Lincoln - March 8th 2016 (International Women's Day)

Lincoln Cathedral - the view from my front door in Lincoln

I am always amazed by the sky in Lincoln. I live in the Cathedral Close, and the cathedral is on a ridge, rising steeply from the flat land to the South and East. The sky in the mornings is often a brilliant blue right through the year, and the sun feels warm, even though the wind from the East can be bitterly cold.

I've been in India for three months, so there's a shock to the system in the change in temperature, but there's another shock to the system in the attitude of people back here in UK, compared to the warmth of the tropical welcome and the positive "Can-Do" attitude of the young people in India, with their impressive dedication to education and self-improvement .

It is a similar situation with the stories I've been reading about refugees struggling across Western Asia, then risking the lives of themselves and their children in the Search for a Better Life. There is a determination to rebuild their lives, after the violence of war, torture, persecution. . . but I am not going to list all the horrors of their lives in the Middle East; the point is this: Can we help them rebuild their lives and give their children the promise of future opportunities?

I don't know the answer: all I do know is that I can't sit in Lincoln watching television and enjoying warm central heating while there are people in Greece, half-way to escaping their past and half-way to embracing a better future. It gets a bit biblical, and I am haunted by memories of Sunday School:

• "When did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?" 

So I fly in four weeks, to the island of Samos for a month - but I could be there much longer. In fact, I HOPE I shall be there much longer, doing something useful and helping people who have lost everything, to recover their self-esteem and rebuild their future.