Today

28 December/January April/May 2011 2015/16 Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today www.KCWToday.co.uk 020 7738 2348
December/January 2015/16
Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster Today
29
Young Chelsea
Young Chelsea
online: www.KCWToday.co.uk
Illustration © Rebecca Eaton
Chelsea Nanny
American Mom is sobbing in
front of the John Lewis advert
again. The Small One has been
on a blue-Smartie level high since
the underwhelming switching on of
the Christmas lights in Duke of York
square back at the start of November.
The festive season lasts a confusingly
long time in Chelsea. The Eldest is
laminating his present list for the seventh
time before sticking it back on the centre
of the fridge door - prime list real estate.
The Middle One is drafting a letter
to Santa Claus on her iPad. When she
asks what his number is so that she can
send it as an iMessage I nearly drop the
crystal angel destined for the top of the
ten foot tree in the hallway.
It’s only four days into the school
holidays and we have already exhausted
all the activity options. American Mom
vetoed Winter Wonderland this year
after the Small One almost slipped
out of one of the rides last year and
the Eldest got into a heated stand
off with an elf called Elderfield. The
Eldest claimed it was because the elf
was grumpy. The Middle One told me
afterwards that the Eldest had tried to
pull Father Christmas’ beard off when he
said he didn’t have any Star Wars robots
left. As neither story could be verified I
ignored both and turned my attention to
making sure the Small One didn't choke
on a candy stick.
There are three whole days still to fill
before the family jet off to Verbier. The
tree is groaning under over-decoration.
The cat has tinsel permanently tied to
its tail. American Mom has been out to
“stock up on Sherry for Santa” at least
twice a day since school broke up. I
have run out of places to hide the gifts.
I pulled a pair of misplaced Chelsea FC
socks intended for the Eldest out of my
handbag in the pub two nights ago and
now my boyfriend thinks I’m cheating
on him.
I have an all-too-brief week of respite
while the Brats are skiing. They arrive
back in Chelsea with goggle tans and,
miraculously, no broken bones. I also
receive a late token of festive cheer from
American Mom, an ugly mohair scarf
that she had received from her cousin.
The tag was still on, wishing her a
‘healthful and spiritual 2016.’ A priceless
sentiment. The scarf, however, did have
a price, a hundred and twenty five quid
on eBay, to be precise. A handsome
contribution to my New Year’s Eve
fund. The other thing I take with me on
my NYE night out is the Small One’s
questionable version of Once in Royal
David’s City, which is stuck in my head.
Even Auld Lang Syne can’t shift it.
New year, same brats.
Young Chelsea is using small things
to build something great this month.
Fergus Coltsmann investigates
how £15 loans can help businesses
throughout the developing world
find their feet with Lendwithcare
and Jade Parker places her order in
a new way of helping the homeless
at Black Sheep Coffee. Meanwhile
Chelsea Nanny’s Brats get to grips
with the spirit of Christmas and Max
Feldman gives a guide to giving up as
his New Year’s resolutions amount
to nothing. Remember, if you want to
write for Young Chelsea, contract us
@KCWToday on Twitter or email news@
kcwtoday.co.uk
Lending with
care
By Fergus Coltsmann
Despite our well documented
overindulgence in life’s vices, we at Young
Chelsea are a compassionate lot. As that
time of year rolls around, we felt we
should partake in the season of giving
and had a look around to see what we
could find.
Lendwithcare caught our eye as
something a little different. The premise
is pretty simple: someone in a developing
country has an idea for a business. This
entrepreneur approaches a Lendwithcare
partner in their country and asks for a
loan, and if they think it has legs they
upload a profile to Lendwithcare’s
website. People from other, better off
parts of the world can view the profile,
which contains details about the business
plan, how much money is needed, and
what the repayment schedule is. If they
like it, they can put some money forward
to the total loan. When fully funded,
the loan is released to the entrepreneur
and they can develop their business. If
all goes well, the loaner then receive
payments of their money back, and
can either loan it to someone else or
withdraw it.
The amounts of money we’re talking
about aren’t large, a few hundred pounds
to maybe a grand or so for the total
loan, with individuals loaning fifteen or
twenty quid. What might pay for a night
out in London (HA! Maybe the first
round) can make a real difference in, say,
Ecuador.
We decided to pitch in £15 and
lent the money to Javaid Younas from
Lahore, Pakistan. Javaid makes colourful,
decorative wreaths, and has done for two
years. He asked for £176 to bulk buy
materials, increase his product range, and
sell at a higher profit. Along with ten
other people, we funded Javaid, whose
loan was quickly filled. As he builds his
business, we’ll receive our repayments,
and definitely reinvest the money in
another entrepreneur.
