Tag: Children

#OhWhatLove // OhWhatJoy

It would almost be impossible to watch the amazing Watoto kids singing live without experiencing joy. It completely exudes from their smiling faces, passionate singing, and funky dance moves. I recently got a taste of this uplifting joy when we saw the Watoto kids at our church.

If you haven’t yet experienced the Watoto kids choir, then you are missing out on receiving some joy in your life.

       

Apart from spreading some much needed joy throughout the world through their kids choir, Watoto does some amazing work in Uganda by rescuing orphans and abandoned kids and helping abused women. Through health, education and most importantly, a faith in God, Watoto helps to set them up for life… as their tag line reads – rescue, raise, rebuild.

Watoto is positioned to rescue an individual, raise each one as a leader in their chosen sphere of life so that they in turn will rebuild their nation. 

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And I’d totally recommend getting along to see one of their concerts if they come to a place near you! You’ll love it and if you have kids, they will love it too! Here’s a taste…

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The largest humanitarian crisis of our generation

“Syria in Crisis” – sadly, this phrase is very common at the moment. So much so that it just seems to be a part of the fabric of global society now, and just another one of those big problems in a country far away that is too big to fix… so now it doesn’t even get much coverage on prime time TV news, doesn’t make the front page of papers, is shoved in some ‘global news’ category deep within the news websites. And so we, in our busy lives, as we just mange to scrape the surface of current affairs and glean what is interesting and relevant to us from the mass of information going around, forget about what UNICEF have called “The largest humanitarian crisis of our generation”…

UNICEF Syria
This bold red strip is currently at the top of the UNICEF website


Now that’s a big call. But I think if anyone would know, UNICEF would… so I think we all need to dig a little deeper and take notice, or more appropriately… take action.

WFP have helpfully given a short overview for us to better understand the situation:

“Conflict in Syria has forced millions of people to flee their homes, creating a humanitarian crisis in which food is a top priority. WFP aims to bring food assistance to up to 6.5 million Syrians between now and the end of the year. These include 4 million people inside Syria – on both sides of the front lines – and 2.5 million refugees in neighbouring countries.”
Source: http://www.wfp.org/crisis/syria

Continue reading “The largest humanitarian crisis of our generation” →

The single biggest solvable problem facing the world today

Here’s a bunch of interesting facts that I just learnt from WFP (World Food Programme). As part of the article they make a big claim that “hunger is the single biggest solvable problem facing the world today” – the remarkable thing about this claim is that they say that hunger is “solvable”. You don’t really hear that too often, but it is exciting to hear this positive spin on the state of world, rather than the ‘doom and gloom’ that we often hear.

Some of these facts are a bit ‘doom and gloom’, but some definitely give hope that hunger is in fact solvable – like the fact that I can make a difference with only 25 CENTS a day – that’s around $7.50 per month to give a child a chance at a healthy life. And maybe something surprising for all us relatively comfortable Aussies – most of the world’s hungry people live on our door step – in the South Pacific (not Africa as most may think). Continue reading “The single biggest solvable problem facing the world today” →

Celebrate Progress and Never Stop Asking for Change

MDGThere’s a lot of power in shocking statistics that portray the ‘doom and gloom’ of poverty and other big issues – they can help us to come to terms with the reailty of what others are going through in this world and can often move us to action. I see heaps of these ‘shocking stats’, but not so often do I come across more ‘positive stats’ – stats that highlight the encouraging progress that is being made and celebrating the change that has been achieved over the years.

I recently came across a great video that showed some great stats on the progress that has been made on the Millenium Development Goals (MDG):

In 2000, 189 nations made a promise to free people from extreme poverty and multiple deprivations. This pledge became the eight Millennium Development Goals to be achieved by 2015. In September 2010, the world recommitted itself to accelerate progress towards these goals. (from UNDP website).

MDGThere’s some big goals here and it’s so encouraging to see the progress that has been made so far – here’s a snapshot of some awesome ‘positive stats’ from the video: Continue reading “Celebrate Progress and Never Stop Asking for Change” →

Thousands of Positive Posters!

Congrats to Nick and the crew at Positive Posters for running a successful 2011 competition! There were literally thousands of entries, so I did my best to look at most of them, but just couldn’t get through them all (or this post wouldn’t have been live until 2012!).

So here’s a few of my favourite entries based on the message they communicate, a clever concept, great design or a combination of them all. Enjoy!

by Tom Andrews // Hundred's and thousand's die in poverty

Continue reading “Thousands of Positive Posters!” →

Fact: The 2 biggest killers of children under the age of 5

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“The 2 biggest killers of children under the age of 5 are pneumonia and diarrhoeal diseases.”

* UNICEF / World Health Organisation / World Bank / UNFPA

TAKE ACTION: “I believe it shouldn’t end at the beginning” – check out the great campaign by Compassion called ‘I Believe‘. The sadest thing about the above fact is that these are entirely preventable and treatable diseases. Forty-three per cent of under-five deaths are attributed to the five diseases: pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria, HIV/AIDS and measles – in Australia, these diseases account for just two per cent of deaths of children under five. Visit the I Believe website to learn more about child mortality and find out how you can help.

Brazil In Focus

Thanks to Compassion Australia for this update on Brazil:

Powdery white-sand beaches lined with palm trees stretch for more than 7000km along the coastline of this enchanting South American destination. The country is synonymous with soccer and joyful parties, but rapid growth in the urban population of Brazil has created serious social, environmental and political problems, with some 20 million people living in slums and on the streets. Continue reading “Brazil In Focus” →

Two Positive Posters

Positive PostersI recently posted about a great competition called Positive Posters. It’s in full swing now with heaps of entries coming in with some great designs, interesting concepts and challenging issues put out there.

I’ve been thinking about submitting something for a while and finally got around to it! So here’s my crack at some Positive Posters. Hope you like them – if you do then it would be awesome if could ‘like’ them – just click on the poster to go to the PP website and then hit the Facebook ‘like’ button!

More importantly, I hope the message/issues raised challenge you to action! Continue reading “Two Positive Posters” →

Life Under the Poverty Line [Infographic]

In many countries, a significant percentage of the population survives on just a few dollars a day. Here’s a look at the distribution of consumption in several developing nations. Some amazing insights and facts that will open your eyes to the reality of  living in developing countries. Continue reading “Life Under the Poverty Line [Infographic]” →