Kember.net

Make Poverty History

Posted 7 January 2005, 17:59. (Filed under: Opinion by Andrew)

You’ve been shocked seeing the death and destruction following the tsunami and earthquake, now hear this:

In the five days between the earthquake and New Year, about the same number of children died in Africa as there were people killed by the earthquake. That same number, again, died in the following week, from causes associated with extreme poverty. This goes on every week of the year.

These people also need our help.

We need to take two types of action to help those in poverty in Africa.

1. Support the Make Poverty History campaign by buying and displaying a white band; sending an email to the Prime Minister and signing up for news of the campaign.
2. Give some of your money to a charity that provides aid to the poor in Africa. Here’s a list of all the charities connected to Make Poverty History.

Giving aid to African countries will never release them from poverty without the commitment of our governments, as they can provide the massive amounts of assistance, debt relief, economic development and infrastructure development that are needed. Therefore, the political aspect of this work is vital.

Having read the Make Poverty History website, I was confused about where the line was drawn between political campaign and charitable aid: Does money I give to Make Poverty History go towards African aid? Why is there nowhere to donate money? Bob Geldof has the answer to my question on his website:

One thing we have to be clear about is that white band and make poverty history is not fund raising for Live Aid / Band Aid, but is the campaign for the ‘justice’ angle, the tool to achieve the necessary political change that Bob spoke about. (Source expired)

This is why I’ve separated the action plan into two: Voice your concern; give money to charity.

Go on – read about it then pray about it, then do something about it.

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