#TeamHonk, #GoodWork and a nose for The Gallery…

I haven’t joined in The Gallery before although I’ve been meaning to – this week’s theme is noses and here’s mine…

Thanks to Jayne http://mumstheword.me for my nose!

I’ve been meaning to do a lot recently but life is so hectic I feel as though I’m running around in circles and getting nowhere!

Then I read some tweets that stopped caught my attention and I had to stop catch-up and read – later than most but better late than never! Three completely fabulous bloggers; Mammasaurus, Penny from Alexander Residence and Mummy Barrow had travelled to Accra in Ghana with Comic Relief to see the good work that’s been done there since Comic Relief started 25yrs ago.

This struck a cord with me not just because Comic Relief is such a worthy and amazing cause but because not much less than 25yrs my Dad lived in Accra and we visited regularly.

As a child I was touched and inspired by the wonderful nature of Ghanaians; always cheerful, friendly, welcoming and singing. Obviously as a privileged child of an expat I didn’t see the slums or hardship first hand. I remember how enterprising they were, they’d make amazing sculptures out of scraps of rubbish to sell by the road. When you parked your car you returned to children sat around saying they’d protected it and obviously gave them something for their efforts…

There were always people that grumbled about this type of behaviour as they did when my Mum gathered up clothes and other bits to give to the Ghanaians that worked around our community. They’d tell her that they’d only sell them to which she always said

‘So what, if they can sell them great, it’s not like we need them!’

On Sundays everyone always dressed in their best and one such Sunday my Dad’s cleaner brought his family over to visit and they were all wearing clothes that we or our friends had grown out of. Mum travels a lot and has never donated much to charity she believes it’s better (for her) to give directly via staying in local places, buying local produce, eating at local restaurants thus supporting locals and their businesses.

This is what the #GoodWork of Comic Relief has done with projects like the Virtuous Women’s bakery and African Outreach directly handing the skills, resources and training to empowering people to make a living and improve their lives for the long-term.

So for all of us normal people that don’t regularly travel the globe, support Red Nose Day because your money is being used to for inspirational projects worldwide. The buzz #teamhonk has created on social networks is wonderful so many have seen their #GoodWork – well done ladies!