English II Honors
8.27.12
Creating Change All over the world there are horrible things happening to innocent people, and we trust in our government to protect us. That trust enables us to roam the streets with no immediate fear of our safety. Unfortunately, in many places people do not trust in their government to keep them safe because they know that their rulers are incapable; these people live in fear of sexual abuse, lack of educational rights, and poverty because there is a high possibility they could be caught among the midst of those threats at any given time. Fortunately there are many aid organizations to pick up the slack of the government and help fix these major issues with volunteers studying abroad, sponsorship, …show more content…
and donation. When thinking of helping people around the world, many would think small mindedly and just write a check, but to make a big difference, you have to make a big commitment. People in situations such as sexual abuse need huge help, and what bigger help than to study abroad and hold their hands through their suffering. So many women suffer sexual abuse that a number can’t even be put down as to how many, mainly because a majority of women do not report their abuse because of threats by the abuser or embarrassment. In rural areas of Congo women are raped on the streets in daylight and public view (Kristof and WuDunn 49). Also women are raped on a regular basis by their husbands who brainwash them by convincing them that, “there is no shame, it’s what married people do” (Hosseini 77). The bottom line is, there is no way to defend rape to be ok, because it is not. The after math of rape though is much worse than the action; this is where volunteer workers come into play. Women who are not treated after a rape suffer sexual diseases, pregnancy, birth complications, and life changing injuries. Places where you can volunteer such as the HEAL Africa Hospital not only get women back on their feet by helping them medically, they teach women working skills so that they are able to go into a profession after they are released from care (Kristof and WuDunn 91). Anyone can donate a thousand dollars, but being there first hand to see the transformation not only changes other’s lives, it will change your life as well (Kristof and WuDunn 92). There are numerous ways to help people, and if you are not in the position to travel directly to the people in need, sponsoring is a great substitution.
Parents struggle to provide for their children on a daily basis and when their efforts are not enough, sponsoring their child can save lives. In poverty stricken areas, child education is not high on the priority list, but education is the key to ending poverty. Kids with an education can get jobs and live in comfort knowing that money is not an issue. Sponsoring families gives them the money for food, living expenses, and education. Most organizations, such as Plan International and World Vision, ask for one dollar a day and will update the sponsor annually with pictures and letters from the child. The impact of just one dollar is endless. A family near the Congo border was given the money to buy a goat named Luck from Heifer International. This goat provided milk that the family both drank and created an income out of. In turn, the money earned was enough to send their daughter to school, and eventually college (Kristof and WuDunn 254). The difference the couch change of a generous person can make is …show more content…
enormous. There are many countries struggling economically, the U.S.A.
being one of them, so if you are in no situation to give money, there are ample ways to show that you care with no cost to you. Donation is a huge part of aid organizations, admittedly a lot of times donation means giving money, but there are many different meanings. There are organizations such as Free Rice, partnered with World Food Programme, that give education and rice to impoverished communities worldwide at the expense that you take a few minutes out of your day to play a couple games at freerice.com. This is an educational website that I was introduced to in elementary school. We were allowed to play games on this site after we had finished our work in computer labs. Back then it was about seeing who could get the most rice, ten grains for every correct answer, none of us realized how much of an impact we were making. If each child of a second grade class can give a couple thousand grains of rice in just the five minutes of extra time they have after assignments, think of the difference one school can make if they set five minutes of each day for that purpose only. This would have saved Mariam and Laila a lot of suffering when they had to sell everything they owned after a fire destroyed their only income (Hosseini 304). It would also immensely aid the HEAL Africa Hospital by taking food off their ceaseless list of burdens, because the people they help are usually in no situation to pay for care, not until
they are fully recovered and have a steady income (Kristof and WuDunn 88-92). Never the less, there are endless ways to give, and it is easier than one would think. Studying abroad, sponsorship, and donation are starting points. These actions are in no way going to resolve worldwide abuse, educational unavailability, and poverty, but they are the beginning of what could solve these problems. The more attention these issues draw, the higher they rise on the agenda, that is when the real action starts. Once people see that solving these crises is a possibility they will be more willing to help make it happen. Granted it is impossible to create a Utopian world. Someone is always below another, and we all want to be on top. That is our human nature and will never change. The question is, are the people on top willing to bring the lower closer to their level. There will always be a crisis to overcome, but there is no reason we can’t solve them as they are created.