Stimulus packages, Share prices, Job losses; Oh the world’s woes

Watching the news and reading the papers I am constantly slammed by headlines of the global economic crisis, the mass job cuts worldwide and the increase in trade barriers to protect economies. Yet, I can’t help but feel selfish. We are bickering constantly over money whilst more than half of the world’s people live below the internationally defined poverty line of less than U.S. $2 a day according to 2008 data from the World Bank.

Whilst for most of us this is a shocking figure, how many people reading this will actually try to do something about it?

Poverty in the world is tremendous, if you look at any statistics you will see it. Every day, nearly 7,500 people become infected with HIV and 5,500 die from AIDS, mostly due to a lack of HIV prevention and treatment services. (The Millennium Development Goals Report – 2008).  I am not going to go through all the figures and stats because I know that you understand the severity of poverty in the world.

The reason for this blog was to inform and hopefully encourage people to get active. You need not head down to the soup kitchens or donate hundreds to charity (although these would obviously be great), instead I want to suggest a site called Kiva. Some of you may of heard of it before, it is basically a non-profit organization which aims to give entrepreneurs aid in achieving their goals in developing nations. 100% of loans made (which start at only US $25) are given to borrowers in areas such as Asia, Africa, South America etc. Over time, the entrepreneur repays their loan; the concept of  “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”. You then can choose to reinvest your money with another entrepreneur or simply put it back in your bank.

The recent bushfires in Victoria really made me think about alms giving. I thought if millions of money was raised in the span of a few weeks, what else could we do? I understand that money is tight in times like these for most of us, however if each person could donate even $10 to a worthy charity such as Kiva, WorldVision, Amnesty International etc. we could help millions of people stricken by poverty.

In fact I thought about big corporations such as Woolworths and McDonalds as well, what if these companies donated a percentage of their daily earnings to third world countries. How much better could the world potentially become?

I do not underestimate the sadness in the number of job losses around the world, family members of mine have lost jobs and are completely stumped as to what to do next. I simply believe that although the world may seem to be a bad place for many of us with a roof over our heads, access to clean water and a nice warm plate of food each day, their are people in much worse situations than us.

Please let me know if you are aware of any organisations like Kiva, as I am extremly impressed with their work.

“A society has no chance of success if its women are uneducated…”

I finished the book ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini’ a few weeks ago now. I must say that it is one of my favourite books of all time…if you haven’t read it, make sure you go out and buy it/borrow it! Its nature is riveting, it takes you to Afghanistan to feel and experience the emotions of two young women.

It is set amidst Afghanistan’s last thirty years—from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to the post-Taliban rebuilding. It attempts to show the fallout that Afghanistan’s violent history has had on a handful of individuals. I don’t want to give too much away because I believe it is one of those few books you will read from cover to cover.

Let me reassure you, it is no long lament,  it is a story of bravery and triumph of human spirit over adversity. Hosseini is a master of story-telling, of capturing and writing realisticly. Being a reader of most of Hosseini’s novels, one learns quite a lot about Afghan society and culture, and perhaps about Afghan personality and ethics. This I say, considering his stories are well informed and based on what well and truly could be real life stories simply written as a fiction novel.

I wish that it did not represent what I believe could easily be true of the horrors of Afghan society and culture.  It is not a book of happy endings for the faint hearted but a story of a beautiful country in terrible circumstances.

“She thought of her entry into this world, the harami child of a lowly villager, an unintended thing, a pitiable, regrettable accident. A weed. And yet she was leaving the world as a woman who had loved and been loved back. She was leaving it as a friend, a companion, a guardian. A mother. “

International Women’s Day

Sunday March 8th marks the 101st anniversary of International Women’s Day. It is an opportunity to celebrate the economic, political and social achievements and progress made by women. Violence against women is one of the most widespread violation of human rights, one in three women will suffer some form of violence in her lifetime.

On March 8th as we celebrate women’s rights and independance it is crucial to remember that everything is not perfect, we cannot close the chapter on improving gender equality. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon stated

“violence against women cannot be tolerated, in any form, in any context, in any circumstances, by any political leader or by any government”

Let me put to you the following facts based on the reports of Amnesty International:

• In Saudi Arabia, women cannot vote, travel, drive, or work in most government offices without the explicit approval of husband or a male guardian.
• One in four women in Mexico has suffered physical, and sometimes sexual, violence at the hands of their partner. Thousands are put at risk of repeated abuse because weak or ineffective protection measures fail to ensure their safety.
• Over a quarter of women in Armenia have been hit or beaten by a family member and about two thirds have experienced psychological abuse yet the government says “domestic violence is not an issue for this country”.
• A 13 year old girl was stoned to death in Somalia on the 27th October 2008, by a group of 50 men who stoned her to death in a stadium in the southern port of Kismayu, in front of approx. 1,000 spectators.
• A 2006 study of schoolgirls in Malawi found that 50 percent of girls said they had been touched in a sexual manner without permission by either their teachers or a fellow student.
• Women are at greatest risk of violence from men they know. In Australia, Canada, Israel, South Africa and the United States, 40-70 per cent of female murder victims were killed by their partners (World Report on Violence and Health. Geneva: WHO 2002)

It is clear that action must be taken not only by governments and international bodies but by individuals. Violence against women and girls is a major human rights and public health concern.The Social Watch 2008 Gender Equity Index (GEI) for the first time, shows recent evolution and trends in bridging the gap between men and women in education, the economy and empowerment.

How can you help? Donate to Human Rights.

This is a worldwide issue which needs to be eradicated from society in order to move forward.

Happy Women’s Day!

Immorality of the Catholic Church

In Brazil, a nine-year-old girl has been allowed an abotion after being raped. The girl was expecting twins after being raped by her stepfather, who had been abusing her since she was six.
Despite this, the Roman Catholic church has threatened to charge the mother of the girl with murder for agreeing to the medical procedure. (asiapacificnews.net)

How on Earth do the men at the Vatican fail to see that:

1. The girl is 9 years old, if she were to have the baby her physical health could prove fatal and her emotional health severely interrupted.

2. She was raped, if she were to have the baby how would the baby feel upon finding out she/he was brought into the world in such a way

I am disgusted at some of the Catholic Church’s decisions, it is living in the past instead of keeping pace with the times. I do not believe abortion should be a common medical practice for women who have put themselves in sticky situations however in the case of rape, bringing a baby into the world on such grounds is insane!