From Jinja to Sevenoaks (part 2) - interview with Ben (19/3/22)

Nearly 9 years ago, Papa told this journey to the church that helped him. I was privileged to be standing next to him as he proudly shared.

A few weeks ago I shared it to my church in St Johns. This time I was alone.

We also were able to hand out some special bracelets that are made by Syrian friends about something that meant a lot to us during a time of crisis, friendship. 

Amazingly these were sponsored by a handful of friends to give away to each attendee with the message that friendships are a powerful thing that we can each bring to displaced people. Certainly our family can testify to this power. 

If ever you are wondering what to do during a time of disaster: choose to be a friend.

Ben Solanky · Jinja to Sevenoaks - Ben Solanky at St John's Breakfast - 19 Mar 22

Wonder Space

I was recently interviewed by a friend Steve Cole on his podcast about wonder spaces. A great podcast series exploring wonder.

I'd love to hear any comments... let me know!

80th birthday for Mercy Solanky 14.11.21

Celebrating 80 years of my mummy yesterday! 

We had phonce calls, zoom calls, drop ins and drop bys, fires, food and some fun... there a lovely tribute video made from some old footage too.

Happy birthday mummy :) xxx

 

God’s own county

Here’s a few photos from our holiday in God’s own county. We could only go thanks to some friends lending us their amazing home. 

Such a beautiful place.

The kids are growing into a teenage phase more as the appetite to do anything is waning. 

Podcast Interview with Ben on Teacher Talks Radio (from Feb)

From a few months ago, but here's me being interviewed by David Cunningham about 'empathy' and the work of Empathy Action.

(I'm on for the first half!)

 

A (covid) death in the family

India has been getting from "bad to worse" in the ongoing diary of a global pandemic.

Yesterday we heard that my uncle in Ahmadabad had "been tested positive". Shortly followed by the words please pray. 

When hearing this you hope that he will be on the stats of "mild" and "with little impact".

My uncle was a good man. My most memorable time with him was about 20 years ago when I stayed for about 2-3 weeks for my cousin's wedding. He was a great fun. I recall enjoying a whiskey in a 'dry state' with him and his best friend. We both liked our whiskeys. I also loved going around Ahmadabad on the back of his scooter.

His next 24 hours were to be his last. One that reduces his entire life, his very essence, all those memories to a growing statistic.

It's was hard to hear that when he was eventually in hospital with all the worry and with his weakened heart he was being sent away home once they knew it was covid. He was asked to leave. Whilst they were in a hospital, they were not 'a covid hospital'. They were scared. Instead of a place of healing it became a place of sanctioning an oncoming 'timing-out' of my uncle's life in bureaucracy. The clock was ticking down as they sent him away. The one saving grace, or perhaps a way to justify their expulsion of him, was the sending him away with a canister of oxygen. Tick 

It was hard to hear that the specialist '108 Ambulance' - the only way to get to these specialist covid  hospitals was unresponsive. Tock.

Many people, from around the world too, were trying the hotline. It was not working. Trying time and time and time and time again. Tick

What alternatives were there. One was even trying an 'Ambulance on Wheels' service. Tock

Another came in the form of looking for other people to help. This was hard as it was now the early hours. Everything was shut. It was harder still when someone was eventually found to help and said I'll be there in 30 minutes. It was a glimmer of hope. Tick

In the mean time the oxygen canister had run out. Tock

When the ambulance eventually came it was too late. Uncle had passed.

It was hard to come to grips that this pandemic had taken my uncle away. Until now it hasn't hit home with a death. Today it has.

Remembering him with fondness and grateful to have had those memories. Most important to me is that he is at peace and I believe in a wonderful place. 

He was buried today barely 24 hours since that whatsapp message.

____

“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.’”

‭‭John‬ ‭14:2-4 

The envelope

These envelopes come and keep us afloat.

Anonymous and affirming.

We don’t know who you are.

We don’t know why you do this

But we do rejoice and give thanks for who you are.

Thank you and it’s been 17 years of this envelope economy for us. 

Every time it never ceases to blow us away. 

Praising.

Spotlight session with Ben Solanky

Recently I was invited to share my perspective with one of the teams from Christian Aid. Here's the interview.
 

Holibobs

A few photos from a short time away before a season of change. Again.

Thank you Matt

Today I say farewell to my Co-director and Co founder of Empathy Action.

We had the initial idea for this charity around 7.5 years ago and the last five and half years have been about building a foundation for this.

The idea that we're never going to solve the world's biggest problems without concerned people and that there is a growing dispassion, apathy, quick to judge any effort as futile and not worthwhile, and the countless delegating of our responsibilities... we had a vision to see an end to poverty, brought about by concerted, compassionate, community action. We'd both grown within deprived backgrounds. We've also both seen the sheer force of concerned people to that deprivation to make a world of difference that lasts into the next generations. It was more than just the actions and efforts. It was almost like looking directly into the face of "hope".

It's funny as some of the early names that we thought we right for the organisation were "The Ripple Effect" or "The Empathy Foundation"... (there were a few cryptic ones like "Petrachor" or "Pebble"... but we'll leave that!). But our name 'Empathy Action' says it all. That's exaclty what we both said. It says what we want to do. I recall that exact moment when we realised that we needed to stop being clever with this and embrace our name... this is who we are.. and start to grow with this identity.

We realised this as we were in the business of partnerships at that time and we saw the ones that worked were down to the energy and drive of the people. I once heard someone "say we need good champions and the resources to make a world of difference, but if you were to ask me to choose, I'd choose champions as good ones will find the resources."

We sought to anchor the whole movement in empathy and particulalry based on the old proverb "to understand another you must first walk a mile in their shoes". We'd been involved in projects that were using empathy and we saw what a powerful force it could be to help build understanding and cultivate that compassionate action.

One of Matt's finest moments was stating these beliefs on the global stage at a UN summit (see the video beneath).

The other thing is we're both volunteers...  and that's perhaps the real miracle of all this... the whole operation is entirely built on that 'will' to see a different world. Our whole team choose to do this. And it's not just the team too but its that bunch of others who have enabled each of us to step out and up to serve. Both Matt and I have both been supported financially and much much more by a small bunch of people who got behind us. Somehow that togetherness has taught us much more than any course that we could have done to bolster our credentials. It certainly not the money that has motivated us (nor our team)... but something much deeper: our belief and conviction of this mission. 

Thanks Matt and I will miss directing along side you but know that you will always be a co-founder and my friend. I promise that the best is yet to come for Empathy Action building upon the strong foundation that you have laid.

Excelsior!

By Parties unknown

I was recently shown this picture called "By Parties Unknown" by Hale Woodruff. It depicts a lynched black man left on the doorstep of a church.

The significance of 'a tree' and 'hanging from a tree' are deep within the Christian tradition. But for me it's the unknown person here that seems to be powerful when I look at this picture.

My friend who shared this with me said the following (she cites James Cone's reference to it in his book 'The Cross and The Lynching Tree'):

For Cone, this imagery is something that black artists and poets and writers and musicians could see clearly and spoke about clearly, but theologians and ordinary Christians did not...

You can’t see it too well here but where the rope in the Parties Unknown image meets the ground, flowers are growing. There is beauty to be found in the midst of pain.
 
As James Cone writes: “The beauty in black existence is as real as the brutality, and the beauty prevents the brutality from having the final word. Black suffering needs radical and creative voices, prophetic advocates who can tell brutal and beautiful stories of how oppressed black people survived with a measure of dignity when they were not meant to. Who are we? Why are we here? And what must we do to achieve our full humanity in a world that denies it?”