Marching across Africa, shopping in Shepherds Bush

What an amazing week this has been!  On 16 June, the hard work of the global campaigning team, working with colleagues across Africa, came to the fore with an estimated 150,000 people taking action across Africa on the Day of the African Child.

We had children in over 100 schools in South Africa ‘Making their Mark’, a parade through the streets of Freetown in Sierra Leone, four African Presidents commiting to make progress on the high rates of maternal and child mortality in their countries, and much more.  Media outlets across Africa picked up the news from our new policy report and echoed our call for action to meet MDGs 4 and 5.

On the day I was in Westminster, MPs signed up to support people across Africa by ‘Making their Mark’.

The contrast couldn’t have been bigger on Wednesday evening when I went to volunteer in our shop in the Westfield centre. Forget all your prejudices about charity shops – I had to fight through customers picking up vintage Chanel in an environment more like Urban Outfitters on a sunny weekend in Covent Garden than a junk shop on a rainy afternoon in Orpington.

As I walked in I was introduced to the lovely shop assistant “Lauren”, who I later realised was DJ and presenter Lauren Laverne, though it me passed by completely at the time.

Earlier in the day I had been interviewing for a new team coordinator.  One candidate asked me “what do you like about working for Save the Children?” Well, after the week I’ve had, I had a list of answers as long as my arm!