We Won't Live With Poverty

We've seen extreme poverty halved in just 15 years. 15 more and we can end it for good. 

Together we can change our world. 

Watch, LIKE and SHARE this video if, like us, you won't live with poverty.

Emergency Appeal - Refugee Crisis

The stories and images dominating the news in recent days express the true horror of the refugee crisis. Around the world, millions of people have been forced to flee their homes, to run for their lives, and risk the safety of their families. 

We urgently need to help people in Europe – but this crisis goes far beyond here. Oxfam is already working in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, to get life-saving aid to people fleeing Syria’s brutal conflict. 

To reach more people, we need your help now.

In Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, we are providing life-saving clean water, sanitation and vital support for families who have lost everything. We urgently need to scale up our work here – as well as in Italy and other parts of Europe, where the number of refugees is increasing. We cannot do this without your help.

Save lives - you can make a donation at the Oxfam Bookshop in Hertford or you can donate online HERE

We’ve seen a huge groundswell of support for people forced to flee their homes – support that has only strengthened with the latest stories of tragic loss. 

Give NOW and together, we can be there for men, women and children in urgent need of our help. 

Thank you so much for your support,

Jane Cocking 

Humanitarian Director

Oxfam GB 

New Shop Frontage

The Oxfam Hertford Bookshop has had a makeover - we think it looks great!

Local Shoppers Called on to Give Strength to Charity Appeal

The charity Oxfam has said that it is now responding to more humanitarian crises in the world than at any time in its 70 year history.

“Strength to Survive” is Oxfam’s major new appeal for funds to support its emergency work and the Oxfam Bookshop in Hertford is asking for local people to get behind it. The UK government is matching all donations made by the British public to the appeal so every pound donated at the Hertford Oxfam Bookshop will be doubled in value.

The extra cash will help Oxfam to reach greater numbers of people at high risk of disaster as soon as possible, giving them the best chance of not just surviving the crisis but coming back stronger when the dust settles.

• Oxfam helped more than 6.1 million people in 2014
• Oxfam gave assistance to people in 24 different humanitarian emergencies around the world
• 11 million people were made homeless by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in late 2013
• In 2014 the number of people needing humanitarian aid due to conflict, storms, floods and droughts was more than 73 million. That’s up from 40 million in 2005.

The manager of the Hertford bookshop said that local people had previously shown their support for Oxfam’s emergency appeals. “At the shop in Hertford we’ve been privileged to witness first hand the public’s generous response to our emergency appeals, for example to the Tsunami in 2004, the Haiti earthquake in 2010 and, in the last few months, the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Their support for the Strength to Survive appeal will help Oxfam to assist people at the most difficult moments in their lives.”

Jane Cocking, Oxfam's Humanitarian Director says: "We cannot prevent natural hazards and wars, but we can reduce the devastation they cause. Disasters trap people in poverty. They hold back progress. Money raised by this appeal will strengthen communities to emerge stronger from disasters rather than descend into the pit of poverty again."

"The encouraging news is that the human spirit is indomitable," says Jane Cocking. "I'm constantly impressed by the determination people reveal in shattering situations.  Being by their side is what Strength to Survive is all about. It's about raising houses on earth mounds in Bangladesh so families that may have lost a son or daughter to drowning can survive the next flood and move forward with their lives. It's about buying a sewing machine for a tailor in the DRC so he can still work and feed his family despite the chaos of being caught in the middle of fighting rebel groups."

The Strength to Survive appeal runs until 4 May 2015.