Last year I couldn’t help but to tear up as my heart filled with empathy and compassion for the people of Darfur. I was watching Oprah’s special on the genocide taking place and all I could think of was “I wish there was something that I could do to help them!”
(Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.)
Despite the amount of publicity that tragedy got and that US Secretary of State Colin Powell declared it a “genocide”, would you believe that the killings, burning of villages, bombing of schools, and rapes still continue? And not just in Darfur but other countries around the world as well.
Not all nations have genocide to combat though. Most nations have silent killers such as poverty, easily preventable diseases and illnesses, and catastrophic climate changes.
But seriously take a moment and just try to imagine living day in and day out in these undesirable circumstances. This should really help your thought process:
- 1 person every 3 and a half seconds according to the United Nations dies of hunger or hunger-related causes. That’s about 25,000 deaths today, most often children.
- 1 in 2 children in the world live in poverty, that is 1 billion children.
- 27-28 percent of all children in developing countries are estimated to be under weight.
- 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5.
- 640 million live without adequate shelter.
- 400 million have no access to safe water.
- 270 million have no access to health services.
- 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation.
- Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
- Over 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day, that is almost half the world.
- At least 80 percent of humanity lives on less than $10 a day.
Would you agree that today is BAD after reading those statistics?
I can agree after those staggering statistics that today things are BAD, and have to be made better.
A global mandate to make poverty history was made in 2005 by world leaders. Due to public pressures, some big promises were made such as to increase the aid and cancel many poor countries debt.
Yet in 2007 the necessary actions to combat these issues still had not taken place.
Today in 2008 the fight against poverty continues but now with a small twist on it.
Remember when I said when watching Oprahs’ special on the genocide in Darfur, I was so touched that I really wanted to be able to help?
Well today I can help! And if you’ve ever wanted to do more than feel bad for them then you can help too!
How can we help? “Blog Action Day 2008″. This is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite world’s bloggers to post about the same issue on the same day. Now you can really help by “Creating Change You Can Be a Part Of!”
“Blog Action Day” began in 2007 when the founders organized more than 20,000 bloggers to all get together on one single day and blog about the environment.
This year in “Blog Action Day 2008″, that topic is poverty. The goal is to have 50,000 bloggers all blogging about poverty on this one day: 10-15-2008.
When my mentor “The JV Queen” first heard about “Blog Action Day 2008″ she was already involved with the founders of “10 Million Clicks for Peace”. Their goal was to bring 10 million people together to help achieve world piece.
For “The JV Queen” this was too good of an opportunity to pass up so she came up with this clever idea. Her being the “JV Queen”, she organized a Joint Venture between the founders of “Blog Action Day 2008″ and the founders of “10 Million Clicks for Peace” to make this an even bigger of an event to be apart of.
By combining the two organizations and using “10 Million Clicks for Peace” patented “Peace Impact Meter” you have the ability to visually see the impact that you make on ending poverty.
This year for the very first time, when you take a step towards ending poverty in this world, you’re also taking a giant leap toward creating world peace at the same time. Now how cool is that!
All it takes is a small amount of effort on your part – tell others about “Blog Action Day 2008″ or give a contribution of as little as $25 – to make a huge impact that could end poverty forever.
To get started immediately, simply register for your FREE “Peace Impact Meter“. Log in to your members area and take a look at your “Peace Impact Meter” where you will see the ways in which your contribution of as little as $25 can truly impact poverty.
You can also participate in a non-monetary way. You can do this by adding the “End Poverty” tag to your blog or website and write an article about poverty. You will find the tag in you members area and on Thursday (the day after “Blog Action Day”) the tag will automatically be replaced by the “Little Yellow Tag for Peace” which will allow you to continue to participate in the mission for bringing peace to thousands of people worldwide.
If you’ve ever heard of the cliche “killing two birds with one stone” then this is the ultimate way to do so, yet in a good way 
If I can use the internet and my blog to help give someone the freedom they deserve in life, then I know I have served my own as well as Free – Money Tactics purpose.
