Results of Auction
for Emmaus
at Pentacle 10th
Anniversary Inspiration Day
| About Emmaus: | |
| Short video | Website: Http://emmaus.org.uk |
| Additional Donations | |
Limited Edition Lithograph for Auction
"La pêche aux rêves" by Martial Bourlot
The highest bid for the painting was £151
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RECORDED SPEECH FOR PENTACLE 10TH ANNIVERSARY EVENT 24TH FEBRUARY 2005
May I first express my apologies for not being able to join you today at what sounds like a really exciting event. I am currently touring Asia. I am doubly regretful that I cannot attend as part of the day’s proceedings has been raising money for a charity that I hold very close to my heart, Emmaus.
Emmaus runs Communities for homeless people throughout the country, where they are given a chance to regain dignity and self-worth through work and companionship. There are currently 11 Emmaus Communities in the UK, and a further 10 in development. Each Community not only provides a home and work for those without either; it is also a business in its own right, renovating and reselling unwanted household goods. At the first Emmaus Community, which I opened in 1992 in Cambridge, the workshops generate a turnover of half a million pounds each year, not only financing the Community itself but also donating money to other causes, including paying the food bill of the local year-round night shelter. Quite an achievement! Your generosity today will enable our work to progress even faster, so that more homeless people can take up the challenge to support themselves and their Community through their work.
When I was a student, many years ago, I worked for a while in a hostel in Middlesborough. The men there were given a bed for the night and turned out on the streets after breakfast. Apart from the lucky few who found work in the hostel kitchen or sweeping the yard, there was nothing for these men to do. I discovered at first hand that being homeless is much more than having nowhere to sleep; giving people a bed is simply not enough.
When I was a captive in the Middle East, I experienced for myself what many homeless people go through. I lost my rights as a human being and was at the mercy of anyone who came along. I had no privacy, little food and few, if any, creature comforts. I endured the isolation, fear, boredom, despair, and that sense of helplessness and exclusion from ordinary life, which is so much a part of both captivity and homelessness. A handout can do very little to combat these feelings; a stable home and a worthwhile job can do much.
These cannot be taken for granted, even by those, like you and me, who have achieved prosperity and renown. It is easy, much easier than many people think, to become homeless. It is a very quick road down from the top and very difficult indeed to begin to climb up again.
When I visited an Emmaus Community some time ago, one of the residents told me that we had met before. I could not remember him until he said, ‘I was your sergeant in the Guards’. After 25 years of service he had left the Army and bought a house with his wife. But outside of the structured Army routine he turned to drink, lost his job, his house and his wife, and ended up on the streets.
Emmaus helps people who for one reason or another have ended up without a home, a job and a family, to recover their self-respect and find new and meaningful lives. I would like to express my sincerest thanks to all of you and to Pentacle, for joining me in supporting what I believe to be a most worthwhile cause.
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Copyright Pentacle1997 Eddie Obeng 1994 All rights reserved
