost to the sands of time, or become too delicate, are either replicated or reinforced.

    The BBC team is eager, excited and engaged. Its conservation work generates joy. Watching the individuals at work, wholly immersed in a dedicated campaign of total restoration, forges a deeper understanding of how my Heavenly Father is at work in me. I’ve learned that God too is a cheerful, diligent craftsman who delights in the work of His hands. Every aspect of my life is being lovingly restored by Him.

    Understanding Bounded spaces: Gardeners’ World (BBC)

    Watching expert gardener, Monty Don, working in his own garden is an exercise in both beauty and peril. His garden, Long Meadow, seems idyllic. There is shade and sun; friendly dogs; a writing garden; a cosy shed. It’s worth noting that this garden, as in the *garden of Eden described in the Bible’s Book of Genesis, is a bounded space.

    I’ve thought a lot about bounded spaces lately. This is mostly down to Walter. He lives under my neighbour’s shed. I kid you not. Walter the Weasel is furry, cute and deadly. A cunning agent of chaos and destruction. A vicious predator, Walter can easily kill a creature twice his own size. Lately he has begun chewing holes in the base of the boundary fence, sneaking in, and helping himself to the unsuspecting bird life in my garden. I’m not happy about the vandalised fence and the slaughtered birds. If the holes are blocked up he chews a new one. Walter can be held at bay but he can’t be kept out.

    Much human effort goes into creating bounded spaces of both the physical and abstract variety. In our primal quest for safety and certainty, our guts instinctively communicate that there’s something that needs to be kept out. So we build boxes. And bigger boxes. We build businesses. And we build belief systems. But here’s the thing, even the sagely Monty Don is unable to keep agents of destruction out of his bounded spaces. He can only hold them at bay. Sometimes pests and pestilence utterly destroy the plant he’s nurturing, invoking an inner savage with the secateurs.

    And if God’s perfect garden, a holy bounded space, was breached (by design or default) by an agent of chaos and destruction (a snake) what chance have I against such foes? I’ve learned that no matter how secure my bounded physical or abstract spaces seem, my perimeters are permeable. Metaphorical weasels may be held at bay, but because weasels are so very weasely, they will surely weasel their way in. I need not fear them; they’re not dragons; they’re just weasels. I must expect them. I must not let them blow me off course. I must stand against them. It would be naïve of me to think otherwise.

    Valuing Journalism: Endeavour (ITV)

    The dynamics between journalism and law enforcement can be tense.

    In the fictional crime drama, Endeavour, the tension is mostly played out between two central characters. Newspaper editor, Dorothea Frazil, (Abigail Thaw) works to pursue and publish the truth. DC Endeavour Morse (Shaun Evans) works to prosecute the perpetrator. Both strive to hold the powerful to account, both play their respective parts as citizens in a nation under law. Nowadays journalists and ‘the media’ are frequently despised and subjected to considerable criticism. I’m often disheartened by this, but when I study Abigail Thaw’s character it renews my hope in the value of good journalism. Through her, God reminds me that He’s in the business of recruiting outliers to become scribes, prophets, truth-tellers and jobbing journalists. I think God gets behind writers, and the act of writing, because it’s one of the ways He brings things into the light and gives a voice to the voiceless.

    Experiencing Gratitude: The Victoria Slum (BBC)

    This fly-on-the-wall series follows a group of modern people transported to a replica Victorian slum deep in the bowels of London’s East End. I expected to be more prepared for the scummy horrors of slum dwelling. My personal narrative casts me as an unspoilt, humble, working-class northerner. But while viewing this series God revealed a shed full of muttering ingratitude, generously daubed with a splodge of low-level resentment. God insisted that I let this go. And so I did. Now I’m grateful that I grew up with a freezing brick privy at the end of our yard because it was private. I’m grateful for that terraced house because it wasn’t occupied by the whole street. I’m grateful for that cold bed because I didn’t have to share it. I’m grateful for that hand-me-down doll because I could play instead of work. I’m grateful for that wafer-thin slice of Hovis bread because I got one every day. I’m grateful that I was the last child dunked into that shared weekly bathwater, because it was clean(ish) and warm(ish). I’m grateful for my ancestors, who grafted in mines and mills because their past investment rewarded me with a future. I’m grateful to my Heavenly Father, more than ever before, because he has revealed more of His goodness towards me.

    Closing thoughts…

    As the liberty and liveliness of summer gives way to the warm embrace of autumn, consider the leaves changing and falling. Observe the drifting clouds; slow your thoughts down to the subtle speed of the sky; and watch as night gently falls. Though dark evenings will soon envelop us, God can communicate through the stillness, if we’re open to hearing from Him.

    If you do only one thing, Allow yourself to lie down in the evening, and be open to receiving God’s care for you.

    Main Photo Credit: Glenn Carstens-Peters via Unsplash

  • Alfa Romeo Tonale PHEV: “excellent performance …”

    Alfa Romeo has finally entered the SUV market with the Tonale – a crossover aiming to take on the likes of BMW’s X1 or Audi’s Q3.

    Its personality seems contradictory, with an aggressive front end coupled with a contrasting friendlier, rounded style at the side, while the rear features a cool lightbar that spans the bodywork.

