The Georgia-Russia Conflict...

I have heard news of hostilities in and around Russia but the extent to which fighting between South Ossetia, Georgia and Russia has escalated, came as a total surprise to me.

The UNICEF has stepped in to provide assistance to women and children who were displaced from the ongoing hostilities. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 100,000 people, many of them children and women, have been displaced as a result of the fighting.

UNICEF and its partners have already rushed nutritional and hygiene supplies, and water purification tablets, to more than 4,000 people who have fled their homes in Georgia. The organization also plans to airlift School-in-a-Box and recreation kits, basic family kits, and water and sanitation materials for approximately 6,000 families in the coming days.

About 30,000 people were reported to have crossed to the Russian border, seeking refuge in the Russian Federation, 80 per cent of them women and children. In Georgia, those internally displaced were accommodated in 170 temporary facilities such as kindergartens, schools, and public and governmental buildings. However, many of the facilities lack basic facilities and services such as toilets, potable water and electricity.

UNICEF is working closely with UN agencies and has offered humanitarian assistance to the Governments of Georgia and the Russian Federation.

One cannot really assess the extent of emotional and psychological trauma experienced by people in such conflicts. The assistance of UNICEF can hopefully lessen the traumatic impact on these men, women and children, that the Ossetia-Russia conflict has brought on them.

WORLD VISION AND ONE...WORKING TOGETHER

For those living in or know of anyone living in Denver Colorado or Minneapolis, Minnesotta, here's your chance to make a simple contribution for people suffering from poverty and AIDS.
Word Vision and the ONE Campaign will be holding separate campaigns to assemble 4,000 caregiver kits by people attending the Republican and Democratic National Conventions.

As many as 800 volunteers from the ONE Campaign will assemble kits to distribute to caregivers who support people living with AIDS all over the world. In addition, ONE will be hosting panel discussions as each convention to engage and educate people on the issues of extreme poverty and global disease.

Below are some information from the World Vision and ONE Campaign announcement of the events.

The 4,000 caregiver kits will include basic supplies like washcloths, latex gloves, cotton balls, antibacterial soap, antifungal cream, petroleum jelly, antidiarrheal medicine and acetaminophen. Dedicated family caregivers and volunteers are making a world of difference for people living with AIDS in Africa, Asia and Latin America. But too often, poverty denies them access to the supplies they need to help prolong lives, comfort the sick, and protect themselves from infection.

Join World Vision and the ONE Campaign at either convention. This event is open to the public and the news media.

Also, a visual reminder of lives lost to the AIDS pandemic will be on display organized by Got Cents.

Tuesday, August 26

Democratic National Convention

Time: 2-5 pm

Location: Manual High School

1700 E. 28th Avenue Denver, CO 80205

Tuesday, September 2

Republican National Convention

Time: 2-5 pm

Location: Minneapolis Convention Center

Hall B 1301 Second Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55403

Kick-off begins at 2pm with special guests including:

• Senator Tom Daschle, National Co-Chair ONE Vote '08
• Senator Bill Frist, National Co-Chair ONE Vote '08
• David Lane, ONE Campaign
• Princess Zulu, World Vision
• And other special guests

A woman living with HIV works to prevent mother-to-child transmission in Bolivia

I've only just found the time from my busy schedule to write again about something I've always been concerned about. And the fact that my sister is in Bolivia now doing charity work made me really want to write about the UNICEF article I read on AIDS. A medical doctor friend of mine spoke about the discovery of a cure for Aids and I really hope this happens soon and can be administered to many AIDS patients to help save many lives.

In Bolivia, Maria Isabel, a 23-year old mother with AIDS, has been a volunteer of REDBOL (Red Nacional de Personas que viven con el VIH en Bolivia), a local foundation supported by UNICEF that helps people living with HIV through a series of support groups and other assistance.

For the last 2 years, Maria Isabel has been counselling pregnant women about the importance of taking the HIV test as part of the regular prenatal care package as well as trying to achieve equality for everyone living with HIV/AIDS, especially women and children.

With a son who is HIV-negative, Maria Isabel makes rounds at maternity wards of HIV-positive mothers to emphasize that early treatment within the first few months of a baby's life can dramatically improve the survival rates of children. The majority of the children living with HIV can be saved by timely administration of paediatric anti-retroviral treatment and cotrimoxazole, a low-cost antibiotic that has been shown to have a positive impact on HIV-positive children’s survival.

