carry on canvassing

Ducks on Verdon street

Hi all,

 have been out with my dedicated team of helper- even in sundays torrential rain. Monday night i spoke at the PCS Hustings although small we did very well.

On Monday i spoke to a lady on Nottingham street how was elderley and ill and freezing because her side window is rotting and she can feel the wind comming through it- I agreed to report her problem to Sheffield Homes. Hopefully this will be sorted quickly. In these days when People struggle with fuel Poverty the last thing you need is to be loosing all your heat through inadequate windows.

 

Sheffield workers memorial day

Tuesday i was moved by a women who told me she had read my leaflet and was going to vote for the first time in her life. She is afraid that the government will hound her of Disability benefits. People with disabilities should not be forced to live in fear like this. Whay are we hounding the rich who evade and avoid their tax to the tune of 120bn per annum sufficient to fill three quarters of the Deficit. 

I have been surpised by the amount of people this year who told me that they have voted for me because they like my leaflet. I always try to focus on the big and local issues and try to get the voices of local people. Unfortunatley the other parties don't seem to bother. Thats why i say don't be taken for granted vote for a real alternative.

 

pavement falling apart pye bank school

Sheffield Homes rotting windows on Nottingham street

trip to kashmir

Dear friends,

 I had intended to blog from Kashmir - but many of you will in know that this is harder than it may seem- especially since the are suffers from constant power cuts and Internet accessis not easy.

Myself Julia Armstrong, Kubra Asim and councillor Maroof travelled to Islamabad on Sunday the 17th arriving early on the Monday morning.

Julia , Kubra and I travelled to Azad Kashmir through the Scenic Tourist area of Pakistan Muree and then across the winding foothills of the Himalayas to Bagh an extremely bumpy journey given the state of some of the hill roads.

On the main road running into Bagh we first Caught site of the Sheffield College , perched on a hill side, gleaming white in the sunshine to be seen for miles around with the Sheffield College Bagh clearly visible in Black lettering across the top of the building,

although we had been travelling all night we could not wait to see the school as the last time we visited was in 2007 to lay the foundation stone- so although it has taken a long time to build- to us this was a remarkable transformation.

We travelled along the winding road up to the entrance of the school- to find a separatetoilet Block has been constructed and an amazing building, built in two halves in case of future earthquakes, with16 spacious classrooms on two levels with Class windows down to the floors on the corners making the room extremely light and giving them idilic views across the valley. Several of the rooms have been kitted out with desks. white boards, a computer suite a staff room and reception room.

We have to pinch ourselves to believe that we have been part of a small group who came here 7 years ago after the earthquake and that we have built this magnificent We are overwhelmed by it.

Above the school the local authority paid for a further road to be built in case we build twoseparate hostels for Boys and for girls. Over 100 Citrus trees which are still quite small have been planted across the site- donated to the school by the ministry for agriculture.

Already over 80 students have enrolled, and 6 teachers recruited, so that three classes are already running- many more are due to enrol and the school is arranging transport in particular to pick up girls from Bagh and the surrounding area.

The school will teach English to 0'level and A level standards, IT and hopefully Vocational studies.

If we can we will organise teacher training courses over the summer.

Originally the school had aimed to be a girls school- but we could not rebuild on the original site because it was inside the red line an area still prone to seismic activity. Despite this the girls school has been rebuilt-- inside the red line-perhaps because flat land is a premium and so the management committee of KERF in conjunction with local people have agreed to open the school up to girls and boys and for it to be used by the community at the weekends and in the evenings.

When we arrived there is still lots of activity going on in preparation for the next dayspenning including tidying up the road.

The next day is the penning ceremony- and what a day it is – we have the prime minister of Azad Kashmir – Ch. Abdul Majeed, our good friend Sardar Qammar – Uz -Zaman khan who was formerly the health Minister but is now the Health Minister and the new Education minister Mr Waheed , plus all the local officials, the press and most importantly 100's of local people including 100's of women, which is not usual. In total around 600 people have arrived- to listen to speeches and performances by local children, to draw the curtain on the opening plaque and to hear details of how the school has come into existence.

The prime Minister takes the opportunity to announce more school building in the area – describing our college as a path maker for the area in terms of education, that they will give additional funding to the school , that he will personally participate in the school and complete some of the additional items which are required.

This is a transcript of my speech.

It is a great pleasure to be back in your beautiful Country and amongst a people whose determination in the face of adversity- won our hearts.

We came here in December 2005- a delegation of 9 people- half originally from Kashmir the other what you call Gories.

We came for two reasons;

• We new that Kashmir was and remains the site of one of the biggest and most brutal occupations where arrests, torture and disappearances are a regular feature- and yet it is an occupation rarely mentioned. We wanted to raise the profile of Kashmir in the same way that the Palestinian solidarity campaign has raise the profile of the Palestinians. So even before the earthquake we new that the people of Kashmir had suffered for too long.
• 

  
  Then the Massive earthquake hit. We wanted to help- not least because in Britain at the time the only images of Muslims the west were interested in were images that demonised all Muslims as terrorists to justify their so called war on terror. We were angry that our government was prepared to spend millions on war in other peoples lands but when it came to people like the victims of the earthquake – their cries went unheard.
  We wanted to put right a wrong- to raise the profile- so we
• Collected on the street as Respect for Kashmir
• We sent a delegation out- with as much aid as we could.
  We were shocked- it was like a war zone- thousands of people in tents which were not weather proof.

