Saturday, August 28, 2010

Think of them...the urban poor

I'm the very last minute registered camper, before this camp I had participated two times in the year 2004 and 2005. At that time, the camp was in big crowd, it was not DIY camp. This year was the first time I participated in DIY camp. What I wanted to say here is, you guys really awesome!!! This DIY camp was really successful!!! I enjoyed very much in this camp. Before participating this camp, I knew about the poverty issue, in fact, I have seen the video of those children staying beside the water heater. It is still fresh in my mind on how the children live there.

When I was exposed to the first challenge, I was thinking, it was so hard for us to earn money, what about in real life? They are worse than what we experienced in the challenge. We still have paper box to make our shoes, but what about them? They have no shoes to wear!!! We are far more lucky than them, and yet we still can complaint on some little things. What about them??? what do they have??? NOTHING!!!

The hunger that we felt in the camp was not as much as what they feel everyday. We did not eat, but we did not need to use much energy during the 30 hours, but for them, no food at all the time, but still they have to use their energy to work for the daily life. At least we still have Ovalitine and milk from time to time, but for them??? what do they have???

At night when we was sleeping in the canteen, yes, we can feel how people sleeping in the street. The canteen still have roof, but they really have to sleep at roadside. I did not have a good sleep that night, keep awaking for the whole night, because of mosquitoes and also mattress. In the morning, when I woke up, I felt so bad, because only once in a while I have to sleep in this condition, what about them? They have to face this kind of situation everyday!!! What can we complain further??? They don't even have the chance to complain either, but they still live their live so toughly, facing each and everyday with courage.

All thess experiences have made me think deeply. Think of what we have in our life and provide me the courage to face the problem that we are having in the real world. Even until now, I still cant imagine if I am one of the children living in urban poverty. How i can help them??? What can i do for them??? I hope every camper will have the same feeling as I have, aware that urban poverty is a serious problem in our world!!! No point for us to starve for 30 hours but in the end we are still the one that are not aware of this issue.
I hope that people will start the ACTION!!! Do what we can to solve this problem.
I would like to thank our camp leader Chee Hoe, all the committees and also volunteers for making this camp so successful and awesome!!! BRAVO to all of you!!!

p/s: I would like to suggest to organise some events to help the urban poor, or any activity that could raise awareness throughout the year before the next camp. This would be more practical for us to help solving the poverty issue.


Jackie Ang
Group A

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

My first experience

This is my first time to join the 30-Hour Famine camp, so everything is my new experience. Persuaded by friends, I have braved myself to come from Pahang to join it.

So many things I have taken from the camp: Fun and touching. I enjoyed the camp fully with lots of help from the committees. When I played the game in the basketball field, my group members have given me 100% cooperation and try very hard to earn money for our team. Thanks to the game, all the members from my group mixed very well.

I was touched by all the videos shown by the committees, and the game that we played in stadium, which all of us created a miracle, made it rained in indoor. When all the participants from all around Malaysia cooperated and followed the instruction, it really rained heavily in the Stadium Bukit Jalil . I was so touched by that moment~!

Another game which teaches us how to make the bracelets also pretty amazing! When we heard from announcement that under the chair hidden the material to make the bracelets, everyone was shocked. This game really bring meaningful, and let me understand the important messages. Actually the world resources are enough for everyone in the world, but not in the equal distribution. Some parts in the world wasted the resources, but some parts in the world suffer from deprivation. We are lucky to have the ability to help them, so we really need to do our best to light up their lifes.

After so many things I have learned from the camp, I have shared my experiences with my family and friends. To raise the awareness within them, and let them understand they are the lucky ones in this world. I am still writing “my touching moments in 30-Hour Famine”, when after I finish it, I will post in my facebook to share my touching moments with my friends~!

As a camper, I have my point of view to give some comments regarding the SS2 DIY camp. Preparation for a DIY camp is not an easy work, I can imagine there are tonnes of hard work done by the committees. Thus, I would like to share my little opinion to help improve the camp in future. Registration of the camp is the important part and is the first image to the all campers. However, the registration was a little bit mess to me, I am sorry to say that. The dance was pretty fun and amazing for me, and everyone was much enjoyed!

After the puzzle game, I have noticed that I have been put into a children group, with all the children and include me two youngsters. I was quite upset in the first place, because all the campers have been distributed according to teenager or children group. However, I have no choice but to continue this arrangement. I have worked hard in taking care of the children. Luckily, the committees came and helped me to explain the rules of the game and guide the children. I was quite touched by them. I have my happy time with the children and in the end, we all mixed very well.

All the groups were waiting for the turn to take the ovaltine, from the alphabet A until L. Everytime it started from alphabet A until L. I suggest that it can also start from alphabet L until alphabet A. Exchange the alphabet so that the last group won't wait for so long. Or actually I am the one who didn’t listen to the instruction carefully.

Some praises I need to give to the committees, all the committees were so nice and helpful. The Blue Grass band was quite nice too, I think everyone was much enjoyed.