Photograph © CARE/Peter Caton
Photograph © Black Sheep Coffee
Hot cup of
goodwill:
Donate a cup of coffee for
London's homeless
By Jade Parker
A
café has set up a kind-hearted
initiative whereby customers
are able to buy a discounted cup
of coffee and donate it to a homeless
person. Black Sheep Coffee, which has
branches in Fitzrovia and Aldgate, has
set up the scheme to help local homeless
people who cannot afford to buy a hot
drink themselves.
The coffee shop allows customers
to kick start their morning with some
caffeinated kindness by operating a
‘pay forward’ system. Using this system,
customers have the option of pre-paying
for a coffee, placing a Post-it note on the
free coffee board that a rough sleeper can
then pick up and exchange for a free cup
of coffee.
Gabriel Shohet, co-founder of Black
Sheep Coffee, believes local homeless
people get a lot more out of the exchange
than just a free coffee. He told Young
Chelsea: “Many homeless people suffer
not just from poverty but also from
severe isolation and social exclusion.
Sometimes, they can spend several days
without exchanging a word or even
making eye contact with another human
being”.
He went further to say: “The act
of walking into a shop, chatting with
a barista who knows you by your first
name, and ordering coffee goes a long
way. For a brief moment you are at
eye level with everyone else in society
because coffee is a simple treat that can
be enjoyed by anyone regardless of class
and social status. We think that our
customers and our staff gain as much
from the exchange as the homeless
people. Sometimes giving something to
someone in need can be as rewarding as
a receiving a free cup of warm coffee on
a cold day”.
Despite its intuitive appeal, Gabriel
told Young Chelsea that the scheme didn’t
start off smoothly: “We were advised not
to go ahead with the scheme. People told
us that it would deter other customers
from coming in because homeless people
would smell bad, be drunk, rude, and
use our toilets to do drugs and clean
themselves up, leaving a mess every
time. Of course none of those things
happened. The homeless are usually a
little embarrassed and extremely polite
and apologetic. They try to come when
the shop isn't too busy and all of our
customers understand what the initiative
is about and are very supportive. It's
brought people together”.
The idea of buying a suspended cup
started off in Naples, and has quickly
spread across the globe. With the
Black Sheep Coffee shop showing how
easy the process is, it is hoped that the
goodwill scheme will take off across
coffee shops around London.
Irresolute
Resolutions
By Max Feldman
New Year’s Resolutions are, in general,
masochistic exercises that mainly serve to
illustrate just how weak one’s willpower
actually is, rather than anything that
might help make great strides towards
self-improvement. Only 8% of people
stick to their principles throughout
the year while the rest fall before the
brutal realities of life without cigarettes
around January 3rd; so presented for
your reading pleasure is a list of the most
common New Year’s resolutions and the
exact moment you’ll break them:
1 Stop (or at least cut down) drinking.
Initially the easiest to make, considering
that the day after New Year’s Eve
tends to be an occasion where the mere
thought of alcohol is enough to cause
fevered shaking. The breakage tends to
occur at the exact moment said hangover
ends.
2 Lose weight. The central problem
here is that in the bleak darkness of
the British mid-winter, food is one of
the few pleasures that one has to stave
off The Shining-style freakouts, and
crowding into a gym in the evening dark
is liable to cause similar psychological
wobbles. Whilst a gym membership may
be purchased, by late February it will be
consigned to gather dust, alongside your
hopes and dreams of a better tomorrow.
3 Find a Significant Other/Break up
with a Significant Other: Realise there
was a definite reason that you were single
in the first place. One way or another by
February 1st any residual self-confidence
will have melted away (unlike the snow).
4 Make amends with those whom
you’ve wronged: The moment you
remember that none of them will answer
your calls.
5 Be a better person: Haha. No. Won’t
even last past the first flowerings of
hangover on New Year’s Day. You know
what you’ve done.
App that allows
Londoners
to become a jack of all trades
By Jade Parker
Learning a new skill in London can be
costly, whether it be musical, linguistic,
or sporty. For most people the allure
of being able to nonchalantly flaunt
an unusual talent is superseded by the
associated costs and hassle of actually
learning it.
The Meetup App has removed both
of these issues, allowing Londoners
to meet groups of people with similar
interests to them at little to no cost.
From groups that provide free fitness
classes to those which help people learn
a new language, there is a Meetup group
for almost everyone.
Haymen Shams is member of one
of London’s biggest Meetup groups,
London’s Arab Circle, and told Young
Chelsea: “The Meetup App has become
so popular because people want to be
connected, and with this app they can
be instantaneously notified about events
relating to what they're interested in.
The Meetup app is simple and easy
to use connecting people through events
and to make new friends. It provides a
safer way of communicating as it does
not show personal details.”