I'm learning that when it comes to my London budget, I'm very willing to spend money on coffee and food, yet so resistant to buying new clothes. Unlike the average UK lady, I'm pretty apathetic when it comes to shopping.
Yesterday, I had the joy of a short but adorable trip to see my beautiful sister in Wales and we spent the afternoon wandering around shops so that she could find a few bits and pieces, and maybe even something new to wear. Conversely, I've been meaning to replace one of my ripped cardigans for a while now, so I thought I might be able to find a replacement without having to buy one in London.
Yet I decided that most of the possibilities were either too expensive, too thin or altogether not nice enough. I came home empty handed.
However, it seems that my charity internship is slowly opening my mind to the world around me a little more than before, as I also realised the challenges of buying clothes without knowing where they've been made. The UK clothes industry is an ethical unknown; how do we begin to decipher whether or not products have been made in sweatshops or not? It's all very well that I'm talking and writing about ending poverty, but consumer habits mean that I'm possibly being a bit of a hypocrite.
There's no easy solution to this either, because fairly traded clothes are expensive. With good reason, but my weekly allowance cannot justify spending £100 on a jumper.
It's been a really interesting thing for me to investigate and something which is challenging how I live as a Christian too. Recently we've been talking about "loving your global neighbour" and I wonder how loving it is to just ignore who's made our clothes, not paying attention to the grossly accepted world of sweatshops. Shouldn't we be doing something more about this?
So I'm slowly developing a deeper passion for justice; something that became apparent when I talked at one of my best friends this week. It's definitely difficult to challenge the status quo, but injustice is all too often readily accepted and that could be why change doesn't happen.
Which is why I was so interested by the definition of this week's title:
2. unduly curious about the affairs of others; prying"
Yesterday, I had the joy of a short but adorable trip to see my beautiful sister in Wales and we spent the afternoon wandering around shops so that she could find a few bits and pieces, and maybe even something new to wear. Conversely, I've been meaning to replace one of my ripped cardigans for a while now, so I thought I might be able to find a replacement without having to buy one in London.
Yet I decided that most of the possibilities were either too expensive, too thin or altogether not nice enough. I came home empty handed.
However, it seems that my charity internship is slowly opening my mind to the world around me a little more than before, as I also realised the challenges of buying clothes without knowing where they've been made. The UK clothes industry is an ethical unknown; how do we begin to decipher whether or not products have been made in sweatshops or not? It's all very well that I'm talking and writing about ending poverty, but consumer habits mean that I'm possibly being a bit of a hypocrite.
There's no easy solution to this either, because fairly traded clothes are expensive. With good reason, but my weekly allowance cannot justify spending £100 on a jumper.
It's been a really interesting thing for me to investigate and something which is challenging how I live as a Christian too. Recently we've been talking about "loving your global neighbour" and I wonder how loving it is to just ignore who's made our clothes, not paying attention to the grossly accepted world of sweatshops. Shouldn't we be doing something more about this?
So I'm slowly developing a deeper passion for justice; something that became apparent when I talked at one of my best friends this week. It's definitely difficult to challenge the status quo, but injustice is all too often readily accepted and that could be why change doesn't happen.
Which is why I was so interested by the definition of this week's title:
"Inquisitive:
1. curious or inquiring 2. unduly curious about the affairs of others; prying"
Because there's a fine line between what's seen as asking questions, and becoming a nuisance. I fear that to really change the world, we have to be a bit inquisitive, and although some might see it as negative, it might just be one of the only ways to make a difference.
(I actually managed to sew my cardigan this morning. Let's see how long it lasts for.)
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