Saturday 16 March 2013

Comic Relief: Red Nose Day 2013

Even though I'm fully Dutch, I had quite an British upbringing and I grew up watching the BBC and also Comic Relief's Red Nose Day. Last night I watched the 25th edition and as always it made me cry throughout the night for two reasons:
1) The short films they show are so touching, heart breaking and very real, without overdoing it.
2) The comedy is just so good - I loved Jonathan Ross in a onesie.



For everyone who doesn't know what Comic Relief is I will do my best to explain it and do it justice.
Comic Relief is a UK based charity which strives to create a just world free from poverty. The charity was set up in 1985 and since then they have had three main focus points.
  • They raise millions of pounds through two big fund raising campaigns – Red Nose Day and Sport Relief.
  • They spend that money in the best possible way to tackle the root causes of poverty and social injustice.
  • They use the power of their brand to raise awareness of the issues that they care most about.

  • Throughout out the years they have collected at least £800milion pounds which has helped millions of people in the UK and overseas and have funded close to 16.000 projects. Although there are two main campaigns, the people of Comic Relief work 365 days a year. We should not forget that the work we don't get to see on a daily base is just as (or even more) important as the things we see on TV.

    As I mentioned before, yesterday was Red Nose Day, a simple but very powerful concept. Every two years people do something funny for money. This can be at home, at school, at work and as the BBC gives an entire evening it's also done on TV. British stars, comedians and TV personalities entertain the public whilst encouraging them to donate money. Last night, Jessie J shaved off her hair to donate money and British boy band One Direction performed the official Comic Relief song: One Way Or Another (Blondie's hit from 1978). Besides all the fun things, you are constantly reminded that it is a night of charity. Films of trips to Africa by famous Brits are shown to educate viewers on what is happening overseas, how people struggle in the UK and how little (for most of us) it takes to help save lives. By donating £5 ,- you are already providing one kid with a vaccination against a deadly desease like meningitis or with a mosquito net protecting them from malaria.
    This image shows exactly where the money goes.

    The presenters and other comedians featured did such a good job and together with the British public they raised a record amount of money: £75.107.851. Congratulations to everyone who helped raising this incredible amount of money. It will feed a lot of hungry mouths, help and protect many babies and their families.

    While I was watching Comic Relief's Red Nose Day show yesterday on the BBC I once again realised how lucky I am and how many people are not so fortunate. Every Red Nose Day I donate an X amount of money (I'd like to keep the details to myself). It's an incredibly easy and quick process if you have a PayPal account. By no means am I trying to tell others to donate money, but, if you feel like dipping in your pocket click here.

    xx

    2 comments:

    Unknown said...

    This is such a great post! I agree with what you say and I really think people similar to you and I should be grateful for the lives that we lead compared to those who are suffering. I know sometimes we slip-up and dismiss our luck and complain of first-world problems, but I guess we've been so used to living our lives that we don't take a proper consideration of what other people in the world are going through, unless we see them on our TVs, such as the Comic Relief programme, or in other forms of publicity such as posters.
    Sorry for going on, I just wanted to say how much of an excellent post this is :)

    Admin said...

    Thank you so much! I really appreciate the time you took to write comment and I'm happy you liked it. :) x