Monday, October 30, 2006

do you like to write poetry?

So all you creative people out there who want to help out, get writing.

I am looking for poems relating to the situation in Africa, poverty, Aids, Orphans situation,unfair trade or the national debt.

The best poems will be selected to appear in a book which will be published to raise funds for Rafikis Children.

There will be no no form of payment or royalties for the author however your name will be published with selected poems.

Please email your poems to:

rafikis.children@virgin.net
Thank you
Love&Hope
Sian.x.



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Friday, October 20, 2006

HIV/AIDS in India

Did you know that families in India "often disown their HIV-positive family members"? Or that children with AIDS could be kicked out of schools and/or orphanages? Or that people may be denied housing by landlords if they have AIDS?

"India has the world's highest national HIV/AIDS caseload with 5.7 million infected people. Although the country reported its first case over 20 years ago, many sufferers still face acute stigma due to a lack of awareness and misconceptions about the disease."

Read more about this crisis here.

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Thursday, October 19, 2006

need a little perspective?

WorldHelp

just found another web source for information on the uganda crisis: WorldHelp. check out their page on ugandan children and maybe order a book or dvd. if you have any more sources regarding this situation, please leave a comment.

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Wednesday, October 18, 2006

vote the issues

if you are a Christian interested in voting the issues and not the candidates/political parties, check out sojourners.com where you can download an issues guide to help you vote God's politics.

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Tuesday, October 17, 2006

fair trade coffee

IRIN Report: School torched in Badakhshan, Afghanistan

BADAKHSHAN, 16 October (IRIN) - Unidentified gunmen set fire to a large high school in the northeastern province of Badakhshan on Saturday night, local officials said on Sunday.


"Last night a number of gunmen entered Hazrat Khalid school in Zebak district, tied up two guards and then set fire to the school building," Abdul Mohammad Fateh, head of Badakhshan education department, said.

"Nearly 80 percent of the building has been torched. They also set fire to all equipment, including books and note books and even cans of dry milk," Fateh maintained.

According to Fateh, some 800 boys and girls used to study in Khalid school.

Local security officials said so far no one has been arrested in connection with the incident.

Mohmmad Sadiq Fatman, deputy education minister, blamed the attack on "the enemies of Afghanistan" - a reference to the hardline Taliban militants who were toppled by the US-led coalition in 2001. The militant group closed down all girls' schools and banned women from work in governmental institutions during their five years in power.

"They are the enemies of development of our country and are trying to keep our people in darkness and ignorance and then exploit them for their brutal aims," Fatman asserted.

A primary school building was also damaged on Saturday when it came under rocket attack in Sarkh district of the southeastern Logar province, local officials have said.

Schools and educational institutions are a common target for resurgent Taliban guerrillas who are fighting against the US-backed government of Hamid Karzai. They operate mainly in the south and east of Afghanistan.

Attacks like these are growing in frequency. Some 150 schools have been torched during 2006 alone, while more than 200,000 students are staying away from schools due to fear of more attacks, according to officials from the Ministry of Education in Kabul.

Earlier this month, local education ministry officials in southern Afghanistan told IRIN that some 330 mixed schools had been closed in the provinces of Kandahar, Zabul, and Helmand alone, due to fear of attacks and threats from Taliban militants.

In August, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned that attacks on schools in the south and southeastern regions were spreading to other parts of Afghanistan and called for stricter measures to ensure the safety of teachers and students.

Six school children have died as a result of insurgency-related violence this year.

sm/sc/jl
[ENDS]

This report also available here.

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Monday, October 16, 2006

homeless

"If someone looks like he could use a meal, be warned: Giving him a sandwich in a Las Vegas park could land you in jail."

as the cold weather approaches (in this state, anyway), i would like to remind you to give freely to a nearby charity for the homeless. hats, scarves, gloves, coats, blankets, anything to help them keep warm.

for more perspective on this, visit The Homeless Guy's blog.

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Sunday, October 15, 2006

Anna Politkovskaya - truly dedicated to the truth

living in america, it is easy to forget that some people actually don't want the truth to be told. check out the story of Anna Politkovskaya, a brave Russian journalist who never stopped seeking the truth. we may only pray there are more people out there like her.

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save darfur

As you read this, millions of families in Darfur, Sudan are dieing of disease, hunger, and dehydration inside concentration camps.

Sudan's dictator, Omar Al-Bashir, is continuing a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing against blacks in Sudan.
Everyday, women and girls are raped by government troops.
Men are castrated and left to bleed to death on the ground.
Children, unworthy of even the price of a bullet, are bashed to death with the butt of a rifle.

Even if you only have 30 seconds, you can can help us reach more people by reposting.

www.myspace.com/savedarfurnow

After the Holocaust the world said it would "never again" allow the wholesale slaughter of ethnic groups by any government, even if it meant standing up to a major world power such as Nazi Germany.

Omar Al-Bashir is making a mockery of this pledge by committing genocide on a budget less than that of most U.S. states.

