Dave and Jen For Oxfam

As far as countdowns and numbers go, there is something nice and simple about having 8 weeks left. As far as preparations and fundraising targets go, there is something alarming and sudden about having 8 weeks left. As far as holidays go, there is something slow and distant about having 8 weeks left. As far as… okay well you get the point. 8 weeks to go.

It’s a Monday morning as I write this and I am about an hour away from jumping on my Mongoose Tyax Super mountain bike and riding the relatively short and lovely distance to the office. Jen will most likely be occupied feeding her cat who has the ability to actually open all the doors in her apartment but can’t work out how to knock over a box of cat food and eat what falls out. Whilst she only rides to work half of the week, the distance is at least double my approximate 3km. She might tell you its triple that. At least. However short or long, we do love to chance to be able to ride to work, and work at jobs we enjoy.

If you consider the idea that you can serve a greater good by finding a way to directly apply your best skill you can probably dig up some contrasts to the idea of rushing off to picket the felling of rainforests, volunteer in support centres, feed orphans and all the classic concepts of doing charitable work like going to Africa and doing something or other. That’s all good stuff and someone has to do it, but Jen and I have been lucky enough to work within industries that have ultimately beneficial outcomes. Our current vocations aside, I think this is a very real luxury one may find in the Australian job market and something that certainly feels good to strive to obtain. Working a role that does a greater good. I don’t want that to sound too lofty however, as there is a lot of work that needs to be done in social services and it can be daunting at times. Organisations like Mission Australia and St Vincent De Paul do such amazing and heart warming work on social causes and have a visible presence in the employment sector as well.

This naturally leads into a question of why I we would leave the comfort of our offices to go sweat in Cambodia and visit Oxfam field work. In a previous post I suggested the value of this trip was more than a mountain biking ride, more than a trip into Asia and more than a holiday. It is also more than a support for Oxfam, more than a visit to see their outcomes in situ and more than a chance to connect some dots between their field work that I have heard about for many years and the kind of work I do in front of my computer screens.

It is, simply, all of the above. And it’s only 8 weeks away. And we still need you to join us in supporting Oxfam with as little as $30 to provide sanitation kits for refugees in Sudan changing the life of a displaced family, or $10 to provide tools for a young farmer in the Solomon Islands to farm and maintain produce projects. It’s simple stuff going to the heart of the problem and giving communities the ability to achieve their own outcomes. If you would like to know more please contact us, check out the Oxfam site and of course I’m going to end this paragraph with a link for you to support our fundraising goals.