From Maria Isabel's words to HIV-positive mothers: “You must go on because there is no turning back. One has to learn to accept it and live with HIV/AIDS. It’s not easy, but it can be done –and it must be done for our children.”

Help Save Lives...

I've been concentrated on myself lately that I forgot there were really other things more important and people who needed more help and understanding than I did.

I received an e-mail from the ONE Campaign today asking help to let the G8 members know how important and very much needed their aid is to improve and save the lives of thousands of people in Africa.

A friend sent a similar request from another organization advocating for the same cause. I'm posting the e-mail from Roxane Philson of ONE.org Please click on the link and do your share to help save lives.

==============


Dear Marilyn,

Yesterday, the Financial Times declared: “G8 leaders ready to backtrack on Africa aid.”

It is inconceivable that the G8 could consider such a reversal, especially in a time when increasing food prices are making it ever more difficult for families to make ends meet. But the final decision hasn’t been made yet, and we have a critical opportunity to influence the outcome.

You—and nearly 40,000 other ONE members—have signed our petition to the G8 calling on them to deliver on their commitments to the world’s poorest people, but in light of this news, we need to redouble our efforts.

Please take urgent action by passing this email along to your friends and encouraging them to sign our petition to the G8:
http://www.one.org/international/g8/?id=388-3183075-dB53TSx&t=2

This potential reversal comes at a time when we are seeing results from investments in development. For example, thanks to distribution of bed nets and increased access to antimalarial drugs, in Rwanda both deaths and cases of malaria have dropped by two-thirds since mid-2006.

As malaria still kills around one million people a year, it’s clear that we must replicate success stories like this. But it won’t happen if the G8 backtrack on their commitments.

Please tell the G8 leaders not to backtrack on aid:
http://www.one.org/international/g8/?id=388-3183075-dB53TSx&t=4

Thank you for taking part,

Roxane Philson, ONE.org

Learning Self-Sufficiency and Fighting Poverty....

After years of living in famine, and hardly able to feed her family at all, Sonnie Georgette can now sufficiently feed them. She is one of the beneficiaries of World Vision’s agricultural assistance program.

I have always believed that teaching people like Sonnie to sustain themselves by learning to be independent and self-sufficient instead of relying on donations of food to feed her family was always a better and more efficient approach. Sonnie's story is a perfect example of a success story of self-sufficiency.

World Vision's agricultural assistance and training program includes providing assistance to the people for seeds and tools to assist farmers to raise crops and livestock; and, training in agricultural techniques such as crop rotation, drip irrigation, and the planting of trees to enrich overworked soil.

World Vision has moved Sonnie's town of Lumata in the Democratic Republic of Congo from one plagued with famine to one with people who are self-sufficient through its farming and agriculture program and health care-initiatives.

It would be good to hear more of such initiatives from other cause-oriented groups...

Damienne’s story: Raising awareness of HIV/AIDS prevention through open dialogue

UNICEF, in collaboration with the Togolese Government and UNAIDS, recently supported a national youth campaign against HIV/AIDS in Togo. The main objective of which is to promote HIV prevention among the youth by organizing discussion forums, awareness-raising events and concerts.

Damienne is a 17-year-old high school student who has been a peer educator for five years, teaching her classmates about HIV prevention. She met with schoolmates and engaged them in a debate regarding the three recommended means of HIV prevention: abstinence, fidelity and the use of condoms.

She discussed with them myths about aids and clarified that taking an aids test will not infect them with it but rather, protecting oneself is a means of preventing AIDS infection.

A video on the Myths on AIDS is posted for viewing and I hope it helps others widen their knowledge and understanding of it.

The 7.9 magnitude quake in China brought back memories almost 18 years ago when a quake of almost similar magnitude hit my parents' place and caused the collapse of hotels and school buildings trapping children and adults alike.

From the last news, more than 19,000 have perished in the China quake and over 100,000 were injured. There is also a strong fear that the damns in the quake-affected areas might be in danger of bursting and cause further devastation. I'm sure that people in China directly affected by the quake are going through a traumatic experience that may take years to recover from emotionally and physically. At times like this, it is comforting to know that there are people readily willing to extend a helping hand to the victims in whatever way.

Other nations have in the last few days, also suffered from one devastation or another. Indonesia was hit by an earthquake just days before China. Missouri and Myanmar have just been ravaged by very strong storms causing heavy floods and displacing thousands of families.

Early Wednesday morning, 2 areas in the northern part here in the Philippines were also rocked by intensity 4 and intensity 2 quakes. Fortunately, there were no damages. I suppose the quakes were something many were not surprised about since China and Indonesia are neighbor countries. The fault lines extend to the Philippines as well.

