Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Day 17: A difficult day

This was an extremely difficult day. The hunger and monotony of ingredients is starting to wear on me. I'm honestly not sure if I'm going to make it. Aside from this, traffic is down on the blog and I'm starting to wonder if people are becoming disinterested. I can completely understand. I mean, this is the 3rd time I've blogged on this topic and all my friends, my usual support base of awareness-raisers, are probably on burn-out. It gets a little redundant. I'm going to rethink how I'm doing this in terms of raising awareness. But I'm not giving up just yet.

I'm not giving up, because there are still kids out there like him, a boy I met in the Payatas Landfill scavengers colony of Manila. He's 14 and has been working at this trash sorting facility since he was 8, he told me through an interpreter. He wears only flip-flops and had open sores on his legs. This is the reality of child labor which is rampant in the developing world.


And I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but here's the point: there is hope, if we come together to do something, to be a part of the solution instead of contributing to the problem. "Wait," you say, "I'm not contributing to the problem!" Well, I have to agree with Elie on this one:

“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” ― Elie Wiesel, Auschwitz Survivor, Nobel Peace Prize Winner

"So, what can I do, then?" You ask. You can volunteer, advocate for, and give to programs making a real impact. You can do your research to make sure you're not supporting companies who have lax child labor policies with their overseas manufacturers. Awareness is half the battle. Be a spokesperson among your circle of friends, using social media and whatever platforms you have. We all have some kind of platform, even if your audience is tiny, it's doing something. I cannot stress this enough, this is my main point. Please. do. something

Here's a result of one such effort to do something. These are girls at our program we call "The Children's Hope Center" just a short walk from the scene above in the Payatas Landfill colony of Manila, Philippines. They're getting access to better nutrition, computer classes, and school supplies to help them enroll in school. Their parents could not otherwise afford such an opportunity for them.

This greatly decreases their risk of being trafficked into the unthinkable child prostitution rings that plague metro Manila—there are an estimated 60,000-100,000 children trapped in prostitution in the city. (You may not have realized Manila, Philippines is among the top 5 most populated cities on the earth, at over 20 million residents—I sure didn't when I first visited). It must stop, and we must do something about it.




Today we received a very generous donation of $30 toward our goal, and this brings us so, so close to funding our 14th scholarship for one of these kids—we're just $55 away! Please chip in whatever you can afford to help us get another child on the right track, away from child labor, away from the risk of trafficking and prostitution. Follow this link to give whatever you can afford today. Thank you!


On to what I was able to prepare using just $1 worth of ingredients today...

Breakfast. 1/3 cup oatmeal with raisins, 3 banana slices. ▼


Lunch. Egg fried rice with ramen noodles, cabbage, carrots. ▼


Dinner. Not the prettiest of my creations, but it did the job. Re-fried beans & brown rice mix with seasonings, to make a vegetarian soft taco trio. ▼


Take Action!

1) Please consider giving toward scholarships for children of the slums. Our goal is to cover a scholarship for 20 kids to get an education this next year. Every little bit helps!

2) Please visit my unofficial sponsor, Amazon.com through this link. 7% of your purchases made through the link are given to Peace Gospel. If you're in the UK, use this link.


3) If you're compelled by my effort here, please share it with friends. One of the main goals is awareness. So if you can help with that, huge.

4) Leave me feedback. Please comment on this post, especially if you have any ideas about what I should try to cook with these ingredients I have available. I love hearing from you! It really helps!

1 comment:

  1. Keep up the good work, Kirby! I was thinking maybe you could come speak to my jewelry making class to talk about child labor. Perhaps suggest some media I could show them. I want them to realize they can help change things in their future. I was also encouraged about people when I saw this TED talk http://www.ted.com/talks/israel_and_iran_a_love_story.html amazing. Hoping to encourage!

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