:LendYourVoice
In support of...
First of all I would like to say that this is not an organisation, or a charity. This is just one person who sees the injustice, the inequality, the poverty, the suffering and death in some of the worlds most undeveloped countries. I am just an 18 year old girl who grew up in a 'normal' UK family, in a house, with a bed and a bathroom, T.V. and food... everything my heart desired. Things I always take for granted and most of the time I never give a second thought about how lucky I am. What if I didn't have my hairstarighteners? A mobile phone? A television? A computer? A car? Would you think that I would be missing out on necessities in life?
What if I didn't have a place to sleep at night? A roof over my head? Food? A clean supply of water? Access to simple medicine that only cost 25p to supply? What if I didn't have any family becasue they died of cholera or AIDs? No chance of an education or a job? This is the lives of more than 3 billion people in the world.
I set this up to make people aware of what people in poor countries around the world are living like. Their living in a World of Poverty.
I don't understand how it is, and I don't pretend to know how it is, but this is what I see.
The gap between the world's rich and poor has never been wider.
Malnutrition, AIDS, conflict and illiteracy are a daily reality for millions.
But it isn't chance or bad luck that keeps people trapped in bitter, unrelenting poverty. It's man-made factors like a glaringly unjust global trade system, a debt burden so great that it suffocates any chance of recovery and insufficient and ineffective aid.
Rich countries are blocking a global trade system that would help make poverty history. This injustice will only be changed if enough citizens across the world call on rich country governments to change their trade policies.
Millions of people are stuck in the trade trap. No matter how hard they work, they earn less every year. The situation is so dismal, half the world's population now lives on less than $1 a day - roughly the cost of a burger.
Why are people cheated of a proper living?
The money and the resources ARE available to feed the poor the world over. We have the resources to fight poverty, to fight AIDS, to fight for a better life for those who truly need it. But those are NOT the fights we choose.
1% of the money spent on weapons COULD have sent EVERY child in the WORLD to school by 2000. (Money spent on killing lives rather than saving them).
We forget that we are ONE people, ONE human race. We all share ONE planet, and it cannot be divided up.
one love one music ONE PEOPLE
ONE MOVEMENT
one heart ONE SPARK
ONE GIFT one lift
one stance ONE shift
one way ONE DAY.
ONE!
"What will our generation be remembered for?
The internet? Yes.
The war against terror? Yes.
Wouldn't it be great if we were also remembered as being the ones that set about Making Poverty History?"
- Bono
What can we do?
It's simple really, change the rules. Now.
It's an obvious solution - challenge and change the rules so they work for poor countries. Re-write them in favour of the poorest countries so they can develop, build their own industries, grow stronger, and one day compete as equals.
BUT... this will not happen until YOU make a stand and challenge these rules! One more person, letter or voice will mean the difference between life and death for millions of people.
Making a difference one by one by one...
:LendYourVoice