One can never really be fully prepared for such wraths of nature....

A Breadwinner at 15....

Tiyamike's picture doesn't look like that of a 15-year old teenager. He looks much older and mature. At such a young age of 13, he and his siblings were orphaned by a father who died of AIDS and later their mother who was infected with the HIV virus.

Tiyamike had to stop school and grow up fast to be breadwinner and support his four siblings. It's still quite shocking to realize that a family of 5 has to live on $5 a month while working 9 hours a day.

When I read that UNICEF has reached these children from Malawi, I honestly wondered where that place was and thought it must be far away. I never heard of it and had to google its location. It's in Africa and the country has 1 million orphans, about half of whom have lost one or both parents to AIDS.

Helping 1 million orphans is a big task. Tiyamike and his siblings are among the fortunate ones reached by UNICEF. A year and a half ago, the Tiwasamale Community-Based Child Care Centre identified Tiyamike’s family as a child-headed household in need of urgent assistance. I'm sure there are many more like them who need help, especially the innocent ones who have no one in the family like Tiyamike who can help support or take care of them.

Making A Difference...

Despite efforts from many cause-oriented groups, the hunger problem seems unending. This may have even worsened in some countries that are now plagued by war and rebellion. Little though it may seem, we still can make a difference by making our voices heard and making an appeal to help alleviate the hunger crisis.

David Lane of the ONE Campaign wrote an e-mail that called for President Bush and the G8 member countries to act on the following:

1) Prioritize issues of global poverty, including the world hunger crisis on the agenda of the G8 Summit this July in Japan.

2) At the G8 summit, secure commitments for additional resources for all types of food assistance and increased agricultural productivity in developing countries.

This summer, the leaders of the eight wealthiest nations (known as the Group of Eight or G8) will gather in Japan to set a global policy agenda.

By clicking the link below, we can make a difference by sending a petition to President Bush asking him to rally the G8 to end the hunger crisis as part of an aggressive anti-poverty agenda and adding your name to the list of supporters for the anti-poverty canmpaign.

http://www.one.org/hungercrisis/o.pl?id=293-3337626-tN5x.v&t=3

The nations of the G8 need to keep their promise to increase development assistance to poor countries and double aid to Africa.

Last month, the World Food Program issued an "extraordinary emergency appeal" to donor countries and President Bush pledged $200 million on behalf of the United States. But as Lane said, "this is a step in the right direction, but will not end the crisis. Food assistance needs to be matched with investment in agricultural development to break the cycle of hunger. A comprehensive approach is needed to increase agricultural productivity in poor countries including infrastructure investment, improved technology, and better access to water, seeds, tools and fertilizer. "


Make a difference....click on the link below and make your voice heard.

http://www.one.org/hungercrisis/o.pl?id=293-3337626-tN5x.v&t=3

May 10th - Stamp Out Hunger Drive

I received an e-mail a few days ago from someone involved with the Stamp Out Hunger Drive in the US. After going through the website and related sites, I decided to post this entry to support their drive. I am unfortunately not from the US, but I hope this can somehow help spread the word around. The US, though a developed and first-world country, also suffers from poverty in many areas where there are marginalized populations.

On Saturday, May 10, Campbell Soup Company will join forces with the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) to Stamp Out Hunger across America . The Event was created by the National Association of Letter Carriers in conjunction with America's Second Harvest. Now in its 16th year, the Stamp Out Hunger! effort is the nation's largest single-day food drive, having collected more than 836 million pounds of food since its inception in 1993.

To help Stamp Out Hunger! this year, residents simply ahve to leave a sturdy bag containing non-perishable foods, such as canned soup, canned vegetables, pasta, rice or cereal next to your mailbox prior to the time of regular mail delivery on May 10. Food items should be in non-breakable containers, such as boxes and cans. The nation's 230,000 letter carriers will then collect donations from homes across the country and deliver them to food bank members of America 's Second Harvest – The Nation's Food Bank Network and other hunger relief organizations in more than 10,000 local communities.

To find out more about the annual Stamp Out Hunger efforts being done in your community, ask your letter carrier, contact your local post office or visit http://www.helpstampouthunger.com/ They have also posted a site on the declaration of their assets at the URL below. Please check it out too and decide on how you want to help in the drive.

http://assets.m80im.com/resources/campbells_soh/SOH__resources_page.htm.