Oxfam Bath

Dear All,

Please find below 2 ways Oxfam Bath is hoping to fundraise for the continuing crisis in Pakistan. It would be great if you could help with one (or both!) of them:

1. Train Station Collection: Group member Johnny Branston has kindly offered to help arrange a rail station collection, repeating the collection we ran on Jan 18th in response to the Haiti Earthquake. This was hugely successful in raising £1500 in a short space of time. We are aiming to run the Pakistan collection next Wednesday, 1st September between 0630 & 0930. If you can help, please email jpbranston@gmx.de, (do not reply to this post as the oxfambath email account will not be checked this weekend) and provide your phone number and the time (or amount of time) you have available. It would be great to have 1-2 people per platform, another on the forecourt and another catching people walking across the footbridge behind the station. Please pass this on to others you think might also be keen and Johnny will be in touch!!

2. Joint Lecture Afternoon with BRLSI: On 12th September, 2 - 5pm, we are helping BRLSI arrange a lecture afternoon at the Bath Society Meeting Room, Green Park Station. They have secured several great speakers who will talk about Pakistan and how the country is coping, how charities such as Oxfam are helping and (tbc!) also consider more locally how flooding affects us as well as looking at technology which can help protect communities worldwide against flood disaster. This repeats an event they ran after the Tsunami at which they raised £2000. We need people to help publicise this event (posters available!) and also a few volunteers on the day to man the refreshment stall (hopefully donated by Waitrose) and rattle the bucket at start & end. It should be a great afternoon, so if you feel you can help at any point, even if for half an hour to an hour, please email oxfambath@yahoo.co.uk and I'll be in touch after the bank holiday.

Thanks

Janine

Hi All,

I just wanted to let you know that Alison, The Oxfam Bath political campaigner, did a fantastic job of getting Bath City FC to agree to a KeepyUppy photo stunt, promoting the Don't Drop the Ball on Aid campaign we've been publicisngi over the summer!! They even put the video of their attempt on their facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/video/video.php?v=434146017864&ref=mf) .... and look out for it in the Chronicle on Thursday!!

If you haven't yet signed up to the campaign, or created your own Keepy Uppy video to upload (mobile phones & digital cameras at the ready!!), please do so and visit www.dontdropaid.org to find out more and add your voice. Or if you know an event over the coming few weeks at which we can get more people to do Keepy Uppy's, OR groups who might want Oxfam to visit and explain the campaing & help with videos (such as church/youth groups), please let us know!! We want as many people as we can signed up before the Millenium Development Goal Conference being held in New York at the end of September. It will help with Oxfam's lobbying of world leaders to get them to stand by their aid commitments in order to achieve the MDG's......

And watch this space for the start of 2 new campaigns we'll be supporting in Bath over the next 2 months. I'm not saying anything more yet! :)

Hi All!

Quick reminder our next meeting/social is on Thursday - 7.30pm at the Crystal Palace (Abbey Green, Bath).

There will definitely be chance just to socialise, but we'll also have the opportunity to discuss action we can take to support the Pakistan relief effort, and what we might think of doing this Autumn to highlight Oxfam's work in Bath. Hope to see you there - we'll endeavour to be in the left hand side, and have Oxfam literature out on the table :)

I am emailing you to request your urgent assistance with Oxfam's current campaign to put pressure on the European Commission to increase its funding for those affected by the flooding in Pakistan. As a key activist here in the South West, your assistance would be greatly appreciated.

The devastating floods in Pakistan are the worst in a generation, with almost 14 million people affected. Oxfam is there, aiming to reach around 900,000 people with vital water, sanitation and hygiene. As part of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), Oxfam is raising funds for this vital work. If you have been able to donate or raise funds, thank you.

As well as generous individuals, governments and institutions must provide the money necessary to help people in need, and so far, the international community has not acted fast enough or on the scale needed. Lives are at risk.

We now need the European Commission to do their bit. Can you help?

The UK government is the second biggest donor to the Pakistan flood victims after the US, having committed £31 million to the response. But the European Commission has only pledged 10 million Euros, which is completely insufficient, given the scale of the disaster. The United Nations has estimated that a total of $460 million is needed.

You can act now. Please phone your local MP and at least one of the SW MEP's (particularly ones who might be supportive), asking them to put pressure on the European Commission to increase its funding to match the scale of the need in Pakistan.

Below is a suggested script and further information, to help you create your message. Please personalise it; for example, you may know families who have been affected.

