August 19 - Humanitarian Day

The dictionary defines a humanitarian as being a person who is devoted to the welfare of all human beings and being helpful to humanity. Most people are humanitarians they just don't know it. Many people think a humanitarian has to be working overseas, in poverty ridden areas or with folks who have serious basic needs. But a humanitarian can be working in your own neighbourhood, helping those around you who require assistance like a hot meal in winter through an Out of the Cold Program or Meals on Wheels, perhaps helping provide craft instruction at the local seniors citizens home or long term care facility or maybe even a child who simply helps an elderly neighbour by bringing in the newspaper or shovelling their walk in winter.

And yes there are those of us who do work in foreign countries trying to help those who may have been oppressed or lack opportunities for a better quality of life. For me, being a humanitarian is simply that I and my family, through our family charity The Ronnie Fund, want to help create a peaceful world where all people are equal and have the basic necessities of life. Even though we are just an average middle-class family, we feel we are so blessed by what we have and how easy life is for us while there are so many around the globe who do not have access to clean, safe drinking water, the ability to send their children to school on a regular basis or have enough food for the table. In Africa, it is a real challenge for most people to provide even one meal a day for their family.

August 19th is Humanitarian Day - it is a time to think about how you can make the world a more humane place by using your actions to help those in need, at home, around the corner or around the world. Each of us has the capacity to help all human kind. Support Humanitarian Day by helping someone in need - you'll be glad you helped to contribute to making the world a better place to live.

Day of the African Child - June 16

The Watoto of Wongonyi Village, Kenya. Watoto is the Kiswahili word for "children".

Yesterday was a great day to celebrate children , especially the children of Africa for June 16th has been declared the Day of the African Child.

For those of us who have been to Africa, we have experienced the beauty of these children. Their shy smile as they greet you on the road on their way home from school, the giggles and laughter as children see their own image displayed on the back of a digital camera and the happiness when they are presented with a gift like a new school uniform, textbooks or a solar reading light to assist them with their education.

Kenya and all parts of Africa are home to a great quantity of forgotten children, those whose parents have succumbed to the ravishes of Aids. These children have been shuffled from relative to relative hoping to find support and love or been taken in by someone else in their community only to find that they are put to work or that in the end, the family does not have food or financial resources to care for them, so the orphans must subsist on their own. These forgotten children lack food, clothing, sometimes even a proper home or shelter not to mention the inability to afford school supplies and fees. In Wongonyi Village, Kenya we too have our issues with orphans who lack the love of a family or caregiver, a problem we are working to rectify.

So on this Day of the African Child, we ask that you think about these children and how you might help them to live by supporting initiatives like The Ronnie Fund as we facilitate programs to assist orphans and children by providing food, school uniforms, fees and textbooks, or other programs like Sleeping Children Around the World that provides bed kits and malaria bed nets, or Grannies to Grannies which supports grandmothers who are looking after their orphaned grandchildren.

These vulnerable children deserve our care and assistance. Their gentle ways and beautiful smiles hide the real reality of their lives but we can make a difference in their lives. Please help today.

World AIDS Day - December 1st

Today is a special day - World AIDS Day - a day to create awareness about the devastating effects of AIDS around the globe. This year's theme is "Universal Access and Human Rights." In many parts of the developing world and especially in all parts of Africa, AIDS is a major issue with destrcutive results for families. The disease is not well articulated, stigmas have been created due to lack of education that can leave people shunned by their communities, families and friends (even here in North America people with AIDS are shunned by those with misconceptions about the transfer of AIDS) . People are not fully educated on preventative methods of reducing or eliminating exposure to this disease. And most tragic of all, are the number of children that have been left parentless, because of the devasting effect of AIDS.

I have seen the orphans in Kenya whose parents have died from AIDS who have been left to fend for themselves and their siblings, left on their own without a loving parent to look out for their safety, or tuck them into bed each night. Sometimes they can find a home with a grandparent but these elderly persons have neither the resources nor the strength to look after these orphan children. If they are lucky, another family might take them in, but again food and resources may be severely limited.

So on this special day, we ask you to think about those who have been inflicted with this tragic disease. Speak out for them for universal access to drugs which can help prolong their life with quality and human dignity.

"Blessed Unrest" - A Worldwide Movement

I just finished reading a most powerful and interesting book by leading environmentalist and social activist Paul Hawken. His book, "Blessed Unrest, How The Largest Movement In The World Came Into Being And Why No One Saw It Coming" is a wonderful reminder of the power of small groups and individuals to effect global change. In the book Hawken recounts the history of the movement of social groups and the great leaders who have championed for those whose voice has not been heard.

Those of us working in developing countries can fully understand the importance of the work we are doing and we feel the gratitude of those we are helping by providing education, tools and resources that allow them to develop sustainable projects creating income to take care of their families. Sometimes people say they feel overwhelmed by the injustices in the world and they don't know how they can help. Our message is simple to start one person at a time, and in time those who have been helped will in turn help others, and so on, and so on. The gift gets paid forward.

Paul Hawken and his team have also created a website www.wiserearth.org at which you will find the world's largest free and editable international directory of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and socially responsible organizations from across the globe. This directory includes more than 110,000 organizations in 243 countries, territories and sovereign islands. Here you can find others working globally by category or by country. I found it a fascinating site and one I know will be so useful in making connections and networking to find useful solutions to common problems.

For those working in developing countries I would highly recommend you give this book a read. This quote from Paul Hawken's book sums it up, "...the future implications of the movement's daily actions is to remember Emerson's moral botany: corn seeds produce corn; justice creates justice; and kindness fosters generosity. How do we sow our seeds when large, well-intentioned institutions and intolerant ideologies that purport to be our salvation cause so much damage? One sure way is through smallness, grace, and locality. Individuals start where they stand and, in Antonio Machado's poetic dictum, make the road by walking. Thoreau insisted in 'Civil Disobedience" that if only one man withdrew his support from an unjust government, it would begin a cycle that would reverberate and grow. For him there were no inconsequential acts, only consequential inaction: "For it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be: what is once well done is done forever."

We are a perfect example of the movement, our family started saving pennies in a jar for one young man, Ronnie's, education and have grown to help a village, Wongonyi in Kenya, Africa. And along the way others have joined us in the journey. If we can do it, so can you!