Gave £10 to Virgin Unite (total £403.48p)

I have just finished reading Richard Branson's 'Screw it, let's do it' book, kindly given to me by Darren who is working for 6 months as a volunteer at Mona... In the book, Richard (perhaps rather cleverly, since I'm now donating something) mentions his Virgin Unite arm of his empire, which is the independent charitable arm of the Virgin group. Virgin Unite are about driving entrepreneurial approaches to social and environmental issues, changing the way social and business sectors work together to form partnerships that will drive sustainable solutions. To do this they focus on three key areas, Connecting People, 'Good' Investments and Social Businesses.

Some of the campaigns they're currently running include: (taken from the website)

Heaven's Angels is a campaign to raise funds for bikes for the Rural Transport Network - getting healthcare delivery in Africa moving.
The Re*Generation is a campaign supporting vulnerable young people on our doorstep in conjunction with our amazing grassroots Unite Partners.
The Music Movement is a creating and supporting a community of musicians who are willing and able to help tackle tough social issues. Such as Natalie Imbruglia who has gotten behind the issue of Fistula.

Well done Natalie...

The concept is really interesting and you can wander wonder through the site for hours, in terms of donating money there are several ways of doing it, including 'give time', 'give stuff' 'give voice' and 'give time'. Since I'm doing shed loads of expenses on a Saturday night (terribly social me) time isn't something I can give, so I looked in to 'give cash'; even here are there several ways of doing so, including sponsoring a fundraiser, sponsoring a project or something else entirely. One of the projects you can sponsor is the UKs Invisible Children campaign, who are living in extreme poverty and deprevation right here on our doorsteps. £10, by the way, provides a bath and three emergency meals for a young person living on the street. Well, I might be staying in on a Saturday, but at least I've got a damn roof over my head. Lucky wench.

Volunteered at a Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Spain, £160.00 (total: £393.48p) + RUBY REQUESTS SOME HELP

I like to tell clients Meaning is the New Money... and this is what my time in Spain this week was. Having decided that I wanted to do some volunteering work, but without the time to go and spend 6 weeks building an orphanage in Nambia (I think my mother was relieved) I saw the Mona site, where they offer 'working weekends' for people that want to take a break and make a difference at the same time.

It was amazing.

Truly, utterly, amazing.

There are 14 chimpanzees there, and 2 Macacas. Katy (pronouced 'Catty' in Spanish) was one of the latter and would fire up at me every time she saw me, grabbing through her cage doors or leaping around her vast enclosure from branch to branch letting me know she was tough and small - funny, so am I you little rascal (alright, so she was a lot tougher, but hey)... The 14 chimpanzees came from varied backgrounds, each with sad stories to tell. Many zoos, for example, don't like to rescue male primates, as they consider them a bit of 'a waste of space' since they're neither cute or prone to getting pregnant... Mona has many males, from Tony who was a crippled but lusty little fellow who took a shine to me (most attention I've had in days) to Nico (above) who is the first animal to ever self harm, resulting in him having his fingers amputated. Victor has just joined, and spends most of his time under a red blanket, timid and slightly scared. He came from a family who treated him like their son, dressing him up, making him use a tooth brush and having him at the table, eating with a knife and fork. When he was around 6 years old, he naturally tried to show them how strong he was, as all growing chimps would; this was not the sort of behaviour they had expected at all and - having had the run of the house - he was put in a cage. The girls at Mona are still trying to figure out everything that happened to him, but he's beginning to play again, albeit with the women hater chimp, Tico (he rears up at you if you walk past and you're female, hilarious...)

Bongo is one of the little chimps, he's cute and kind and fun. We'd jump up and down at each other and have races which made the Macacas scream and screech with glee. Waty, who's in the same enclosure as Bongo, however, didn't like me playing with 'her family' and would spit at me. It's not bad though, how many people can say they've been spat at by a monkey?