    Alfa Romeo has high hopes for the Tonale, believing it will soon be its most popular model, so there’s quite a lot hinging on its success.

    Two four-cylinder turbocharged petrol powertrains are offered in the form of a front-wheel drive 1.5-litre mild hybrid producing 160PSwith a seven-speed automatic. Meanwhile, the 280PS plug-in hybrid (PHEV), driven here, offers all-wheel drive from its 1.3-litre engine, which is hooked up to a six-speed automatic ‘box.

    A generous amount of equipment is offered, with the entry-level Ti trim getting 18-inch alloys, a 10.25-inch infotainment touchscreen with SatNav, DAB radio, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and voice control provided by Amazon Alexa.

    It also gets a 12.3-inch digital instrument screen, wireless phone charger, rain-sensing wipers, gloss black painted body kit, dual-zone air conditioning and keyless go. A leather sports steering wheel, an automatic tailgate and an electrically adjustable driver’s seat with lumbar support also form part of the package.

    The mid-range grade under review gets 19-inch rims, red-painted brake callipers, privacy glass, adaptive suspension, aluminium gearshift paddles and plenty of additional styling touches.

    The Edizione Speciale trim is marketed as the top-of-the-range model. Yet, it is the cheapest version, primarily based on the Ti trim, adding 20-inch alloys, a prominent exhaust and aluminium door sills, plus other styling elements.

    On the road, the Tonale PHEV deals with 0-62mph in 6.2 seconds, which isn’t bad for an SUV. The mild-hybrid, by comparison, takes 8.8 seconds to do the same.

    The PHEV makes excellent progress, moving swiftly off the line thanks to the instant torque provided by the electric motor – and it’s untroubled at any speed.

    The 280PS on tap provides effortless acceleration. However, when flooring the throttle, the gearbox can be more hesitant to change down versus the mild hybrid, as the PHEV tends to seek power from the electric motor first, only changing down if it needs to.

    While the mild hybrid feels more instantaneous in that respect, the PHEV easily outmuscles it, which will likely placate Alfa die-hards disappointed only to have a choice of hybrid powertrains.

    The Tonale is surprisingly agile around corners for an SUV, limiting body lean in bends and feeling far lighter than its nearly two-tonne kerb weight suggests.

    The mild hybrid feels even better because it carries 310kg less bulk, but the PHEV is still the pick of the bunch given its economy figures, which I’ll come on to shortly.

    The feedback through the steering wheel is limited, but the wheel does firm up at speed around corners, and there are three driving modes which impact its firmness, along with adjusting other characteristics of the car.

    As a result of its enthusiastic handling, it’s by no means the best in class for comfort, but even with larger alloys, it’s certainly not bad. This is likely helped by the DSV adaptive suspension on the Veloce trim, which improves the ride. Unfortunately, this feature isn’t available on the Ti trim, but the Ti’s smaller wheels somewhat offset its loss.

    The PHEV has a 15.5kWh battery, which can be fully charged from empty in around two-and-a-half hours from a 7.4kW home wall box. However, it won’t charge any faster, even if you’re using a public charging facility capable of much higher speeds.

    The Tonale PHEV’s all-electric range is 42 miles, and it’ll manage 217mpg, with CO2 emissions of just 29-33g/km. These figures make it a reasonably attractive proposition for company car users due to the low Benefit in Kind tax. Meanwhile, the mild hybrid manages 49mpg, producing 130-142g/km of CO2.

    You also get a three-year unlimited-mileage warranty. What’s more, Alfa has entered the crypto world with NFTs (non-fungible tokens) to record things like servicing and ownership history, making the car’s records impossible to forge.

    The Tonale’s interior is refined, but it isn’t awe-inspiring, falling slightly short of the wow factor you might expect from an enthusiastic Italian manufacturer. Don’t get me wrong; the Alfa still has some lovely touches, such as circular air vents and a rounded dashboard top above the instruments.

    The infotainment screen is pleasing to use, offering an intuitively straightforward menu layout. However, there’s no rotary dial, as seen in some other Alfa Romeos, while the shortcut buttons next to the screen are so small they risk distracting you from the road ahead to work out what you’re pressing.

    The air conditioning controls are still physical buttons, thankfully, while the instrument screen is informative and customisable, too.

    The driving position feels quite low-down, but Alfa Romeo has pulled off a neat trick by mounting the dashboard slightly higher up, giving you the illusion of feeling closer to the ground.

    There is a bunch of space in both the front and the back, although the legroom is a tad more limited in the rear. The headroom should be plentiful unless you’re well over six feet tall.

    Thanks to the shape of the rear side windows, the back pillars are very bulky, restricting visibility. Still, parking sensors are offered on all models as standard, along with a rear-view camera, which can be upgraded to a 360-degree camera by choosing one of several upgrade packs provided as optional extras.

    Storage space in the cabin is generous, too, although the door bins could be more accommodating.

    The PHEV’s boot only offers 385 litres of space, 115 litres less than the mild hybrid, increasing to 1,430 litres with the rear seats folded down in a 60/40 configuration.

