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“Listen to me. You’re grown-ups. This is bad. You are being bad unless you do something about it.”
The words of a seven-year-old kid living in Everton, Liverpool. He had just drawn a picture of an empty plate, with the outline of Africa and Liverpool over the top of it.
“Because I’ve heard kids in Africa are hungry too,” he explained.
In a UK survey called the Index of Multiple Deprivation, Everton is described as the lowest ranking ward in the most disadvantaged local authority in England. Educational attainment is in the bottom 11 per cent of England, income deprivation is in the bottom 9 per cent of England, and then there’s health – it’s better than zero per cent of England.
But these are just numbers.
For Henry and Jane Corbett, and this seven-year-old kid, Everton is home.
“Our little community, on paper, you’ll see stats and you’ll think ‘oh my goodness’,” Jane says. “There’s difficult times, it’s not perfect … but it’s heaven on earth.”
In this episode, the Corbetts share their passion for the Everton community – including all of the highs, and all of the lows.
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This interview was for CPX's documentary, For the Love of God: How the church is better and worse than you ever imagined. Check it out at betterandworse.film.
You can find out more about the work Henry and Jane Corbett are doing in Everton here: http://www.shrewsburyhouse.org.uk
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This episode was first broadcast on 4 May 2017.