Be a Part of the Online Media Festival for the WFP

November 29, 2007 at 10:12 pm (community, culture, education, giving, hunger, images, links, malnutritian, poverty)
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Posted by Kristen

This comes from my friends at the UN’s World Food Programme. 

“We’re looking for any content – stories, poems, pictures, videos, music, graphics that let’s the world know that it’s time for child hunger to end. 

How to be part of the Festival

Create your media in whatever format you like. Then register with the FightHunger website and email your media (or a link to your media) to endhunger [at] fighthunger.org. We will display all the entries we receive on this page. You can submit until 12.00 midngiht GMT 24th Dec 2007 – read the Festival rules first.

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A Boot Camp Cure for Web Addiction

November 19, 2007 at 6:45 pm (culture, education, links)
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In South Korea, there is now a boot camp to cure web addiction in kids and teens. Read it in the New York Times.

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African Crucible: Cast as Witches, Then Cast Out

November 15, 2007 at 11:26 am (community, culture, education, hunger, links, malnutritian, poverty)
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Posted by Kristen

NY Times Article: UIGE, Angola — Domingos Pedro was only 12 years old when his father died. The passing was sudden; the cause was a mystery to doctors. But not to Domingos’s relatives.

Domingos Pedro, 15, left, at home in northern Angola with his brother. After he was accused by relatives of being a witch, he was beaten and terrorized. Even his mother is suspicious of him.

They gathered that afternoon in Domingos’s mud-clay house, he said, seized him and bound his legs with rope. They tossed the rope over the house’s rafters and hoisted him up until he was suspended headfirst over the hard dirt floor. Then they told him they would cut the rope if he did not confess to murdering his father.

“They were yelling, ‘Witch! Witch!’” Domingos recalled, tears rolling down his face. “There were so many people all shouting at me at the same time.”

Read more…

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On Anti Anti-Americanism

November 13, 2007 at 10:01 am (community, culture, giving, hunger, links, poverty)
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Posted by Kristen

This is a recent BBC article on UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s stance on being anti anti-American.

As an American living abroad, anti-Americanism is something myself and many of my students have to deal with. Luckily, after many people meet an actual American, minds can change and hearts can soften. Americans ARE the largest group of donors in the world to humanitarian causes. My husband works now for the UN’s World Food Programme and he (a German) says that the United States is their largest supporter and of overwhelming proportions. The next two countries that come close are Japan and Germany.

While of course we are not perfect by any means and there is much to be improved, it’s nice to hear once in a while from others who are against anti-Americanism.

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November’s Newsletter Now Online

November 8, 2007 at 5:36 pm (community, culture, current and past projects, education, giving, links, poverty, shopping)
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Posted by Kristen

Our latest newsletter for November is now online here.
 
Check out the status of our latest Honduras House Project and our new matching challenge, our recent Small Projects for families in Guatemala and Ecuador, and learn how your regular holiday shopping can turn into free donations for Aura’s House projects.

Best wishes,
Kristen Palana
Founder of Aura’s House

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How Much Do People Spend In The World on Food?

November 5, 2007 at 4:42 pm (community, culture, hunger, images, links, malnutritian, poverty, shopping, statistics)
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Posted by Kristen

“Ever wondered how you rank with the rest of the world in the amount of money you spend on food in a week? I got this email and it has some great pictures along with the amount of cash each family spends in feeding themselves for a week all around the world. Guess how much money refugees from Darfur spend in a week at Briedjing Camp for food?”
Find out here.

Germany

Germany. $500 a week.

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Wake Up

November 4, 2007 at 8:48 pm (community, culture, giving)
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posted by Kristen

 (My friend whom I lived with for 4 months in 1998 in Dublin, Ireland recently posted this on her Facebook. It really struck a chord, particularly in light of the fact that I have to pass back some D’s and F’s to my students tomorrow (midterm exams) and they will surely complain. We’ve been off for a week, and I actually dread their reaction. But, a number of students also did well, so the only verdict is those who did not, did not study. In an earlier lesson, I explained to the class that only 1% of the world’s population had a college education. I suspect that if more people had the opportunity to go, they’d surely study. In any case, I am guilty of complaining as well.)

Everyone complains. We complain when the weather is too hot and when it’s too cold. We complain when things are too easy and when things are too hard. We complain when we’re bored and when we’re too busy. We complain when someone is too nice and when they’re mean. It seems like people are intent on being dissatisfied. Or is it that we think we are entitled to a perfect life? I have been thinking about this a lot lately and I want to say that I am sick of it.
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