Putting the ACTION into Blog Action Day 2008

October 14th, 2008 by Mark Hayward (16 Comments)

As many of you know, Wednesday, October 15 is Blog Action Day and this year’s topic is poverty.

Strangely enough, just the other day I learned via an email that Collis Ta’eed, co-founder of Blog Action Day, and I have something in common that helped to shape who we both are today.

Collis and I both lived in Papua New Guinea. And if you have read the story behind how Train for Humanity got its start, you will know, I was deeply affected by my time there.

The purpose of Blog Action Day is to get many voices focusing on the same topic and subject in order to help spread awareness and raise funds. I believe this year they have about 10,000 bloggers writing about poverty.

Though we are not at the same scale yet, Train for Humanity is grounded in the belief that many voices (athlete/bloggers) can have an impact when we join together collectively to get in shape and raise awareness for those who have been affected by genocide.

Poverty

Poverty can be defined as:

The deprivation of common necessities that determine the quality of life, including food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water, and may also include the deprivation of opportunities to learn, to obtain better employment to escape poverty, and/or to enjoy the respect of fellow citizens. (source: wikipedia)

If you have spent anytime traveling, you soon come to realize that poverty is not the cause of death but the road that leads to it. However, please note, poverty is not just limited to developing nations. Every time I travel back to the U.S. I am struck by the sheer number of homeless people on the streets.

image source: netjcmv 

According to the United Nations, “About 25,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes. This is one person every three and a half seconds. Unfortunately, it is children who die most often.”

Poverty in Sudan & Darfur

Yesterday, I asked Susan Burgess-Lent, Program Director with Darfur Peace & Development, for some information regarding poverty and the current humanitarian crisis in Darfur. Here is how Susan replied:

Poverty is a big reason for the current crisis in Darfur. It is a kind of poverty so far beyond what most American know - and could have been radically altered 5 years ago if even 50% of the millions of dollars shunted into advocacy had been consistently redirected into programs on the ground that strengthened the health, education and ability of Darfuris chart a way forward.

Within Sudan, “Poverty is deeply entrenched and is largely rural. In 2002 some 20 million people were living below the poverty line of less than US$1 a day. About 19 million people — 85 per cent of the rural population — are estimated to be living in extreme poverty. Most of them struggle to feed themselves and their families and have little or no access to safe drinking water and health services. The United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Index ranks Sudan 61st among the 77 least developed nations in the world.

More than two million have been displaced by the Darfur conflict alone. In addition, erosion, loss of soil fertility and damage to watersheds are affecting resources. Agricultural productivity is decreasing as a result of a lack of technological breakthroughs in rainfed agriculture, and food security and livelihoods are threatened as a result. Malnutrition, tuberculosis and malaria have become rampant. The World Health Organization estimates that 22 per cent of children in the South and Darfur are suffering from acute malnutrition, and the incidence of diarrhea in children may be as high as 45 per cent in southern Sudan.” (source: ruralpoverty.org)

How YOU Can Help

Sometimes when you read about poverty, or other tragic human conditions, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and do nothing to help or let apathy set in.

However, small actions MATTER and they can add up!

Here at Train for Humanity we realize that we will not end the crisis in Darfur, but in launching the project we felt it was time to move beyond pity and do something…Really, we are trying to put the ACTION into Blog Action Day.

Poverty might not exist in your hometown, but maybe it’s prevalent half an hour away from you. Or, maybe you would like to assist the impoverished in another country. Wherever you would like to place your efforts, please do so and someone just might be better off because of it.

The Train for Humanity athletes are still in training for their upcoming events, if you would like to sponsor one of us it is truly appreciated. Though, we also appreciate a blog post or Twitter message equally as much while we are still trying to grow our supporter base.

In closing, below I have included a video of just one of the projects that Darfur Peace & Development is currently working on if you have a second go ahead an view it. Together we CAN make a difference!