Come on American cousins - chip in!

Simon & Nicky

Bronze
Feb 3, 2004
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www.simon-hall.co.uk
The G8 summit is scheduled for a few weeks in sunny Scotland. World poverty will be high on the agenda and true to his word, Mr. Gordon Brown the British chancellor has called for the following:

The doubling of European aid by 2010 - OK this bit doesn't include you guys.
100% debt relief
The cancelling of many trade subsidies that work against poor nations

It would appear that Pres. Bush is against such proposals because it doesn't fit in with the American budget. - Well excuse me - next time a shoe shine boy asks me for money I'll be able to tell him that unfortunately I didn't budget for the expense.

Come on - have a moan at someone pleeeease - It's only money after all.

Mr Brown said "This is not a time for timidity nor a time to fear reaching too high".

Check out the BBC for more information - www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4606197.stm

Then do me a favour and have a moan about it with one of your friends, they'll tell their friends etc. etc. Soon you'll all know what the rest of the rich nations are saying.

Debt cancellation will bring medical aid and education - what's the problem?

Simon
 
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Escott

Gold
Jan 14, 2002
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www.escottinsosua.blogspot.com
Well I have to say that the US has forgiven more debt, rebuilt more countries, come to the aide of more countries that all of Europe combined. Now you are complaining that they won't kick into something?

There is no BBC story.

Escott
 

Chris

Gold
Oct 21, 2002
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www.caribbetech.com
Hey Simon & Nicky - if you go to http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/ all the info is there. If you register, you get a non-intrusive e-mail every now and again that keeps you informed of what's happening. This campaign is doing good things in my estimate. I know of one board member that is very involved in this effort. (As far as Escott's comment on what the US has rebuilt, there are many rebuttals in terms of what they've broken down or warred against... Let's not debate that debate here - they've done good, they've done bad, I wish they would ratify Kyoto and decide to make poverty history.)

Geez, I think this my first post to the board in two weeks... I feel like a stranger. I must be getting done with all the work that slammed me from nowhere... I think it is Presidente time for me - no more serious thinking tonight!
 

rellosk

Silver
Mar 18, 2002
4,169
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Chris said:
Hey Simon & Nicky - if you go to http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/ all the info is there. If you register, you get a non-intrusive e-mail every now and again that keeps you informed of what's happening. This campaign is doing good things in my estimate. I know of one board member that is very involved in this effort. (As far as Escott's comment on what the US has rebuilt, there are many rebuttals in terms of what they've broken down or warred against... Let's not debate that debate here - they've done good, they've done bad, I wish they would ratify Kyoto and decide to make poverty history.)

Geez, I think this my first post to the board in two weeks... I feel like a stranger. I must be getting done with all the work that slammed me from nowhere... I think it is Presidente time for me - no more serious thinking tonight!
Good posting. Thanks for the link!
 

sunshine_79

I made the 300,000th post!
Jun 1, 2005
684
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Chris said:
Hey Simon & Nicky - if you go to http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/ all the info is there. If you register, you get a non-intrusive e-mail every now and again that keeps you informed of what's happening. This campaign is doing good things in my estimate. I know of one board member that is very involved in this effort. (As far as Escott's comment on what the US has rebuilt, there are many rebuttals in terms of what they've broken down or warred against... Let's not debate that debate here - they've done good, they've done bad, I wish they would ratify Kyoto and decide to make poverty history.)

Geez, I think this my first post to the board in two weeks... I feel like a stranger. I must be getting done with all the work that slammed me from nowhere... I think it is Presidente time for me - no more serious thinking tonight!


Poverty ... so sad. I used to get teary eyed when I would see one of those Sally Struthers commercials but then would forget about it just as soon as The Simpsons came back on. It was easy to feel bad for those kids but even easier to forget about them as soon as their hollow little faces were no longer on the TV screen. I grew up dirt-poor near Branson, Missouri but compared to a lot of people, I was living in the lap of luxury just because I had a 13-inch TV and electricity. I remember the winter of 1992 when I was 13 and our furnace went out and we couldn't afford to get it fixed for almost 2 weeks. Winters in Missouri, especially the Ozark Mountains tend to be very, very frigid. It's probably a stupid memory but the thing I remember most from those two weeks is how my nose hair stayed frozen even when I was covered by a million layers of my brother's hand-me-downs.

Fast forwarding almost 12 years later ... I arrived in Iraq and the standard of living for 99.9% of the indigenous population was absolutely heartbreaking. For the first time in my life, I was seeing firsthand how good life had been to me after I spent most of my years thinking I was from the school of hard knocks. I felt like a spoiled brat after living amongst those poor people and will never take a single thing in my life for granted ever again. Thought I knew it all until I was deployed.

After my trip next month, if I decide to stay in the DR, then I want to form some kind of organization that partners up expats with Dominican kids. I guess you could say it's comparable to the Big Brother/Sister program we have here in the US. And I'm sure that I'm not the first person to come up with an idea like this but I'm still excited about it and think that it could become a realization instead of just an idea.

I'm not going to solicit help from anyone at all until I'm able to get on my feet, support myself and my kid and then establish the program. And for all I know, I may fail miserably but for now I'm going to stay optimistic. I just wanted to put a bug in everyone's ear that I'm planning on this. All of the great things in my life have mostly came from the kindness and generosity of other people so I want to give back a little. I might be poor myself but if I can make a child happier by spending quality time with them when their families might not be able to then I'll feel rich and that's what matters. (Wow, how corny did that sound? I sound just like my mother, yikes).

Another good link to try is www.one.org which was founded by Bono of U2. Brad Pitt is the spokesman (fellow Missourian) but I'm pretty sure Bono is the brains behind the outfit.

See ya!

Sunnie
 

Chris

Gold
Oct 21, 2002
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28
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www.caribbetech.com
sunshine_79 said:
.... After my trip next month, if I decide to stay in the DR, then I want to form some kind of organization that partners up expats with Dominican kids. I guess you could say it's comparable to the Big Brother/Sister program we have here in the US. And I'm sure that I'm not the first person to come up with an idea like this but I'm still excited about it and think that it could become a realization instead of just an idea...

Do some searches and read a lot on the board. I think a Big Brother/Big Sister thing could work very well. Some of us are already doing that to a greater or lesser degree.