Day -1:

As we pack up to go back to Oxford, the week is almost upon us. Both James and myself are currently away from the city at our respective universities and are returning in the next twenty four hours. The stuff I'm taking back is laid out in piles on my bed, with one distinctly smaller pile set to one side for what I'm taking with me when we take to the streets tomorrow evening. Having been ill for a few days I'm feeling much recovered (just in time). Still in the process of making all the final little preparations I never think to do in advance - such as finding someone to film us for the video diary, topping up my mobile and doing all the little tasks I won't be able to do from a park bench or public library.

Before we start our week I thought it might be good to put something up here about what we're doing and why. Simply put, we are living as if homeless on the streets of Oxford for seven days to raise awareness and money for homeless people and projects in the city. It is often noted that, for a city of its size, Oxford has a very large homeless population. We are just two local boys fed up with ignoring the people we see living rough or mumbling "sorry, mate" as we walk by. So for one week we are going to (as much as possible) step into their shoes in order to help people see the struggles they face and do what we can to support them. We know that sleeping out for one week is not the same as having to do it for real, as we'll be going back to our homes at the end of it, and we're keen not to patronise people - we really don't want people to feel like this is just a game to us. At the same time, we do want the whole thing to be as "authentic" as possible, so we won't be taking any money or food with us and plan to do whatever we can to get by (within the law, of course).

We have been collecting sponsorship, hoping to raise over a thousand pounds for local projects working with homeless and vulnerable people. The two projects we are supporting are the Gatehouse and Emmaus Oxford - check out their websites, http://www.oxfordgatehouse.org and http://www.emmaus.org.uk/oxford for more information. If you would like to give financially you can do so online at http://www.justgiving.com/weekonthestreets or if you would like to join our group on facebook it can be found here.

If you are of the praying pursuasion, we would also very much value your prayers. It's not far from the minds of either of us that Jesus cared a whole lot about the poor and disenfranchised and spent most of his life among them. If you would like to pray for safety and that this week would have a positive impact on the lives of homeless people in Oxford, that would be wonderful.

That's all for now - thanks for reading!
Chris.