*TOOT TOOT*

Remember my blog a while ago called 'It Matters'? Well, it still matters so read on! I also just want to add. I know that I am outspoken on this issue, it matters to much so me and I want so much for it to matter this much to everyone else. But if I offend anyone in anyway with the things that I say then please just tell me. It is completely unintended, I just want to shake people up abit, not offend them!

Today is half way between the years 2000 and 2015. It is Blow the Whistle Sunday. Why is that important I hear you ask? (I have very good hearing) Well, because in the year 2000 the 189 UN member states at the Millenium Summit in New York promised to halve world poverty by the year 2015 and although I don't pretend to be an expert on what the world governments are doing, I think we all have a responsibility to make sure they keep their promises. We all know what politicians are really like.

Here are some of the things they promised:
Hunger: more than the total population of Canada, USA and the European Union are hungry in the world. The promise is to halve this amount by 2015.
School. 115 million primary school aged children remain out of education across the world. The promise is to ensure that by 2015 all children will be able to complete primary school all over the world.
Gender equality. Two thirds of the children not in school are girls. The promise is to eliminate gender disparity in primary, secondary, and all levels of education by 2015.
Child mortality. In industrialised countries, the ration of child deaths is 7 in 1000. In sub-Saharan Africa the number is 173 per 1000 and in Asia it is 98 per 1000. The promise is to reduce by two-thirds the number of children under five who die from preventable illnesses.
Maternal health. more than 500,000 women, mostly in developping countries, die each year in childbirth. The promise is to reduce this by three-quarters by the year 2015.
HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. 39.5million adults and children are living with HIV/AIDS and malaria kills more than 1million each year. The promise is to have halted and reduced the spread of these diseases by 2015.
Environment. 1.1billion people do not have access to safe drinking water. The promise is to halve this number by 2015.
Global partnership in government. the promises are to reduce debt, increase aid, develop non-discriminatory trading systems and provide good access to health care and medicine in all countries, among others.

I haven't included the progress/non-progress that is being made. The fact is that there is progress, more people do have access to safe drinking water, there has been a reported reduction in the levels of HIV/AIDS, and in some countries women are gaining more rights, there are more girls in education, and better economies in some countries have meant that hunger levels have decreased. In some areas.

But that's the point. There is progress, but it is not everywhere. The quality of education is still very poor in many countries, in sub-Saharan and Asian regions there seems to be little hope of reducing child mortality, 90% of children under the age of one have the HIV virus in sub-Saharan Africa, cases of TB are on the rise, rapid deforestation continues at alarming rates.

Please don't take this post as either positive 'oh everything's fine and the governments are doing what they said they would' or negative 'this is terrible nothing good is happening at all'. I'm just trying to lay out the information that I know to show a little bit of the picture of the state of the world. Here's website where I got all that information, please take the time just to have a look:

http://www.tearfund.org/webdocs/Website/Campaigning/BTW/The_Millennium_Development_Goals.pdf

I don't know about other people, but for me it is so easy to feel guilty about my life when I read things like this. I found another site with people's stories about the poverty-stricken lives that they lead and my first instinct was to suddenly hate all that I have. To hate the fact that I can go to university, get free health care when I need it (regardless of how useless the NHS is, at least we have one), buy the clothes that I need, and want, eat enough food every day of my life. Sometimes it makes me feel sick. But you know, I don't think we should feel like that at all. If anything the only thing that should make us feel sick is if we read all this information and then decide that it doesn't involve us, affect us, or require us to do anything about it.

That is wrong. I think that the right way to see all this is to recognise our good fortune in living where we do and having the things that we have and to get a good perspective over it all. I know that sometimes I can't afford necessary things, I know that when I leave university I will have thousands of pounds of debt, and I know that I will really really struggle to get on the property ladder. But I will never have to be afraid of dying from a cold, or contracting TB from the water, or fear that because of my beliefs I could be captured and tortured by a faceless army, or worry about where my next meal will come from.

And because of that I can do something. I can remind the government of what they promised in 2000, I can sign petitions, I can tell people what I know, I can be careful where I spend my money, I can support charities and organisations that never give up fighting for basic human rights, I can not become so buried in my 'Western' life that I forget there are millions and millions and millions of people in the world who would give anything to be in my shoes, and I can remember to check my attitude so that I don't become complacent about life. About my life and other people's lives.

I want to finish with a quote from Neslon Mandela:
"Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. And overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life."

Blow the Whistle Sunday. What are you doing to help the governments in their promise to halve world poverty by 2015?