Welcome to my Blog

WELCOME TO MY BLOG................

The United Nations Website for reporting on the Millennium Development Goals (www.un.org/millenniumgoals/) reports that more than one billion people live in hunger and extreme poverty. Over 32 million children are out of school. In addition to an increased likelihood of being out of school as compared to boys, girls face gender discrimination that leads to lower earning, increased illness and violent crimes. The likelihood of a child dying before its first birthday is 8 times higher for those in developing countries than for those in developed countries, and 13 times higher for the bottom billion of the population. Maternal health, labor and sex trafficking, access to clean water, HIV/AIDS, and environmental sustainability each bear grim statistics that call for action, and perhaps the hardest of all to acknowledge, is that 24,000 children in developing countries die preventable deaths every day.

The purpose of this blog is to provide information related to understanding these issues and to provide multiple resources to enable readers of this blog to take individual action. The blog will also provide updates on current activities and partnerships addressing these issues as well as some “catch up” backstories as many have asked about the path that brought me to my current passion to address social injustices and the belief that real progress is not only possible it's essential and although many of the issues are complex there are many tangible and specific things that can be done now to reduce the suffering and improve the lives of literally billions of people.


Monday, December 5, 2011

Backstory: Short-Term Mission Immersion and Important Realizations


In October 2009 an opportunity was presented to participate with another organization on a mission trip to Fiji. This trip was quite different from the trip to Indonesia. We happened to be there during a two-week national campaign to raise awareness to the social issues of gender inequality and child abuse. The dynamics in the groups we were leading, the Tala Tala, who were both the church leaders and village chiefs, confirmed what I was reading in the papers in the areas of gender inequality and the importance of addressing it for the stabilization and future of Fiji.  This trip also provided additional insight to the importance of respecting, and in some cases restoring, indigenous culture.  As in Indonesia the culture supports community and sharing to a much greater extent than most Western cultures. It was a reminder that providing aid or assistance to another culture is a delicate venture.  The West does not have all of the answers and many of our ways are not only unappealing to other cultures, they can create disharmony in well-balanced communities if not done appropriately.

No comments:

Post a Comment