No Bailout for Planet Earth

November 29th will see the world leaders descend on Cancun to discuss climate change.

They will discuss how 2010 is the hottest year since records began.  They will talk about 2010 is the year that humanity's emissions were the highest ever.  

The Irish banking system is about to receive a €85 billion bailout  The U.S. banking system and too-big-to-fail industries received anywhere from $US350 billion to $US2 trillion dollars, depending on who you ask.

When is the bailout for Earth coming?

I hope it comes during Cancun, but I don't think it will.

Meaningful Volunteer is trying hard to have a green impact on the Earth.  We do out best to plant mangroves around Tablas Island, use recycled paper to make craft, and are working hard right now to make a solar powered school in Uganda a reality.  Sometimes it feels like a losing battle.

What are you doing for the Earth?  Do you hold out much hope for Cancun?

Let us know what you think.

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This thoughts were inspired by an article by Johann Hari.  Be sure to check it out

Don't build a school. Invest in people.

Check out this post over at Lessons I Learned.  It's very interesting.

The author claims that we need to invest more in people than in buildings.  She raises some great points.

We can all feel good about ourselves when we do something highly visible like a school and emblazon our names on the side of it.  But you don't get that same sort of buzz when a child gradually learns her alphabet.  We can't tattoo "Sponsored by Mary Jones" on her forehead.

The challenge for Meaningful Volunteer is to focus on our prime goal of increasing child literacy once our school has been built.  As our census showed, practically no child under the age of 9 could read a single letter.

What do you think? Is the question as simple as people or buildings?

Who is going to feed those who are saved from malaria?

The Malaria Operation aims to reduce the malaria rates in Buyaya where 53% of deaths are caused by malaria.  This is a terrible statistic and we are doing all we can to reduce it.

Bill Gates agrees.  He is giving £30 million to a British research team to develop new insecticides.  Have a look at that article and scroll to the bottom.  You'll see this comment by "saberuscoe":

...and after you've saved them who is going to feed the increase in population. Its patently a pity the smart arses don't think this through, why should they; after the awards and gongs are allocated we the sucker taxpayer ends up paying the bill.


It's a good question.

Each year, one million people die from malaria.  If we prevent those one million deaths (Heaven forbid!), who is going to feed them?  Bill Gates? The taxpayer?  Me? You? Saberuscoe?


Saberuscoe's question is flawed from the start. Decreasing malaria deaths doesn't increase the population: It decreases the population.


Put yourself in the shoes of a rurally poor African women. Who is going to care for you when you are old?  The state won't provide, so your only option is your children.  Your children are likely to die before they are five due to deadly combinations of malaria, HIV, dysentery, cholera...

So what are you going to do?  You're going to have a bunch of children just in case some of them die.

If we can put confidence in the women's mind that her children aren't going to die by malaria, HIV, and so on, then she is likely to have less children, as who really wants to care for ten children?

Saberuscoe misses the point entirely.  Saving lives reduces population levels.  Not the other way around.

Reproductive Health in the Philippines

The United Nations Millennium Goal Number 5 has two targets.

1. Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio
2. Achieve universal access to reproductive health

How's this working out in the Philippines?  Here are some stats:

• 11 Filipino women die everyday from a treatable complication of pregnancy. 
• 4,950 Filipino unintended babies are born everyday to 5,205 Filipino women 
• 1,530 Filipino women induce abortion everyday.

I think it is safe to say that the Philippines is not nailing goal number 5!  EU Ambassador Alistair MacDonald agrees stating that "there is very very little progress in terms of maternal health."

So what are Filipinos doing to reduce the aforementioned dire statistics?

There is a controversial bill before parliament called the Reproductive Health (RH) bill.  The bill would help the Philippines achieve MDG number 5.  It aims to guarantee universal access to methods and information on birth control and maternal care.

Proponents of the bill argue that high fertility rates exacerbate poverty, as born out by studies in other parts of Asia.

Opponents state that there is no correlation between fertily rates and poverty.

Let's check out this graph (produced by the excellent Gapminder tool developed by Hans Rowling).It shows Fertility Rates vs. Income per person.    Continents are coloured coded and the size of the circle indicates population size.  I've highlighted the Philippines and Canada.  Check out the graph yourself here.

The Philippines has a fertility rate of 3.03 (births per woman) and a an average income of $3,204.

Canada, by comparison, has a fertility rate of 1.58 and an average income of $34,570.

And as you can see from the graph, those with high fertility rates are stuck the left of the graph with low incomes, while those with low fertility rates are along the bottom of the graph with high incomes.

We here at Meaningful Volunteer are aligned ourselves with MDG number 5 and the research.

We're working hard in the small rural island of Romblon to assist ladies to voluntarily reduce there fertility rates via our Project Lifecycle.  Come along and volunteer and help us out!

What do you think? Is the Philippines on the right track?

What went wrong at our Mama Pamba fund raiser

We launched our Mama Pamba project recently.  We did a lot of things right, and a lot of things wrong.

I thought I would talk about them here in the hope that others might learn from our mistakes.

What we did wrong

• Not involve the global community
  You all like Mama Pamba, right?  Don't you wish you could have been at the fund raiser?
  
  We know we have fans all over the world and we could have had a much bigger fund raiser if it were logistically possible.  So how could we have gotten other people involved?
  
