At risk: 1,000,000,000 of the world's children

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Scarletwine

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They are a billion strong. Diseased, malnourished, uneducated, they are a people on the run from wars that take the lives of their brothers and sisters. And they are all children - half the children on earth today.

In shocking revelations yesterday, the grim reality of daily life for the world's innocent generation was laid bare. More than one billion children are now being denied the healthy and protected upbringing promised by the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child. For them - the forgotten masses - violence, poverty and Aids are all that the year's end will bring. In Darfur in Sudan, wretched shivering souls wait for their parents in refugee camps. In Haiti, they huddle in shelters, having lost homes and parents to floods. In Iraq, they trample through the rubble of bombed-out homes.

More than one in six children is severely hungry. One in seven has no access to health care.

Despite debt reduction schemes and the vast sums of cash donated by individuals around the world, one factor keeps more than a billion children in a state of poverty. And that factor is war - usually over natural resources such as diamonds, oil and coltan, a mineral used in mobile phones, which are exported to the West.

As two reports showed yesterday, perhaps the most chilling statistic of all is the number of young lives snatched by conflict. Since 1990, 3.6 million people have been killed on the front line in wars around the word - almost half of them were children.

Survival, though, is merely the start of further great struggles to reach maturity. A billion continue to be "denied a childhood" - 20 million are forced from homes and communities by fighting. The world's political leaders are failing them, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef). Governments are not delivering on long-held promises to protect their rights.

At least 640 million children do not have adequate shelter, while 140 million have never been to school. Safe water is something that 400 million children are denied while 500 million live without basic sanitation. And 90 million starved.
...

What can I say. :sad:

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http://207.44.245.159/article7454.htm
 
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I read a very small side article similar to that in todays newspaper. I gaped when my eyes passed over the word " a billion." One of the biggest sins is to allow children to suffer.
 
This is so horrible. It's a nightmare. How could we let this happen to so many children, the most helpless people on the planet?
 
I posted this on a christian forum and said that abortion could not possibly be any worse than this. One poster says that abortion is worse because its the intentional killing of a baby.

I still think this is just as bad as abortion. Your thoughts?

I compare this to abortion because I find this intriguing that abortion gets far more attention than this. When in both cases innocent children are dying.

*hopes this doesn't turn into a huge abortion discussion*
 
The thing that gets to me most about it is that I can't do anything about it - I give money to all different types of aid charities, I write letters to the government, I encourage my friends to become more aware of the poverty and disease in the world, but ultimately, it makes little difference, and it upsets me. There are only a few people in this world who can sort out this problem, and i'm not one of them.
 
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beau2ifulday said:
The thing that gets to me most about it is that I can't do anything about it - I give money to all different types of aid charities, I write letters to the government, I encourage my friends to become more aware of the poverty and disease in the world, but ultimately, it makes little difference, and it upsets me. There are only a few people in this world who can sort out this problem, and i'm not one of them.

One step at a time :hug: As my favorite teacher always love to quote "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
I know doing this stuff isn't directly helping. Its not putting food in a starving child's mouth. Its not giving them a vaccine they so desperately need. But it something. I am part of my school's Amnesty International club and where are making awareness posters and are going to have a petioning signing regarding the Sudan conflict. It isn't much, but perhaps it will touch SOMEONE.
 
indigo tree, the loss of ANY child's life is reprehensible (especially to God).

It doesn't matter if the child is in the womb or if the child is six months out of the womb - a child's death that could have been prevented is MORALLY WRONG.:yes:

This is what has always bothered me about "pro-lifers" - they pick and choose which children's lives they want to value enough to save (to meet their own political objectives) instead of opening their hearts enought to care about the quality of life for ALL children.

I am glad that Scarletwine posted this thread - I wanted to start it but did the UN Declaration of Rights thread and didn't want to overload on posting in one day. :wink:

I will be back with some more ideas about this issue (since it is the closest one to my heart), but for now, I leave you with several links.

INTO THE HEART....:hug:

http://www.unicef.org

http://www.globalactionforchildren.org
 
Great posts, all of you. This is so wrong to see, and it should challenge us to make a difference instead of wasting money. I feel guilty reading this stuff, but I'm sure it's on here for a reason. I don't think we can compare this to any political issue. Instead, find a charity or organization we can know and trust.

