Growing up in England during the 1970s I often find myself remembering songs from that era when things get a bit bleak. Over the last few days, I keep thinking of the title of a song from Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part Three and here is why.
Rockflower exists to provide a platform for those living at the farthest edges of society to bring their ideas and innovations to fruition. We help fund, guide and nurture those ideas to their greatest potential but more importantly, we believe that it is possible, and can be done.
At a time when the world is grinding to a halt, due to the spread of the coronavirus, I look to the resilience and longevity of our partners who face adversity on a daily basis, to keep smiling and finding reasons to be cheerful.
I look to the resilience and longevity of our partners who face adversity on a daily basis, to keep smiling and finding reasons to be cheerful.
In particular today I think of the work of FOWACE, a partner since 2018, who we first supported in assisting 300 widows grow vegetables after the loss of their husbands in the Ebola crisis. These women experienced first-hand the terror and devastation wrought by an epidemic such as Ebola. During the crisis, the women of Liberia improvised and innovated. They did not have access to protective gear, face masks, plastic gloves or even in some cases soap and yet they found alternative ways to stop the spread of that deadly disease, plastic bags for gloves and medicinal plants to use as antiseptics.
Perhaps what is more significant is not only what they did during the crisis but what they did in the aftermath. Having lost not only their husbands and several members of their families but also in many cases, a source of income, life looked extremely dire. However, they proceeded to combine their collective wills and reskilled, refocused and found a new way to feed their children.
Wherever you are in the world right now, and to whatever extent you are dealing with this pandemic, try to look a little down the road and think about what moves you are putting in place right now to ensure that there will be a reservoir of hope in the future. Keep funding those at the margins, because they are the ones who have the greatest capacity for vision and determination. They lead in finding a way through to the other side – because they have always done so.
