OK, so here's the thing...

If you are a 'purist' Sundays in Lent are not Lenten, which means there are still fives days to go during Holy Week.  But if you are not a purist you can stop tomorrow (Sunday) or you can be extra holy and carry on anyway!

Adults

Governments in the developing world find it difficult to monitor pesticide use. In Ghana, 7 banned pesticides are still sold. Farmers misusing pesticides risk cancer, birth defects and damage to the central nervous system.

Give 20p for each household product you own with a warning label.

Children

People in richer countries like ours make up 20% of the world’s population, but we buy and use 86% of the world’s goods – almost all of them!Visit a charity shop this weekend instead of buying something new.

Household products - do they mean cleaning products and the like?  Do they include things that say 'avoid contact with eyes' such as shampoo or skin cream?  It does seem a bit vague as to where the line ought to be drawn.

From aerosols to washing up liquid, washing powder to disinfectant, iodine sprays for wound care and bleach and oven cleaner... I gave up counting when I got to 30, or I'd be needing a bank loan!

30 x 20p is £6 - a dear day!

Today we had a sale at church to help fundraise for someone going to Malawi as an educational specialist... some of our children helped staff stalls and we sent lots of goods to various charity shops at the end of the day.  So all in all we ticke a lot of blessing counting boxes!

My pledge

Today - £6

Total - £40.05, seven prayers, some thoughts and one e-petition signed

Adults

Today, an estimated 863 million people are living in slum conditions compared to 760 million in 2000.

Give 10p for each home you have lived in that has provided you with shelter and comfort.

I have a sense of deja vue here - I have already posted a length the homes in which I have lived, or at least these that I lived in long term.

OK... full count of those I can remember or am aware of...

Childhood: three I remember, at least two I don't

Student years: one hall of residence, two flats

Adult years: two homes I owned, two lots of temporary accommodation, one rented flat, two manses

So that adds up to fifteen, assuming I counted correctly!

My pledge

Today £1.50

Total - £34.05, seven prayers, some thoughts and one e-petition signed

First task of the day - decorate four dozen cupcakes for tomorrow's spring fair fundraiser to support someone going to Malawi short term as an educational specialist...

May post more pics later but a million an done other things to do just now!

For the liturgical purists out there!  Today is the official vernal equinox, as defined by the ecclesial councils of way back when, and used in the calculation of the date of Easter.  Any similarity to any real vernal equinox living or dead is purely coincidental.  Or something like that.

Adults

Over 100 million people around the world have no shelter whatsoever.

Give 30p for each bed in your house.

Well that's pretty straightforward - unless I include the sofa-bed in my living room... or the airbed in the cupboard (which may or may not still be in working order, it is more than three years since I last used it!).  This feels somehow rather pertinent when the 'bedroom tax' debate on under-occupied social housing is a very live issue.  it is a tricky one. 

The final house in which my family lived before we grew up was a four-bedroomed council house.  There was no requirement that the tenancy be surrendered, even when we had all left home and my dad died.  My mum recognised for herself that it was inappropriate for her to 'block' a family house and asked for a move... she was then entitled to a one bed-roomed flat, so a massive downsizing exercise had to take place.  The irony is that under the right-to-buy scheme, which my parents had been unable to participate in, being on benefits, the family who moved in bought the house and it was lost to the local social housing stock.

People who can afford to buy houses can have as many empty rooms as they like.  People who cannot afford to buy or rent privately are penalised if they under occupy, even when there is no smaller accommodation available.  And without and consideration of the possibility that they, too, might like a spare room to serve as an office or guest room.  Whilst I have some sympathy with social housing providers whose larger properties are 'blocked' because people won't downsize, it is as ever those with the least who pay the price.

So, in my underoccupied flat, I have three beds, one bed-settee and one airbed (Im not going to count the cat's pet bed or the 'vetbed' in her carry case!), and will pay £2 today.

My pledge

Today - £2

Total - £32.55, seven prayers, some thoughts and one e-petition signed