  A few ideas spring to mind.
  
  We could have garnered donations via text message.  You know the ones: Text Dolphin to 4454 to make a $25 donation.
  
  The big advantage with this method is that it is so easy to do.  It takes seconds, requires no login credentials and uses a technology that everybody is familiar with.
  
  The second is the use of the Meaningful Shop: A much underused tool that Meaningful Volunteer has developed.  This is a bit more complicated that texting, but would of generate a sewing machine or two.
  
  Also, why did we limit ourself to one event in one country?  I know that there are at least a few of you out there who could have organized something.
  
  Maybe something as simple as dinner with friends and 15% of the bill going towards a "Mama Pamba tip"?  Maybe a pub night?  Maybe selling your old clothes and giving the proceeds to Mama Pamba?
  
  The possibilities are limitless.
  
  
• The Message
  We raised about $US1,000.  This is great!  We probably buy six sewing machines with this money plus a bunch of sewing materials.
  
  But is that all we really wanted to do?  The message is all important.
  
  Mama Pamba is a cool name, but just what is Mama Pamba?  I'm sure some people went away from the event knowing they supported something cool, but weren't exactly sure what that cool thing was.
  
  We should have spent time talking on the microphone explaining the project and even offering spot prizes for answering quiz questions.
  
  What's the average age of people in Buyaya (19)?  What is the number one killer (malaria)?
  
  We should have had more emphasis on the project and the problems that people face in Buyaya.
  
  We did have a projector with a Powerpoint presentation about Buyaya on constant rotation, but it was tucked in a corner where very few people could see it.
  
  
• Lack of movie footage
  Yours truly was responsible for taking video footage of event so we could make a video about it.  I completely forgot and had to use still images for the movie.  Silly me.

What we did right
Luckily, we did a lot more things right than we did wrong.

• Having non-Meaningful Volunteer people do the work
  I got a lot of undeserved credit for setting this fund raiser up.  We had one superstar (you know who you are) who did most of the work.
  
  It is always great and heart warming when people step up and work hard at projects that Meaningful Volunteer has set up.
  
  
• Press time
  I was a little dubious about this one at first, but Megin Alvarez insisted.  She sent out a bunch of press releases to local papers. Check out the resulting articles here and here.
  
  We good some publicity, which is always good.  We also had a lady randomly visit us and give us a huge box full of beads for our craft groups.  We were also contacted by a business in Vancouver called My Best Friend's Closet who want to carry stock for Grassroots Uganda and the Payawpao Orchids!
  
  
• The Usual Stuff
  We did the usual stuff like raffles and 50-50 draws, which are always good money makers.

Summary

We made a total of $1,012.79.   Click here for a breakdown.

We're planning another fund raiser in the new year.  This time it'll be for a solar powered school in Uganda.

Not Going to Haiti or Burma

Just recently, I had the good fortune to attend a protest about the "elections" in Burma on November 7th.

In a a result that surprised no one, the military junta romped to victory.

Many Burmese held protests around the world and many Burmese in Burma ripped up their voting forms in protest.  The ruling junta allowed no foreign press or observers to document the election.

Burma is in a mess.

Half a world away is Haiti.

We all know about the devastating earthquake that killed 230,000 people and left a million homeless.  About a week ago, Haiti was narrowly missed by Hurricane Tomas.  Tomas still lashed the country with rain and heavy flooding ensued.

And then, to add misery upon misery, cholera gained a foothold on the island.  So far 724 have succumbed to the illness and thousands more have been infected.  With the country's infrastructure in ruins, the water born illness is only going to get worse.

As I look at these countries, and countless others (Somalia, Pakistan, the Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo..), I wonder what Meaningful Volunteer can do to help ease the suffering?

Meaningful Volunteer could - for example - mobilize an army of volunteers and we could head over to Haiti with shovels, hammers, and nails and start to rebuild the country and remove the rubble.  It's not hard.  It's not difficult.  It's just hard work.

The one thing that Meaningful Volunteer could not guarantee would be volunteer safety.  Haiti is basically one large slum at the moment.  Slums are dangerous places.  Rape, for example, is out of control in Haiti.  If your sleeping in a tent or under a tarpaulin, then what chance do you have to fend off an attacker?

Whenever Meaningful Volunteer sets up a new project, safety is our number one concern. We can't guarantee safety in Haiti or Burma.  And that makes it a deal-breaker.  Meaningful Volunteer will not be going to Haiti or Burma.

There are countless organizations out there doing a great job.  I'm sure you just as capable of finding good organizations to donate to as I  am.  I do want to give a special plug to the J/P Haitian Relief Organization who are doing a fantastic job in Haiti.  JPHRO was founded by the famous American actor Sean Penn, who has been living in Haiti since the earthquake hit(!).

On a more positive note, Meaningful Volunteer is looking to expand in Nepal and Ghana in the near future.  Ghana, by the way, is one of the few countries actually achieving its Millennium Development Goals.

Founder of Meaningful Volunteer featured in Korean Herald

From the Korean Herald:

For many expat English teachers in Korea, life is comfortable, with most provided with a free apartment and enough money to make savings at the end of each month.


But for Malcolm Trevena, who before coming to Korea had a successful career as an IT consultant in his native New Zealand, his job teaching English in Suwon was keeping him from his true vocation a life of activism.

Read the full article here.