    The Tonale earned a five-star safety rating from Euro NCAP, along with an 83% score for adults, 85% for children and 85% for safety assists, which include automatic emergency braking, forward collision warning and lane support system.

    You also get intelligent adaptive cruise control, drowsy driver detection, a tyre pressure monitoring system, traffic sign recognition and intelligent speed assist as standard on all models. Optional extras add even more, including Level 2 autonomous driving features.

    Overall, the Alfa Romero Tonale has plenty going in its favour.

    The Italian SUV is generously equipped as standard, meaning upgrading to the Veloce trim is likely unnecessary. Furthermore, it retains a firm but reasonable level of ride comfort and excellent performance alongside superb economy figures.

    Fast Facts – Alfa Romeo Tonale [1.3 PHEV 280 Auto Q4 Veloce trim] as tested:

    • Max speed: 128mph
    • 0-62 mph: 6.2-secs
    • Fuel economy: 217mpg
    • Engine layout: 1.3-litre turbocharged petrol engine with electric motor
    • Max. power (PS): 280PS
    • CO2: 29-33g/km
    • Price: £48,495

    Main Photo Credit: Courtesy of Alfa Romeo

  • Opinion: What positive masculinity means for a new generation of dads

    Digital Editor’s note: I’m very pleased to welcome today’s Guest Writer Don Esson. Don is Director of Partnerships and Development for Spurgeons Children’s Charity, publishers of Dad.info. In this article Don opens up about some of his deeply personal experiences, insights and understanding of parenting and mental health.

    Don writes: ‘Toxic masculinity’ can have a direct link to mental health among men. As a society we’re all too familiar with this negative term that is used to package up everything men are supposed to avoid. Yet, is there a baby and bathwater moment where we are removing the very thing that makes men, well men?

    The real issue is that society hasn’t addressed what standards and attitudes men should strive towards, or in other words, positive masculinity. As the statistics reveal, this couldn’t be more timely. Evidence from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) clearly indicates that the single biggest killer of men under the age of 45 is suicide. Not cancer, accidents, or anything else.

    Diving deeper into the statistics, the common thread is men are less likely to ask for help.

    ONS statistics show that since the early 90s, men have been at least three times as vulnerable to death from suicide as women. Men are dealing with the effects of social expectations on masculinity, meaning they are less likely to admit when they feel vulnerable, I know for me I can struggle to ask for help when I need it most. In the absence of asking for help men are likely to self-medicate and ‘numb’ the mental load with alcohol and drugs which can reinforce depression and increase impulsive behaviours.

    So, for Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month, I’m thinking of the dads who fall under the age of 45 and how they can be better supported.

    There is no blueprint for how dads can raise the next generation with their mental health and well-being intact. I’m a dad. I have two daughters who I co-parent with my wife. I am also a man who knows what it feels like to be in a hole and not know how to get out of it. My life has not always been straightforward.

    In the space of 12 months, my family faced multiple blows including various health challenges, and I found myself wondering ‘Can this get any worse?’. My wife later fell down the stairs suffering severe fractures and my daughter was diagnosed with hip dysplasia and underwent major surgery. I cannot tell you the pain I felt as a father watching my 18-month-old daughter drift under the effects of a general anaesthetic. Despite trying desperately to keep it together, my stress levels went through the roof.

    I grew up around very poor mental health and have witnessed the effects of suicide. I know what a battle with one’s mental health can do to someone and as we endured this difficult season, I diagnosed myself with everything under the sun. I thought I needed to be locked up.

    My Christian faith is a guiding light in my life, and I’ve been fortunate enough to understand what the author of Hebrews is talking about when he writes: ‘We have this hope as an anchor for our souls, firm and secure’. Despite the ‘feeling’ of things not improving I could draw upon the faithfulness of God in days gone past to know that if He’d got me this far, he’d be there as this season continues.

    In prayer, I was prompted to contact a friend who was able to connect me to someone he knew could help me. This person’s day job is being a sports coach and he has a background in psychotherapy so when he told me I didn’t have any of the things I had self-diagnosed, I started to listen. He said: “You’re stressed”. He gave me tools to manage my stress like walking and breathing exercises. Though I thought they were ridiculously simple at first, to my surprise they worked.

    Finally, he told me that I probably just needed some ‘buddies’ around me.

    I got out of the hole by asking for help, but many dads don’t have the same roadmap to help as I did. 

    Not every dad has a coach for a friend on the other end of the phone.

    Ryan, a 38-year-old dad from Kent lost two brothers and one cousin to suicide and two of those deaths happened in the past year. Having had a mental breakdown two years ago, he describes himself in ‘crisis mode’. “I have struggled all my life with my moods. I have always tried to deal with things myself, but this resulted in alcohol and drug abuse to numb the pain, creating another problem, and worsening my mental health.

    “Men tend to hide things and not talk as freely as women about their feelings. For me, hiding my issues led me to the point of needing specialist and intensive therapy, the kind of service that isn’t as readily available. For many men, it’s too late before the support reaches them.”

    In a society that so comfortably challenges toxic masculinity, why aren’t we making room for men to talk?

    Typically, men don’t ask about other men’s feelings.

