Two stories struck me over the Christmas and New Year break: the first was the news that Save the Children had raised more than £7m in its East Africa Appeal – a record for the charity; the second was the new year message from the Archbishop of Canterbury that we should not give up on young people in Britain, even though some of them had taken part in last summer’s riots.
The archbishop’s message reminded me of figures in last summer’s Charity Market Monitor, which showed a fall of more than 10 per cent in the year 2009-10 in donations to charities supporting young people. “This is a worrying result at a time of rising unemployment, when young people particularly need support and help,” it said.
The import of the two stories is that many people seem happier, prompted by heart-rending pictures from Africa, to respond to the needs of children we will never have anything to do with, than to those of the young people in our own communities who are facing bleak prospects, particularly in the job market.
It’s understandable: as the archbishop said, we often feel threatened by the angry-looking groups on the street corners and the feckless behaviour of some young people. We don’t always see it as our responsibility to do something to help. But I think it is.
Save the Children’s life-saving efforts in the terrible circumstances on the Kenya-Somali border have been magnificent. In a year of economic hardship and falling household incomes they have persuaded the British public to keep on giving to humanitarian causes.
But I’ve decided to reduce my monthly donation to Save the Children and start contributing to a charity supporting young people in this country. Save is a successful, thrusting charity that currently has the wind behind it, and it won’t miss this small loss. And I hope the tide will turn this year in favour of charities supporting young people here.