Proud to provide a voice for the poor (From Bournemouth Echo)

Proud to provide a voice for the poor

9:00am Saturday 9th January 2010 in

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TO be a “voice for the poor” was one local lady’s desire when she made the long journey from Bournemouth to Copenhagen recently.

Pamela Flavell went to London to make the 20-hour coach trip to Copenhagen, representing Catholics from Dorset at a march during the Copenhagen summit on Climate Change. Pamela, who attends Corpus Christie, Boscombe, joined the trip which was organised by the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development (Cafod). Pamela was “slightly worried” about making the long trip at the age of 68, but thought it important to make it. “At my age I feel this is the time that I can say and demonstrate exactly what I think,” she told me.

Pamela, who has been a campaigner for the last 12 years, supporting such initiatives as Make Poverty History, went on to say why she felt the need to register her protest.

“The poor very rarely have a voice,” she said. “I live in a particularly lovely area in Bournemouth and we are not always aware of what happens to others. “In very poor places they rarely have the chance to have their voice heard or protest, so I felt I needed to go to represent them. And of course, anything that affects the climate will also have a direct effect on our town.”

Pamela said police provided the group with an escort during the march to the rally in Parliament Square, where the conference was being held.

“It was a great atmosphere in the crowd, wonderful and cheery,” she added. “It was the largest rally I have ever been on. There was only one group of protesters that caused any trouble and of course they were the ones that made the news! “They were within 30 yards of us, so we made sure we kept out of the way.”

Pamela expressed her concerns over the practice of “carbon emissions trading”, arguing that the poorest people will get the worst deal “if we are not careful”.

She went on: “It’s important to be a voice for the poor and to remember that the poor are everywhere and not just in our own town.”

So what did she feel about the outcome of the summit?

Media expectations for the conference were “huge” but Pamela felt that it turned into a bit of a “jamboree”.

“I would have been very surprised if Obama had signed anything because he has his own political agenda at home, but I do feel his heart is in the right place,” she told me.

“I look to the future and hope for better things, but I believe that Copenhagen [reflected] a loss of nerve and a lack of moral leadership.”