    Add fatherhood into the mix and you’re met with the added worry and responsibility of how this impacts the children. Critically, dads who find themselves in this place often feel as if they’ve failed their job of being ‘dad’. The term ‘positive masculinity’ presents an alternative approach that we should pursue, rather than its toxic variation just being something we should avoid.

    To dads I say, it’s less about fixing your problem and more about becoming vulnerable. 

    Ryan did a skydive to raise money for the cause and in memory of those he lost. He said doing what he can to help, in turn, helps him. He is an important part of the change although he still has a daily battle with his mental health.  

    As we raise the next generation, we have an opportunity to make change possible for our children. To invite a friend for a pint or coffee and tell them how bad your day was is a culture shift and so is asking another man how he really is. The more our culture starts to shift, the less easy it will be to ignore the gaps in support for dads and, equally, support for all men.

    To be a part of the change, fill out this anonymous survey to share how you’ve felt since becoming a dad: https://www.videoask.com/fc82ux5lj

    Photo Credits: Samuel Martins, Juliane Lieberman and Donovan Grabowski all via Unsplash

  • That old chestnut? Take the conker quiz!

    Take the Conker Quiz! Are these statements true or false?

    1. Pig poo is the best place to find your winning conker.

    True: The great conker player, Charlie Bray, used to swear he had hardened his conkers by passing them through the belly of a pig. They were pickled in the pig’s stomach juices before popping out the other end. Cunning conkerers know that the toughest nut wins!

    2: Kids must wear goggles to play conkers.

    False: In September 2007 the Health and Safety Executive stated: “This is one of the oldest chestnuts around, a truly classic myth. A well-meaning head teacher decided children should wear safety goggles to play conkers. Subsequently some schools appear to have banned conkers on ‘health & safety’ grounds or made children wear goggles, or even padded gloves! Realistically the risk from playing conkers is incredibly low and just not worth bothering about. If kids deliberately hit each other over the head with conkers, that’s a discipline issue, not health and safety.”

    3: If you can’t find a shoelace and a conker, a crane and a caravan are perfectly reasonable alternatives.

    True: In 2008 BBC2 Top Gear presenters Richard Hammond and James Mays staged a mild ‘elf and safety gorn maad’ type of protest. They played a massive game of conkers using cranes and swinging caravans wearing, you guessed it, goggles. The Youtube video, Caravan Conkers, has generated 3.2M views.

    4: Sir Michael Palin is a conker champion.

    False: The English actor, writer and television presenter of Monty Python fame, was disqualified from the 1993 Isle of Wight Conker Championships for baking his conker and soaking it in vinegar. The first recorded game of conkers is believed to have taken place in the Isle of Wight in 1848.

    5: Eleven and three quarters is the ideal age to play conkers.

    False: This myth is linked to school boy conker hero, William Brown, of ‘Just William’ fame. In 2017 85-year-old Chelsea Pensioner, John Riley, proved that playing conkers can be enjoyed at any age when he utterly thrashed the competition and won the Men’s World Championship.

    6: ‘Conker’ is the name of a red squirrel with a cult following.

    True: ‘Conker’ starred in the graphic adult oriented 2001 Nintendo 64 computer game ‘Conker’s Bad Fur Day’.

    7: In 1803 the poet, Lord, Byron, was waiting for his betrothed in the church yard when he was inspired by an enormous conker lying among the autumn leaves. He penned the poem below, which later became a personal favourite of his friend the Earl of Bridgewater. The young Earl had the words engraved into an elaborate stone tablet located among the Horse Chestnut trees just inside the main gates of his Estate.

    “Under the chestnut tree, there waits for me, a sight so marv’llous to behold

    Amidst the Autumn leaves it gleams at me, a conker beautiful and bold.”

    False: Totally false, I made it up, but you were almost ready to believe me, right? These are the lyrics of a children’s song written by Mark and Helen Johnson, published and produced by Out of the Ark Music for Primary School Harvest and Autumn Assemblies.

    8: To go first at Conkers you must bow, then take off your hat, balance on one leg and shout out: “Hail the Chestnut Tree! Grant me victory!”

    False: Absolutely false, but I had a lot fun making this one up too! Regional rules and verbal declarations vary but the traditional (not World Championship) rules state that “a conker is more likely to survive if it is the striker not the stricken. Secure the first strike by calling out “first” or other traditional terms such as “hobily, hobily nonker, my first conker!”

    9: Anglers launched the World Conker Championship.

    True: The World Conker Championships began in Ashton in 1965 when a group of villagers unable to go on an organised fishing trip decided to play conkers instead.

    10: The location of some conker trees is a closely guarded secret.

    True: To keep the competition as fair as possible, the Ashton Conker Club (World Conker Championship organisers) collect over 1,000 conkers from horse chestnut trees in the village and from secret locations. During years when local supplies are low they import conkers from elsewhere.

    11: No one cheats when playing Conkers.

    False: In friendly competitions getting away with cheating appears to be an integral part of the fun! Artificial hardening techniques are even passed down through the generations. Famous cheats include: Stuffing your conker up the chimney to dry it out, baking it in an oven, leaving it on a radiator or in a pocket. Other traditional cheats include pickling in bat urine, vinegar, salt water, soda or paraffin, painting with varnish, injecting with superglue, filler or resin or leaving in the dark for a year. The Ashton Conker Club (World Conker Championship organisers) supplies all conkers for the World Championships in order to rule out any cheating!

