Dark Holy Ground – autobiography of a Church Action on Poverty campaigner

Linda says:

“With Church Action on Poverty’s Local People National Voice campaign in 1998 I finally found my own voice! Both in the Teesside and National Poverty hearing in Church House in London and at the CCBI National conference in Swanwick. I’ve written about my involvement with the Debt on your Doorstep campaign and the Living Ghosts campaign.

“I want you to know how much I appreciate Church Action on Poverty for playing its part in the very beginning getting this long-term unemployed single parent (dole scrounger) with two kids with different fathers having never being married, to allow me to analyse my own and other situations and help to provide a pathway to give me dignity and to work toward an absolutely fulfilling life.”

“Let LOVE trickle down and let the fear of poverty disappear forever.”

Church Action on Poverty trustee Gemma Athanasius-Coleman (who has spoken about her own journey into activism here) took a look at Linda’s book, and this was her reaction:

“Linda’s book highlights a recurring theme throughout where vulnerable members of society are kept in the cycle and trap of poverty. The words ‘unemployed’, ‘single parent’, and ‘poverty’ imply that if you don’t have a job (regardless of the reason) and if you have a child but not a partner then you are oppressively underestimated, often used as an economic scapegoat so that the government can cut benefits and that you deserve to remain poor.

“Gender inequalities which are so out of date are still playing a huge role in the exploitation of women’s labour in the home, which is not only undervalued but continues to reinforce this negative gender stereotype. Poverty creates fear, and the current ‘trickle down’ economic system is ensuring this demographic stays down and remains exploited. As Linda says in the book we should ‘Let LOVE trickle down and let the fear of poverty disappear forever.’”