So what's all the fuss about?

I've had a couple of people ask questions in the past few days about the event I am organising and what it's all about, so I decided to explain what we're doing and why.

The event is a birthday party, specifically a 5th birthday party to highlight the big deal it is to turn 5. Here in Australia 5 is a big deal because it usually means time to start school, but for many kids in the world 5 is a big deal because so many children die before they reach it, often from things that are very preventable and treatable if you had access to the solutions! Hence the name 'survive past five'.

So what are we trying to achieve? Firstly we want to raise the awareness of those who come of what is going on in the world and what they can do to help, but the main purpose is to highlight the need to our government. We have the local Federal member coming and we have some 5th birthday cards to sign to present to him and also a banner for him to take to Canberra. He also has an opportunity to speak about what the government is doing about this issue and he will be blowing out the candles on a number 5 cake (which hopefully looks like a number 5 when I make it LOL).

What are we asking of the government? The short answer is to meet their commitment to the Millenium Development Goals, but most people have no idea what those are so here is a rundown of what that means:

"In September 2000, the leaders of the nations gathered at the United Nations to consider what the new millenium might look like. One of their key agreements was that the future should be one in which extreme poverty was relegated to the dustbin of history. They gave expression to this by formulating 8 goals to be achieved by the year 2015.
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce Child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainablity
8. Develop a global partnreship for development

They declared '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 above is copied from a Micah Challenge leaflet)

Now that all sounds very high and lofty so how do we get there? There are 5 ways to for the government to act:
1. Give more and better aid.
Now this one causes some people to get upset. Why should we send money overseas, we have our own problems here etc and yes I agree we have plenty of problems here, especially after the floods, but Australia only gives 0.34% of our national income in aid, when you look at it from that perspective it isn't actually that much and is lower than most other 'western' countries. The government has said it will increase aid to 0.5% by 2015, but 0.7% is needed to meet the millenium goal commitments.
The 'better' part is also important, what the aid is directed to is very important, crucial areas to focus on are health, education, clean water and sanitation, these are the keys to helping people step out of poverty!

2. Cancel debt. (some countries pay back more in interest to overseas debts than they receive in aid)
3. Ensure trade justice. (I learnt a lot about world economics when I did a world politics subject at uni and that was how I first learnt about the importance of fair trade. The materialism of western cultures has a huge impact on developing nations and the trade rules are stacked in the favour of the rich. I could do a whole post on fair trade but that's it in a nutshell).

4. Support good governance.
5. Tackle climate change (this again could take a whole blog post but it is an important part of reducing poverty as things like soil erosion and chopping down trees turns once arable land into a barren place and threatens food production)

So that's what needs to be done!!
What we are specifically asking in our 5th birthday cards is related to goals 4 and 5 about child mortality and maternal health to "please allocate $1 in every four aid dollars to improving healthcare in developing countries by the 2011-2012 budget, as we are still not contributing our fair share to the global effort needed to prevent child deaths. Let us do our fair share to ensure that every child can celebrate their 5th birthday."

Another question I hear is why is this our problem?

EVERY 3 SECONDS A CHILD DIES FROM PREVENTABLE CAUSES
EVERY MINUTE A WOMAN DIES DURING PREGNANCY AND CHILDBIRTH

these are people, not just numbers, real people, how would I feel if had no food to give my children, how would I feel if they were sick and I had to watch them die because I had no money for or access to a doctor or medicine?? This is everybody's problem!! It is a disgrace that in a world of such wealth and so many resources that poverty like this is allowed to occur!!

The solutions are simple...
clean water, toilets, mosquito nets, vacinations, health clinics, birthing kits, nutrition and hygeine information, something as simple as a sterile pair of scissors to cut an umbilical chord can save a life!!

I have been blessed to live in this nation and have access to things like water and healthcare that I take for granted, I want to pass those blessings on to other mothers around the world so they too can watch their children grow up!!

So that's what the 5th birthday party is all about. Progress has been made and we are celebrating that, leaders are listening and lives are being saved and changed, but more needs to be done and we are keeping our government accountable for their part, because we live in a democratic society where we can do that!!!

We will be having fun on the day with food, games, face painting etc, but we will also be highlighting the issue of child health, hearing from a World Vision speaker, making our voices heard to our government and doing our bit to make sure more kids can survive past five!! :-)