100 Billion Galaxies. & A Lot of Work to do on Earth.

Two things on my mind because two outstanding thoughts were presented to me today. Which makes today great!!

Fistly, just got back from my first iMax experience. Experienced Hubble 3D. All I can say is wow. And refer back to a previous post, I've re-embedded the video below because it is just fantastic to see perspective put to all the numbers (with 23 0's at the end). It's great, but it ain't got nothing on Hubble 3D which allows us to travel through our galaxy getting us up close and personal with nebulae and flying through the galaxies. Awe-inspiring stuff. “Dazzling” – New York Times, “Spectacular” – L.A. Times, “Out of this world” – Variety; are some other (more authoritative comments).

Secondly, I was privilidged today to hear Andrew Hewett, Executive Director of Oxfam speak at one of our Lunch and Learn sessions. He's a incredible man. Vastly knowledgeable, he's been working in the humanitarian arena for a long time, having started working at Oxfam in 1991, he has a bias towards advocacy and campaigning. I learned so much hearing him speak. What stuck was the idea that we as NGO's need to cause change in bigger organisations, and rate ourselves on the CHANGES we've managed to influence rather than how much money we've raised. It makes so much sense because real change in policy, and real change in the GLOBAL POPULATION is how we'll solve our worlds troubles. He talked about ACTIVE CITIZENS, a term I am loving. It conjures up all sorts of great ideas about citizens of a each and every country taking ownership working towards the greater good.

Enjoy the video.


This Thursday is World Humanitarian Day.

I wanted to share this email with you. It's from Mike Penrose, Director of Emergency Programmes, Save the Children. It's so moving for me to work in an organisation like Save the Children. People I work with have lost friends and colleagues, and it's made even sadder because they were all making a stand for the world... making a positive difference.

Mike writes and speaks really well (if you ever get a chance to hear him speak I recommend it). He's been 'there' and seen 'that'. Horrors we can't even imagine. Today and yesterday I was working on the creation of Emergency Appeal ads for the Pakistan Floodings Appeal. I have spent hours looking at images from the last few days. Heartbreaking imagery, and the quotes are devastatingly sad. It's been a tough couple of days, sitting at my computer being moved to sadness by these images. I wonder, what would it be like 'on the field', in real life when all the senses are involved.

Oh boy. Just put my really hectic couple of workdays into perspective.

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World Humanitarian Day was created a year ago to celebrate the successes of global humanitarian action and to remind the world of the risks that emergency humanitarian workers face each day.

Last year we lost 109 colleagues and friends to violence (more than UN peacekeeping), that is one of us every three and a half days, and another 92 were kidnapped, but despite these risks we delivered life saving assistance to millions of hungry, displaced and vulnerable people.

By the end of this week the Save the Children Australia emergencies team will have 5 staff members in Pakistan responding to the devastating floods currently affecting 20 million people. Over the past year we have directly responded with people, technical support and money to disasters in Indonesia, the Philippines, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Haiti, Samoa, Sudan, The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia to name a few.

Most of us in SCA Emergencies who have been in this profession for a long period of time have lost colleagues and friends, and some of us have experienced violence first hand, but all directly or indirectly involved have made a difference. We are all part of this.

Can I ask that you go to the attached website, watch the video and read the factsheets to remind yourselves what we do, and why we do it. It is easy to get lost in statistics of disasters and the requirements of day to day life, so please remember, these are real people we talk about, real children we work with, and all have the same hopes dreams and fears as you and I.

http://ochaonline.un.org/whd/

Thank you very much for your ongoing support, and can I urge you to continue to work hard to ensure that the millions of children we serve, in Pakistan and elsewhere, are given a chance to life, happiness and opportunity.

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The Esther Benjamins Trust. Doing some real good work in Nepal.

Driven to Rescue. from Vicki Lines on Vimeo.


Very poor parents are being promised their children will receive education and money, when in truth they are being trafficked into Indian circuses, or brothels.

These families are poor, undernourished, covered in lice. They think they are sending their children to a better life. Most often they can't read or write so they make their mark on the contracts that they can't read.

Fortunately for the kids in this video (who live in at-risk areas) they were driven away to a better life through Esther Benjamins Trust.

http:///www.ebtrust.org.uk/

24,000 Children will DIE today. We can do something to STOP THIS.



Every year children like Tamba die needlessly from easily treatable causes, like diarrhoea. We believe every child deserves to live. And we know the difference you can make. Your $10 dollars a month can save the life of a child today.

24,000 CHILDREN WILL DIE TODAY.
THAT IS 17 PER MINUTE.
MOST COULD HAVE BEEN SAVED.

FIND OUT MORE.savethechildren.org.au/everyone