    Photo Credits: All photos courtesy of Geoff Sutcliffe, Ashton Conker Club and the World Conker Championships.

  • How to play conkers!

    Why go bonkers for conkers? What’s it all about? A conker is the fruit of the Horse Chestnut Tree. It’s a glossy brown nut about the size of a small tomato. The conker develops in a prickly case, ripens in September and October and falls to the ground. Conkers is a traditional game involving knuckles and nuts; the conker is threaded onto a shoe lace and swung hard, with the aim of thwacking and smashing your opponent’s conker. For generations it’s been a sound which quickens the heart of the young, and the young at heart.

    How to play conkers

    Ditch the comfy chairs, touch screens, buttons, controllers and fantasy worlds. Exit the super safe, centrally heated, untouchable, two dimensional, temperate world of gaming and virtual reality. The night’s may be drawing in but it’s time to kick off your slippers, slide off the sofa, log off the laptop, go out on a limb and experience the risky cut and thrust of actual reality. It’s elementree. All you need is a shoelace and a few nuts. You also need conkers. Cast iron knuckles and nerves of steel are optional. May the forest be with you.

    In a nutshell: The traditional (not World Championship) rules (courtesy of Ashton Conker Club at worldconkerchampionships.com).

    • Make a hole with a drill or a skewer exactly through the middle of the conker (adults only, and even then, take care!)

    • Use a strong piece of string or boot lace long enough to be wound twice round the hand with at least eight inches length after tightly knotting at the bottom.

    • A conker is more likely to survive if it is the striker not the stricken. Secure first strike by calling out ‘first’ or other traditional terms such as ‘my firsy’, ‘firsy jabs’, ‘first swipe, ‘first donks’, ‘first hitsy’, ‘bagise first cracks, ‘iddley, iddley, ack, my first smack’ or ‘hobily, hobily honker, my first conker’.

    • The other contestant holds his conker still, at whatever height best suits his opponent, while he attempts to strike it using a swinging downward movement.

    • If he hits it the other player has his turn. If he misses he may be allowed two more tries, If the strings tangle whoever is the first to shout ‘strings’, ‘clinks’, ‘clinch’, ‘plugs’, ‘tangles’ or ‘twitters’ has an extra shot. Some play for strings to get extra shots but it is considered bad form!

    • The victorious conker adds to its score all the winnings of the other conker plus one so a ‘tenner’ which beats a ‘fiver’ becomes a ‘sixteener’.

    This Autumn thousands of ‘conkerers’ invaded the English village of Southwick to experience the World Conker Championships. Conker enthusiasts from across the globe competed in the event, which has so far raised £420,000 for charities which support the visually impaired.

    For more information about playing conkers visit World Conker Championships

    Photo Credits: All photos courtesy of Geoff Sutcliffe, Ashton Conker Club and the World Conker Championships.

  • Opinion: “I was released from poverty by Compassion.”

    Digital Editor’s Note: I’m very pleased to welcome today’s Guest Writer, Noirine Khaitsa. Noirine is the Senior Manager of Sponsorship Product Support, Compassion International.

    Noirine writes: Global poverty can seem overwhelming. When you look at the numbers and consider that poverty has been on the rise since the COVID-19 pandemic, it can feel like there’s nothing we can do to truly make a difference. Currently, nearly ten per cent of the world’s population is living below the poverty line at $2.15 per day and if global trends persist, 575 million people will still be living in extreme poverty by the end of the decade, which is eight times the size of the UK’s population.

    There’s a story of a young boy that comes to mind when considering global poverty. The boy, when he saw hundreds of starfish washed up on a beach, started picking them up and throwing them back into the ocean. An older man saw what he was doing and scolded him, saying: “You won’t get to all of them, you’re not making an impact, you’re wasting your time”. The boy responds: “What I’m doing makes a difference for each one that gets back to the ocean”.

    That is the simple truth of ending poverty. Each life equipped to break free from poverty is so important, and when one life is helped so are those around them. Through my work with the international child development charity, Compassion, I have seen that it is possible to make a difference to an individual, and through that individual, we can positively impact a family, a community, and eventually a nation. One person can decide to sponsor one child, but when that multiplies out and more of us decide to act, not only do we see transformation in one life, but the potential transformation across millions of lives.

    In my role, I ensure that children sponsored through Compassion’s programme receive the support they need. We partner with thousands of churches in 29 countries to provide local-led interventions and create a support group of people around each child that truly cares about them. I’ve worked with Compassion for ten years now, but after completing university, I knew that I wanted to encourage children and families living in poverty, to tell them that there is hope, and that change is possible.

    And I could tell them this because I had been there.

