The many initiatives that Jessie Marcham is involved with include setting up a farmers market around Oxford and helping to raise awareness of the plight of the people of occupied West Papua in South East Asia.

Jessie, who graduated with an MSc in 2005,  said: “Life, it has to be admitted, is complicated. Since I last saw all the CHE folk about a year ago, I have done seven different jobs, nearly started a farmers’ market, completed my thesis, found a new love, and re-dreamt my dreams for the future at least three hundred times. Seems like just as soon as I think I’ve settled on something, everything is in flux again for one reason or another.”

At the moment she is living in Oxford where, when is she is not working, she tries to spend as much time as possible at her allotment.

"My main job is two days a week at the Free West Papua Campaign, which is a small voluntary outfit trying to raise awareness about the illegal Indonesian occupation of West Papua and campaigning for a proper independence referendum there,” said Jessie.

“West Papua is the Western half of the island of New Guinea, full of rainforests, glaciers, and incredible biodiversity, and home to around 250 indigenous tribal groups. It was annexed by Indonesia in the 1960s and since then the story has been one of genocide and eco-cultural destruction. Human rights abuses are widespread and frequent, a sacred mountain has been turned in to the world’s largest copper mine and foreign journalists and aid workers are denied access.

“My role in the campaign is called ‘admin’ but actually includes everything from updating the website to filling in funding applications, writing press releases and entertaining small children whilst taking minutes of campaign meetings. Obviously, it can be overwhelming and harrowing at times. There’s also a whole lot of challenges in being the only paid worker in an under-funded voluntary group, and dealing with cultural differences and language barriers between the Papuans and English people in the group. Mostly, though, I really enjoy the work – I’m learning a lot, I love the sense of being part of a team and community, and I feel like I’m doing something worthwhile.”

She is also working one day each week for Craig Simmons, a local Green Councillor and co-founder of Best Foot Forward, an ecological consultancy firm which specialises in helping regions, organisations and communities to reduce their eco-footprints.

Jessie said: “Theoretically, I just do the filing and occasional research for him, but it’s through Craig’s chaotic world that I somehow got roped in to organising the Oxford Green Fair, helping out at the International Solar Cities Congress and attempting to start up a farmers’ market…

“The farmers market is very exciting and also quite scary – after about 9 months of work we’ve now secured a venue, written a constitution, found some stallholders and even fixed a date for the first market in mid-August. There’s still a lot to do, but if it works out right, we’ll soon be running a small, mostly organic, weekly market as a community-based social enterprise. Wow!”

And there is lots more to keep Jessie occupied.

She said: “Other stuff that’s happening in my life is the allotment (which is a refuge and source of sanity), the permaculture group (which we started as a continuation of the permaculture evening classes we ran), bits and pieces of gardening and babysitting work (useful extra cash), and vague ideas about writing (rather likely to stay vague at current rates of progress).

“The big dreams are of me and Andy buying land, building a house, planting an orchard, and living the good life; of waterwheels, horses, children, cowslips, coppice, and a real home. One day, we’ll be there - and hopefully we’ll get the best out of all the unexpected twists and turns in the path on the way.

If you’d like to know more about West Papua, have a look at www.freewestpapua.org

Jessie can be contacted here.