February 8, 2005 at 1:53 AM

Another busy week has begun for me. I'm back at school after a few days off thanks to the exam period. I have my Macbeth lines memorised for my English acting assignment and we have snow again! Life is good. For me anyways.

Since December 26th, 2004 when the Tsunami devastated a huge amount of people and countries, whenever I am at school or walking around town or opening the paper, all you see is articles and pictures from the horrific event. Such a terrible thing to happen, so many people affected and the outreach from around the world has been amazing. My school held a drive to raise money to send and aid in relief efforts, to which I donated all the money that I had on me that day. There have been performers from around the world doing concerts and fundraisers to raise money. I myself took part in a concert over the weekend where I lent my playing abilities to a variety show of classical to jazz to metal to raise money to help the children orphaned by this disaster.

Such an amazing outpouring of help and support for a stricken world. But is it? People are donating their money and time in a heart beat to an event that was a freak of nature and could not be avoided, which is awesome to see, but what about the rest of the world? What about the children in Sudan? Over 30,000 people die there each month due to the cruelty of the human kind. Children are forced into working as sex slaves, or child soldiers. Forced to kill or amputate their own families and villages to save their own lives. They are kidnapped, or their families are killed in front of them, with them left standing their to find their own food and shelter, all the while stuck, living in a place totally scary and memories un-eraseable which will torment them for life. How often do we hear about concerts done to raise money for the kids, women and men of the Sudan and Colombia who are forced to live in such horrible conditions that are all man caused and can be helped?

How often do we hear of an outpouring of help and funds for the people of Africa in the middle of an aids and starvation epidemic? The numbers are staggering and these people can be educated and with a little support can have a better quality of life, and have a chance of growing up and seeing their children growing up or see their kids go to school. How would you like to see your own child sit in front of you, so sick from the lack of food and funds, unable to eat the small amount of food you have been able to get that night all because they're so sick that their tiny bodies can't handle the trauma of digestion? Such a tiny amount of money can help a child and their entire family survive, yet where's the news headlines on them and their crisis'?

What about labourer's in Asia where people work for the smallest amounts of money just so that they can survive? Or in the Phillipines or in the Dominican Republic? How can we as a society ignore day to day events that kill more people daily then the tsunami has, that are man caused and can be helped if only we are willing?

I'm in favour of the tsunami aid relief and I have donated much of my own personal time and talents as well as money, and I've done so with a great feeling of satisfaction and feeling of "yeah! I can make a difference!" My wish is that people will see that there is a bigger picture going on right now as well that also needs attention, and while we sit around contemplating the possibility of another natural disaster, for each breath you take and word you speak, a child dies a horrible death, an entire family is wiped out, a person will find out they have aids and won't live to see their kids grow up, a child is orphaned. Please give to the tsunami victims, but please don't forget about the rest of the world and the people who are crying in the streets of their towns and villages living in conditions and dealing with things unimaginable to the average North Americans. If we don't hear their crys and help, who will?

From Johnathan Honcerita-Le-Van-Ho
Posted on February 8, 2005 at 3:15 AM

This subject comes up and up again in the media..and i agree with you 100%...what about all these other people that need help also...but the good thing about the tsunami aid thats been giving out...is that now...there has also been an outpouring to help african and asian poverty. i watched on the news one day..saying that the red cross could not accept any more money or something for the tsunami fund..but that africa could still be donated to...people agreed...they just wantedthe money to go to somewhere good...to other people who need the money more than us

From Trudi Simmonds
Posted on February 8, 2005 at 7:25 AM

I too agree with your comments,however we also should'nt forget what is going on in our own backyard,not long after the tragedy of boxing day,the state of South Australia was devestated by bushfires and several people lost their lives in one of the cruelest ways,it is admirable that so many gave so generously to the appeal,but what of the lives of these poor farmers and their families that are left to pick up the peices,because it is not just the loss of human life,but also that of their stock,their livihoods have also been wiped out.

In Australia we all accept bushfire as part of life,but a few donations thrown their way, to help rebuild their lives will make as much a difference as those who received it in Asia,after all charity begins at home.

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February 8, 2005 at 1:53 AM

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