Global leaders are gathering to ‘build political momentum for nutrition efforts that will help save the lives of at least 1 million children annually’ as they seek to fight child hunger. The headline at Alertnet reads: Global Leaders Issue Declaration to End Child Hunger My immediate thought after seeing the headline was: They can’t eat your declaration! World leaders have been making commitments, declarations and agreements around extreme poverty issues for decades. Some have been [...]

The following was written by Catherine Rivera-Puddle My husband muttered under his breath as another motorcyclist zipped out in front of our car, oblivious to us or the tons of other motorcyclists and cars clogging the road. “I really wonder if these people have brains sometimes” he said through gritted teeth. To us it seemed that people in the town where we had come to work had a major death wish, especially on the roads. [...]

Burma (also known as the Union of Myanmar) is a country we hear little about. Under military rule since 1962, the country is dominated by an oppressive regime resulting in a State of fear. Democratic elections have been planned for 2010, but they are a farce, or – as described by the US government – a mockery.  The leader of the democratic movement Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for many years, [...]

Frank interviews Steve Tollestrup about Compassion Day, the current tours and child sponsorship particularly in Haiti

The following is reprinted with permission from the author, Saundra Schimmelpfennig. The original can be found here on Saundra’s excellent blog Good Intentions Are Not Enough. Imagine that you’re at work when whatever natural disaster is most probable in your state strikes. For me it would be an earthquake, for you it might be a flood, volcanic eruption, or hurricane. The natural disaster has toppled telephone poles and cell phone towers, damaged roads, and collapsed [...]

While in India, I had the opportunity to talk to a few young people living in poverty who have New Zealand sponsors. I asked one young guy (11 years old) what he would wish for if he could have one wish and know without a doubt that it would come true. The circumstances that young man lives in could only be described as poverty. This is where he lives: This young man was doing well [...]

The following is a slideshow of images I captured during my time in India. It’s by no means all of them, but represents a good portion of the pictures I captured of children. Note: Give yourself a pat on the back if you can guess the song line I have mimicked in the heading of this post. Does anyone want to have a guess?

Her Eyes, originally uploaded by made2serve. Yesterday I got back from India. I was there with one of our International Programme Officers, Jared, to look at the work of ASHA in Delhi and Saahasee in Mumbai. Both of these organisations are partners of TEAR Fund NZ. If you help support our work, then you also help support theirs. After seeing their work, I cannot sing their praises enough. What they are doing is phenomenal! One [...]

Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to spend time with the Watoto Children’s Choir from Uganda as they relax before kicking off the tour of New Zealand. My wife and daugther were with me as well. They are an amazing bunch of youngsters who are so full of life. Each of them has a gripping story to tell.

To read the post that provides the context to the following writing, click here. This trip that has me in Nairobi, Kenya, is one that I am doing on my own. Here at the Micah Network conference I have been forming some good acquaintances very quickly, some that I hope will turn into good global friendships, but there is no-one that I am very familiar with to the point where I can offload my experiences [...]