Chap Chat

Wednesday 15th October 2008 is a worldwide Blog Action Day. The idea is to have as many people as possible writing on the one topic. This year’s focus is Poverty.

An organisation I am very passionate about is Micah Challenge. This group supports the Make Poverty History campaign, believing in the need to follow a passage in the Bible from the book of Micah which says: “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). Make Poverty History is an organisation which is calling on Governments around the world to fulfil promises (called Millennium Development Goals) they made in 2000:

We will spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanising conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected.

The Millennium Development Goals are:

• Goal 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Goal 2. Achieve universal primary education
• Goal 3. Promote gender equality and empower women
• Goal 4. Reduce child mortality
• Goal 5. Improve maternal health
• Goal 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• Goal 7. Ensure environmental sustainability
• Goal 8. Develop a global partnership for development

So who are Make Poverty History? The following quote is taken from their website:

Make Poverty History is a non-partisan coalition of more than 60 aid organisations, community and faith-based groups. We call on all political parties to take the following steps needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals:
• increase Australia’s aid and ensure it is used effectively
• make trade fair
• drop the debts of poor countries
• help poor countries keep their governments accountable, and
• tackle climate change in developing countries.

To fulfil our part in these goals, Australia would need to invest just 50c per $100 of our wealth in overseas aid. We are nowhere near reaching our target, with less than 30c per $100 being invested. Therefore we need people to Stand Up (see the Make Poverty History website) and make a difference. The clip from Micah Challenge (http://au.youtube.com/watch?=IaegS_1IADI) talks about how you can make a difference. Just one person can make a difference. But what is great is when many ‘one persons’ join together.

If you would like to Make Poverty History, or if you would like to learn more about it, it’s all there on the Internet…

You can make a difference if you really want to. Will you Stand Up and Make Poverty History? I will…

Shalom

Source: http://www.makepovertyhistory.com.au/index.aspx

Have you ever heard this term before? Do you know what it really means? It basically means that you can’t judge a person by what you see.

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been looking at first impressions. Even though you can’t determine what someone is like just by looking at them, we all try to do it anyway. As soon as we see someone for the first time we decide what we think of them, before we get to know them properly.

That is why it is so important to be aware of our behaviour at all times. There is always someone watching, making an opinion of us even without knowing us. Is this fair? Not really, but it happens anyway.

As you go out, think about the fact that people are watching you and making an opinion of what they think you are like. Are they liking what they see, or have they already decided you are not worth knowing?

You can’t judge a book by its cover, but sometimes you can get a pretty good idea…

Shalom!