If the world is unwilling to intervene in a genocide committed by a relatively minor world player, how can we possibly hope to stand up to the next Nazi Germany?


"When we tried to escape they shot more children. They raped women; I saw many cases of Janjawid raping women and girls. They are happy when they rape. They sing when they rape and they tell that we are just slaves and that they can do with us how they wish."

-Man from Mukjar, as reported by Amnesty International.

"There was also another rape on a young single girl aged 17: M. was raped by six men in front of her house in front of her mother. Ms brother, S., was then tied up and thrown into fire."

-a 35-year-old Fur man from Mukjar, as quoted by Amnesty International

The most important thing you can do right now is repost this bulletin.

It only takes 30 seconds and it's extremely effective!

Don't let this message die out, repost and spread the word to thousands

When you repost a bulletin, some of your friends will see it and repost as well. Then their friends will repost. This creates a snow ball effect that allows us to reach HUGE amounts of people without using the mainstream media. This summer we were able to reach over half a million people and collect 60,000 petition signatures - and none of that would have happened if people like you saw this and didn't repost. President Bush responded to increased pressure from us and other Darfur organization by appointing a special envoy to Darfur, and Congress voted to provide food and medical care to help families in Darfur!

Please repost ASAP, the longer you wait the more momentum the snowball effect looses! Also, feel free to edit the bulletin and add your own message our subject title.
If you want to make an even bigger difference you can repost more than once - advertisers know many people need to see a message several times before they will act.

The mainstream media is more concerned with celebrity gossip than the murder of hundreds of thousands of people. But the internet has democratized media access, so now it is possible to reach large numbers of people without having business connections or millions of dollars. We know. We've done it before, and with your help will do it again.

Where is Darfur?

Darfur is a region in western Sudan, an eastern African country half the size of the United States

Why are people being killed?

Sudan is an Islamist Dictatorship controlled by Omar Al-Bashir. Like most dictators, Bashir maintains control by ruthlessly crushing rebellion. When Ethnic African groups in Darfur started a war for independence, Bashir responded with a campaign of violence targeting civilians. He has used proxy militia groups to torch whole cities, rape and kill thousands of women and children.

Omar Al-Bashir has used the Janjaweed militia to murder thousands of men, women, and children while enjoying a luxurious lifestyle. Parade magazine's David Wallechinsky ranked al-Bashir at the very top of his list of the worlds ten worst dictators. Most recently refused to let UN peacekeepers enter the country.

When Omar Al-Bashir rose to power in 1989 he dissolved parliament and banned political parties. Ignoring countless U.N. resolutions to disarm the Janajaweed militia and end the violence in Darfur, Bashir has made a mockery of international law and the ideals on which the United Nations was founded. He seems to believe the international community will allow him to get a way with the wholesale murder of entire ethnic groups, and so far he has been right.

Click here to repost this petition and help us reach as many people as possible!

POLITICAL SOLUTIONS FOR DARFUR:

1- Humanitarian funding - The international community has fallen short of the donations they have promised to help provide basic necessities for men, women, and children in Darfur. The United States has been a leader in providing life saving assistance and should continue to lead our allies in providing basic necessities for children in Darfur.

2- The International Criminal Court - The United States should use every diplomatic means available, including the International Criminal Court. Full U.S. cooperation with the ICC in Darfur will send a strong message to Omar Al-Bashir and other war criminals.

3- Multi-national peacekeeping force - The African Union mission in Darfur has proved horribly inadequate at maintaining peace. Humanitarian operations have been curtailed due to the violence. The U.S. should play a logistical role in supporting a multi-national peacekeeping force in the region and work with our allies to fund an adequate multi-national force in Darfur.

"If every member of the House and Senate had received 100 letters from people back home saying we have to do something about Rwanda, when the crisis was first developing, then I think the response would have been different.''

-Senator Paul Simon

LifeNets.net - Who we are

How you can help families in Darfur (even if you're too young to vote.)


Repost this petition - I know, I know, this is like the 20th time we've said that but we wouldn't keep repeating ourselves if it wasn't really important. It is also extremely easy. You can do it several times if you want - advertisers know that every time we see a message we become more and more likely to act on it.


Email the President and other elected officials
- a politician is a public servant. If the public doesn't make some noise, they won't act. If we stay silent we are telling our representatives that everything is ok and they can carry on business as usual. Emailing the Whitehouse is easy. It's a lot like voting - a Whitehouse staff member will add your message to the total count for the day on that issue. When they get a lot of emails on one topic they start to notice and give it priority.

Join our Action Network! - Every so often there is a time limited opportunity to help Darfur. When this comes up we'll send you an email and let you know how to help. When we organize together like this we magnify our political force by a factor of ten. Imagine you're a politician considering whether or not to sign a bill. Just before you leave your office your aide informs you that your email account is being flooded with letters from hundreds of your voters demanding results. That is the power of networking.


