Cooking with gas!

I've been struggle for months!

With what you might ask - the answer may surprise you. I have had only one oven on my range cooker working and that's been a pain. How could I bake bread and cook dinner at the same time? What was I to do when different courses, of the meal I was preparing required different temperatures and different cooking times?

The "nightmare" (but I can't really call it that can I?) has been going on for ages - we even had to survive over Christmas with only one oven  - came to an end today when a flame failure device was replaced. The cooker is not very old - under 5 years -  but gets a fair amount of use. I bake bread several times a week and eithermy wife or I  cook our meals from scratch mostt days. We rarely eat out and have a Chinese take away a couple of times a month.

So why am I bothering to write about such a mundane occurrence as a cooker repair? The answer is that I could not help wondering about what the effect of the money I had spent on repairing my oven might achieve in Sierra Leone. That country has been on my mind a lot since I agreed to cycle 80 miles to support the work of Medair.

The World Bank estimate gross national income (GNI) per capita for Sierra Leone is $340. This translates to over 72 percent of the population living on less than $1 per day, in extreme poverty.

I spent £165 or almost $250 to repair my cooker, that is all  the money the majority of the someone who is part of the "72%" has to feed, clothe and house themselves from today, 29th January, to 6th October. If I did the same calculation on the cost of the cooker it would be all the income the same person would have from today until 24th September 2019.

It really is unimaginable poverty for us and our lifestyles unimaginable wealth for them. But if we add to our thinking the genuine nightmare of Ebola then perhaps you can understand why I am cycling 80 miles in the "Wiggle No Excuses Sportive" to raise money for the Medair response to this horrific disease .

Please will you support my ride and donate £27 or whatever you can afford to help Medair respond to Ebola in Sierra Leone. It's a desperately poor country as I hope I've been able to show you and we, in the West, are so rich in comparison. You will find more details details of how your gift and my ride will help at https://www.justgiving.com/Stephen-Maxted1 Thank you.

Lesson from a fire blanket

 UN published figures show that the infection rate for Ebola in West Africa is dropping, the BBC reported on 15th January.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-30830129

This is great news, but the question comes how should you and I be responding?

My early morning training rides for the Wiggle No Excuses Sportive - I am riding 80 miles to raise money for Medair's Ebola response - are great times for me to think. This morning's inspiration came from a fire blanket so I looked for a video that would help me make the point! 

The key to the effective use of a fire blanket is not just to put it over the fire, it is to keep it in place until you are sure that the fire has really gone out. The presenter in the video I have posted says "leave the blanket on the pan for at least 30 minutes."

The Medair "Family Infection Prevention and Control Kits" can be pictured as 'fire blankets' starving the Ebola infection of the 'oxygen of contact' needed to reignite the fire of the epidemic.

Please sponsor my ride on 21st February. I am looking for 160 people - one for each half mile - who will fund one Family Infection Prevention and Control Kit. Each one only costs £27. Please do give today via my JustGiving Page https://www.justgiving.com/Stephen-Maxted1/

What cost a cup of coffee!

How many cups of coffee will you buy this week? The “average” price, in London¹, for an Americano is £2.40, Cappucinno £2.70, Mocha £3 and Double Expresso £1.90 – but what price Ebola?

Sierra Leone where Medair is working is a major coffee and coco producer but a recent article I saw talked about families fleeing from farms because of Ebola, with the result that crops are rotting.

The effect of Ebola in Sierra Lone is far wider than the tragic deaths of the 3145 people who have died to date. The impact of the 10340² cases so far will have a long term repercussions in the country. Crops of coffee, coco and rice will need re establishing so that those who survive the current crisis have a livelihood.

But urgent help is needed today for families whose loved ones have contracted the disease.

Medair is providing infection prevention and control kits for families in Kontorlah, just outside Freetown. Each kit costs £27 which is why I want to challenge you to support me as I ride 80 miles in the Wiggle “No Excuses” Sportive on 21^st February.

Please will you donate the cost of 2 cups of coffee a day for a week! That's approx £27 – the cost of one infection prevention and control kit.

I am going to cycle 80 miles in day and donate my entry fee of £33 for the event to Medair. My aim is to have two people support me every mile each giving the cost of a kit. If that happens, together we will provide 161 infection prevention and control kits for vulnerable families

Please make your donation at https://www.justgiving.com/Stephen-Maxted1 (my just giving page)

Coffee does not cost much but Ebola is costing lives!

1http://www.londontoolkit.com/blog/eats/coffee-shop-chains-in-london/

2http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/case-counts.html