I recently began this project called "Cards for Kids" in which handmade and painted cards are sent to kids across the globe who are affiliated with different organizations and may be facing poverty, homelessness, or a difficult situation. A card is meant to brighten their day and bring a smile to their face. Some suggestions of groups that can become involved are such groups as girl/boy scouts, youth groups, high school committees, etc. If you would like to make cards please visit my website at http://cardsforkids.weebly.com. The more cards, the more smiles that will be brought to the kids.

The life in me has faded long ago.
I have nothing to live for.
All i do is sit and wait to die.
The pavement is cold at these times of night.
The only thing that brightens my corner are the lonely street lights and the cars zooming by.
Maybe once or twice a day a nice woman, man or small child come up to me and give me some food or money.

Sometimes they just throw it at me as if i were a homeless dog.
Im just a homeless person.
A homeless man.

Others give me what they want to give me in my hand and ask if i need anything else.

I always respond no.
I assure them that what they give me is already like finding a pot of gold.
Either way, i take what they give me for it is all i got.

Sometimes i want to ask for a place to stay in stead i just smile with my rotting teeth and say
"Thank you so much. This means a lot to me. God bless you"

And then they leave.

Once again i am alone.
I have nothing but my cart with a blanket and some old rags ive found in the trash.
Eventually the sun comes up and more people come out.
A lot of them just walk by holding their purses and wallets tight.
I dont understand why they think im a criminal.
Im not going to run up and try to take what they got.
That is not me.

The hope in me has faded long ago.
 I dont know what to do.
All thats left is sit and wait to die.
 ive been out here so long the pavement has cracked ,
The street lights have gone out and the cars have gotten better.
 Every few days someone stops and gives me some change or food.
Some throw it at me as if i were a homeless dog.
I no longer care.

My hair has grown out all over my face.
I look like an animal.

Some teeth have fallen out and some have cracked.

Im covered in wrinkles.
 In getting old.
 As always i am alone.
My cart has only three working wheels,
Some worn out rags and blankets.

Theres a thick layer of pollution in the sky,
So the sky is no longer as blue.

The people who pass byare now the people who once were kids and turned into adults.
They are so used to me being here sometimes they try to help me.
 Once a girl came and sat next to me holding a mirror.

She asked if she could help me shape up and trim my hair.
 "No thank you" I responded,
"This is me. I am nothing but a lonely old ,
        Homeless man..."

HUMANITARIAN ORGANISATION CHALLENGES AL GORE TO PUT MALNUTRITION BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT!!!!

Action Against Hunger is mounting pressure on Al Gore to produce a film on the world's greatest health problem.

Contending for Al Gore's attention, hunger activists are challenging the former vice-president by creating a trailer for 'his next movie', entitled NO HUNGER. Over 65,000 have already watched the trailer online and signed up urging Al Gore to make it a feature film.

Check it out at: WWW.ASKALGORE.ORG

Sign the petition and end acute malnutrition!!!!!! 

Although it hasn’t been widely publicised where I live, I’ve been informed that the American government is trying to convince India to adopt policies that will decrease their (India’s) carbon emissions.

A story in a Time of 2005 talked about something the likes of, “India and China hold the future in their hands”. The article dealt specifically with the carbon footprints of these industrial nations.

Where I come in is that India’s argument for declining to make an agreement is that it will negatively affect their poor – and one thing that India has a-plenty of is poverty.

At this stage my mind is pathology-oriented (blame varsity) and for the life of me I struggled to bring the concepts of greening and starving together.

All I could think of was that initiating these endeavours would obviously cost money, which could possibly take much-needed money from India’s budget, thus depleting the resources available for helping the poor.

In response to India’s viewpoint, however, there is an interesting opposition.

Turns out climate change isn’t just something the comfortably rich get to fight against for a lack of hardships in their lives.

TURNS OUT that climate change hits the poorest, the hardest.

But then, we’ve known that in the back of our minds all along, haven’t we?

 

In severely underdeveloped countries it’s not really a matter of water or veggies being scarce and thus having to fork out a bit more to get them. It’s a matter of: if they’re scarce, you might not actually GET THEM. At ALL.

So it kind of becomes a problem when people labour and forage for longer hours, yet come home with less water and food.

 

Think: hungry.

Think: Kwashiorkor.

Think dry skin spanning over bony limbs and swollen tummies.

 

 

 

These are times when children are kept from school (if they even have that luxury) to help with the search for food. And no education very often equals a continued cycle of poverty.

These are times of floods and droughts and all sorts of climate disasters, proven to be a direct effect of climate change.

So I would have to argue that the benefits of implementing these strategies are distinctly more far-reaching than the costs thereof.

Many believe that climate change and all its dangers don’t exist, and I don’t have a thesis to disprove that – but would you rather fight a good fight only to find out there was no danger, or not fight the fight only to discover that the dangers were real all along?

I understand that the conditions we experience now are not necessarily reversible... but reducing emissions now might at least decrease further effects (the old proverb does go, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago... the second best time is now”).

So my point is this: you cannot say you are passionate about alleviating poverty and at the same time neglect the effects of climate change on the poor...

That’s kind of like treating Kwashiorkor without treating the cause.

Awhile ago I wrote about the importance of education in alleviating poverty. Looking at the amount of resources ploughed into education in African leaders, it is clear that the governments agree with its importance. 

I know for example that South Africa has 26 292 schools and that opposition political parties continuously put pressure on the government for better education systems.  

A big problem, however, is that although there are schools and teachers (admittedly not always enough teachers) there is often very little else. 

I have visited schools with holes in the roofs and floors; I have seen children learn their letters by pressing on their laps. You know that scene in “Slumdog Millionaire” where the children go to school and three of them have to crowd around one book, on the floor? It’s not at all far from the truth. 

Two years ago I gave a presentation to a class at a rural primary school not far from our city. The class had desks, which is more than many children can say. But there were two people to each desk made for a single student. I remember wondering how one concentrates in class when there is no space to move, how one draw circles and graphs for Maths, how one writes tests in those conditions. 

Some Googling reveals that South Africa has an estimated desk shortage of four million, and 400 million in the rest of Africa. 

 

A local initiative aims to alleviate this problem. It’s called LapDesk, and it is just that: a desk on your lap. The desk is made of durable, recyclable polymers and can be carried around with ease. It is also big enough for a writing book and a textbook.  

Companies and NGOs fund the initiative and thus decide where they want to send some lapdesks. The company then also decides what is printed on the desk – some print messages about HIV, Cholera and domestic violence, while others print times’ tables and vocabulary.  

 

[Picture: Proud children with their desks at a Lapdesk handout ceremony. Courtesy of Hugo_s Flickr photostream] 

I like this initiative because it would be a shame if a child’s education was hampered due to not having access to a surface to press on, a workspace to call their own. Admittedly it is not the biggest problem facing education systems, but not all individuals, businesses or NGOs can afford to build schools or sponsor teachers; and it is not every young person’s calling to become a teacher. 

I have one problem with it: on their website, they state that “the company commits 15% of its annual profits to fund bursaries and scholarships to support disadvantaged children with merit to attend top schools…” 

This of course indicates that profits are made (and 15% thereof is sufficient for a few bursaries, then quite a substantial profit), which means that these desks are not supplied closest to the cheapest possible rate – and that means that fewer children are reached than what should be. 

Of course, people must make a living, but if you make it your mission to alleviate desk shortages, then I don’t believe that big profits can be part of that mission.  

Apart from that, I dig the LapDesk! 

[Read more about The Lapdesk Company here: www.lapdesk.co.za ]