World Peace

Some more thoughts. I was recently accused of being "holier than thou" because I hold passionate concerns for people and issues outside the four walls of my white, middle-class, privileged suburban existence - apparently I should be worrying about the "in crowd" or something instead. (I have never been "in" in my life, so it seems pointless to start worrying about it half way through!)

I don't think a shift in perspective ever hurts those of us who live in a similarly blessed situation. Some physical shifts that our family find challenging and encouraging:
* Rob, Rach and the gang on a most amazing family adventure (miss you guys)
* Rae and her posse keeping it real in India (colour our family green with envy)

My contribution to World Peace today? Making felt donuts for my three future peace-makers...what better than to fill their little Love Tanks to overflowing while sharing with them about the blessing and responsibility their young lives carry.

Mother's Day

It is a good thing to take the opportunity to honour the role of Mother in our culture. I like a good lie-in, brekky in bed and the lovingly made gifts from my children, and was blessed to get these yesterday.

To be honest, in amongst the busyness that was my day, my mind kept turning towards the mothers struggling to ensure their children's survival in Myanmar. Last night on the news I watched pictures of a mother lying with her very newborn baby, and couldn't help thinking that baby would have been better off in the safety of her womb until international aid can reach them. Imagine the power of Mother Love required to keep many, many thousands of children alive right this minute.

If you're the praying kind, please pray for a break-through in the hearts and minds of the leaders of Burma, to allow experienced aid professionals in to help their people.

Be Aware!

Some issues that are weighing on my mind:

Myanmar - devastation from Cyclone Nargis.

Fair Trade fortnight.

International Composting Week.

World AIDS Day

1 December is World AIDS Day around the globe. For me, it always brings thoughts of poor communities, particularly those I've seen in Africa, hugely affected by this disease.

I've seen complete despair, holding a skeletally thin woman in a dark hut, in her last days with barely any last comforts available to her. I've met a 14 year old boy, parenting three younger siblings alone after his 16 year old sister had left to marry for a better life, his parent's graves just behind their bare hut. I've been buoyed by the hope of a group of HIV Positive women living a full existence, despite their lack of access to healthcare available to us.

(Excuse the photos of photos from Uganda and Malawi.)

Please be aware and check out the information at World Vision New Zealand, World Vision International and the video links at World Vision US.

Monsoon

'The imbroglio of inky clouds swirling overhead contained nimbostratus, cumulonimbus, and Lord knows what else, all driven by updraughts, downdraughts, and vertical wind shear. Thunder boomed. Lightning went zapping into the sea, the leader stroke of one strike passing the ascending return stroke of the last so that the whole roaring edifice seemed supported on pillars of fire. Then, beyond the cumuliform anvils and soaring castellanus turrets, we saw a broad, ragged ban of luminous indigo heading slowly inshore. Lesser clouds suspended beneath it like flapping curtains reached right down to the sea.
"The rains!" everyone sang.
The wind struck us with a force that made our line bend and waver. Everyone shrieked and grabbed at each other. The woman on my right had a plump round face and dark eyes. Her streaming pink sari left her smooth brown tummy bare. We held hands much more tightly than was necessary and, for a fleeting moment, I understood why Indians traditionally regard the monsoon as a period of torrid sexuality.
The deluge began.'
Chasing the Monsoon by Alexander Frater, in Travellers Tales: India.

As I wandered around the supermarket yesterday, drinking my Fairtrade Organic flat white, putting my free-range organic chicken in my trolley and nibbling on my pain au chocolat, I considered the shallow nature of my middle class existence in light of the current horrific flooding in India, Bangladesh and Nepal. As I indulge my refined tastes there are mothers holding their children above flood waters to avoid drowning and snake bites, farmers despairing at the loss of their life's work knowing the coming suffering of their families and elderly people who were unable to survive their struggle against the monsoon waters.

Our media has not yet placed much importance on this story, until they get some gruesome pictures that will push it up the rankings for a day or two. Unicef considers it the worst flooding in living memory. Development agencies such as World Vision will be taking donations to supply relief aid.

I'll continue to think of the mothers doing all they can for their children in the deluge.