Following my open letter to the British Prime Minister I found myself thinking about the issue of declared days to mark certain issues in society.
I have written about some of them MALARIA DAY , WORLD POVERTY DAY , BLOG ACTION DAY, there is
International Woman’s Day, World AIDS Day and so on and so forth.
I did wonder if somewhat out loud why we need these days and as one of my Twitter buddies said,
I look forward to a time when there will be no WORLD POVERTY DAY
I am not necessary concerned with the fact that we have days to mark these issues more so with what happens for the rest of the year before the day comes around again.
When I think about the G8 and G20 meetings, they meet year in year out but does any work actually go on to effect change? What about all the other days which deal with righting wrongs/injustices even within society?
Do we all forget about poverty, AIDS, MALARIA, DISABILITY, WAR HEROES until the day to mark these issues comes around again?
Having these days concentrates the issues in question in all of our minds but what can we do about these issues/causes during the year to ensure that one day we can do away with these days? Does it also mean that we are an unfair lot that we need some in society to remind us once a year to be fair to those less fortunate than us and if so what does it say about the human race!
What about the people directly affected by some of these issues, do they get to have a say? How do we improve their circumstances by having these days?
Just some of my thoughts on DAYS. Have you got a view? Perhaps you are a person that plans those days, EARTH DAY or some such day, please share your thoughts
About idahorner
Personalise it. As long as those suffering are just numbers or transient pictures on a screen, it does not engage people sufficiently. Get to know the actual people and it becomes far more persistent and you become more emotionally invested.
Personally, I would like to see most foreign aid abandoned in favour of a tax break for 'twinning families', like towns and schools do. Perhaps a bit like the charity child sponsorship but with real effort to enable communication between the families using the internet. I firmly believe people would dig much deeper and that it would also help communicate a message of real social responsibility and understanding, instead of chequebook charity and looking for the state to deal with everything.
I do like the idea of families Twinning with families. I think Channel 4 had a series on that issue where well of families here in the UK sponsored poor Families in the country and those that were revisited things appeared to have worked out really well for all concerned.
It would be great if that concept is extended to the developing economies. Our charity http://www.lethemhelpthemselves.org/ has twinned up with Hastoe Housing Association here in the UK-they do not intend to write cheques but to go and get involved and have exchange visits too.
The G20/G8 well what can I say. here is an Alternative proposal- would love to see that implemented!
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/20/724219
Personalise it. As long as those suffering are just numbers or transient pictures on a screen, it does not engage people sufficiently. Get to know the actual people and it becomes far more persistent and you become more emotionally invested.
Personally, I would like to see most foreign aid abandoned in favour of a tax break for 'twinning families', like towns and schools do. Perhaps a bit like the charity child sponsorship but with real effort to enable communication between the families using the internet. I firmly believe people would dig much deeper and that it would also help communicate a message of real social responsibility and understanding, instead of chequebook charity and looking for the state to deal with everything.
I do like the idea of families Twinning with families. I think Channel 4 had a series on that issue where well of families here in the UK sponsored poor Families in the country and those that were revisited things appeared to have worked out really well for all concerned.
It would be great if that concept is extended to the developing economies. Our charity http://www.lethemhelpthemselves.org/ has twinned up with Hastoe Housing Association here in the UK-they do not intend to write cheques but to go and get involved and have exchange visits too.
The G20/G8 well what can I say. here is an Alternative proposal- would love to see that implemented!
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/20/724219