Curry for Change

By helping individuals, families and communities in some of the most rural areas of Africa and Asia they help them gain skills, training and confidence. This in turn will enable them to build a future free from hunger and poverty. Sounds great doesn't it? Curry for Change isn't about giving hand-outs. It's about building people up so they can help themselves and others to live a better life - something much more sustainable and long-lasting.

Every family is different and their needs can change regularly. So by investing in local people and enabling them to become leaders of change in their villages, the whole community can benefit for generations to come. From teaching new farming methods to helping people to learn a trade or simply have a voice, some amazing work is happening.

I had to include this picture, I just love the smile on Kamlesh's face. Kamlesh lives in India and because she has been taught to make natural compost her homegrown vegetables are thriving. She can now sell her pumpkins and earn a little money to send her children to school.

Find your Feet

It was a real privilege to speak to the guys at Find your Feet. It was so obvious how committed they are and how much they wanted to work at a charity where they're making a real difference to people's lives. And I'm really looking forward to meeting the Country Director from India to get a better sense of the work the charity does. I'm sure I'll be blown away by it all.

I have always found charity an odd thing though. What does it mean to be charitable? Is it about giving money? As a Sikh, my religion states that you should give a tenth of all you have to charity. But for us that doesn't mean money or material possessions. It's about something much more valuable - your time, compassion, knowledge or skills - and donating them to help others. It's about being a humanist. About being kind. Ultimately, it may take money to make charity work but without these basic human characteristics a charity can't operate successfully.

On a slightly more personal note, this charity helps also people in Uttar Pardesh (UP) in northern India, which is where my father grew up. He often talked about the poverty and hardship that people faced but what makes me so proud is that he did something about it. He'd organise clothing parcels to be sent and distributed to the poor and he donated food to the hungry. But without the means or ability to do anything more he became frustrated at how little he was helping (in his eyes, at least). He often talked about setting up some kind of a foundation in UP but unfortunately this wasn't something he achieved in his lifetime. So to be able to help Find Your Feet is really significant for me and something I know he would've helped with too.

How can you help Curry for Change

So as you know I'm already sharing my love of Indian food through blogs and videos and photos and recipes. I really, really want YOU to be able to cook an amazing curry at home because then you'll be ready to take part and host your own Curry For Change event!

I'm having one at mine where I'm going help this wonderful charity do more for those families that need our help. And to get us all in the mood here are some of my show-stopping menu ideas that we can cook up together using my simple 'how to' videos or if you prefer you can cook along with me here.

All you have to do is get your friends, family, work colleagues, neighbours (just anyone) together and share an evening of great food, have a giggle and raise some cash – it's going to be a hoot especially with some of these ideas:

• - Dress the table with beautiful coloured fabrics.
• - Use incense and candles to set the Eastern mood.
• - Find some lovely Indian music to go with your exotic evening.
• - Do some henna tattoos with your girlfriends - just make sure you eat dinner first!
• - Why not go for a Bollywood film night?
• - Everyone wants to be an Indian princess (even the women ha ha!) so go on, dress up - Indian sarees are so glam!
• - When after you've had a drink or two, start giving everyone a bindi!

And for some more ideas, check out what the guys at Yours Sustainably got up to for their Curry for Change dinner party.

So whatever you decide to do, first sign up here http://www.curryforchange.org.uk/change-lives for your event pack. Come one! Let's cooking, have some fun and help others!