Port Meadow Sponsored Walk

We were lucky to hold our walk in glorious May weather yesterday. The route ran from Lake Street through Hinksey, Osney Island, Binsey, Godstow and Wolvercote, before returning though Wolvercote Common, Port Meadow, the Oxford Canal and Grandpont. Alternatively, the route consisted of the Watermans Arms, Perch, Trout, Red Lion, White Hart, Bookbinders Arms, Brewery Gate and Oxford Retreat (a much longer walk :-) ).

It's a fantastic route, full of a lot of historical and natural history interest. My main memories will be the swallows skimming the meadows that were so densely covered with buttercups, the grass snake that crossed the path ahead of me, and the happy atmosphere of people out enjoying the grand weather. We had fewere walkers than we had hoped, but those that came were well sponsored. Looks like we will raise £600-£700 for Oxfam.

If you missed it, the good news is that you can still get the walk booklet to do your own DIY sponsored walk for Oxfam (or just make a donation if you prefer not to organize sponsors). We plan to get the booklet online soon, in the meantime, email me at volunteer@oxfordoxfamgroup.org.uk to ask for a copy

Book fair helpers

The book fair workgroup met last night (over a curry) to discuss how the fair had gone and how we thought we could improve it. We're looking forward to another successful fair this October, but would really appreciate some extra helpers. Specifically:
1. Is anyone good at mending shelves?! (There's a broken shelf in our lock-up and we're all too rubbish at that kind of thing to give it a go!)
2. Does anyone want to take on the role of liaising with the Wesley Memorial Hall (booking the room, refreshments and organising what time we can get in on the day etc). It's a small job but would be one less thing for the workgroup to think about.
3. Any car drivers out there? We always need help with collecting books and delivering them to our lock-up, and sharing this with more people would be brilliant.
Please email volunteer@oxfordoxfamgroup.org.uk if you are able to help with any of this. Thank you!

More about the OOG Walk, 30 May

Two weeks to go until the Oxford Oxfam Walk on 30 May!
The walk starts and ends at the South Oxford Community Centre, Lake Street (link to Google map). There are 10-mile and 5-mile routes through the lovely scenery that nestles up to that part of Oxford. Even if you have lived in the city for years, you might be surprised! Once again, Cyril Edwards and Naveed Chaudhri have produced a lovely booklet showing the route and giving interesting background about the many points of interest along the way. The route is flat and won't take too long, unless you turn it into a pub crawl, which is possible, & then who knows when you will be back...

• If you want to walk and help us raise funds for Oxfam, start by downloading a sponsorship form.
• For more information or to let us know you want to walk / help out on the day, email volunteer@oxfordoxfamgroup.org.uk.

We Can! Report on the OOG speaker meeting 13 May

We had a great talk last night from Farhana Hafiz - Oxfam Gender Programme Officer, Bangladesh. Farhana spoke about the We Can project, which tackles the problems of violence against women in South Asia. In many countries, social customs and attitudes tacitly condone and support violence against women, and are entrenched in families and communities. Farhana had an figure that 47% of women in Bangladesh had experienced physical abuse. Because the problem is so prevalent, it comes to seem normal and so there is a risk that communities and the judiciary take little action.

Oxfam has been involved in tackling this issue at a grass roots level, recruiting people as "Change Makers". (This Oxfam Video shows one Change Maker, Beauty Ara, doing her stuff, and also describing her own experiences).

Working together for mutual respect is at the heart of the ‘We Can’ campaign. As Farhana put it, the message was not that you shouldn't beat women because they were weak, it is that you shouldn't beat them because they are human beings. One interesting and encouraging statistic was that 49% of the Change Makers in Bangladesh were men - showing that the campaign was avoiding becoming either pigeonholed as exclusively a "womens issue" (as in i'gnorable by men') or alientating the menfolk.


Read more on Oxfam's work on gender equality.

Speaker event

Wednesday 13th May at 7.30pm, St Aldates Room, Oxford Town Hall

Oxfam's Programme Officer in Bangladesh, Fahrana Hafiz, will give a talk about Oxfam's campaign to end violence against women in South Asia. 

Please stay on at the end for drinks and nibbles!