You can find out your MP’s contact details at www.theyworkforyou.com

The MEPs’ details for your region are at www.europarl.org.uk/section/your-meps/your-meps

You probably won’t get to speak to your MP or MEP directly; if not, please ask their office to pass on your message as a matter of urgency. You could also follow up with an email.

Please let us know what you have done (we really want to hear!) by dropping Fiona Remnant fremnant@oxfam.org.uk or Sarah Daly sdaly@oxfam.org.uk a quick email telling us –

What you did and who you contacted
Did they agree to phone/email Andrew Mitchell/Jose Barroso?
Did they give any other significant feedback

What to say ......

For your MP:

I am very concerned about the devastating flooding in Pakistan. Much more is needed from the international community to help Pakistan meet the vast humanitarian need it has caused.

It is great that the UK government is the second biggest donor to the flood response (after the US). But I am concerned that the European Commission, which should be a very significant donor, has only pledged 10 million Euros, which is completely insufficient, given the scale of the disaster. The United Nations has estimated that a total of $460 million is needed.

Please phone or email the UK’s Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell MP, asking him as a matter of urgency to put pressure on the President of the European Commission, Jose Barroso, to increase the funds available for the Pakistan flood response.

For your MEP's

I am very concerned about the devastating flooding in Pakistan. Much more is needed from the international community to help Pakistan meet the vast humanitarian need it has caused.

It is great that the UK government is the second biggest donor to the flood response (after the US). But I am concerned that the European Commission, which should be a very significant donor, has only pledged 10 million Euros on top of their current programme, which is completely insufficient, given the scale of the disaster. The United Nations has estimated that a total of $460 million is needed.

Please contact the President of the European Commission, Jose Barroso, asking him as a matter of urgency to increase the funds available for the Pakistan flood response via ECHO (the EU’s humanitarian aid department) in response to the scale of the disaster.

Further information you could use if you want:

The floods that have surged through Pakistan over the past two weeks are the worst in living memory, and have devastated communities in all provinces. ECHO’s announcement of additional 10 million Euros is not enough.

Losses and damages are still being assessed, but at this stage it is estimated that 1,384 people have died, 14.4 million have been affected and at least 700,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed. An estimated 6 million people – many of whom were only just beginning to rebuild their lives following last year’s conflict – require humanitarian assistance, and many others remain under threat as floodwaters surge south along the Indus River into Sindh. The Pakistan Initial Floods Emergency Response Plan (PIFERP) estimates the cost of humanitarian relief and recovery at $460 million for three months.  

So far the international community hasn’t responded with the speed or on the scale warranted by a disaster of this magnitude. The UN says the number of people affected exceeds the total number affected by the Indian Ocean Tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the Haiti earthquake combined. So far, international donors have committed just over $150 million between them.  

At a similar stage in the Pakistan earthquake response in 2005, donors had committed a total of $247 million, equivalent to $46 per affected person. Ten days into the response to the Haiti earthquake, donors had committed $742 million, or $495 per affected person. At this stage in the flood response, pledges amount to just over $4 per affected person.

If you re unable to speak to anyone from your MP or MEPs office, please use the above information to send a follow up email.

Dear All,

Come and join us for the August social of the Oxfam Bath group on Thursday 19th August, 7.30pm onwards in the Crystal Palace, Abbey Green, Bath.

After a successful stall at the Kingsmead St Party where we persuaded over 20 people to get videoed for the Don't Drop the Ball 'Keepy-Uppy' campaign, we'll be chatting about other events we can run to promote Oxfam's campaigns this Autumn....how about an Robin Hood Tax archery display for possibly a safer FairDeal Pub Quiz & Acoustic night....?! If you have a creative idea you'd love to share, or if you just want to find out about more about what Oxfam is up to please come along! Do email oxfambath@yahoo.co.uk if you want further details..... And I'll try to remember to wear an Oxfam T-shirt so it's obvious where we are!!

Also, do remember, if you're free on 21st August you can also join us at the Bath FC ground where the players will be joining our Don't Drop the Ball campaign. I wonder if they will beat the kid from today who managed 50 KeepyUppys!!

Janine

Dear All,

Alison & Jon have done a great job and have managed to get Bath FC to agree to help us promote our 'Don't Drop the Ball on Aid' campaign! On August 21st, before their home game against York, some of their players will be videoed doing Keepy-Uppy's for us. Hopefully they'll do better than I did (I only magaed 2 kicks in the air before I dropped the ball!!) and we'll get some great video we can upload to the Don't Drop the Ball website. We're also going to try and get Bath Chronicle there to promote the campaign in the local media as well......

