War, natural disasters and maybe a dip in global finance etc, they all strike fear and panic deep down to the core of our hearts alike. While we are meddling with all these, we are unaware how poverty and hunger, the master of all silent killers, rounds up a whooping amount of almost 21,000 child deaths everyday around the world.
Based on http://www.globalissues.org, here are some mind-blowing numbers that really keeps mii wondering how blind we are to not notice such an important global issue:
Some 22,000 children die every day around the world.
That is equivalent to:
- 1 child dying every 4 seconds
- 14 children dying every minute
- A 2011 Libya conflict-scale death toll every day
- A 2010 Haiti earthquake occurring every 10 days
- A 2004 Asian Tsunami occurring every 11 days
- An Iraq-scale death toll every 19–46 days
- Just under 7.6 million children dying every year
- Some 92 million children dying between 2000 and 2010
And there you have it, facts that none of us even bother to keep a simple notice on just because we all think our lives are complicated enough. While we are complaining about the injustice of how the society treats us, blaming the heavens for not giving us a better life, we tend to forget how lucky we are to be able to even breathe another day. Devastating as it seems, poverty has certainly reached its climax, or maybe even more if it weren't for those organizations and fund-raisers aiming to reduce world poverty rates.
''The continuation of this suffering and loss of life contravenes the natural human instinct to help in times of disaster. Imagine the horror of the world if a major earthquake was to occur and people stood by and watched without assisting the survivors! Yet every day, the equivalent of a major earthquake killing over 30,000 young children occurs to a disturbingly muted response. They die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.'' UNICEF, Progress of Nations 2000
As then, many efforts have been carried out to save these kids, but unfortunately, it seems that the world still does not notice. It might be reasonable to expect that death and tragedy on this scale should be prime time headlines news. Yet, these issues only surface when there are global meetings or concerts (such as the various G8 summits, the Make Poverty History campaign in 2005, etc).
So, what went wrong? Is it our ignorance that has blinded us from the real view on the world? Or has our self-centered and egoistic minds taken over our sense of sympathy and rationalism? We always tend to think that we have problems that no one could solve, or we are too indulged into our daily routine that we have not even the time to lend a simple helping hand to those in need. I dare not say it for myself, hence same goes to everyone else. Sometimes, it is better for us to stop and think, how you’d feel if you were in those children’s shoes? Would you still be complaining on getting to much homework, or would you still be mad at getting a low pay cheque? For those kids, all they wanted was food for them to yet survive another day.
Based on some read-up facts, the world has indeed enough food to feed everyone in this world, but homo-sapiens, these undeveloped species waste food every day! We as the most intellect creatures in this world still have much to learn. Just only in Malaysia, stats show that every day, we wasted an amount of food that could feed 1000 children for a month! And how depressing this is to know that the world is wasting what could be ‘gold’ to this starving kids.
According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.’’ This could be the reason why problems like these stay hidden from the lenses of the community.
Also stated on Global Issues, poverty is the state for the majority of the world’s people and nations. Why is this? Is it enough to blame poor people for their own predicament? Have they been lazy, made poor decisions, and been solely responsible for their plight? What about their governments? Have they pursued policies that actually harm successful development? Such causes of poverty and inequality are no doubt real. But deeper and more global causes of poverty are often less discussed.
Behind the increasing interconnectedness promised by globalization are global decisions, policies, and practices. These are typically influenced, driven, or formulated by the rich and powerful. These can be leaders of rich countries or other global actors such as multinational corporations, institutions, and influential people. In the face of such enormous external influence, the governments of poor nations and their people are often powerless. As a result, in the global context, a few get wealthy while the majority struggle. –more articles could be found on: http://www.globalissues.org
Together, I believe we could make a difference. All it takes is a little time of your daily life to care and find ways to help these children. Saying is one thing but doing is another. They are humans, just like mii and you, its just that we live a much better life than theirs and it is our duty to try to help them. Let us too put our hands together and pray for their well-being, may they be well and happy always...
Amithaba
Amithaba
Signing off,
Nickel
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