Share Meet Danielle on FacebookShare Meet Danielle on TwitterShare Meet Danielle on LinkedinEmail Meet Danielle link
"I lived in Africa for the first 26 years of my life – first Zimbabwe, then Zambia, then South Africa – and I have very happy memories of that time. But being brought up seeing a lot of poverty, and how badly-treated some people are, particularly in a country where apartheid was so institutionally entrenched, does make you see life differently. I don't like injustice in any way. Until a country treats everyone equally, including its men and women, there will always be problems. I realised how fortunate I was, and still am. But also, having been through some really tough times myself, I know that I need to go with my heart. It makes me feel good, at peace with myself. I don't care about money, and being on furlough overlapped well with my volunteering. We now have a beautiful community set up to check our refugees are OK and help them talk together and share memories. They've even formed a choir which practises together in the church. And I just love crochet and knitting, it's so much nicer to make things than buy, so I joined a Saturday night knitting group which really helped many lonely and depressed people. It became the highlight of their week, and it was good for us to find out about their lives too.
"I feel fortunate to have the time and ability to care for people. Helping is so important and it bonds the community together. It also makes you realise just how close we all are to finding ourselves in a similar position. I've been able to shop for shielding neighbours with the help of UK Mutual Aid. I've also made endless lists, sorted rotas, collected challah bread for Jewish Care's OAPs and dementia residents, filled trucks and the synagogue bus up to the brim for the Felix Project and the homeless, and then driven it to them. Now I'm always carrying crates and boxes. Because I'm small, people keep asking, ‘How do you carry all that heavy stuff?’ To which I say, 'I'm fit and healthy, I do marathons, and I've done competitive swimming since I was 5. I also have super-determination!' I’m lucky, I have so much energy. I wake up every morning and jump out of bed, just grateful to be alive."
"I lived in Africa for the first 26 years of my life – first Zimbabwe, then Zambia, then South Africa – and I have very happy memories of that time. But being brought up seeing a lot of poverty, and how badly-treated some people are, particularly in a country where apartheid was so institutionally entrenched, does make you see life differently. I don't like injustice in any way. Until a country treats everyone equally, including its men and women, there will always be problems. I realised how fortunate I was, and still am. But also, having been through some really tough times myself, I know that I need to go with my heart. It makes me feel good, at peace with myself. I don't care about money, and being on furlough overlapped well with my volunteering. We now have a beautiful community set up to check our refugees are OK and help them talk together and share memories. They've even formed a choir which practises together in the church. And I just love crochet and knitting, it's so much nicer to make things than buy, so I joined a Saturday night knitting group which really helped many lonely and depressed people. It became the highlight of their week, and it was good for us to find out about their lives too.
"I feel fortunate to have the time and ability to care for people. Helping is so important and it bonds the community together. It also makes you realise just how close we all are to finding ourselves in a similar position. I've been able to shop for shielding neighbours with the help of UK Mutual Aid. I've also made endless lists, sorted rotas, collected challah bread for Jewish Care's OAPs and dementia residents, filled trucks and the synagogue bus up to the brim for the Felix Project and the homeless, and then driven it to them. Now I'm always carrying crates and boxes. Because I'm small, people keep asking, ‘How do you carry all that heavy stuff?’ To which I say, 'I'm fit and healthy, I do marathons, and I've done competitive swimming since I was 5. I also have super-determination!' I’m lucky, I have so much energy. I wake up every morning and jump out of bed, just grateful to be alive."
"I lived in Africa for the first 26 years of my life – first Zimbabwe, then Zambia, then South Africa – and I have very happy memories of that time. But being brought up seeing a lot of poverty, and how badly-treated some people are, particularly in a country where apartheid was so institutionally entrenched, does make you see life differently. I don't like injustice in any way. Until a country treats everyone equally, including its men and women, there will always be problems. I realised how fortunate I was, and still am. But also, having been through some really tough times myself, I know that I need to go with my heart. It makes me feel good, at peace with myself. I don't care about money, and being on furlough overlapped well with my volunteering. We now have a beautiful community set up to check our refugees are OK and help them talk together and share memories. They've even formed a choir which practises together in the church. And I just love crochet and knitting, it's so much nicer to make things than buy, so I joined a Saturday night knitting group which really helped many lonely and depressed people. It became the highlight of their week, and it was good for us to find out about their lives too. 