Giving feels good. And maybe that’s why, even when I don’t celebrate any religious holidays, December is my favourite time of year. It’s an excuse to show your loved ones you care. This year, my fears around gift-giving are higher than ever.…
At 21 years old, Leonel has worn a bandana over his mouth for his entire life. This is because Guatemalan-born Leonel was born with a cleft lip and palate. From a remote village in Guatemala, Leonel’s father has spent years fiercely advocating for his eldest son’s medical care but has struggled to find the means to pay for the procedure. Aside from the financial burden of cleft surgery, expenses include laboratory work, food, accommodation and travel costs. “I looked for help everywhere but could not cover the cost for the surgery plus all of the other expenses,” he said. This…
The Love Mercy Foundation works in communities in Northern Uganda to increase access to food security, health care, clean water and income generation for thousands of families after decades of civil war. Northern Uganda communities have been severely hit with the nation still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s also facing a devastating drought where there have been four consecutive years of no significant rainfall. This has impacted crop production and reduced household incomes, food shortages and hunger-related deaths. Love Mercy’s CEO Ms Rebecca Lloyd shared how the charity began in 2008. Australian Olympian Eloise Wellings met Ugandan Olympian and…
Giving feels good. And maybe that’s why, even when I don’t celebrate any religious holidays, December is my favourite time of year. It’s an excuse to show your loved ones you care. This year, my fears around gift-giving are higher than ever. It’s the fear of the attempt to buy something perfect for those impossible-to-buy-for-people, and the thought of my well-planned gift ending in the garbage, hence my procrastination and incomplete Christmas list. Perhaps my procrastination of this inevitably beautiful ritual has something to do with my rumination of how to gift a little better. This year, I’ll be skipping…
Womxn* around the world will understand the stress of getting their period, and not having a sanitary product handy, but what if that was a problem that you faced every time you menstruated? Period poverty is the lack of access to menstrual products, menstrual hygiene education, toilets, handwashing facilities or waste management. The United Nations estimates that one in 10 girls in Sub-Saharan Africa misses school during their period, which can add up to as much as 20 per cent of the school year, with an estimated 500 million girls impacted globally, each year. Often womxn will find alternatives such…
Worldwide wildlife populations have declined an average of 69 per cent in the years between 1970 and 2018 the World Wildlife Fund for Nature’s latest Living Planet Report reveals in an alarming and devastating publication. The report, based on WWF’s Living Planet Index (LPI) of wildlife species, in collaboration with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), includes 32,000 populations of more than 5,000 species of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish, with more than 1,100 of these populations in Australia. WWF-Australia CEO Dermot O’Gorman regards the report as a “health check on our planet”, with this latest health check reporting…
According to a new analysis by UNICEF, keeping girls out of secondary school costs Afghanistan 2.5% of its annual gross domestic product. If the current cohort of three million girls were able to complete their secondary education and participate in the job market, girls and women would contribute at least $5.4 billion to Afghanistan’s economy. UNICEF’s estimates do not take into account the non-financial impacts of denying girls access to education, such as upcoming shortages of female teachers, doctors and nurses, the ensuing impact on decreasing attendance for girls in primary school and increasing health costs related to adolescent pregnancy.…
How pioneering Australian not-for-profit, Action on Poverty, is achieving great global philanthropic impact and inspiring active generosity by redefining ‘traditional’ concepts of charitable giving. Drawing on a 50-year legacy championing bold international development projects as the trusted partner for global changemakers, Action on Poverty is proudly taking on a new challenge to redefine the ‘traditional’ concept of charitable giving, and it is working. Aligned to Action on Poverty’s mission of empowerment, the not-for-profit is encouraging Australians to think about modern giving, showcasing the many ways they can make a profound impact on the issues of global poverty. “In a modern charitable landscape,…
AS the war in Ukraine enters its third week, the humanitarian organisation CARE is deeply worried about the protection of civilians caught in the crossfire. “Over the past two weeks, there have been numerous reports of impacts on civilian infrastructure, most recently even on a maternity and paediatric hospital,” CARE’s humanitarian advocacy coordinator Delphine Pinault, said. “Bombs on hospitals that house expecting mothers, newborn babies and children at their most vulnerable, are an unacceptable breach of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law.” Since the beginning of the war, the World Health Organisation has confirmed at least 18 incidences of…
WORLD Food Day, an initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, aims to tackle and eradicate hunger worldwide, is celebrated globally on October 16. According to a government paper Identifying and responding to food insecurity in Australia released in 2020, estimates suggest between 4 per cent and 13 per cent of the general population and 22 to 32 per cent of the Indigenous population, depending on location, experienced food insecurity. Food insecurity is being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. FareShare, a not-for-profit organisation, rescues surplus food and cooks free, nutritious…
BYADUK, population 123, is where Jackie Elliot lives and launched Rural Women’s Day, a registered not-for-profit enterprise that connects rural and regional women through community, collaboration and celebrations. Ms Elliot said she uses the platform to encourage these women to host events to celebrate the United Nations International Day of Rural Women on October 15 each year. “It isn’t as widely covered, and it should be the same celebrations as International Women’s Day in March, which celebrates the achievements of women, whether social, political, economic or cultural,” she said. The RWD organisation is not a membership group but has 8000…
