Just How rich are you?

We obviously think that we are far from rich. I certainly don't think I am rich. My 8 year old son Samuel I'm sure will be rich. You can ask him at any time how much money he has and will give you a detailed account of his money and both his brother and sister in dollars and cents. He seems to notice even when I borrow a dollar off him.

I did some calculations earlier to work out just how rich you are. Did you know that if you only earn just $10,000 a year you are amongst the 13.72% richest in the world, $20,000 a year 11.97% richest, $30,000 a year %10.22 richest, $40,000 5.73% richest, $50,000 3% richest, $60,000 top 0.99% richest. Wow! (At the current Australian exchange rate)

The world bank now draws extreme poverty at $1.25 a day as being extreme poor. That is not a little poor, that is a lot poor. That is not having any food, not having a roof over your head, unsure where you will find clean water to drink next and worrying if you will live the year through.

At the moment in the world there are 1.4 Billion people who live on less then $1.25 a day. That is an incredible number, a shocking number and a statistic that surely couldn't be true. But it is. To me it seems so far removed form real life.

What can you buy for a $1.25? Not much! Certainly not enough to live on.

So the question is just how rich are you? What can you do now to make a difference for one. You may not be able to feed 100 people. But can you feed one?

Buy a gift for a child. Click here

http://trans.worldvision.com.au/Smiles/GiftCatalogue/Gift.aspx?GiftID=79

I just bought a present for my Dad's birthday from this site.....shhhhh! Don't tell him.

With a few clicks you have a bought a present that changes lives.

HOW RICH ARE YOU?

Every year we gaze enviously at the lists of the richest people in world.
Wondering what it would be like to have that sort of cash. But where
would you sit on one of those lists? Here's your chance to find out.

click on this link and convert your wage into American dollars. http://coinmill.com/AUD_USD.html#AUD

Then click on this link and see where you rank on the world's rich list. Put whole dollars in not cents, it gets confused.
http://www.globalrichlist.com/

I was shocked!

Even if you live on welfare payments in Australia you are amongst TOP 13.01%richest people in the world!

War on Poverty!

Check out stir for ways you can make a difference

http://www.worldvision.com.au/stir/Default.aspx

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Let's put TERRORism into perspective...
The September 11, 2001 attacks in New York tragically claimed 2,967 lives. The resulting “war on terrorism” has dominated the world's agenda ever since.The War in Iraq and the resulting insurgency has claimed at least 30,000 civilian lives. Yet every day, yes, EVERY DAY! 30,000 children under five around the world die from poverty related causes! That’s 1 child every 3 seconds!

“Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural, it is man-made and can be overcome by the actions of mankind.” Nelson Mandela
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” Former U.S. President, Dwight D. Eisenhower

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I hope its some food for thought ;)

Have a great week

Buy me a Chicken

World Vision have this really cool section on their web site. It's called smiles.

You can spend as little as $5 or as much as $387,597. Whatever the amount, you’ll be contributing to the lives of children, families and communities in need.

A chicken $6
A chicken can provide a family with nutritious eggs, manure for vegie gardens and offspring to sell for extra income. Farm animals are a vital asset in poor rural communities. Your gift will go towards our work to help families meet their basic needs and revive and improve their environments. Now that’s something to cluck about!

http://www.worldvision.com.au/Smiles/GiftCatalogue/Gift.aspx?GiftID=69

You know when its someones birthday, and you don't know what to get them. Y not get them a chicken! ;) They will love it.....possibly. ;)

Sean is a Legend!

http://uncultured.com/

This is a story about an ordinary bloke deciding to do something. I love this guy. He's a legend. Check it out!

Diarrheal diseases

Diarrheal diseases such as cholera and dysentery kill about 1.6 million people each year, almost all of them children. Diarrhea is most often a result of unclean water, unsafe sanitation, or poor hygiene.

Strong, healthy people can recover from diarrhea in a few hours or days at most. However, individuals weakened by malnutrition or sickness often cannot recover and start losing large amounts of fluids and salts. Without treatment, this may continue until they actually die of dehydration. Children become dehydrated faster than adults.

