"Beating poverty is only possible when people work together."

This culture of silence in the community means that the issues are not being addressed and as such people are suffering. Working with community workers, myself and volunteers looked at the issues and barriers within my village. We then had conversations with the local community, which were organised through community workers to discuss what we proposed to offer in terms of assistance and to find out what the local community wanted from us. These conversations took place on a one-to-one basis and in group sessions. We felt that the proposal of a Community Hub in Valleyfield Community Centre may be an issue for the people of Oakley as it was not in their own village, but this was not the case. The community felt that having the Hub would give them access to the services they needed and the privacy they wanted.

Myself and other volunteers launched, "West Fife Villages Community Hub", on the 19th March 2019. With the success of the Hub, there has been an interest in expanding our Community Hub to a branch into Oakley, offering the same service as we provide in Valleyfield. The name would not change only the volunteers, and I, with the help of workers and volunteers, would encourage some training sessions and talks regarding basic human rights.

The right to privacy protects you against intrusion into your personal life - including unnecessary, heavy-handed state surveillance. Your right to privacy can only be interfered with when it is, "necessary to do so in a democratic society".[7] This might include reasons like protecting national security or public safety, preventing crime or protecting the rights of other people. However, any interference with your right to privacy must be 'proportionate' - no more than is absolutely necessary to achieve one of these aims. The right to a private life is based on the principles of human dignity and is linked to many other rights such as equal treatment and free expression. A society that does not respect personal privacy is one where dignity, autonomy and trust are dangerously undermined. In the Hub, we offer advice and support to Oakley, along with providing services for free as we are anti-poverty and non profit. Beating poverty is only possible when people work together.

Yet, this task is far from easy when you are looking at trying to change attitudes and behaviours established over generations. People live in very different circumstances within a community and many want to keep their affairs private. However, we can begin to make changes by bringing people together in the community where they live. The work I have been doing has helped to change my views on the way communities work.