What would be great would be for us to have several Bath Oxfam members there too, to show Bath FC we appreciate their support, talk to them about Oxfam's work on Aid and to show them them how to Keepy-Uppy :) If you can spare half on hour in the early afternoon on August 21st, it would be great to have your support with this! We can provide Oxfam t-shirts, and make sure you have a bit of literature before the event to find out more about Don't Drop the Ball.And if you have any friends who are mad Bath FC fans they'd be more than welcome too!

Please do get back to me if you can help.... and remember we will be at the Kingsmead St Party on Saturday and could still do with a few volunteers for an hour or so - if you would rather help with this we'd live to see you! For more details on either opportunity, please email oxfambath@yahoo.co.uk

Thanks!

Hi all,

Apologies for another email, but attached to this article (if you click to read this story directly on the Greenbath site) is the latest Oxfam situation report on climate change. It gives a good summary of what is going on in the world of climate change negotiations...

Some highlights:
 - US not recognising a "historic debt" to developing world on carbon emissions
 - Oxfam supporting a 1.5 degree figure for safe rise in mean global temperatures, not 2 degrees
 - small island states leading the world on carbon reduction

Interesting stuff - and good background for one of the campaigns you'll see more of this Summer / Autumn - Oxfam's Fair Deal http://www.oxfam.org.uk/get_involved/campaign/climate_change/fairdeal.html 

Hope to see you on the 7th at the Kingsmead Street Party!

Janine

Dear All,

You may rememeber the fundraising we did in Bath Train Station back in January, raising over £1500 towards Oxfam's Haiti Earthquake Appeal. I thought you would like to see this message from Cathy Ferrier, the Fundriaising Director at Oxfam GB, explaining how the money has helped with Oxfam's vital emergency work.....

"The aftermath of the earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January was a scene of destruction unlike any we've seen before. An estimated 230,000 people were killed, and more than 1 million were left homeless after much of the capital, Port-au-Prince, was destroyed.

Every emergency situation is unique, but in Haiti the problems were particularly acute. Providing even basic water and sanitation facilities in such a densely built urban area as Port-au-Prince requires a lot of effort and creative thinking. But because of your support, we’ve been able to work with local authorities and communities to provide solutions that work.

Over 250,000 people now have clean water, and over 94,000 people have access to sanitation facilities. We’ve given shelter to 98,000 families, and your support has meant we’ve been able to run cash-for-work programmes, which pay local people in desperate need of an income to do essential jobs such as cleaning camps and running community canteens providing hot meals to hungry families.

Find out more about our work in these short videos:

Cash-for-work: How investing in small family businesses provides hot meals	Water trucking: Oxfam staff delivering clean water to camps
Coraille camp: Setting up a new camp on the outskirts of the city	Shelter: Testing a shelter to see families through hurricane season

These films illustrate just a small part of our work. With hurricane season now upon Haiti, the current priority is to provide better shelter and sanitation facilities. In the coming months we’ll continue to focus on providing clean water, and working with communities to help people get back on their feet. This is all only possible because of the generosity of our supporters like you."

Hi All!

After the Oxfam Bath meeting last Thursday we decided to hold a stall to promote the Don't Drop the Ball on Aid campaign at the Kingsmead St Party on Saturday August 7th!

This will mainly focus on getting people to be filmed whilst doing 'Keepy-Uppy's', videos which we will then upload to the Dont Drop the Ball website (http://www.dontdropaid.org/) as a visual petition to politicians demanding they keep their aid promises. It's a really fun campaign even if you don't like football / don't think you can complete a Keepy-Uppy so it would be great if you wanted to get involved and help us!!

What we need is the following:
- A rota of volunteers!! If you can help for an hour or more, please email me to let me know. We need to be there at around 9.30/10 and run till 4-5pm.
- A gazebo! Does anyone have one?
- A facepainter! We might add to the stall by offerig to facepaint people with footballs / as footballs :) If you know anyone who can facepaint/has facepaints please let me know!
- Stall decorations. Does anyone have any bunting? A tablecloth?
- We will have Oxfam literature on the campaign for you to read and for people to take away.

But finally, we need.....
- FOOTBALLERS!! Does anyone have a contact at Team Bath who we might be able to rope into coming down to do some Keepy-Uppys?! Or another football team? Or even if you can't volunteer but could come down for a few minutes to take part, please do!!!

Alison & Jon are also working on whether we can get Don Foster & Bath City FC to do some KeepyUppy's, and whether we can have a stall at the Bath Rugby fun day.

So lots to do and lots of ways we can support Oxfam across the summer!!

Do let me know if you might be able to help at all by emailing oxfambath@yahoo.co.uk and look forward to seeing you soon,

Janine