"I (Andy Freeman) had an amazing time in London, the UK capital, on Friday night at the overnight Trade Justice vigil. I loved being part of thousands gathering in the grounds of Westminster Abbey and then Parliament Square. As I got there about 9.30pm and quickly realized I wasn’t going to get into the Abbey for the opening. But in a way that didn't matter as hanging out on the grass by the Abbey amongst thousands of others was worth it.  Catholic kids praying, students sitting chatting and drinking, a huge inflatable wrestler called ‘Corporate Might’ – part of an ActionAid street drama thing on big Corporations. It felt like a demo – I love the way they bring out young people and then old ladies who’ve been doing this for 50 years. There was a mix of hairstyles, races, cultures and politics. I have to say that Make Poverty History has done a good job at empowering people to take action and demonstrate – I wonder whether all the Stop the War stuff started something off though…

 

Moving towards midnight, the crowd moved down Whitehall and a huge crowd ended up filling Whitehall outside Downing Street and all the way up to Parliament Square. We shouted, cheered, lifted up our candles as we made a huge white band. Then the crowd fell silent at midnight for a minutes silence for the millions of people affected by unfair trade. We had a pray and then moved back to the Square, again seeing the weird mix of people attending … I loved seeing little prayer meetings kicking off everywhere.

I love politics and campaigning and am passionate about issues of injustice – always have been. But I’m still struck about how becoming a Christian made sense of so much of what I believed beforehand. Without Jesus so much can become just words and statements. With my faith in tandem I can dare to dream that the world can change. On this issue, amazingly, I am just beginning to wonder whether it might indeed change, for the better.

 

personal report by Andy Freeman, International and Reading Boiler Rooms 'Abbot'