The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Year of Sanitation 2008...

This last week, two UNICEF-sponsored events took place in several nations: the 18th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and the launching of the International Year of Sanitation 2008.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child was celebrated in several countries. InGermany, UNICEF representatives and children from the Berlin International School celebrated the 18th birthday of the CRC. A huge blue banner which read ‘A Call from Berlin: Children First – Kinder haben Rechte’ (Children have Rights) covered the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin's landmark to the end of the Cold War. The ‘Children First’ banner served as a reminder to Germany of its obligations 15 years after the country’s ratification of the Convention. To this day, Germany has yet to ratify the CRC treaty’s Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and pornography.

In New York, the CRC was celebrated with UNICEF appointing its first Advocate for Children Affected by War, Ishmael Beah, a child soldier survivor from Sierra Leone. With his appoitment, Beah becomes a symbol of hope for children who have suffered violence and deprivation of their rights as children.

A website called CRC@18 was also launched by UNICEF to help protect the fundamental rights of every child, raise awareness and involve young people in advocating for their rights.

Also in the UN's headquarters in New York, the International Year of Sanitation 2008 was launched and spearheaded by His Royal Highness Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. The project promotes making water adequate and sanitation available to everyone. It aims to focus the world’s attention on cutting in half the proportion of people without access to safe water and basic sanitation by 2015.

In her speech, UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman said that “Children are the most vulnerable, and they are the ones who continue to pay the highest price in terms of lives and futures lost.” Worldwide, lack of access to proper sanitation is linked to the deaths of 1.5 million children each year.

It may take years to resolve all these problems on poverty and rights of children but the efforts have already started and hopefully they soon will bear fruit for the most needy and the world to benefit from.

Autistic Mind...Musical Genius

Months back, I wrote about Amanda,an autistic girl who learned to survive and deal with her autism. Her condition opened the eyes of many and made them understand that autism isn't a hopeless case and that these special people can communicate with others only in a different way. It was touching to read about her story. Now a similar story was featured in Yahoo News about a young boy who also has autism but with such great talent in the field of music.

Maybe these people touch my heart and make me quite emotional because I have a son who has learning difficulty. And though my son has always been diagnosed as mentally normal and goes to regular classes, I still always consider him somewhat special and needing more attention than his siblings. I know I shouldn't be doing this because it would only make him dependent on us and less able to take care of himself but I guess it's the protective mother in me that comes out first. I suppose I'll always be this way with him. And the fear of what can happen to his future should anything happen to me always scares me so much...

I'm sharing this story of Rex, an autistic child born blind....and a musical genius.

My Amateurish Pictures of London...

I had to work mostly, but the little time I could grab in my almost 8 days' stay still made me feel glad that I had this chance to visit London. The establishments have such early closing hours. We often left the office at 8pm and most stores were closed by then except for the restaurants and internet cafes.

Well I didn't miss tasting the famous fish'n chips :). I had it three times when I was there and the Sherlock Holmes Restaurant served the best, biggest and freshest from the three I've tasted...and ohhh...the cheapest cost and fastest service. It was just 3 pounds. The rest were at 6 or 7 pounds. It was an add-on you can order from the tour around the city.

I wish I had enough time to see the inside of the Tower of London and Madam Thessaud(?). Well, maybe next time....

LONDON

ONE's "ON THE RECORD" Drive

ONE is launching a petition asking all U.S. presidential candidates to go "On The Record," by submitting in writing to ONE, their plans on the following five issues:

* Eradicating malaria;
* Improving child and maternal health;
* Reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis;
* Achieving universal primary education; and
* Providing access to food and clean water for all.

This will put on record, the candidates' presidential agenda on critical issues many organizations like ONE are advocating for. This hopefully helps put these issues among the candidates' priority list and serves as a reminder for them to address these global concerns.

GAP AND CHILD LABOR...AND POVERTY

When I saw the news on children in India being made to work long hours for the famous Gap company, it made me wonder if the main office overseas is even aware that children were being used to make their clothes. From the BBC news, it seems they don't. The important thing is, something is and should be done about it.




There are many forms of child abuse and child labor is just one of them. Unfortunately, as long as there are takers, child labor or any form of child abuse will never be eradicated.

Such a Sensless Act...

Late yesterday afternoon, Management had given instruction to quietly notify employees to go home. No announcement was made over the speakers. The instruction came just minutes after pictures of the afternoon bombing at a big and busy mall started spreading in the e-mails.

Apparently, someone had received an anonymous call of a bomb in our building. Since we already had bomb sniffing dogs regularly making the rounds in the premises, they were much busier that afternoon. I left the building over an hour later. There was no news whether a bomb was indeed found or not.

Eight people died in the bombing at the mall and over a hundred were wounded including a one-year old baby. I can never rationalize this senseless and terroristic act of bombing establishments and killing innocent people. And so much more that such act can actually get support from others...and for what??? The only reason I can think of aside from that these people who planned the bombing are lunatics, is that they want to destabilize the economy so others can gain control over the present administration.

It's sad but real and really scary. But it's something we all have to live with and try to be more conscious about to protect ourselves. And these establisments will just have to be stricter and more diligent in the security measures they implement to protect the public. Security always slackens after a while and that should never be the case. After all, they have an obligation to protect their customers while inside the premises.

And now I have to go shopping to prepare for my trip...

Parenting...a little fern reminded me...

I cried while driving on my way to work Monday morning. I felt bad for raising my voice on my eldest son. He asked a few days ago that he needed a fern plant for school. I assumed it was just a leaf for a science experiment and that his father would ask his friends who had gardens.

Monday morning as we were leaving, my son mentioned the fern again. It was due that day. I ended up speeding angrily away when I reminded my son's father about the fern and it was obvious that he didn't remember it either.

