Bollocks to poverty

14 year old Fetura from Kombolcha in Ethiopia was horrified when she found out that her father had arranged for her to marry an older man.

“I was shocked when I heard his plan because my only intention was to complete my education and have my own job before getting married.”

When she tried to tell her father she didn't want to get married and wanted to finish school, his alarming response was:

“teaching a girl has no merit.”

Fortunately, Fetura had learned about her right to an education and the laws against child marriage through an ActionAid club set up at her school. With this knowledge she found the courage to tell her friends and teachers about what was happening to her.

The ActionAid school clubs in the area work with women's groups, the police and local leaders to end child marriage. With her courage and the support Fedura had from her community, her father was was informed by the court about girls’ rights to education and he finally allowed Fedura to go back to school.

Fetura who is now 16 and is studying at school says:

“I am advising my friends not to quit their education and defend their rights by taking courageous action like I did because I don’t want to see what was about to happen to me happening to my sisters and friends. Thanks to ActionAid, boys are now also with us fighting for our rights.”

Inspired by Fetura, other girls in the 10 districts of Ethiopia where ActionAid works are also fighting for their rights and taking action to end child marriage in their communities.

Find out more about ActionAid's work on education.

This year we took Bollocks to Poverty on the road to Beach Break Live, Reading and Freeze festivals.

Over 100 amazing volunteers battled gale force winds, mud baths and sunburnt noses to bring the education campaign to the masses. They chatted to, signed up and snapped thousands of festival goers.

If you were part of our volunteer team. We love you. Seriously.

And if you were one of the 8,500 festival goers who reminded the world about the freedom education brings – THANK YOU. You shouldn’t underestimate the power of your voices – or faces even!

It’s easy to forget just how life changing education is. Being able to read, write and do sums can mean the difference between running a successful business and living on the streets. For Ety, 12, who was born in a brothel in Bangladesh, education means freedom from a future as a sex worker.

Having your photo taken is a small act, but it reminds people how important education is and that everyone deserves to go to school.

What next?

We know photo messages alone won’t train teachers and build schools. It would cost just over £10 billion to make sure every child around the world got a quality primary education.

Wow, £10 billion, that’s a lot of money, right? Well yeah, but it’s less than we spent on the London Olympics. Suddenly £10 billion doesn’t seem so much.

And there’s more good news. There is a simple way for poor countries to find this money. Tax Justice.

Multinational companies are using loopholes to avoid paying tax on profits they make in developing countries. Unbelievably, poor countries lose more money to tax dodging than they receive in aid.

If companies paid all the tax they should, it would not only be enough to give a basic education to the 67 million children that currently miss out, but also stop AIDS in its tracks AND end hunger!

With your help we’ve already achieved some big wins. Let’s keep on winning.

Sign our petition and tell the UK government to close tax loopholes.

ActionAid is celebrating its birthday this month: we’re turning 40!

Remember those big birthday milestones? Buying a lottery ticket on your 16th, driving lessons on your 17th and that first (legal) drink on your 18th? Then the realisation that all future birthdays are just steps towards the horror that is Being Old.

The big 4-0 is when people often look back at their lives to see what they have achieved (and then panic and buy a round the world ticket).  When we looked back, we were amazed at how much life changing stuff has happened over the years, thanks to everyone around the world who has supported us.

We’ve created an online exhibition of 40 photo stories that make ActionAid what it is today.  Here's some of our favourites.

Back in 1985, videos were the latest tech craze and our wonderful supporters started hosting 'video parties' to show friends what ActionAid did and how they could get involved.

Then in 2002, Bollocks to Poverty was born and a pioneering crew of volunteers pitched up at Reading festival for the first time. 11 years later and we're still going strong!

We’ve run a lot of campaigns over the years, and improved millions of lives as a direct result.  From taking on Tesco and demanding supermarkets pay a fair wage to workers in poor countries, to the incredible Make Poverty History movement, to our latest war on tax dodging which thousands of you have supported.

We’ve also responded to hundreds of emergencies, but the 2004 tsunami in Asia was our biggest challenge. Once again you made our work possible by donating  a record amount, allowing us to help 750,000 people rebuild their lives.

Finally, one of our most inspiring stories is of Kimani from Kenya.  When our campaign to make education available to all led to Kenya getting rid of primary school fees, this 85 year old enrolled himself alongside his grandchildren to finally get the education he had missed out on.

Whether you've been supporting us for years or have only just met us, you're part of the story. Here's to staying young at heart and continuing the fight against poverty and injustice around the world.

See all 40 stories and our interactive birthday infographic

Big congratulations to the fabulous Alt-J who won the 2012 Mercury Music Prize last night!

We’re super pleased because the band are supporters of ActionAid, and lovely guys as well.

Some of you might have caught their DJ set in the ActionAid tent at Reading Festival this year, when Thom kept everyone jumping into the early hours.

The Mercury Prize shortlist included Richard Hawley, Plan B, The Maccabees, Jessie Ware and Michael Kiwanuka; some serious competition.

The good news for you is that you can download every one of the shortlisted albums for just £5 each from our partners Fairshare Music.  And a slice of the profits goes to ActionAid, so you’re helping fight poverty at the same time!