    I grew up in poverty. My mother was alone looking after her family of six and then eventually eight children. She was a primary school mathematics teacher in a township in Uganda, and as such wasn’t paid well. We struggled to eat, we lived in a tiny house, and all children slept in the same room. I would wonder why we couldn’t be like other kids in my class, who had the food they wanted, who always had enough books, who had a new bag and shoes for every school term. We were barely surviving. My mum was never really there because she left home when we were still sleeping to get to school early, stayed late into the evening to tutor and taught on Saturdays to get extra income. We didn’t have enough, and we also had to raise ourselves. That was my life growing up.

    My mother found out about the Compassion sponsorship programme through a church announcement. My immediate younger brother and I were both registered, and it changed our lives. I graduated from the programme, went to university and now help to lift other children, like me and my siblings, out of poverty. None of this would have been possible without support.

    I was released from poverty by Compassion, working through my local church and I have witnessed first-hand that the cycle of poverty really can be broken. I also know many others, who were in the Compassion programme with me, whose lives have also been transformed.

    There was one boy who was in the programme with me. As difficult as my family situation was, his was worse. His biological mother had passed on before he joined the programme so he and his brother were passed around to live with different relatives. He and his brother found food in the field and ate raw grasshoppers because they were never sure of eating at home. They made their own bedding and slept without coverings. All this changed for the better when he was enrolled in the Compassion programme. He was able to go through school, he is now a Level Three Power Line Electrician, and he is able to take care of his family. I look at all these testimonies around me, personally and professionally, and I am motivated to know that we are contributing to the eradication of poverty.

    Ending global poverty is an overwhelming idea, but I absolutely believe we can do it.  I have seen that in the stories that I have shared and many more that I’ve witnessed. I have myself and my family as an example. All my siblings and I have had an education. We were able to make it through difficulty because of the support that my mum received from the community-led Compassion programme. Poverty has been cut out from our family tree and now I have the privilege of seeing this same transformation daily on a global scale as part of my job.

    Noirine Khaitsa: “Poverty has been cut out from our family tree.”

    South Korea, where Compassion began its work, provides a national example. After the Korean War, there was a lot of difficulty. For 40 years, Compassion worked in the country. Today, South Korea no longer needs Compassion’s support and instead helps others, around the world who are in need. In the country, Compassion went from delivering programmes directly to children, to fundraising there to support others around the world. It happened there and it can happen again. We must keep hope alive. Even when it seems like we are making little progress, every small demonstration of progress means that lives are being changed and that is what leads to great change.

    It’s tempting to feel hopeless in the face of data that shows poverty is getting worse. How can I tackle a problem as huge as poverty? God can do immeasurably more with what we choose to give to Him, there’s a ripple effect when a child is sponsored. It’s not just their life that’s impacted, but also their family and their community is changed. In my case, a child grew up to steer the programme that impacts millions of children across the world. I am evidence that helping an individual makes a difference. You can make a difference.

    How do you tackle a problem like poverty? Begin with a child  compassionuk.org/sponsorship/

    All Photo Credits: Courtesy of Compassion UK.

  • Faith: Have we forgotten the poor?

    “Don’t lose hope.” That’s the message from international child development charity Compassion UK as a survey finds less than half (49%) of UK adults believe it is possible to end extreme poverty worldwide. This number was only slightly higher for Christians, 59%, and only 58% of Christians thought that eradicating extreme poverty is a priority for the world currently.

    On International Day for the Eradication of Poverty the statistics point to an urgent need for action. COVID-19 posed a huge setback to poverty-reducing efforts and the rapid decrease in extreme poverty rates in recent years has stopped. We are going backwards. If trends persist, an alarming 575 million people will still be living in extreme poverty by the end of the decade. Currently, nearly 10% of the world’s populations are living below the poverty line at $2.15 per day.

    Mark Preston (pictured above) is Compassion UK’s Senior Director of Partnerships, he said: “We need hope to drive our fight against poverty. In fact, it’s more important than ever not to lose hope, while COVID has put a spanner in the works of poverty eradication, now is the time we need to take action to make sure this setback isn’t permanent. Here at Compassion, we believe the church has a crucial role to play in addressing extreme poverty and we’re encouraged by the impact right now. There is a transformative and exponential impact in a locally-led approach. This gives us hope in the fight against poverty.”

    Compassion UK is urging Christians to take hope in the initiatives being driven by local churches in some of the world’s poorest countries. For example, Compassion’s 8,500 partner churches are providing opportunities to children and young people that will lift them out of poverty and change the future of these communities.

    Preston explained: “The church hasn’t forgotten the poor. In fact, far from it, God’s church is His hands and feet to tackle poverty. Our UK church partners are addressing poverty in their own communities through food banks and warm spaces and also standing shoulder to shoulder with the church across the world, supporting them financially and through prayer.”

    To learn more about locally-led initiatives lifting people out of poverty, go to: https://www.compassionuk.org/about-us/where-we-work/

    Main Photo Credit: Courtesy of Compassion UK

  • Comment: “With any long-term disease comes a sort of mental burden.”

    Chief Executive of The Leprosy Mission, Peter Waddup, is urging people to challenge others who react negatively to anyone struggling with disease. Peter’s eyes have been opened to the suffering this causes, having listened to the heart-wrenching stories of people affected by leprosy.

    Despite being entirely curable, leprosy continues to loom large in the public imagination today. Those affected often suffer greater scars emotionally than from the physical disease itself.

