Anti-Poverty Week

"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."

- Nelson Mandela-

Some weeks ago I attended a forum, held by the UN Association Australia Queensland and the topic was "Make Poverty History: How Can We Help?". It was held at UQ, by the UN Association Australia Queensland (with which UNSA is affliated). The crowd was not as big as I expected; nothing compared to the crowd in live band concerts, not even the numbers of students in a lecture. The size of the audience was small but all came with the same goal, same vision. They all want to make a difference in someone's life.

I knew nuts about what this "make poverty history" campaign is but I really am interested to know how I can help to make poverty history. Maybe that was one of the reasons that made me sign up for it. I arrived at the forum with zero expectation because of the fact that I had zero knowledge about the campaign, about the world's happenings (not exactly but yea..). After the forum, I walked out from the hall feeling overwhelmed and slightly dissapointed for my ignorance to many issues but, I was inspired.

"Everyone has time, some has more than others but everyone can do something to make a difference to others with that time.."

"...if you have a voice, make use of your voice...there are people who can't voice because they don't have a voice..."

"..it needs a lifelong effort...if you intend to give up, when it becomes too tough because it definitely will...this is not for you..."

I can't remember which speaker/s who said the above phrases but these are the few phrases that keep ringing in my head every now and then.

If you think that after the forum, I should be the know-it-all by now, then you are wrong. The forum was indeed very insightful, but because of my accumulated years ignorance to the happenings around the world, I was only able to grasp a handful of information. As much as I would like to appear to be the know-it-all, I have to admit that I do not. Still, at least I gained something useful from that few hours of talk. And that leads me to finding out more . That leads me to wanting to do more than just sitting, listening and surfing.

So on October 24th evening, I went with a friend to the King George Square to"stand up for what i believe in, to stand out from the crowd to make a difference, to stand for changing the world." This STAND campaign was run by the Oaktree Foundation (visit www.theoaktree.org ). As I was on the phone with dad earlier on that day, I told him about this campaign, about stuff I gained from the previous forum-politics and corruption, refugees, the indigeneous people, the poor, our ignorance, about my beliefs. And as usual, dad and I will have our debates and discussion when issues like this are brought up. He told me about a lot of relevant stuff ; about the hard reality of the world-the complexity and cruelty, certain things we can't change because it is not as easy as it seems, and even if we can change, that slight change will make so little difference that it wouldn't be significant. There are many things that I am yet to understand, but I was glad to hear opinions which contradict to my beliefs as that allows me to see from the other perspective.

The crowd again was not big. We stood 8 minutes of silence to remind others to adopt the 8 Millenium Development Goals (check www.milleniumcampaign.org/site/pp.asp?c=grKVL2NE&b=185455), which aimed to halve world poverty by 2015. Some people would think that one can't do much with just standing and making the crowd happen and it was just a waste of time. But to me, doing something about it, whether in a small or big scale, whether is formal or informal, is better than doing nothing at all. To me, sitting and taking no action is a waste of time, not the effort for a right intention.That few minutes of my time, and the hours spent in the forum were part of my little contributions that I was willing and could afford to give, to make a difference to the world. As small as my contributions were, I am glad I did something meaningful for that day with the hope one day, people will no longer have to suffer from poverty, people will no longer die of poverty...with the hope that one day poverty will be history.

Will you STAND ?

For 8 minutes of silence

in candlelight..

Do you care

to voice your beliefs

and give an extra hand

just to make the world a better place