ONE seed of change

Melitsa over at Play Activities has started a meme called Come Sow with Me.  Like me, Melitsa is a ONE Mum, raising awareness and campaigning for the grassroots organisation ONE.  In support of ONE's new Thrive campaign, Melitsa is encouraging people to plant a seed in support of developing agriculture in poverty-stricken countries across the world, and for fellow bloggers to link up their seed-planting posts to her  'Come Sow with Me' linky.

This is my contribution to the meme.  I'm being a little naughty and not sticking strictly to the rules, but I am planting a seed all the same.  It's metaphorical, but I think it still counts.

I've been wanting to change my situation for a little while now.  I haven't been happy juggling my work and home lives and I know deep down that I need to try to do something to change this.  That's exactly what I've started to do.

This is my seed of change.

Image credit

I've had an idea.  A good idea (I hope!).  It could open up new possibilities for me, perhaps even eventually allow me to reduce my office hours without having to compromise too much on pay, hopefully give me more freedom to do the things I want to do.  Even if it doesn't work, I have to try.  Otherwise I'll never know and in some ways, living with that can be worse than never trying in the first place.

I don't want to go into too much detail at the moment because I'm still working out the finer details and getting things organised.  What I will say is that my idea is an online venture (for now) and, after much deliberating, I think I have finally decided on the best platform to use.  Now, to get some content organised.  Wish me luck!

Just like I'm hoping to change my situation for the better; to provide for my family better, so are thousands - nay, millions - of other people across the globe.  However, while I'm lucky enough to provide food on the table for my children and am only seeking a small change in circumstances, millions of people are locked into a vicious cycle of poverty and malnutrition.  Parents are so poor they don't have the means to feed their children, leaving millions malnourished and hungry.

But, we can help to change this.  The G8 - the eight richest countries in the world - are coming together later this month (18-19 May) and this is a great opportunity to make them sit up and take notice of this important issue.

Help plant a seed of change in the G8.

All you have to do is...

• Sow one. Show your support for the Thrive campaign and highlight your commitment to agriculture in the developing world by planting a seed at home.
• Send one. Sign ONE's e-petition and add your name to the hundreds of thousands of other people who are standing up for those living in the poorest of countries and calling on donor governments, African leaders and the private sector to come together to make smart investments in farms, food and the future.

And, if you fancy going one step further, how about doing one or all of the following?

• Send a letter to your elected officials asking your country’s leader to support effective, sustainable agricultural programs that save lives.
• Ask others to sign the e-petition
• Keep up to date with the campaign by following ONE on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube etc.
• Share a living proof video (these highlight the good work that is already being done to improve the livers of people in developing countries and show that your support really can help to make a difference).
• If you're a blogger, share updates on your seed growing on your blog and link them up over at Play Activities.

If we stand shoulder-to-shoulder and shout together, our individual voices will become as one and before you know it, it'll be impossible to ignore the roar we are making.

                                                                                                                               

Thank you for listening.