    Peter says that there is no place for disease-related stigma today, whether it be HIV, addiction, or leprosy.

    “With any long-term disease comes some sort of mental burden,” said Peter.

    “Whether it be the strain of managing a condition or frustration over the restriction it puts on someone’s life.

    “There are some diseases, however, where it seems more fair game to make a derogatory comment.

    “We are all guilty of it and often someone may not have even realised they are even showing prejudice. So, it is a good challenge to set and definitely one for me to live out in practice! It’s hard to think of an emotion more painful than shame and I would hate to play a part in causing such hurt.”

    Peter said overcoming stigma surrounding leprosy is the biggest hurdle to ending the disease once and for all.

    “Leprosy is a cruel physical disease which attacks the body. And yet it’s the mental torment surrounding it which is often the hardest to bear,” he said.

    “I have sat with people who have been subjected to unimaginable cruelty. They have been beaten, set fire to and cast out of their families and communities. All because they have leprosy, a curable disease that shouldn’t even exist today. Now, living on the streets, they are the untouchables, the unwanted.

    “Perhaps the cruellest twist is people hiding the early signs of leprosy because they fear rejection. Tragically this temporary fix only serves as a self-fulfilling prophecy. They then develop disabilities because they did not take the antibiotic cure soon enough. Now, bearing the physical signs of leprosy, they go on to live out the heartache of isolation they feared. It’s small wonder that the disease goes hand in hand with anxiety and depression.”

    Leprosy Mission teams work tirelessly to find and cure leprosy in some of the world’s poorest communities. Yet a good part of the charity’s work is awareness raising.

    Peter said: “It’s so important that we begin to expose leprosy for what it really is. A tiny bacterium that simply needs to be caught and treated early. We are continually battling the narrative that leprosy is a curse.

    “While where we work across Asia and Africa this means educating communities, there is also still work to do in the UK.

    “The image of a person with leprosy shaking a bell to warn they are ‘unclean’ is firmly embedded in our psyche. The derogatory term ‘leper’ is used freely today in the UK, often completely innocently. But when you have witnessed the damage that label causes to a person’s life, it prompts me to renew my call to stop all prejudice surrounding any disease. Words are powerful. Labels like ‘leper’, only serve to damage people’s lives when they are at the most vulnerable.

    “I am so encouraged that, through the generosity of people in the UK, we can take each leprosy patient on a journey to restore their dignity. The mental scars might always be there. But through the compassion of my incredible colleagues overseas, together, we help to bring healing and rebuild lives.”

    Main Photo Credit: Jeffrey Chukwu

  • Comment: What is Mentoring?

    Developing maturity is not a new idea. Mentoring is often seen as wisdom being passed on. It may be from father to son, skilled craftsman to apprentice, teacher to pupil, elder to junior, leader to follower.

    Steve Biddulph, Australia’s best known family therapist said: “Each boy is forced to base his idea of self on a thinly drawn image gleaned from externals; TV, movies, and his peers.” I was once a boy, but somehow I became a man. Often this happens without the help of an older or wiser man. As Steve Biddulph writes: “The lack of in-depth elder male connections during our childhoods leaves men bereft and struggling . . . our marriages fail, our kids hate us, we die from stress and on the way we destroy the world.”

    Mentoring is much more than the passing on of information or wisdom. It’s more about one person getting alongside another and working together to develop their thinking or behaviour. There is a strong emphasis on relationship. Mentoring gets beyond the actual information to look at the person and the development of their character.

    Rick Lewis points out that: “Mentoring gives people space and time, within the context of a relationship, to journey towards transformation . . . a good mentor is not so much a person with the right answers as a person with the right questions who walks the road of discovery with others.”

    The time when communities would pass on wisdom from one generation to another seems long gone. In some communities, the transition from boyhood to manhood often involved some very extreme rites of passage in teenage years. In the twenty first century, communities and families have become fragmented, and respect for elders and authority seems diminished. It seems to me that less wisdom is being passed on, and mentoring will need to be an intentional thing, whether it is at that transition stage of boyhood to manhood, or at a later stage of life.

    References:

    Steve Biddulph – Manhood, Finch Publishing

    Rick Lewis – Mentoring Matters, Monarch Books

    Main Photo Credit: Brad Bamore via Unsplash

  • Opinion: Should real crimes be dramatized?

    The Long Shadow drama series tells the story of the five-year manhunt for the serial-killer who was known as the Yorkshire Ripper. It boasts a familiar line up of high-calibre talent. Toby Jones, Lee Ingleby, David Morrissey, Katherine Kelly, Daniel Mays, Jasmine Lee-Jones and Jill Halfpenny all deliver quite remarkable performances. There are seven one hour episodes in total, each one more compelling and gripping than the last.

    While The Long Shadow has generated a bit of grumbling among some of us northern-based media peeps, there has also been much praise for it. Writing and producing a drama, which is based on an unprecedented true story of this magnitude, is such a sensitive exercise that some here in the north may have viewed the idea as a “poisoned chalice”. Leeds and Manchester are cities with thriving media industries and yet The Long Shadow was primarily powered by the south. Were questions raised about whether the north was just too close to the subject and unable to deliver a fresh perspective?

