I have been very busy this week end sharing in some of the hustle and bustle of life in our busy community.

On Friday night I had the pleasure of attending St George’s Hospital medical school for the "Big Film Show case", where I saw a collection of animations and short films that children from the STAR youth club, working with the Body Action Campaign, had made. The project is funded by the local network fund, Peabody Trust, Wandsworth Community Empowerment Network and Refugee Week. Students from St George’s medical school have been giving up their time and working with refugee and asylum seeker children in Tooting.

The after school club teaches children filming and editing skills to create their own short films and animations about their lives in London and the fun things they do. These are then sent to their families and friends around the world to keep a visual contact with those close to them.

I took my eldest daughter with me and we both had a great time. It was good to see so many young people involved in constructive and fun activities.

As part of Refugee Week I also attended an event organised the South London Tamil Welfare Group on Saturday night. The evening programme included classical dances and the playing of classical Sri Lankan by children of Tamil heritage. There was also a Michael Jackson fan dancing to 2 of his tracks and who danced and looked uncannily like the real thing! One of the most touching things of the night was a dance depicting the sufferings of Tsunami and a talk by a young boy about the message of Refugee Week.

It is worth remembering the UN Convention on refugees was written shortly after the end of the horrific Second World War. An asylum seeker and refugee is someone fleeing persecution and in fear of their life and completely different to an economic migrant. For more information visit the Refugee Council’s website.

On Saturday, I also attended the Centenary fete at St James Church on Welham Road/Mitcham Lane in Furzedown. As well as buying authentic cards made by Rwandan children and a commemorative centenary pen, I had the joy of taking part in the cheque presenting ceremony, where the organisers of the "Funky Furzedown Party" were able to hand over a cheque of over £1,700 towards the Furzedown Youth Centre that the church helps to fund. Before going on a tour of the Youth club and discussing their great plans for the future I made the point to the gathered audience that if the Youth Centre was given 10 pence for every time someone said negative things about young people (and even if 20 pence was deducted for every good thing said about young people) the Church would have raised the one million pounds they are seeking to raise ages ago!

The vast majority of young people get a very bad press from the media when ironically young people are most likely to be the victims of crime and are probably the most productive ever, with more young people on apprenticeships and going onto higher and further education then ever before. It is a small minority that create a disproportionate impression of anti social problems.

On Sunday, I had the pleasure of attending the 150th anniversary celebration at Holy Trinity Church in Upper Tooting (Trinity Road/Trinity Crescent). I have fond memories of the church as when I was a member of the 4th Balham and Tooting Cub Scouts we would often come to Holy Trinity for services. It still looks the same! The Revd Hugh Grear was a charming, hospitable and witty host. Hugh has lost 19 pounds as part of a sponsored weight loss to raise funds for the 150th Appeal Fund!

The special service included hymns sung by the Holy Trinity Choir who were aided and abetted by recruits from Streatham, a sermon from Brother Patrick Moore, FSC, Scholar in Residence at Sarum College, Salisbury and a former teacher of the Revd Hugh Grear, as well as contributions by many others.

Sunday night was slightly more hard work but equally pleasurable. I was a panel member of a special "Furzedown Any Questions". This was the last event of the fantastic Furzedown Festival which has lasted a week now.

Other panellists included a Tory Councillor, a local solicitor, a local resident who works for the BBC, the Green parliamentary candidate, a local educationalist. The head of local Graveney Secondary School, Mr Stapleton, excellently chaired the well attended event. Topics covered ranged from whether local politics was too adversarial, proportional representation, religious hatred, council tax, young people, ASBO's and much much more.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and bodes well for community activism in Furzedown.

On Monday morning, I went on what I hope will be the first of many visits (as the MP!) to Wandsworth Prison. I have been to the prison on many occasions before (as a solicitor seeing clients) so it was quite an experience seeing parts of the prison that lawyers simply don't get to see. The relatively new Governor Ian Mulholland told me about his positive plans for the future and arranged for me to have an inspection of the various wings, the health centre, the training courses and some of the different types of cells.

Both the Governor and I agreed that it is crucial for the prison to provide an environment where prisoners can be rehabilitated and resettlement back into mainstream life is one of the challenges that needs to be better addressed.

Sadiq

When world leaders gather at the G8 summit at Gleneagles in July, they will be aware that this year is a crucial year for development. In order to make real progress in reducing poverty and working towards the Millenium Development Goals, Tony Blair will use the UK’s Presidency of the G8 to lead the rich countries of the world in taking action over global poverty

I am proud of Labour’s commitment to development issues and I am pleased that the first piece I write for the Borough News since being elected as MP for Tooting should be on such an important issue. The manifesto that I campaigned on and was elected on contains far reaching and radical policies to reduce poverty, reduce maternal and child mortality and work harder to tackle killer diseases like AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

Significant progress in eliminating world poverty has already been made – over the past generation, child mortality rates have halved, illiteracy rates among adults have fallen from 46 per cent to 34 per cent and twice as many people have access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.

Since 1997, the Labour Government has more than doubled aid, provided 100 per cent debt relief for amounts owed to Britain, pressed for fairer trade, and pledged to spend £1.5 billion on AIDS funding over the next three years. For the first time ever, under Labour, Britain has a clear timetable for reaching the UN target of 0.7 per cent of GNI for aid by 2013

However, we can and need to do much more. One in five of the world’s population are still living on less than 1 dollar a day. 1.1 billion people still lack access to safe drinking water, and 2 billion are without adequate sanitation. 104 million children are not enrolled in school, ad some 10 million children die each year before their fifth birthday. The fight against poverty must continue if we are to meet the global commitment to eliminate poverty by 2015.

Last month in the Commons, I asked Gordon Brown to outline his proposals for debt relief. (Click here for full transcript.) Gordon Brown wants to see a new deal between the richest countries and the poorest countries, in which developing countries are partners, not merely supplicants. If developed countries work together, they can provide a real assault on the underlying causes of poverty. This represents a formidable challenge, but the presidency of the G8 places us in a strong position to push these issues to the forefront.

Many of you will be aware of the Make Poverty History campaign, a coalition of charities, faith groups, campaigns, trade unions and celebrities. You may have seen people on the street, tube or bus wearing a white wristband to show their support for the campaign.

For me, this campaign represents the sheer force of people power in bringing important issues to our attention. On 2 July, this force moves one step further, with Live8 - 5 concerts being held across the world to highlight world poverty. Hyde Park will host one of these, and tickets are being allocated via a text competition,

The campaign calls for trade justice, dropping the debt and more and better aid, and these are goals that the Labour Government is working towards, with solid proposals on debt, trade and financing for development. 100 per cent multilateral debt relief for debt owed to the World Bank and African Development Bank. An end to the practice of attaching conditions to aid. Trade reforms to allow poor countries to build their capacity to compete globally.

When Gordon Brown visited Tooting recently he saw first hand the work that local faith groups had been doing to campaign to help cancel debt. I would like to pay tribute to the local churches, mosques, temples and other communities here in Tooting, and their valuable contribution to eliminating world poverty.

The next few weeks are vital in this campaign. Make Poverty History has succeeded in raising awareness of global poverty, and Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are now persuading other countries to join the UK in making greater aid and substantial debt relief possible.

Sadiq