KENT MAGAZINE AW - University of Kent

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‘During one amazing
session, in one room all
the mentors wrote
down their hopes and
dreams and in another
the young people wrote
down theirs. Both groups
came up with the same
list: a home, a family and
some financial security.’
Katie Abbotts E93
1/3/4 Oxfam in the Sudan
2 Katie Abbotts
MAKING
A DIFFERENCE
Katie Abbotts E93
I graduated in 1996 with a degree in Communication
& Image Studies and no career plans. I was interested
in media and advertising but had no knowledge of
the realities, so initially I tried for work experience.
My first job was as a public relations assistant
in an agency in London. We worked hard hassling
journalists to write about our clients’ products,
drafted press releases and helped to plan how they
could market themselves. I think I worked for about
ten dot.coms that never made it to profitability,
though I had thought each one would make me rich.
After five years of this fast-paced work, I began to
see life as a conveyor belt to clothes shops with
expensive shoes and bags.
In 2000 I heard about a mentoring scheme. I had
been growing bored and disenchanted with my life,
plus I was finding the gangs of kids hanging around
street corners in my area increasingly scary. I applied
and successfully trained to be a mentor to young
people. During one amazing session, in one room
all the mentors wrote down their hopes and dreams
and in another the young people wrote down theirs.
Both groups came up with the same list:
a home, a family and some financial security.
I was matched with a 15-year-old girl from Camden.
We would meet each week at McDonald’s. We’d
drink a milkshake in Regent’s Park and talk about life.
Except that I wasn’t flunking my GCSEs and I wanted
to quit smoking where she still thought it was cool,
we had the same concerns.
Many of the young people being mentored had been
excluded from school, had drink or drug problems or
had trouble with the police, and they were quite
often isolated from their families so the impartial
friendship of a mentor could make a difference.
This led to my career change to PR consultant at
Oxfam. Here, each day is different. One day I emailed
Bishop Desmond Tutu to ask for his support on a
campaign and received a reply in seconds. My
colleagues are driven and committed to bringing
about change. Last year I organised a charity music
CD featuring donated music from bands such as
REM and Coldplay. I travel regularly and expect to go
to Sudan later this year. We want to raise more
awareness of the crisis in Sudan and continue to
deliver aid to the people who need it most.
www.oxfam.org.uk
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