Global Child Poverty - Alarming!

Source: State of the World’s Children, 2010 , UNICEF

Child Population

Number of children in the world - 2.2 billion
Number of children in poverty - 1 billion (every second child)

Shelter, safe water and health

For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are:
640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3)
400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5)
270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7)

Children out of education worldwide
121 million

Survival for children Worldwide,

Over 22,000 children die every day around the world. That is one child every 4 seconds.
10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (same as children population in France, Germany, Greece and Italy)
1.4 million die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation

Health of children Worldwide,

2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized
15 million children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS (similar to the total children population in Germany or United Kingdom)
Some more numbers on the state of the world’s children

From UNICEF, the world’s premier children’s organization, part of the United Nations:

2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation
1 billion children are deprived of one or more services essential to survival and development
148 million under 5s in developing regions are underweight for their age
101 million children are not attending primary school, with more girls than boys missing out
22 million infants are not protected from diseases by routine immunization
8 million children worldwide died before their 5th birthday in 2009
4 million newborns worldwide are dying in the first month of life
2 million children under 15 are living with HIV
500,000 women die each year from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth

Source of Statistics: State of the World’s Children, 2010 , UNICEF

The Seasons of Life - We Cannot Judge !

There was a man who had 4 sons

He wanted them to learn and not judge things as they see them.

So he sent them on a long journey to observe a pear tree.

He sent each at different times of the year – summer, winter, autum and spring.

When they returned, he sat them down and asked each what they observed.

The son who had gone in winter, said the tree was twisted, looked dead and gnarled and an ugly tree.

The second son said it was full of green buds and full of promise.
The third son said it was full of blossoms and so beautiful and smelt so wonderful and was the most beautiful thing he had seen.
The last said it was ripe and dripping with fruit and full of life.

The man said they were all right as they had only seen one season in the tree’s life.

He told them you cannot judge a tree or person by only one season in life
That the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end when all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it is winter you will miss the promise of your spring , the beautiy of your summer and the fulfilment of your autum.

Don’t let the pain  of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.
Don’t judge life by one difficult season.

Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are sure to come.

Aspire to inspire.... before you expire

Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly and leave the rest to god.
Happiness keeps you sweet, trials keep you strong
Sorrows keep you human, failures keep you humble.
Success keeps you growing

God Bless you and keep you in his care through all the seasons of your life.

The Cost of War vs Feeding the World's Starving

A recent  report by students at a Berlin university noted between 1947 and 2006  over 170 wars have been fought, many are still ongoing. Millions of innocent civilians die of hunger, thirst and disease, fleeing these wars while the world looks on. The worst drought in 60 years has caused the world's most severe food crisis in East Africa with 3.5 million in Kenya, 2.85 million in Somalia and 3.2 million in Ethiopia in need of urgent humanitarian assistance (UN website). Why did it take so long for the UN to declare a major disaster exists when it appears hundreds of thousands had already died? Why are trillions of dollars spent on the Afghanistan war alone while over 25,000 children throughout the world die in poverty each day.

The UN estimates just 40 – 60 billion dollars a year would halve world poverty and yet we spend so much on weapons of mass destruction. “The Cost of War Calculator” (http://www.stwr.org/special-features/cost-of-war-calculator.html ) is a great website which lists what could be spent supporting the billions of people around the world living in poverty as opposed to the billions of dollars made by first world countries and major private arms manufacturers in weapons of war - mass destruction.

 

• Just one cluster bomb for example which kills and maims hundreds of people costs $8,660 – enough to produce 10 clean water wells, or remove 9 landmines from the ground, or 309 Chickens (eggs mean protein - vital for every diet. Three chickens can produce enough eggs to feed a whole family. They'll produce baby chicks too).
• The Cost of a Single MH-47 Chinook Helicopter is $67,000,000! This could provide 19,142,857 blankets for refugees as in emergencies, families often leave home with only the clothes they are wearing. Or it could provide 7,165,775 mosquito nets with two million people dying every year from malaria, most are children under five.
• The Cost of a single F16 Fighter plane is $80,000,000! This could provide 21,616 schools furnished with desks, chairs, tables, blackboards - vital things children need to build a foundation for learning. Or 4,280,364 children supplied with school books for a whole year.
• The Cost of a Single Uzi Sub-machine Gun Is $1,700. This could provide 152 Water Filters. Poor families in places like Cambodia, have no choice but to drink water full of bacteria and parasites. Water filters saves lives by screening out small but deadly bugs. Or 26 bicycles for a child to get to school every day.