However despite this the one thing which struck us was the determination of people to get education.

I saw young people travelling across a giant ravine above the Jhelum valley on a metal wire with a basket below it- something i would never do- because they wanted to get educated.

I saw young people being taught outside in the freezing cold sitting on rocks because their schools had been destroyed – because they wanted an education.

We came to bagh and met Qammar- Uz- Zaman the Lion Of bagh who showed us the site of the girls school destroyed by the earthquake, who told us there will be no rehabilitationwithout education.

This is the final result- it has been a long time coming- but i think it is magnificent and a real asset to the people of Bagh.

This was the product of contributions of 100's of ordinary people- we are not a giant NGO- we are just a group of 9 people who came together set up a project headed by Abdul Assim a\end wanted to see it through.

To build this we walked;

Ben Nevis the highest peak in Britain

We did numerous sponsored walks

We held charity meals

sold shawls

Got people to commemorate rooms to their loved ones.

I want to thank the people of Sheffield i believ this is a fantatic symbol of solidarity and respect from the people of Sheffield to the people of Kashmir

It is a gift to you- we hope you will use it well. We want to hand it over to to the people of the area.

Finally – this school is a tribute to the 200 young women who lost their lives on that terrible day in October 2005- and all the others who died.

The people of Kashmir deserve and demand a descent education- we hope this will help.

for more information kashmir-relief.org

off to Kashmir to open our school

Dear friends ,

many of you will know that i have been part of setting up a projects called the Kashmir Earthquake Relief fund- for which i am the treasurer. Since 2005 when the massive earthquake destroyed the lives of thousands of people, i and may of my friends collected on the streets As  Respect for kashmir we then arranged a delegation to the earthquake area and set up the Project to re- build the girls college in Bagh.

It has taken a long time but then the terrain in kashmir is difficult , but myself Julia Armstrong , kubra Assim and Mohammed Maroof are going out to Bagh to meet Abdul Assim to open the College with the president of Kashmir- Choudhry Majeed. The event will be on 17th April at 12midday.

I will ensure that we record the event and will blog to this site to keep everyone informed of what is going on.I want to thank everyone who has helped build the school.

When i come back i will resume my election camapign and want to  ask that any one who can help goes out on the knocker with my team this week.

 

see Kashmir relief here

Many thanks to everyone

maxine Bowler

Saturdays campaigning

Out on the knocker once again we found people who felt let down - on the whiteways people were anoyed that the School has expanded but there is no car parking for it, pete told me about the constant problem that cars park across theri drive and that they get blocked in- The issue has been raised a number of times but still hasent been resolved.

 

Picture Pete Mcnamara.

 

Other residents told me the biggest issue in the area is jobs.

 

 

 

Shaker Aamer

Shaker Aamer has been held in Guantánamo Bay since 2002. He is a legal permanent resident of the UK, married to a British national, with four British children living in London. 

Shaker has long been cleared for release by the United States. He has never been charged by the United States with a crime and has never received a trial. However, he has been repeatedly abused and subjected to extended isolation in Guantánamo Bay.

Shaker is a permanent British resident, and is married to a British citizen. He has been cleared of any wrongdoing, but the US authorities will not allow him to return to his family in London. Pressure from the British government is vital in securing Shaker’s release.

Please sign the e-petition to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (UK citizens and residents only) 

“Shaker Aamer is a British resident with a British wife and children who has been imprisoned without trial by the US in Bagram Airforce Base and Guantanamo Bay for over ten years. The Foreign Secretary and the Foreign Office must undertake urgent new initiatives to achieve the immediate transfer of Shaker Aamer to the UK from continuing indefinite detention in Guantanamo Bay.” 

Click here to sign the petition

Nowhere to play

Our young people need places to go.

Basant's sons showing me glass on the playground.

Many of the people round Elsemere Green are concerned that there is nowhere for the young people to play-  Basant and two of her sons showed me the play area near the childrens centre where the hard area is littered with Class- none of the lights work. It is such a shame that it has been allowed to run down. The young people feel let down and so do their parents.

I will fight for better maintained play areas around Ellesmere Green

Tosh and me

Again and again people talked about the kids having nothing to do know where to go and no hope for the future. We always believed our kids would do better than we did - this is the first time when we no longer think this.

" we need something for the kids- or they will just hang out on the streets. I am a professional wrestler and could teach them - if we could find a room and a few mats"

Mr Khan AKA Tosh

This area needs funding for activities for our kids  I will fight for more money.

Rubbish everywhere

The Council Don't Care About us.

broken tv's make it to dangerous to play

I have been knocking on doors and canvassing in the Carwood area and Earl  Marshall road area, over the last two days, and everywhere I go residents are complaining about the rubbish council never coming to clean up, never cutting the grass.

I will fight for more services for the area and a safer environment for our children

Magda showing me her ex play area

Whilst out campaigning I was approached by Magda aged 9 who wanted to show me what had happened to her play area. She took me to show the grassed area bordering the Carwood Estate . She explained that a pipe had been mended- but that instead of covering it over - some boarding had been put over it- making the area too dangerous for her and her friends to play on, and that now it has become a dumping ground. She told me she was so annoyed that she had thought about organising a protest outside the town hall.

I think Magda is right it is a disgrace- we need to fight for better facilities across the area.