Seeker

I told you here that I'm not interested in football, but I did manage to notice last night that Spain won the FIFA World Cup 2010. So now the party is over and overseas fans returning home, leaving South Africa to get on with life without World Cup fever. Hopefully there will be some long term positive benefit for that country and all its citizens, where 40% of the population live below the international poverty line. According to War on Want thousands of people were evicted from homes and trading places in preparation for the World Cup. Some of these are in temporary transit camps where conditions are deplorable. Working with partner organisations in South Africa, War on Want is campaigning for investigation of the evictions and protection of the rights of all South Africans to decent housing and basic services.   You might want to sign up to War on Want's letter about this to Dr Zola Skweyiya, the South African High Commissioner to the UK .

Today's the day I come out and say, I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO INTEREST IN FOOTBALL. Never have. Probably never will. Kicking a ball about with my children years ago and now with my grandchildren is fun but I won't attempt that once they're old enough to use the proper grown up football (soccer ball). I did once regularly watch rugby football - standing on the touchline as a 17 year old schoolgirl watching the local boys' school team play, but my interest was in the boys and their bodies and not what they were doing with the ball. I was not thrilled to hear a TV reporter tell me this morning that 'World Cup fever begins today'. This was accompanied by a photo of 23 men and 1 women in grey lounge suits standing to attention before boarding their flight to South Africa. Apparently they were the England team. The Church of England website is now showing 3 prayers  here for the World Cup, including one for people like me who really couldn't care less. I do