I had fun and laughed by the creativity of all the groups in the 才华横溢 game. I have gained new experience from this memorable camp. If next year I get the chance, I think I will join the 30-Hour Famine camp again.

p/s: Thank you very much of organize this camp, without this organization, we can’t join this meaningful camp~

Contributed by
Tan Chee Ting

Urban Poverty

The world "poverty" typically conjures up images of a mud hut, dry dusty earth and a great expanse of unfarmed land. In reality, a billion people are now living in urban poverty. Urban poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon. Almost 180,000 people are added to the urban population of the world each day.

By 2025 nearly three-quarters of the population of the Philippines will live in urban areas. Around two-thirds of Indonesia’s population – over 178 million people – will be urban citizens. India will have half a billion city-dwellers.

By the same year, the total urban population of Asia Pacific countries where World Vision has a presence will increase by over 700 million (UN Population Division, ‘World Urbanization Prospects: The 2007 Revision’). Urbanisation presents challenges for organisations like World Vision who have been working to reduce poverty and promote positive development for people in the developing world for decades.

The challenges of Urban Poverty
Urban poverty has many faces. While city migrants may earn a higher income, often, the amount is insufficient given the high cost of city living. Among the challenges are :
• Unstable income
• Lack and high cost of access to basic services, infrastructure or safety nets
• Violation of rights
• Weak political voice or influence

In urban areas, measuring poverty is more complex than simply using the traditional US$1 a day benchmark. The urban poor are likely to have a higher income, as they are often earning daily wages, and basic services and infrastructure are usually in place.

However, it is the higher cost of accessing these basic services that differentiates urban poverty from rural poverty (ESCAP ”Facing the Challenges of Urbanization and Urban Poverty in Asia and the Pacific” 2007). In most cities, US$1 per day would not be enough to pay rent, access clean water, transport, health care, education, and other essentials.

Shelter is the most visible issue of urban poverty. Difficulties in finding suitable and affordable housing mean that a large proportion of new arrivals to the city congregates in areas where land ownership is not enforced and build their own makeshift accommodation.

According to UN-HABITAT, out of the three billion people who are living in urban areas today, one billion live in slums and the slum population will likely double over the next 30 years. Slum dwellers will be living in “cities” that are bigger than any of the current cities (Oxfam 2006 “Urban poverty and Development in the 21st Century”). In many Asian cities, 30-40% of its population is already living in slums.

One of the United Nations’ targets under the Millennium Development Goals is to improve life significantly for at least 100 million slum dwellers globally by 2020.

Adapted from www.worldvision.com.my and other sources

饥饿30

我也是想了很久才决定去参加的饥饿30

昨天 去到培才小学 分组以后发现 因为很多人临时没有来得缘故 我们组的成员是别组的一半
再加上那个真的让我很印象深刻很冒汗的组名和口号
这个营的开始给我的感觉是好气又好笑的“算了吧 就做罢了啦”

在一系列的活动挑战里面 我也确实感觉到了 为什么大家要来饿的理由
在模拟游戏里面 我们想象我们自己是街头流浪者 穿着用纸皮做成的鞋子 还有报纸做的衣服
工作赚钱换食物
我一直觉得我自己很有骨气 所以我说 非法的工作我不要做 也不当乞丐可是
后来我慢慢发现 你只是安分的工作 在这个城市里面根本赚不够钱 没有食物就会饿死
那是怎样 你会怎样 不犯法根本赢不了 而当乞丐是会遭人白眼的
当我伸手向committee讨那一块钱的时候 他对我说的话其实让我有一点生气
这也是因为你设下了这样子的游戏规则阿
因此 我就只讨了那麽一次 就再也不想伸手了 为什么要这样侮辱人的尊严
而最后 我们有很多钱了 可是食物却是起了一个天价 我们的结局 依然是 饿死街头XD
然而 这只是一个游戏

我们常说 不为五斗米折腰 对我们来说当然好啊
我们有足够的米 当然不需要这么委屈自己
如果生命倒换 今天我们能不能活下去 就是靠这一点点的米呢
如果可以 谁不想当好人
现实的残酷这样子的压迫底下 你会怎么选择 你又希望那些街头贫民做出什么样的选择
至少我看到 在营会里面 大多数的人都选择了犯法
因为这些流浪街头的小孩 他们活在强者主宰的城市
而这个游戏规则 他们说了算我们从来不知道
原来我们看见这些社会问题的背后 隐藏着这样的挣扎 而我们经历的 不过是游戏而已

我们习惯了听故事 数据资料告诉了我们很多事 我们听说过想象过 却没有真正的感受过
虽然那只是短短的30小时 至少我们感觉到了 他们的痛 和我们的幸福
你不能说你懂得爱 直到你把他变成行动
我感谢神 也谢谢Amilian和婉媚 让我参加了这个营会 我知道我们不是傻瓜
如果你从来没有尝试和他们站在同一阵线 你怎么能够体会他的感受

每一个生命 在上帝的眼中都是宝贵的

Contributed by
Chan Mak Wan
Group E, Champion of Group Performance