[Cheiron]

In Africa each year 5 million children dies before they are 5 years old.
In many countrys 25% of children dies... in some areas it is up to 2/3.
On of the biggest child killers is diahrrea due to bad sanitation or total lack of it... it equals about 750.000 children..and means that about 2000 children dies each day from diahrrea....
In Africa.. a child dies every 7th second... (other stuff than diahrrea is of course, starvation, aids etc), but many causes are actually easily fixed with some funds.

so... here in Denmark... (population about 5 million people), we held a big national charity day, where every cent collected goes uncut, and under supervision from Red Cross etc, to make sure it helps in the right places with concrete projects to improve things.

We equaled out at a bit over 60 million DKK (around 12 million US dollars) that goes directly to help improve things where it is needed. We did this last year too.

Cynically speaking, you can say...well it is peanuts.. if we really wanted to change situation there, we have many billions from all over the globe... and if political will was present from global leaders the situation could change (by political pressure on corrupt regimes, economical, educational and other help)... but at least... it is a gesture.

I hope it helps to save some lives somehow. If it saves ONE child... I think it was worth it.
_________________
Cheiron
______________________________
"Any scientist with respect for himself should start
the day by rejecting his own pet hypotheses".
(Konrad Lorenz)

"Wir müssen wissen
Wir werden wissen"
(David Hilbert)

[Studio 12]

You are correct when you say

[Jade]

yes we have schemes in place here too to provide clean water, farm equipment and even animals at christmas time, the water and other schemes are deducted at source from your pay packet , vaccination programmes, sight savers is another good one, it coas a few euro to save a childs sight lost by drinking water with parasites in it. It is humbling to see all the professional people who give their time and experience to try to make the country more livable
Jade

[Cheiron]

Food for thought ...



Left: Sculpture by Duane Hanson: "Supermarket lady", 1970
Right: Photo of Sudanese child starving to death.

(sorry if it provokes you or you find it pathetic, but I couldn't resist making it)

PS: yeps, one.org looks great, Studio 12
_________________
Cheiron
______________________________
"Any scientist with respect for himself should start
the day by rejecting his own pet hypotheses".
(Konrad Lorenz)

"Wir müssen wissen
Wir werden wissen"
(David Hilbert)

[Jade]

omg that is so sad, no matter what we all have or think we dont have and think we need its so much more than those people have. we lose enough change down the back of the couch to vaccinate prolly about a dozen of them against the main childhood diseases every month, a few cents can make a huge difference, the difference between life and death for some of them. On t.v. here there are campaigns that say it costs like 5 cents to vaccinate a child and a bit more ( not sure how much ) but not a lot by our health care costs to restore a childs sight from Trachoma. but if the rest is not fixed what will they see if its restored ? their family dying of starvation ? its only change to us but for them its change of a completely diffenent nature. It makes wanting to fit in a size 0 dress utterly pathetic.
Jade

[Jade]

i know i have strayed somewhat from the food issue but i was a little shocked to see how little can make such a difference.
River Blindness
It costs 20 cents per person to cover the distribution costs of the drug Mectizan® (donated free by Merck & Co). A whole community can be treated for only €75.

Trachoma
A 27 cent tube of tetracycline relieves the agony of trachoma and prevents the repeat infections that cause blindness. In advanced cases, where the person needs lid surgery, an operation can be provided for €8.50.

Cataract
A 20 minute operation to remove a cataract and restore sight costs €28, and costs €45 to restore sight to a child.
Jade

[Cheiron]

Update on this years charity day in Denmark, 2009

First, a bit of casestudies:

Margaret is in her twenties, she lives in Rwanda, she has lost her husband to aids. her relatives are dead, her oldest son died of starvation, her home is gone, and she lives on the street in a town with her youngest son. She has nothing but her son left and a few worldy possessions wrapped in a blanket, and she is very worried that she can't provide for him and that he also will starve to death. She spends her day sitting with her son on the street, begging, wondering if she or her son will starve to death first.

In Kingali, Uganda, lots of children live on the street. Their parents are dead, no relatives... their only comfort is sniffing a mixture of glue and petroleum...

A father lives alone with six kids, his wife died in childbirth... they have a mudhut the size of a small room. One of his daughters has been puking up white stuff for two years, and he doesn't know what to do, cause he doesn't even have enough money for food. She is getting weaker and weaker, and he doesn't have money to take her to a proper doctor. A doctor here, seeing it last night on TV, took contact to local doctors and made sure that she will be properly diagnosed and helped.

In many villages, when a woman has to give birth, she has to walk maybe 50 km (30 miles) to get proper help, as a result lots of babies die that way,. A special project aimed at local birth help is already on the way... Imagine you had to walk 30 miles when due ! I bet most of you have never even walked 30 miles even if fit !

I could go on and on... it is a sad litany of misery, but you already should know how awful it is, at least in theory, but I wonder... what if we had to endure that, I don't think we actually can imagine how it is like...

For the poor africans... the average life span is about 43 years.............


DK African help 2009

This year Denmark concentrated on various direct help to families . The money will go directly and uncut to specific projects that are closely supervised by Danish Red Cross and various other help organizations like Doctors without borders, so that the money doesn't wind up in various wrong pockets.

Lone mothers with children, school projects to get the kids to school, money enough to buy clothes and food, money for buying medicine... stuff like that, but everything targeted at something specific that can be controlled, and as said, targeted at consolidating the functionality of a family.

There were various stories from last years results, and they were positive... IT MADE A DIFFERENCE ! ... the money did good and reached the needing.

Last year there was a kid shivering with cold, no clothes... starving and sick... and they went back and checked... he had clothes, he was playing and went to school and he had a big smile on his face . Him and his family didn't have much, but they definately were doing better.

There are lots of other stories about families that got helped and are coping with getting a bit of land to farm, clean water or just some money for medicare. And the factual results that gets reported back are not PR-stunts, they are real.

So far we got 72 million DKK (about 12,5 million USD) and it will prolly get higher in coming days, surpasing last years result with 6 million DKK so far, in spite of financial crisis.

Still just a token and not a solution, but it still helps.
_________________
Cheiron
______________________________
"Any scientist with respect for himself should start
the day by rejecting his own pet hypotheses".
(Konrad Lorenz)

"Wir müssen wissen
Wir werden wissen"
(David Hilbert)