“Sweeter even than to have had the joy of caring for children of my own has it been to me to help bring about a better state of things for mothers generally, so that their unborn little ones could not be willed away from them.”
- Susan B. Anthony, 1820-1906
04-03-2008 |
2 Comments »In the Fall 2007 issue of Creation Care magazine, Larry Schweiger of the National Wildlife Federation writes about the importance of outdoor play time for children. The article was entitled “Leave No Child Indoors: Time Spent Outdoors Shapes Character, Health and Environmental Attitudes.”
My mother would often say that I lived outdoors and I suspect that many of you spent a great deal of your time outdoors too. My brothers and I roamed for hours across the hills of Northern Allegheny County, climbing trees, building forts, and constructing dams in the creeks…
Researchers in such places as Chicago and Boston are studying how the nationwide childhood obesity epidemic may cause shorter life-spans for the next generation. They conclude that, while we have enjoyed increases in expected lifespan for several decades, the new lack of childhood activity and its extra pounds can lead to adult-onset diabetes and can actually shorten average lifespan from three to five years.
Parents have become unnecessarily more fearful, though outdoor “stranger danger” is nothing compared to indoor threats. The risk of kidnapping by a stranger is one to two chances in a million. Most sexual assaults on children are from adults they already know. And yet, the risk of a child communicating with a sexual predator online is one in five…
The reality of the world we live in today is that children are more at risk for predation by strangers they meet in a chat room than by strangers at the park. Spending so much time in the screen space rather than the green space isn’t something we should encourage.
01-14-2008 |
4 Comments »Child Death Rate Drops
Worldwide, the number of children who died in 2006 dropped below 10 million for the first time. UNICEF attributes the decrease to measles vaccinations, mosquito nets, and breast-feeding. However, experts said most of the 9.7 million deaths were preventable - much more still needs to be done.
Source: World Vision News
12-05-2007 |
5 Comments »A friend told me a worrying story the other day.
She had been telling her daughter about the ongoing boycott of Nestle due to their behaviour in the developing world, leading to increases in deaths caused by the use of baby milk formula and dirty water. This clearly sunk in rather too literally.
Some time later the girl saw someone eating a Nestle product at lunchtime break. Wide eyed she said “Don’t eat that…. IT’LL KILL YOU”.
Once you’ve all wiped the coffee from your computer screens, maybe we all need to learn a little something about how we teach our children. I still can’t stop laughing…
10-22-2007 |
11 Comments »I get so frustrated, wanting to change the world and feeling so powerless to make any impact on poverty and injustice. One heartening shaft of light in my shadowy gloom is World Vision Child Sponsorship. The world IS a better place for Raha, the little Palestinian girl our family sponsors in the Gaza Strip, Israel. Our sponsorship provides her with food, clothes, medical care and education.
Also, our money contributes to the needs of her entire community things like provision of fresh, clean water, medical clinics, schools and income generating endeavors which aim ultimately to leave a community self-sufficient.
I, as a World Vision Child Ambassador, would like to give you the opportunity to sponsor a child/children should you wish! Leave a comment in this conversation thread indicating what gender, age and country you would like your child to be, and Ill take care of connecting you and your sponsored child. (You can also opt not to select gender, age and country.)
It costs $35 a month for a Hope Child, meaning that your child would be from a community affected by AIDS, and $30 for a regular sponsored child please indicate which you would prefer.
It would be really encouraging for me to have our Justice and Compassion community rally together to make a difference in the world in this way. But dont feel any pressure! Youre all awesome, whatever your response to my request!!
God bless you all and best regards,
Meg Ady
08-22-2007 |
7 Comments »Helen found this video this week produced by 16 year old Ava Lowery for her site Peacetakescourage.com. Hat tip to Mike Clawson
Does Jesus love the Iraqi children too? If you say “yes”, what does it *mean* to say that he does?
04-06-2007 |
3 Comments »Invisible Children is inviting us to imagine for 24 hours what it is like to be displaced for 10 years. On April 28th, tens of thousands of people across the U.S. will gather in 15 cities in mock internally displaced persons camps to show our support for the internally displaced persons in northern Uganda.
03-30-2007 |
No Comments »BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Mustafa Karim, a fourth-grader, now lives with family members in a squalid camp in eastern Baghdad where displaced Shias go after fleeing their homes, often after relatives have been killed.
The young boy’s eyes fill with tears when he recalls the circumstances that led to his exile.
“They killed my father and uncle in front of my eyes,” he says.
He then breaks down sobbing. He can no longer speak. The anguish is unbearable.
Such stories are not uncommon in Iraq four years after the U.S.-led invasion. Health officials say the daily hardships — bomb blasts, gunfire, killings of family members and sectarian violence — are taking an increasing toll on Iraq’s children.
03-20-2007 |
3 Comments »is the headline of a New York Times article today about the debate as to whether the federal government should be increasing funding to provide health care for children of poor families.
“Governors clashed with the White House on Monday over the future of the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program, an issue that some members of both parties said was as important as money for the Iraq war.
In the session at the White House, when President Bush reported on progress of the war, governors pressed him to provide more money so they could guarantee health insurance for children. In response, administration officials said states should make better use of the money they already had.”
Just for comparison:
What would you say if could be part of the above mentioned session at the white house?
02-27-2007 |
10 Comments »