    The Long Shadow is a drama which is based on a true story; actual crimes which actually happened; and the worst kind at that. The creators attempt to help us get our heads around that potential paradox by issuing a fairly direct statement at the start each episode. But, like a home-made no parking sign swallowed up by a ten foot hedge, if you blinked, emotionally or literally, you might just miss it. In fairness, it clearly states that some characters and scenes have been created for the purposes of dramatisation.

    But the story of the Yorkshire Ripper is so badly burned into the British psyche, that the dramatisation aspect of it cannot be emphasised strongly enough. Some of us may need reminding that we’re watching a drama, not evidence for use in courtroom proceedings, not a factual documentary or a journalistic account of events. A drama. The creators have fabricated some fictional characters and scenes, they’ve been made up, they’ve said as much, right from the off. The sensible viewer must keep this fabrication in mind. The literalists who roll their eyes and protest that “ah yes, but such-and-such a thing never actually happened” have missed the opening statement and possibly the entire point of television drama.

    Photo credit: Sam McGhee via Unsplash

    Should true crime stories be dramatised for public consumption?

    This is a tough ethical question. Rembrandt’s famous oil painting The Return of the Prodigal Son is one artist’s interpretation of a fictional story, made up by no less than *Jesus himself. Much commentary has been made regarding the authenticity of Rembrandt’s scene. Characters have been included which were not mentioned by Jesus. Rembrandt’s art is not a photograph of reality, it’s his interpretation and representation of a powerful story. In a similar way, it seems reasonable to me, that television dramas might transcend the precise literal truth of events, while taking great care not to sensationalize the facts.

    Drama invites the viewer to step outside of time and place. Viewing confirms acceptance of that invitation. By continuing to watch, the viewer passes through a sort of portal where there are risks. We risk expanding our horizons, we risk stepping outside of known narratives, comfort zones, mindsets, prevailing cultures, attitudes and agonies. Like the hundreds of people who line up to witness The Return of the Prodigal Son at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, we risk stepping right into the flawed human representation of a powerful story. To engage with creative works of art is to risk changing and expanding our views about the known and the unknown.

    For a story as horrendous as The Long Shadow, is that transcendence of literal reality, much more than creative license? Is it essential to the telling of the story? In a case such as this, if we were to demand the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth would we have to witness the re-enactments of terrible crimes which really happened? Acts so evil, so cruel, that some hearts may not be able to recover from the witnessing of them, and that can’t be right can it?

    While watching The Long Shadow I was struck just as much by those parts of the story which were left out, as by those which were left in. I limit my viewing of crime dramas, mainly because of gory murder scenes and compulsory conversations around post mortem examinations. As a visual thinker, these scenes are packed with high-impact, high-res images which can soak up too much precious data capacity. Some scenes in The Long Shadow gave me shudders. The creators cleverly capitalize on the true-story-terror and convey a chilling sense of foreboding without depicting any violence and without the shedding of a single drop of blood on screen. The killer himself is not the centre of the story, he’s not glamorised as with some true crime dramas, in fact he barely makes an appearance, and I’m fine with that.

    Photo credit: Al Elmes via Unsplash

    Some of the filming of The Long Shadow took place in and around a home belonging to a friend of a friend; a real bricks and mortar house which I have actually visited. This added a strange dimension for me personally, bringing a surreal grounding effect to some episodes. Trendy homes back then were about a million miles away from the open plan, grey-beige minimalism of today. The bizarre fashions, the contrived hairstyles, the Deidre spectacles, the wacky wallpaper, they all shout of an uneasy time of turmoil and uprising. The Long Shadow highlights the shocking practices of an era where societal attitudes towards women were even more outrageous than the zany trends of the day. Blatant misogyny abounded. The intensity of these prevailing attitudes are sensitively conveyed by David Morrissey as DCS George Oldfield, the police officer who led the manhunt, a determined but thoroughly misguided individual.

    The women in this story weren’t heard, believed or valued. It’s the kind of relatable, conflicted viewing that can make you nod in recognition at the telly, whilst wanting to throw an ugly vase at the screen in protest. Somehow we are spared the most obvious details, at the same time as being smacked square between the eyes with the relentless horror of those five years. I am grateful for the careful omissions, at the same time as being desperately, desperately sad for all those who died, lived, and continue to live with the impact of those crimes.

    The Long Shadow highlights a disturbing time in history, a shameful period where many women were badly let down. Many consider it to be a critical turning point regarding women’s rights and women’s voices. My prayers have to be with all those women associated with this story, their families and all the people who love them. The Long Shadow is a modern day work of creative art, as powerful and compelling as any Rembrandt, and as such I hope that the sensitive delivery of it might bring some measure of peace to those who need it most. All in all, it’s very clever telly, and this northerner must doff her metaphorical flat cap and give the creators credit, where credit is indeed due.

    The Long Shadow is available on ITV1 and ITVX from 25th September 2023.

    *The story of the Prodigal Son is recorded in Luke 15:11-32.

    Main Photo Credit: Courtesy of Daniel Mays via Twitter/X