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About Us
The Besom was founded
by James Odgers in 1987. Early in that year, James left the practice
of law in London to go to Hong Kong where he served in a Christian
ministry involved with heroin addicts. What particularly affected
him there was not so much the absolute levels of human degradation
and poverty that he encountered but the
ever widening gap that
exists between those of us who have and can give and those who are
in need. On the
plane leaving Hong Kong in September 1987, James wrote the original
mission statement for
Besom - that it should provide a bridge
between those who want to give money, time, skills or things, and
those who are in need. It ensures that what is given is used
effectively. The Besom began in the spare bedroom of James' basement
flat in Shepherds Bush in London. It now operates, some 20 years
later, from a large warehouse and offices near Clapham Junction.
Why 'The Besom'?
The name 'Besom'
derives from a broom made of twigs - hence Besom's strapline of
'sweep away suffering'. James Odgers was nicknamed Besom by his
sisters when he was a boy as he was often to be found sweeping up
the leaves in the yard of their family home outside London. While
researching whether to use the name for establishing the Besom
Foundation, and fearful that it might already be the name of some
huge American timber combine, James went to the Shorter Oxford
Dictionary to find an example of its earliest use. This turned out
to be 'sweep thy soul clene with the besom of the drede of God'. He
has since then discovered that, albeit spelt 'byssome', the word was
to be found in an early edition of St. Matthew's Gospel from
1000AD.'
Recent Talks
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"Whatever
You Do..." - A 40-minute talk given by James Odgers about the
first steps to discovering God's heart for the poor.
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(Size: 26MB) |
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These file(s) are in MP3 format and can be played on your computer,
on an iPod or any other portable MP3 player. To download a file to
your computer using Internet Explorer, right-click on the icon then
choose "Save Target As..".
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