Email:

At LifeNets.net we have a 100% no SPAM policy.
We will not rent, sell, or trade your email address to anyone.
You can unsubscribe at any time with one click.

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Friday, October 13, 2006

The Shadows of Peace" Review

Yesterday I received my very own copy of the IRIN film The Shadows of Peace: Life after the LRA. If you have not yet viewed this extraordinary short film on the IRIN website, please take fifteen minutes to do so. The most emotionally impacting story for me was the story of Ida. She had been forced into sex slavery, becoming the "wife" of an LRA commander and bearing a child by him. Yet when she returned to her village, her people abandoned her. She was alone. Even her parents had left. As I watched this young woman collapse in tears, my heart broke for her. She said that life in the bush had been better than returning. I could not fathom it. After all the horrors she had faced, life was no better after the LRA than it had been before. Then I wondered... what could we do? How could we improve life for this young woman halfway around the world? How can we make a difference?

I would encourage you to pray about this situation, about this region of the world that has been through so much turmoil lately. Prayer is the Christian's most powerful weapon against the evil of this world. If you have the money, donate to one of the many reputable charities that are working in Africa to bring peace and restore the lives of its citizens. But first and foremost, please just pray.

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Monday, October 09, 2006

silent day

From: Food & Health Missions 4 Uganda!



If you registered last
year, you DO need to register again this year.


It is extremely important register so we know how many schools participate.
Last year we had over 1,200 schools involved, I know we can beat that number
this year. Register -

Silent@standtrue.com
Include Your Name, School and State.

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hunger and malnutrition

Reuters AlertNet put out an article about the millions of African children facing hunger and malnutrition. Click here to check it out!

But this problem is not only affecting Africa -- it affects America, too. Here's a Myspace bulletin from Support a Crazy Idea:

20% of children living in rural areas in America live in poverty! 7.5 million people in rural areas live in poverty!

The numbers are staggering. Today 37 million Americans live in a state of poverty, hunger and hardship. That's more than last year, More than ever before. But one by one, working together, we can reverse the trend. For the fourth consecutive year, the poverty rate and the number of Americans living in poverty both rose from the prior years. Since 2000, the number of poor Americans has grown by more than 6 million. The official poverty rate in 2004 (the most current year for which figures are available) was 12.7 percent, up from 12.5 percent in 2003.

Total Americans below the official poverty thresholds numbered 37 million, a figure 1.1 million higher than the 35.9 million in poverty in 2003. The U.S. Census Bureau defines poor families as those with cash incomes of less than $15,067 a year for a family of three – or $19,307 for a family of four. (U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004)

On average, more than one out of every three Americans - 37 percent of all people in the United States - are officially classified as living in poverty at least 2 months out of the year. (U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004) The number of Americans living in severe poverty - with incomes below half of the poverty line - remained the same at 15.6 million. (U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004)

A single parent of two young children working full-time in a minimum wage job for a year would make $10,712 before taxes - a wage $4,355 below the poverty threshold set by the federal government. (U.S. Department of Labor; U.S. Census Bureau.) About 40 percent of poor single-parent, working mothers who paid for child care paid at least half of their income for child care; an additional 25 percent of these families paid between 40 and 50 percent of their incomes for child care. (Child Trends, 2001.)

More than two-thirds of all poor families with children included one or more individuals who worked in 2003. What’s more, family members in working-poor families with children typically worked combined totals of 46 weeks per year.

A CRAZY IDEA, INC., STOP (students together opposing povert), YOUTH AGAINST POVERTY, and other local Agencies HAVE TEAMED UP TO FORM A COALITION TO END POVERTY IN AMERICA AND WE NEED YOUR HELP! We at a crazy idea have a dream that one day poverty will be ended in AMERICA We dream that No child will go hungry with in AMERICAN BOARDERS That parent should not have to choose whether to put food on the table or pay the rent We have A CRAZY IDEA fix this but we need your help!

We here at A CRAZY IDEA, Inc have started a campaign to end poverty in America

We are working on job training programs to help teens and college students get a head in the world. We are working with groups like Youth against poverty to come up with ways that young people can join in and help their fellow Americans! From small towns to big cities Americans all over are feeling the pain of being able to put food on the table and that should not be!!! We will be setting up food donations, suit and clothes donations. Along with people to teach job skills and life skills training. As a team we can tie the world together!

Learn more by reading about successful local efforts.

Follow local politics, and tell your local elected officials that you support policies aimed at permanent solutions to poverty in your community and your nation. Time and again, letter-writing campaigns have demonstrated that, when people combine their energies in a single purpose, the results are magnified.

Write or call your senators or representatives, asking what their stance is on pending legislation affecting low-income Americans. Join A CRAZY IDEA, INC AND OTHERS TO CHANGE OUR COUNTRY AND THE WORLD!

WWW.SUPPORTACRAZYIDEA.COM

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watch

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Thursday, October 05, 2006

uganda rising -- watch this preview

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