Read what other weapons/planes etc could provide. A B-2 Stealth Bomber for example costs 1 billion dollars. See what 1 billion dollars could provide the poor on the "Cost of War" Website

http://www.stwr.org/special-features/cost-of-war-calculator.html

Gambling - Good News or Bad News?

 

“Bet Responsibly” - And have a great life !!!!

How often do we hear the "footie" commentators saying this just before giving the betting odds on a footie match the whole family is watching?

I am in regularly contact with people who sleep on the streets and have lost their homes, their families, their jobs, their children.

Why? Gambling...... and making it back to society through the many debts still owed is often a task insurmountable.

  It is a fact;

• Children  are prohibited by law to enter casinos and clubs where gaming machines or live betting takes place.
• The same does not apply to TV where gambling and betting are concerned. The TAB is invited right into our lounge room and we have no say who watches and partakes in the gambling
• For children to watch sport, hear the odds and the betting market, are our children being taught - Sport = Betting? 

 Consider this.

I know a family, who owns their own house, the parents have jobs and the

children are at school.

On a regular basis;

Dad has a few drinks in front of the TV while watching sport.

The latest betting odds are broadcast throughout the sporting event
Dad and the children have fun selecting odds and winners.
Dad makes a phone call and places the family bet with the betting agency
In the background the announcer can be heard to say

“Don’t forget to bet responsibly” !!!!!   

If the family wins - that goes into the kitty for tomorrow night’s betting
OR
to the kid's piggy bank !

 

If the family looses.... often dad fits the bill

The ultimate result for the child :
To bet and win - "I get money"
To bet and loose - "No problem, mom and dad pay for that"

A gambler is born !

Poverty - Is this necessary?

25,000 people will die today and each day from hunger while trillions of dollars are poured into weapons of mass destruction and new wars begin each year.

Since the 9/11 atrocity the US government has spent $1.121 trillion dollars on the war in Afghanistan and Iraq (2011) and in 2009-10 Australia’s Afghanistan war budget was a massive $1.2 billion for our nation of just under 25 million people.

43 million asylum-seekers currently wandering the globe, fleeing wars and poverty which for the most case are not of their own making while 1.2 billion people survive on just US$1.25 a day while a new billionare is made every second day to add to more than the 500 already existing.

The gap between the rich and poor is growing alarmingly, poverty is on the rise throughout the globe and yet the United Nations estimates just $40 – 60 billion a year would halve world poverty.

The Earth Village

The Earth Village

If you could fit the entire world into a village of 100 people and maintaining the proportion of all people living on earth, that village would comprise of :

52 Asians,
21 Europeans
14 Americans (north, central and south)
8 Africans.

Of those 100 in the Earth Village:

There would be 52 women and 48 men
There would be 30 Caucasians and 70 non-caucasians
There would be 30 Christians and 70 non-christians
There would be 89 heterosexuals and 11 homosexuals

Of those 100 in the Earth village:

6 of all those people would contain 59% of all the wealth and all would be from the USA
80 of the people would be living in poverty
70 would be illiterate
50 would be suffering from hunger and malnutrition
1 would be dying
1 would be being born
1 (yes only 1) would have a university degree.

If we look at the world this way, the need for acceptance and understanding would be obvious.

But consider this:

-          If you wake every morning with good health, you have more luck than 1 million people who won’t live through the week.
-          If you have never experienced the horror of war, the solitude of prison, the pain of torture, have never been close to death from starvation, then you are better off than 500 million people today.
-          If you are able to worship with no fear that someone will assault you or kill you, you are better off than 3 billion people
-          If you have a fridge full of food, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are wealthier than 75% of the world’s population.
-          If you have a bank account, money in your wallet and coins in your purse, you are one of the 8 privileged few amongst the 100 in the Earth Village
-          If you parents are still married and alive you are a rare individual
-          If you can read this article, then you are not one of the 2 billion who cannot read or write.

And SO.....

WORK like you don’t need money

LOVE like no one has ever hurt you

DANCE like no one is watching

SING like no one can hear you

LIVE as if this was Paradise on Earth

Availability of easy gambling - a cause of Homelessness?

