Mitt liv som NEDA: juni 2008

Jag fick ett mail utav en vän igår kväll. Som berörde mig väldigt mycket som jag vill dela med mig. Hoppas att den berör ER.

Tänk om alla tänkte som hon. Hjälp henne göra världen till en bättre plats för alla!!!

"Hey everyone,
I hope you are all well and already enjoying a great summer. Guys I feel like sharing something with you, something that touched my heart, made me angry and finally gave me the courage to write you this note. Last night just as I was about to go to bed I put on the TV and watched BBC News. Zeinab Badawi the BBC correspondent was giving the news on how Ethiopian kids are suffering from hunger due to drought and failing crops. I didn’t feel much about it, I have heard about hunger in Africa before; I have in fact spent a lot of time there to make me Num to these words, Hunger, famine, poverty etc. I heard it so many times. I am Num, to these words and it is very sad the world we live in and how we slowly accept the most unacceptable thing. It is sometimes an intelligent topic to talk about while having a drink at a fancy bar with your friends, kind of showing off what and how much you know about the world. But so far they are empty talks and no action.

Zeinab Badawi warned for viewer discretion and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to watch. But somehow I felt guilty not wanting to see what is going on in MY world. I decided to watch! I saw so many kids hungry, soo skinny, so pale. So sick, stomach blown up, flies all over their face, They are so tired and exhausted that they wont even bother to push the flies off their face. Mothers were explaining how they have been walking for days to gather in a camp where their kids will be receiving some food. The reporter said, yesterday one kid died here in this Camp, last night another and the day before two kids died of hunger. And that this is only the beginning!! All these crowded camp of hungry children!
Totally malnourished and so close of dying, and sooo many of them and this is only the begging? YES this is only the beginning without help half of the children will die. The situation is so harsh that even with our help the specialists will be given special dosage of food to these malnourished kids as by the time they reach the camp it is almost too late, they have lost all their appetite and is hard to get them eating normally again. It is a situation that even with arrival of food, needs to be monitored and it involves examining the children before giving them the appropriate food and nutrition dosage because after so long of not eating the body won’t easily accept any type of food. Humans being are so adjustable, so humble, in a sense that I felt like if I was one of the mothers I would be screaming, shouting, wanting to make a mess, would want to do anything to be heard, in a way one of the mothers did it her way, she pointed her 8 year old sons head, very skinny very sick child at the camera for us to see and to feel!!
Hungry themselves and yet breastfeeding their small kids. The sad thing is that they might have already accepted the fact that this is their life, if food comes it comes if not then their kids’ dies; in the meantime they will do their best to save their children in such a modest, calmly and abeyant manner. They just turn their kids’ heads to the camera! That is what THEY can do. In a way I feel they have accepted this is their life and this might be written off in their destiny and the destiny of their children. But hope is with them and is keeping their kids alive another day.

And I had just finished my evening feast, thinking I really should not eat so late at night, summer is coming and I should stay fit and healthy… this is MY world until I watched the small documentary on BBC and I didn’t want to watch the clip because I didn’t want to see something disturbing shaking my perfect world.

I am heartbroken because when my cat doesn’t get food for half a day because I am out working and I didn’t have time to feed her, I am upset and thinking of her the whole time. I feel responsible. Responsible especially because I now my cat has no power to grab a bit of dry food from the box when she feels hungry. I am the only one that can help her, feeding her. I feel responsible because I know those children, those mothers, those fathers don’t haven possibility, the resources and the ability to provide food, the basic needs of survival, for themselves and their kids… I feel that I and my friends maybe can do something. Maybe we can change a day in their life to start with. Maybe we can feed them a meal. According to the International Medical Corps, “without help, 50% of the most needy children would die”. Lets do something guys!!! let us not say what a world we live in! let us not asks the presidents, UN and god knows what and who to do something, let us start feeling responsible!!