It hurts to think that so many kids don't have the chance to enjoy their holidays in any way that we do. Right now, there are bellringers all around, and there are organizations that allow us to give an inexpensive item to a child that will be thankful that someone they don't even know was generous enough to think of them.

I challenge myself, and any takers, to celebrate our holidays with the needy.
 
Another article to supplement Scarletwine's original article on the fate of the world's poorest children:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4080023.stm

As to what we can all do to start to change these statistics and improve the future for these millions of children -

1) we can contribute to organizations that are currently working in the developing world to improve the lives of the world's poorest families (UNICEF, World Vision, Oxfam, etc)

2) we can learn more ourselves about the scope of this problem and do whatever we can to educate others in our families, schools, churches and communities about this issue

3) we can JOIN THE ONE CAMPAIGN and get as many of our friends/family to sign the petition as possible!

The ONE Campaign has already had a TREMENDOUS SUCCESS in getting Americans to sign the petition and to INCREASE the funding of Global AIDS and anti-poverty programs in Congress.:yes:

Check this out at their newly designed website:

http://www.theonecampaign.org

There are MANY things that we can do to help these children. Please do what you can. :up:

THE GOAL IS SOUL....:hug:
 
Jamila, I often read your posts in here, and you are a very inspiring person. You have a very learned and peaceful aura about you :)
 
I just read your post, beau2ifulday, and I'm really touched.

My biggest reason for posting in FYM is simply to remind others that, while there is a lot of pain and unnecessary suffering in our world, we can all MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR GOOD. :yes:

You don't have to be a Bono or a Mother Teresa to make YOUR CONTRIBUTION to others.

If we all just do what we can to help make our world a better and fairer place for all, we can make our world a more loving and peaceful place.:wink:

LOVE IS LIKE A DROP IN THE OCEAN....:hug:
 
Jamila said:
indigo tree, the loss of ANY child's life is reprehensible (especially to God).

This is what has always bothered me about "pro-lifers" - they pick and choose which children's lives they want to value enough to save (to meet their own political objectives) instead of opening their hearts enought to care about the quality of life for ALL children.

Jamila, you hit the nail right on the head. You can't politicize a person's life, especially a child because they have no voice.

I second Jamila's wonderful advice and I also encourage everyone to sign up to volunteer for DATA and the ONE Campaign. Teresita Heiser is very good at answering people's questions and she is open to suggestions on how to better get the word out.

I know feels disheartening when it seems like your actions aren't contributing to much because the problems that cause poverty are many. *BUT* in the end, it all adds up. If you help one person, you've changed their lives.

I suggest that people volunteer in their local children's hospitals. There are many infirmed children who could use a friend, some only want to smile! Little things like spending time with them, reading books, and listening go a long way.

Another way to help children in the local regions we live is through mentoring. Be a mentor to someone in need, especially at-risk youth either through a national mentoring program like Big Sisters Big Brothers, the National Mentoring Partnership or through people you know who could use a hand. Maybe there is somone in your family or in your neighborhood who could use some direction and *you* are the only one who could reach them. Mentoring is a wonderful way to change the world! There are statistics that show that 90% of kids who have mentors go on to college. These are kids who were formerly labelled "at-risk". How wonderful is that? Imagine if the kid you mentored cured cancer?

:hug:
 
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amen, angel_of_L.A.! :wink:

Thanks for your words of support and for encouraging everyone here to get involved with DATA and The ONE Campaign in their local area if they want to DO SOMETHING TANGIBLE to help improve the lives of the poorest children in the world.

You can find your local area's contact person by clicking on this link:

http://www.data.org/local/

You will not regret getting involved in The One Campaign and your local organizers will do everything that they can to help you get started. :yes:

WE GET TO CARRY EACH OTHER....:up:
 
indigo tree said:
I posted this on a christian forum and said that abortion could not possibly be any worse than this. One poster says that abortion is worse because its the intentional killing of a baby.

I still think this is just as bad as abortion. Your thoughts?

I compare this to abortion because I find this intriguing that abortion gets far more attention than this. When in both cases innocent children are dying.

In short, abortion gets more attention because it's more immediate and accessible. I know people who have had abortions -- how many children do you know that have died because of warfare?

Both of them are, IMO, terrible things, and anyone who diminishes the death of children because of war just because they weren't as deliberately killed as those who were aborted has an agenda to keep up with, because they're both the loss of innocent life.
 
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