Don't click on the FOLLOW button!

This week I’ve found some more buttons I could add to the blog and discovered the ‘stats’ page which I was very excited about (looking at the spread of countries my friends come from and trying to guess who was where!).  I’ve added a ‘follow’ button and, despite the title, I would like you to click on the follow button (five of you anyway, just for vanity’s sake – I need at least six followers and then I’ll have reached my target!).  What struck me about the ‘follow’ button was that it was the wrong word.  I would prefer ‘communicate’, ‘engage’ or possibly even ‘lead’ as my dream for the blog is the same dream for Children Unite – that it helps develop a community.

Last year, for a project we were involved in (of which the film on this blog is part) I visited Peru, Togo and India and met with our partner organisations (organisations who are working directly with child domestic workers in various countries around the world).  I was introducing the idea of Children Unite to the staff and children of these organisations and talked of wanting to ‘set up a network’.  But, because I met such committed and inspiring people, I gradually changed my terminology – network felt too dry and mechanical, I started to talk of wanting to ‘build a community’.

Community feels more appropriate because it’s focus is on relationships and the most moving times during my time in Peru, Togo and India were when there was a connection between everyone (despite the language and cultural barriers).  Thinking about this, I guess this idea does link to the ‘don’t just donate – engage’ of my first post…but the onus is on me to make the first move, to develop relationships and facilitate connections.

This point was reinforced for me earlier this week when I left the house and said my usual hello to a neighbour…but two men were walking past at the time, deep in conversation (in Polish it sounded like). They thought I’d said hello to them so they stopped talking and said a very friendly hello back to me as if I knew them!  I wondered whether I should say hello to everyone I met – but I knew I’d only feel like another 'nutter' so I smiled instead (and in my local area, Hackney, just a smile can get you into a lot of trouble so I consider myself quite brave!).

I recognise that I’m going to have to be quite brave in introducing Children Unite to the world, and in particular, articulating the vision we have of a community of activists (i.e. people who want to take action). Some people may well think I’m a nutter or the more pilot version of nutter – naïve.  But, I guess the payoff is worth it – when you connect with people and you feel part of a community it’s amazing!  And that’s a word I used a lot when I was with our partner organisations.