Now I'm a big supporter of many charities - but a new one has come to my attention: World Vision, which has actually been on my radar for over a year. This year i have had the distinct honor and privilege of being asked to host The Child Supporters Celebration. I have included the Press Release for those who are interested in knowing more.
I expressly hope that each and every one of you reading this is touched by the idea that you can help make a difference in a child's life, either by sponsoring a child for a year, or even just making a donation at the Tree Of Life (which gives you the opportunity to help out individuals or communities in so many ways, and with so many affordable levels.)
NEWS FEATURE
For Immediate Release
MALNOURISHED ETHIOPIAN FAMINE SURVIVOR NOW EDUCATES NEXT GENERATION
SINGAPORE, 11 November 2011 – He survived the 1984 Ethiopian Famine that caused an estimated one million deaths and made millions more destitute. He still experiences flashbacks of the persistent hunger pangs, his hair dropping due to malnutrition, and the endless queues for food distribution. Today, Getacher Beyene, 31, is a science teacher at an elementary school in a town in northern Ethiopia. He credits World Vision for helping him survive and his child sponsors for enabling him to thrive.
"When you don’t have these basic necessities, you totally lose your appetite for life, and you don’t have time to think about tomorrow." Beyene shares. "You cannot think about anything but a piece of bread."
With the current drought-induced food crisis still haunting the Horn of Africa and affecting countries like Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, Beyene makes a trip to Singapore to share his transformational story of hunger to harvest with local World Vision supporters at the annual
Child Sponsors Celebration on November 19 at Fort Canning.
Beyene remembers receiving biscuits and wheat flour as a child, which cured his malnutrition. As World Vision’s relief operations in Antsokia phased into rehabilitation programmes, Beyene’s father joined a local committee and reforested eroded patches of land and grew more nutritious varieties of fruits and vegetables.
"If I wasn’t sponsored, it would have been very difficult for me to complete my education," says Beyene, who became a World Vision sponsored child at six. World Vision’s
Child Sponsorship programme paid for his books and school fees in elementary school, and later covered his transportation costs to a high school in a town almost 20km from home. Beyene’s sponsors continued to support him through teacher’s college.
Today, the 1984 famine might be something Beyene’s students read about in history textbooks, but drought still remains a serious threat to subsistence farmers in rural Ethiopia—the current
Horn of Africa food crisis is a clear indication of how countless communities are still highly vulnerable to weather conditions and food insecurity.
The Horn of Africa is still grappling with its worst food crisis in 60 years, with more than 12 million people in dire need of food aid, caused by the prolonged drought spell coupled with conflicts in some regions. Refugee camps are severely overcrowded and at high risk of communicable diseases like cholera, while aid agencies are concerned about the lack of funding for long-term development work in these regions—the only hope of these farmers surviving the next drought season.
Despite the geographical distance and difference in language, culture, and background, there are Singaporeans who do care about the plight in the Horn of Africa. Singaporean Sophie Kho is one inspiring World Vision Child Sponsor who donated an entire fully-equipped health clinic that cost more than SGD 72,000 to Ethiopia last year, through the humanitarian organisation’s annual
Life-Changing Gift Catalogue, which compiles a list of the most urgent and life-saving practical gifts for children in the developing world.
"It doesn’t matter if it’s $5 or $50, no amount is too small. What matters is that we put our words into action and not ignore people who need our help. Maybe if we learn to see these children as our own children, we will naturally want to protect them," shares Kho.
"I think of my students as my children," says Beyene, whose students at Cheffa Robit Comprehensive Elementary School in Ethiopia are mostly children of poor farmers and day labourers. "I want them to overcome their difficulties and to dream of a higher position. My fear is they may face the same problems I faced."
Find out more about World Vision’s Child Sponsors Celebration here
Date: Saturday 19 November 2011
Time: 12.30pm – 4pm (High tea)
Venue: The Legends, Fort Canning Park
Hosted by: Linda Black, TV presenter; Founding Member of [the]Collective
Performance by: Jack & Rai and Singapore Wind Symphony
Media RSVPs for the Child Sponsors Celebration are appreciated by Wednesday November 16. World Vision’s strongest supporters from corporate, schools, churches, and Goodwill Ambassadors will also be recognised at this event.
The public can also find out more about the Life-Changing Gift Catalogue at our Christmas roadshow, the Tree of Life:
Venues: Marina Square (Dec 8-22), NEX (Dec 1-18), Jurong Point (Dec1-22)
Time: 10.30am – 9.30pm
Performance by: Singapore Wind Symphony on 17 & 18 Dec (1pm), 21 & 22 Dec (7pm) NUS Resonance on 20 Dec (7pm)
Website: http://www.worldvision.org.sg/giftcatalogue/index.html
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organisation dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender. www.worldvision.org.sg
Media Contacts
Ms Lynette Lim
Head, Communications World Vision International (Singapore) Tel: (65) 6511-7115 Mobile: (65) 9742-6450 Email: lynette@worldvision.org.sg
Live updates at:
http://www.facebook.com/Worldvisionsingapore http://twitter.com/WorldVisionSG
Ms Sharon Lim
Executive, Media & PR, Communications World Vision International (Singapore) Tel: (65) 6511-7133 Mobile: (65) 9146-2297
Email: sharon@worldvision.org.sg
APPENDIX A: Horn of Africa food crisis
The food crisis in the Horn of Africa persists. Reports show a sharp increase in school closures, the number of children dropping out of school; gruesome Global Acute Malnutrition and Severe Acute Malnutrition rates; children and parents separated and protection challenges on the increase. World Vision has been providing relief aid and also planning long-term intervention for these communities and refugees.
100% of donations received for the Horn of Africa food crisis will go towards the emergency relief response.
Read more on this food crisis here. Watch a video on how World Vision is helping the malnourished children and starving families in this region.
APPENDIX B: Child Sponsorship Programme
World Vision’s Child Sponsorship Programme addresses the root causes of poverty and diseases, helping the children, their families and communities break the cycle of poverty.
When you sponsor a child for S$45 each month, which is S$1.50 a day, World Vision helps your sponsored child through the Area Development Programme in his/her community. This ensures that fundamental needs, such as access to clean water, basic healthcare, education, nutritious food and increased food security, and household income are not only available to the child and his community, but they will be empowered to help themselves in the future as well.
The money you give doesn't go directly to your sponsored child or family. This is because it is proven to be more effective and accountable to use the money on projects (eg. building a well, health clinic, school) that will benefit their community as a whole, at the same time improving the wellbeing of the child you sponsor.
This programme is not another charity handout – it transforms needy communities to achieve self- sustainability and empowers the individual to effect improvements in their own communities. Former sponsored children have grown to become lawyers, surgeons, teachers, World Vision staff and are giving back to the community.
Read our annual report here.
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World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organisation dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender. www.worldvision.org.sg