Gambling is a major cause of misery and homelessness to those addicted. Billions of dollars in taxes are raised from the gambling society and it is not in government’s interest to halt this devastating form of abuse. For many lonely men and women poker machines, horse racing, sporting events and so forth are simply a means of escaping their sad and lonely lives.

 

Soon they are addicted and it is not long before housekeeping money and jobs are lost. Many on the streets have lost everything through gambling. Homes, families, jobs, cars and now they live from dole check to dole check sleeping under bridges and buildings. No support, no one to talk to except the beckoning from the clubs and casinos who welcome them day and night as their dole checks disappear down the slots. Often this is the only means of escaping the weather, to get a cheap meal and perhaps a little company while they wait for the day to pass.

 

It is not just clubs and casinos that beckon gamblers. All major television sports display regular betting odds enticing betting on results. It is so simple to open a telephone account linking it to a credit card or bank account and then betting directly from one’s lounge, while watching television. The only check on age when opening an account is for the "minor" to tick a box which indicates they are over 18. If they are below this age, the onus is on them and they are eligible to place bets online. In other words, who is to know they are under 18?

 

Underage children are not permitted into casinos and clubs. Yet, watching parents betting from their lounge and even in some cases encouraged to do so themselves, is quite acceptable by governments and authorities. I know of children whose parents will add the children's betting wins to the child's bank account they have opened for them. But, should the child lose on a bet, that is not deducted from the account - mom and dad simply "wear" that loss.

 

Is this not teaching children that it is perfectly natural to gamble on sporting events with no regard to the consequences, until it is too late?

Family Breakdown - A cause of homelessness?

I have yet to meet a person who has freely chosen to live a homeless life on the streets. A life of sleeping rough, hungry and cold, with little human contact, no job and seemingly no chance of escaping this dangerous miserable life. A vast majority of the people we support are not drug addicts, alcoholics or people with no intention of helping themselves. Family breakdown, domestic violence, gambling, lack of work, loss of self confidence and esteem are one of the worst forms of human mental destruction. And yet the answers are so simple – love, care and kindness.

 

This blog, I discuss family breakdown.

Family breakdown is, I believe, a major cause of homelessness and misery. It is the children who suffer the most at these times. In many cases this is the start of a life drifting from shelter to shelter, couch surfing, seedy bars or a life of crime and living on the streets. At a critical time in these children’s developing lives, the true meaning of life and morals is not taught them. To survive the harshness of the streets leads to an existence the majority of society shuns and frowns upon. Yet, this forced lifestyle is often their only means of survival.

 

Late at night and on the streets, there is no room for weakness.  I have met boys and girls as young as 14 living on the streets. And what is the reason for their running from home? It is often the abuse by de facto parents or partners, marriage breakdown and separation that drives the child from the safe place they once called home. On the streets at such a tender age, children rightly cannot legally access an adult shelter or motel. Often the authorities who locate such children simply return them home to their abuse once more.

 

A child or young person on the streets matures and hardens quickly and in their circumstances, their belief and faith in adults, the law and religion, is very different to that held by most other children. Street survival is a way of life most people cannot imagine and it is only these young people’s cunning and street smarts that get them through. There are always the drug pushers looking for new clients. Clients they can addict and turn into couriers, pushers or a life of prostitution.

 

I am unable to truly imagine and describe the loneliness and fear a child experiences on the streets alone at night. Sadly though, that is often preferable to the life they are running from. Many an adult we meet living a life of loneliness on the streets started their street life in just such a way.

Domestic violence is another major cause of homelessness. At such times often the only choice for abused women is to take the children and whatever is at hand and flee the home. And then police and courts become involved. In many cases this is the start of a life hiding from abusive partners search for them often ignoring court orders. So begins the woman and children’s life of fear and moving from place to place, sometimes sleeping in cars, on couches in barns or sheds. If in their flee from the violence, leases are broken, or accommodation destroyed, it is often the woman and children who are then no longer eligible for rental accommodation. At such times mothers stand a good chance of losing their children to the authorities. To avoid sibling confiscation mothers may start another life on the run and one of lies, constantly moving and abandoning welfare payments to remain anonymous.

 

We cannot judge and have no right to judge.

 

Quotes

Homelessness is not only of bricks but homelessness comes from that terrible loneliness that the unwanted, the unloved know along their way. Are we there? Do we know them? Do we see them? Mother Teresa quote.

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. Buddha Quote

Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries Douglas Casey

Mother Teresa's Anyway Poem

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.