If you live in a particular city you FEEL for your city if something terrible happens to that city. If you are abroad and some awful thing happens to your country you FEEL for your country and for the people of your country. Let us travel even further, travel out of our planet, let us travel into the space and watch our planet from the top and WE WILL FEEL FOR OUR PLANET, for its people in need. We feel united and we feel we want to preserve and protect everything that defines us and our being on our planet. Let us make our planet a better place, let us ALL be part of it.

WE ALL COUNT. EVERY ONE OF US! EVERY THOUGHT and EVERY HELP.

I watched the program, it did shake my world, and I am happy it did. I decided to STOP saying, what a world we live in, why the world is not doing anything. I decided I AM THE WORLD. I AM PART OF THOSE PEOPLE THAT SHOULD DO SOMETHING. MY IGNORANCE IS PART OF WHAT NOTHING, NOT ENOUGH IS DONE TO SAVE THE CHILDREN OF ETHIOPIA. I don’t want to complain but want to really do something about it. I want us to reach the children of Ethiopia and I want us to tell them we are here to help!! We are your RAIN DROPS that failed you and caused all of these. If all the drops join we create an ocean. Every DROP counts.
Please let us get together and help these kids. I want to ask you guys to donate 10-15 dollars. With 10 dollars we can feed 10 kids for a day. Whatever you can, anything you can to help the children of Ethiopia. Let us be their RAINDROPS TODAY and not too much later.

My friends all of you, friends of friends make a difference and become part of the solution.

I decided to call this initiative, THE RAIN DROP INITIATIVE referring to the drought causing this hunger emergency in Ethiopia and to the fact that together we can create an ocean!

You can send your money directly to UNICEF online for this cause. ( quick and easy, paying through almost any type of card). You all know UNICEF, so you can rest assured your donation will be well spend on these kids. They have special Doctors and specialists to arrange the right dosage of food and with good planning. I have been in touch with them and they expect our donation guys, they hope our good heart will save some of the Ethiopian kids in this emergency situation. Let us raise as much money as we can to help as many children as we can in Ethiopia. Please send me an email every time you send and donate to UNICEF, with the amount you are sending so that I can keep a good track on how much we have been able to raise and I can keep you updated on how we are doing.

THE RAIN DROPS INITIATIVE

Click below to DONATE NOW!!!!!

https://www.unicef.org.uk/common/wp_donate/donform.asp?appealid=7DAF0561-5D61-4123-994A-2AE5A74A5530

(Please put The Rain drop Initiative in the box where it asks for organization)

If you have any doubt you can contact UNICEF directly as well. Please send this letter to all the friends you know and be part of this fundraising NOW. Write a small note to your friend before sending it so that they know this is PERSONAL and not any other fundraising initiative.

I keep a record of your email and the amount you have donated so this way I manage to keep you updated on the amount we have been able to raise. Please send me an email of how much you are donating to: sistanileila@gmail.com

Here are 2 links to watch the growing food Crisis in Ethiopia.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7444998.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_4590000/newsid_4597300/4597334.stm?bw=nb&mp=wm&news=1&ms3=2&ms_javascript=true&nol_storyid=4597334&bbcws=2

Thaaaank You ALLLLL

Leila"

Igår så tänkte jag att jag åker hem lite tidigare så jag kan njuta av solen o värmen tillsammans men min älskling.
Bussen skulle komma 16:20. Men den kom inte… tänkte att jag har säkert missat den eftersom jag kom till hållplatsen precis tjugo över. Nästa skulle komma 16:35. Men den kom inte heller. Väntade och väntade tills kl blev 16:50 och nästa buss kom. Bakom den kom de andra två. Döööh…. Inte för att klaga men det var fruktansvärt varmt och jag längtade verkligen efter att komma hem, ta en dusch o ta på mig något svalare.
Väl på bussen och jag trodde att jag skulle dö. Varför har de på värmen på bussen när det är 25-30 grader ut och gasande sol, och när man frågar chauffören om han kan stänga av det så kan han inte. "han vet inte hur man gör, eller, det går inte"