Off The Grid (24HRS) Raises Over £400! - Malcolm Jones

This initiative was devised by Shelterbox to highlight the plight of Refugees and to raise money that Shelterbox could use to make the life of these Refugees more tolerable. It involved 24 hours without gas, electricity or telephone – no lights, TV, radio, cooker or microwave, no computer and no kettle. All my friends were aghast and thought me so brave for attempting such a feat. “I couldn’t do it” seemed to be the general consensus.

I started out at 9am on Saturday 16th July, having been out earlier to get a paper and a few little extras I might need. No more car after that. I settled down to breakfast with tap water instead of coffee, and milk taken from the fridge the night before for my cereal. There were newspapers, magazines and books to read, so no problems there. I started to contemplate the plight of the Refugee – what would they have for breakfast, and probably no paper, magazine or book to read. Tap water? – probably no tap. I was certainly becoming aware of their plight, and my “sacrifice” was living in luxury by comparison.

I actually felt guilty eating my lunch – a delicious salad of lettuce, cucumber, spring onion and potato salad, with frozen peas cooked the previous evening and topped with garlic-flavoured oil. So I should! I wonder what a Refugee would have? And here was I, sitting on the sofa in my own home in my own country. I was not far away from home in a foreign country, surrounded by barbed wire to keep me in and the hostile neighbours out. Yes, it certainly did bring home to me the plight of the Refugee.

Also, this was summer. It was warm and the days were long. I went to bed when it got dark, with the street lights on outside. I did not have to suffer the cold of winter or short hours of daylight. Did I miss television? Not really. And my daughter, her husband and my granddaughter paid me a short visit to make sure I was alright.

After 24 hours and washing and shaving in cold water, it was all over. I could turn a switch again – and feel guilty about it. I wasn’t going home – I was home, to the congratulations that I felt I did not deserve. True, I will have raised well over £400 for Shelterbox and it was well worth doing it!