Fashionable Charities

Remember when the fair trade fashion hit us? Fair trade coffee, fair-trade chocolate, fair trade fruit and veg. Something that most of us took as a fashion, as a statement that really, we can afford to pay the extra 50p and hope that people think we care, but really we hope they think we’re bang on trend. So whats the next one? Well of course it’s all focus on charities in the 2010 World Cup nation, South Africa.

Africa brings lots of words to mind. Poverty, desert, starvation, conflict… the list is endless. Most people don’t realise that within Africa, South Africa is one of the richest countries on the continent. Even with that, South Africa is considered “richer” that those European countries us brits hold in such high stead such as Belgium and Sweden. These facts pass people by, having “Africa” in the title name simply throws us. I think that people decide to block it out, as after all the main positives that we know is that they have excellent cricket and rugby teams.

Having lived in South Africa for six years, I know all about the current situation. I’ve been taught about apartheid and I had the countries largest shanty town a mere 10 miles away from my gated community house. I’ve worked in the orphanages and I’ve driven through such poverty that it makes you feel sick.

Now, finally, the whole world is looking in on South Africa, and the cracks are showing. We’ve seen the WAGs go to the shelters on the BBC and we’ve seen Dispatches go to the “lost girls” on Channel 4, but the thing is, they’re not lost. They are exactly how they’ve been since Apartheid started. And one could say things have improved since it finished, and of course it has, but they are still there, trapped. We all knew about Apartheid, we’ve all heard of Nelson Mandela and his groundbreaking political work, but surely it shouldn’t take the World Cup for us to take a much closer look and want to make a difference.

Making a difference is fantastic, and the country does need a lift up, so no doubt even just the five WAGs made a huge difference to those that they met, and I’m sure many more programmes will be released with a similar effect, but it shouldn’t have taken a mere football competition to get the ball rolling.

In short, my opinion is that a fashionable sport should not be the making of a fashionable charity. People should want to make a difference, not just get lumped in the country and realise that as they’re there with their £160,000 a week salaries, that something should be done. Things need to be done, people need to be helped, and I sincerely hope that this doesn’t end after the tournament does.