I scolded my son in the car for not reminding us earlier and not clearly explaining what he wanted the fern for. He quietly said he did and didn't say anymore. I saw his nose slightly turn red and I knew he was fighting back his tears. He pretended cleaning his glasses and I felt so bad then but didn't say anything. Maybe I should have said sorry but I was fighting back my tears too.

After dropping him off at school, I cried all the way to work. Well, there were other reasons, too and I hope one day I stop crying for those other reasons.

When I got to the office parking lot, I sent a text message to his father to buy the fern and that we've often been neglecting our son's needs. When I got to my office, I got a call from his father saying he would buy the fern and bring it to school. Idon't know what my son's reaction was when his father brought the fern to school but I'm sure he must have been happy. He was already asleep when I got home in the evening. I bet if I ask him in the morning, he'd say he was supposed to plant it and not buy it complete with a flower pot :)

Sometimes I could really be so self-centered and not realize I'm neglecting others around me. Though I often feel that I work more than I should for everyone else and not myself, it doesn't give me an excuse for not doing my duty as a parent or assume their father would do it.

I should remind myself that it isn't all just about earning money and providing my family with material things. It's so much more about being there when the children need their parents.

So now I'm alone here at the living room and cying so much again, hardly able to see the keys as I type. Well, I can be emotional at times.... but that's me.

The Jubillee Act H.R. 2634

I decided to do some reading on the Jubilee Act after receiving Josh Peck's e-mail. The summary he gave made me recall the video I posted months back on Fair Trade and the plight of many poor nations struggling to meet the basic necessities in life such as food, clothing, shelter and water.

Many areas in my own country suffer as much and I have seen tv documentaries of people illegally selling their vital organs to hospitals and patients needing transplants just to feed their families.

It's quite ironic and so pathetic that while so many of the poorest nations struggle for the basic necessities in life, much of their countries' money goes to paying their external debts to rich nations and international financial institutions. I have for years heard many economists here say that our unborn grandchildren's grandchildren will continue to pay our external debts. This is what the Jubilee Act focuses on...providing debt relief to the poorest nations and ensuring that the money is used in worthwhile projects that address poverty.

In summary, the Jubilee Act, which was sponsored by Rep. Maxine Waters with other Co-sponsors, provides for greater responsibility in lending and expanded cancellation of debts owed to the United States and other international financial institutions by the poorest countries. It basically qualifies 67 of the poorest nations in the world for debt cancellation and ensures that the debt cancellation funds go to poverty reduction projects.

A Frequently Asked Questions article on the Jubilee Act is available. It gives information on what countries qualify for debt cancellation, how the Act will ensure that debt cancellation funds go to poverty reduction projects such as education, school infrastructure and other anti-poverty projects, including ways on how these poor countries will be protected from illegitimate debts, among others.

The Meme Book

Oooookkk...The book Meme

Since I have such a bad memory for names and titles and don't really collect things, including books, this one will be less than half as interesting as Matt's...but here it goes:

Total number of books: I've never counted them. I keep them where there's space to keep then once I've read them, give them away when I can (usually after a few years). Since my mom was an English Literature Professor, I read lots of books from her library.

Last book read: The Little Prince ( must be the third time I read it)...still reading Bourne Supremacy by Robert Ludlum.

Last Book I bought: Harry Potter ( book 5?? can't remember:P)

Meaningful books: (ohhhh great....my memory)

1) Breach Of Faith: by Theodore White
2) Noli Me Tangere: by Jose Rizal
3) Ann Frank's Diary
4) From Under the Rubble: by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
5) Roots: by Alex Hailey

The Legal and Moral Issue of It...

I have two bachelor friends who I had discussions with on married women. I respect their beliefs and in both cases, I think my reaction would be the same.

One friend said, a woman who isn't living with the spouse in the true sense of the word, meaning not having a good intimate physical and emotional/spiritual relationship with the partner isn't married but single, and therefore free to have other relationships or partners. The woman being married is no issue to him and he's open-minded to a relationship with one.

Another friend said, getting involved with a married woman is taboo for him. I took that to be whether the woman was separated or not. I wouldn't have expected anything less from him. It was something I wasn't surprised about when he said it. It showed in our conversations. He was always careful not to insinuate or imply anything romantic in our talks. I guess that's why the friendship lasted this long and our past conversations were often long and friendly but caring.

To the first, even if I turn out to have a really bad marriage, I personally cannot see myself as single and getting involved so casually without considering others who may get affected and all the other possible consequences. There are always legal and moral considerations and so-called double standard in society. Our conversation last night ended with me saying that as long as I'm married or not separated, I can't see myself getting involved with anyone and complicating other people's lives.

The talk continued again this morning with a sudden, "so if u have sex outside a dead marriage - the sky will fall.:-l" Lol, gosh, he said I sounded like that. He said we weren't talking about society nor reforming it and to either rekindle the marriage or leave...Oh well, to cut things short, we still disagreed on things. We often did when it came to relationships with women though I agreed with his statement about either rekindling the marriage or leaving.

To the second, it wouldn't really be any different if I found myself falling for someone while being married. Like I said, the last thing I'd want is to complicate other people's lives, especially if I care so much for them. I'd protect his reputation and career first over my own personal happiness. So there's no question about getting myself involved with someone while being married or not separated...he deserves more and better than a complicated life with a married woman. He's right about not wanting to get involved with one and it makes me respect him more for it.

I remember both of them say something common or similar though. The children will be happier and better off if they see their mother smile more often...

I'm sure they'll both meet the right woman one day and be swept off their feet. I hope they remember to woo and court her to win her love and respect because some just won't come running to them with open arms...