The treatment for diarrhea is surprisingly simple. Called Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT), it is a mixture of water, salt, and sugar that replenishes the lost fluids in the body. This basic treatment has helped reduce diarrheal deaths by about two-thirds in the last 25 years. It is perhaps the height of human tragedy that still so many parents must watch a son or daughter die of diarrhea when the cure is so simple and so inexpensive. It is not difficult to make sure that even severely impoverished people have access to clean water, sugar, and salt.

Sources: UNICEF, World Health Organization (WHO), Rehydration Project.

Bono's response to Australia's aid effort 2008

Pneumonia kills 2 million children a year!

Pneumonia and other forms of acute respiratory infection (ARI) kill more than 2 million children alone each year in poor countries.

2 Million children!!! what!!!!???

Pneumonia is treated with a common antibotic!

UN throws spotlight on pneumonia, world’s biggest killer of children http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=26540&Cr=health&Cr1


Diseases snuff out 2 million Indian kids every year
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1245856

diseases of poverty kill approximately 14 million people annually
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diseases_of_poverty
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty#Health

AIDS

AIDS is now second only to the Black Death as the largest epidemic in history. AIDS kills over 2 million people a year, or about one person every 15 seconds. This death toll surprisingly includes a lot of children, who are often infected with the HIV virus during pregnancy or through breast-feeding.
The toll is worst in Africa, where millions of parents have died, leaving children as orphans. Often teachers have died as well, leaving schools empty. Doctors and nurses have died, leaving hospitals and medical clinics with nothing. Farmers have died, leaving crops in the fields. Entire villages have been devastated.
Yet AIDS is a preventable and increasingly treatable disease. The huge majority of deaths can be stopped. Through education and proper medicine, AIDS has been brought under control in the developed countries. The same can be true in Africa and other poor areas of the world.

This youtube is a very emotional short film about the hidden faces of aids. Check it out!

Hunger and World Poverty

About 25,000 - 30,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes, according to the United Nations. This is one person every three and a half seconds. Unfortunately, it is children who die most often.
Yet there is plenty of food in the world for everyone. The problem is that hungry people are trapped in severe poverty. They lack the money to buy enough food to nourish themselves. Being constantly malnourished, they become weaker and often sick. This makes them increasingly less able to work, which then makes them even poorer and hungrier. This downward spiral often continues until death for them and their families.



Over the next seven days I'm going to be writing about the main problems of poverty such as Hunger, AIDS, Pneumonia, Diarrhea, Tuberculosis, Malaria and Measles and practical ways we can make a difference. Stay tuned!

Angelina Jolie And Jeffrey Sachs inspirational message

You've gotta watch this video with Angelina Jolie And Jeffrey Sachs. It's got some gr8 thoughts in it. Check it out!

Cow dung to clean water!

I stumbled onto this blog tonight which was awesome. Its about a guy named Shawn who is a 27 year old Canadian from Toronto. He says on his blog "My life took a turn after I met Dr. Jeffrey Sachs (author of the book "The End of Poverty") when he came to give a speech at Notre Dame. That speech inspired me to withdraw from grad school, liquidate my savings, and begin this journey to try and make the world a better place - one meaningful difference at a time".

He basically takes this trip to Bangladesh and shares his experience on You Tube to inspire others. He is a bit rough around the edges, check it out and hear what he has to say. Its very powerful!

Press pause on the music to the right before you play it

Compassion

Naomi and I sponsor two children through Compassion which we have had 4 a few years now. Check out this program.

Make a Difference in Overcoming World Poverty

World Poverty Isn't Something We Have to Live With

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World poverty seems too overwhelming to conquer. Each day, nearly 27,000 children under the age of 5 die — victims of world poverty. And though there are thousands of organizations out there fighting world poverty with food, money and resources, sponsoring a child through Compassion offers children trapped by world poverty one ingredient that is often missing from other poverty-fighting programs: the hope of Jesus Christ.
World Poverty Dies When Hope Lives

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Children trapped by world poverty often feel there is no hope for them. They look around at the trappings of world poverty — unsafe housing, lack of clean water, irregular meals — and think their lives will never change. That being born into world poverty means they will die mired in world poverty. But once the hope of Jesus Christ enters their hearts, the generational curse of world poverty can be lifted.