I cleaned cages whilst I was there, made the monkey's enrichment (food 'packaged' in ways that encourages them to forage/play), washed blankets to dry in the hot summer sun and fed the animals their breakfast and lunch whilst having the experience of sitting with them whilst they ate dinner in the evenings (about 10 peices of fruit, one yoghurt or protein 'something', a rice ball and soup) and built hammocks and swings for them to play on in the cages. Every morning started by walking through their enclosures (whilst they were still in their cages) collecting any food they might have missed, the bright colored hankerchiefs we had wrapped food in or any toys that might have had to play with from the day before. Then I'd scatter their food under the bushes and around their tyres and sit and wait outside to see them bound out like the true, impressive beasts they are.

My time with Mona was beautiful, in the most basic, kind, startling way. It was hard work and I loved it, it was sad work with a happy ending. To see all the chimps, each with their own sad story to tell, living in such a pretty place, looked after by such patient people, made me glow. People think I've been on a two week holiday, sometimes you just need 2 days...

To see the chimps, please click here.
To make a donation, or even to adopt a monkey, please click here.
To find out about going on a working weekend yourself, please click here.

If you are interested in helping me collect various things for the sanctuary, please email me at: ruby.pseudo@hotmail.com. I am looking to collect blankets, seeds, tools, towels, pegs, bowls, cups, mugs, plastic beakers, money - anything. Ideally, I would love to send a package through in the next couple of weeks, would love to hear from any of you that would like to donate bits and pretty pieces.

Thank you,
'R'. x

Gave 15p to a man begging who looked clean (total: £233.48p)

I think I've done this before, given money to someone begging simply for the fact they looked clean. Well - it shows they're trying doesn't it?

Brought Piotr, the office cleaner, a flight £121.74 (total: £233.33)

Piotr, the Polish name for Peter, is our cleaner and sad. He's been sad for a while, he loved a boy and a boy left him. Well don't I know that story... (I hope you're well Henry)...

We sat outside the other day, just talking, and whilst I love London and being British (Churchill tattoo on my arm n'all)... I never realised just how difficult and tough a place it can be for anyone trying to make a living or indeed a life here.

Piotr, along with his other Polish working friends here (stretched across the UK in 'far off' places like Manchester and Birmingham) all have degrees. They have degrees to be nurses, lawyers, doctors and teachers... But here they clean our carpets, empty our bins and get ignored whilst we send that all important email.

Piotr told me he couldn't believe I spoke to him, that I was too important to speak to him. It made me sad. I told him that actually, we're colleagues and we both work for the same company. In essence, my boss is his boss...

Piotr worries about his English not getting any better, but that's because he's got nowhere and no time to practise it. He works long hours and many of the Polish people here work two jobs. He speaks to his mum every day by Skype and misses her terribly. Since his heart hasn't been mending too well (know that one too), he misses her more than most.

He told me that London is a lonely place. When I told him it was lonely for me too he welled up. Sometimes, just knowing that it's not just you is enough...

He has a friend he wanted to visit in Manchester and I offered to buy him a first class ticket to see him. He was terribly embarassed at first, and wouldn't say yes. I asked him to think about it. He went bright red and said he never been offered something like that. I told him about this, this re-spending of money, and he still said he coulnd't. I asked him if please, perhaps he could.

He called his friend and his friend is ill, he has jaundice and has returned to Poland.

I just hope it clears up before Piotr flies to see him...

I've never seen a man so happy; I thought he was going to cry.
Shame the chap's gay huh? It could almost have been a love story.

But two broken hearts do not make a right.
Or a straight.

Perhaps you can smile at your cleaner next time you see them? They're not the invisible class after all... Their hearts break too.

And wish both the boys well and the best of British luck.

Nice.

Gave £2.50 to Errol at Baron's Court towards My Diamond Ring... (total:£111.59p)

Errols's buying me a diamond ring remember? Saw him last night, and - since I hadn't paid equally for the dinner because my friend tipped and I didn't - gave Ole Blue Eyes money instead...

Well, I want my diamond ring dammit.