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"There is a saying in my town, 'From that stick, a splinter,'" says Kabir Miranda, a young adult from Bolivia. "But I say that is not true, because I have God in my heart. Compassion helped me cultivate values and Christian habits, making me a good man. … Accepting Christ changed the course of my history" Kabir has overcome world poverty and is now a college student in Compassion's Leadership Development Program studying chemistry.

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You Can Make a Difference in Ending World Poverty!
World poverty can end! For just $32 a month you can fight world poverty by sponsoring a child through Compassion. You have the opportunity to offer a child trapped in world poverty the necessary food, health care and chance for education the child needs to overcome poverty. And, of course, you will give that child the opportunity to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can also make a tax-deductible donation to Compassion and support the ministry as it continues to battle world poverty in Jesus' name.

http://www.compassion.com/child-development/world-poverty.htm

Make Poverty History

Extreme poverty is the most severe state of poverty. Many cannot meet basic needs for food, water, shelter, sanitation, and health care. To determine the affected population, the World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than $1.25 per day. The World Bank estimates that 1.4 billion people currently live under these conditions.

In Australia we don't encounter extreme poverty. We see poverty and we see people not having enough to get by each day. But we don't see poverty as it is defined above. Pause for a moment and consider the number above. 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty.

The eradication of extreme poverty and hunger is the first Millennium Development Goal, as set by 179 United Nations Member States in 2000.

I read this quote this week and I absolutely love it.

"Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation" Nelson Mandela

What do you think about that quote?

What can you do to make difference to be part of the solution? Even it is just for one person.

That's not my name

I'm trying to keep loud songs off my blog. A blog should be a peaceful place to go, right? You should'nt have to come to a blog and have music blarring at you! right? The truth is I love it loud! and for this reason I am having trouble trying to keep this a peaceful place. ;) However I will keep trying to find peaceful songs to balance it out. ;)

I love this song "That's not my name". Not so much for the words but because it just sounds cool and has a strong bass beat. However the words are also powerful.

This song is about feeling so forgettable that people don't even remember your name. I think most of us have felt like that at some stage. Some of the words off the song are:-
They call me hell
They call me Stacey
They call me her
They call me Jane
That's not my name
That's not my name
That's not my name
That's not my name

They call me quiet girl
But I'm a riot
Maybe Joleisa
Always the same
That's not my name
That's not my name
That's not my name
That's not my name

I miss the catch if they threw me the ball
I'm the last kid standing up against the wall
Keep up, falling, these heels they keep me boring
Getting glammed up and sitting on the fence now

So alone all the time at night
Lock myself away
Listen to me, I'm not
Although I'm dressed up, out and all with
Everything considered they forget my name


I went to India a few years ago and traveled across the north of India with my father-in-law. I was struck by the huge difference between the two countries. One of the first places we went to was Mother Theresa's hospitals and convents in Calcutta. We worked for a day in a place started by mother Theresa for the sick and dying. She started it for a place for people to come who were dying and had no one to look after them. They were people who nobody cared for, no one loved and nobody thought they were important enough to look after. They would have died on the streets. The nuns worked tirelessly to love and look after these people. I was amazed by these nuns. I was amazed by their incredible selflessness. I went there after Mother Theresa had passed away but her legacy was living on in these women. Mother Theresa made a decision that she would not only remember these people but she would look after them. I remember thinking that it had never occurred to me that there were people in other countries who had such big problems, like poverty and dying on the streets. Because I had never seen it, it was as though it didn't exist, at least for me it didn't.

Poverty is like that to most of us. If we don't see it, it doesn't exist. We saw the bushfire's and gave millions. We saw it and believed. We don't experience poverty so we don't really believe the extent and the enormity of it and we don't see the difference a little of our money can make.

Next time you feel so forgettable that people don't even remember your name, consider this:-

30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”

Every day 30,000 children!

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to... By: Isaiah 58

Make Poverty History

This is such a powerful clip. Check it out!



http://www.makepovertyhistory.com.au/Home.aspx