Charity & Volunteering 01 (Jun 08 - Mar 11)

Re: Charity & Volunteering 01 (Jun 08 - Dec 10)

Postby winston » Sat Oct 02, 2010 8:02 pm

My Ten Commandments of Non-Destructive Charity by Michael Masterson

Charity is a double-edged sword, and must be exercised with caution. To keep that sword from unintentionally doing damage, I now make sure that 10 rules are followed:

1. The donor must be certain the money is being requested to satisfy a need rather than a want.

2. He must be able to see some productive result from his giving.

3. He must not simply hand over 100 percent of the money that is needed.

4. The recipient must make a formal, written application for the money.

5. He must state, in explicit terms, how he will use it and how it will have a positive effect on him as well as others.

6. The recipient must faithfully and scrupulously honor the terms of his contract, and cannot apply for further assistance until all his obligations have been met.

7. After receiving aid, the recipient must formally and convincingly thank the donor.

8. The charitable action should be a matter of public record. Charity that is private -- contrary to what some say -- is the worst kind. Neither the donor nor the recipient can opt to be anonymous.

9. In giving money (or other help), the donor should assume responsibility for the recipient's actions related to the gift. It is primarily the giver's job to make sure the recipient uses it as it was intended.

10. Throughout the entire process, the recipient must treat the donor with the utmost respect.

If your idea of charity is writing a check to Unicef once a year or volunteering for a soup kitchen from time to time, you may find these Ten Commandments disturbing -- perhaps even outrageous.

If you feel that way, it is because you have never thought much about what it means to help out your fellow man.


Source: ETR
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Re: Charity & Volunteering 01 (Jun 08 - Dec 10)

Postby kennynah » Sat Oct 02, 2010 8:06 pm

be a happy giver....give until so difficult...better dont give....
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Re: Charity & Volunteering 01 (Jun 08 - Dec 10)

Postby winston » Mon Oct 11, 2010 9:59 pm

'A billion people' go hungry in 2010: report

WASHINGTON (AFP) - – Poverty, conflict and political instability mean some one billion people went hungry this year, many of them children in Africa and Asia, according to the Global Hunger Index report released on Monday.

Out of 122 countries included in the annual report, 25 have "alarming" levels of hunger and four countries in Africa have "extremely alarming" hunger, says the report by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Concern Worldwide, and Welthungerhilfe.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) fared the worst in the hunger index, which is based on data from 2003-2008.

Three-quarters of the population in the vast central African country were under-nourished, and DRC also has one of the highest child mortality rates in the world, the researchers who compiled the index found.

Three factors were used to calculate the Global Hunger Index (GHI): the proportion of undernourished people in a country, the prevalence of underweight children, and the child mortality rate.

"Protracted civil conflict since the late 1990s led to an economic collapse, massive displacements of people, and a chronic state of food insecurity," in DRC, the report said.

"Food availability and access deteriorated as food production levels dropped, and remote areas became even more isolated as a consequence of very poor infrastructure," it said.

The index ranks countries on a 100-point scale, with zero being the best score -- no hunger -- and 100 being the worst, although neither of these extremes is reached in practice.

A score higher than 20 indicates "alarming" levels of hunger and above 30, "extremely alarming" hunger.

DRC was one of four countries with "extremely alarming" hunger levels and the only country in this year's index with a score above 40.

The other three countries with very high hunger levels were Burundi, Eritrea and Chad. All have been involved in simmering or open conflict for many years.

With the exception of Haiti and Yemen, all 25 countries with "alarming" levels of hunger were in sub-Saharan Africa or Asia.

They were, in order of increasing hunger severity: Nepal, Tanzania, Cambodia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, Togo, Guinea-Bissau, Rwanda, Djibouti, Mozambique, India, Bangladesh, Liberia, Zambia, Timor-Leste, Niger, Angola, Yemen, the Central African Republic, Madagascar, the Comoros, Haiti, Sierra Leone and Ethiopia.

Along with Burundi, DRC and Eritrea, the Comoros -- a coup-prone archipelago off the east coast of Africa -- and Haiti had high proportions of undernourished people -- more than 50 percent of the population.

Bangladesh, India, Timor-Leste and Yemen had the highest prevalence of underweight children under five -- more than 40 percent in all four countries.

Afghanistan, Angola, Chad and Somalia had the highest child mortality rate, with 20 percent or more of each country's children dying before they reached the age of five.

North Korea was one of nine countries in which the hunger index went up -- from 16.2 points in 1990 to 19.4 points in 2010.

The other eight were all in sub-Saharan Africa and include and in all but three -- Gambia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe -- conflict was the cause.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20101011/t ... a4e2a.html
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Re: Charity & Volunteering 01 (Jun 08 - Dec 10)

Postby winston » Thu Oct 14, 2010 4:03 pm

HO: 1 billion suffer from hidden tropical disease

The World Health Organization estimated Thursday that 1 billion of the world's poorest people suffer from neglected tropical diseases such as dengue, rabies and leprosy that remain concentrated in remote rural areas and urban slums despite being mostly eradicated from large areas of the world.

WHO is launching a campaign to prevent these "hidden" diseases, drawing attention to the silent suffering of the mostly impoverished victims totaling more than one-third of the 2.7 billion people worldwide who live on less than $2 a day.

It identified 17 diseases and disease groups present in 149 countries. Thirty countries have six or more of the diseases.

"They cause massive but hidden and silent suffering, and frequently kill, but not in the numbers comparable to the deaths caused by HIV/AIDs, tuberculosis or malaria," said WHO director general Margaret Chan.

Still, Chan said that the diseases take a serious toll that serves to "anchor large populations in poverty."

Two of the diseases, onchocerciasis, known as river blindness, and trachoma, a bacterial eye infection, cause blindness. Leprosy and lymphatic filariasis, or elephantiasis, leave victims deformed, hamper productivity and normal social interaction, Chan said.

Sleeping sickness, or human African trypanosomiasis, debilitates before it kills. Left untreated, rabies is fatal.

The stigma was especially hard on girls and women. "Many neglected tropical diseases cause disfigurement and disability, leading to stigma and social discrimination," diminishing marriage prospects and raising the likelihood of abandonment for women and girls, the report said.

Diseases like dengue don't garner the same sort of international response because the victims lack a political voice, and the diseases don't tend to spread to distant countries and only rarely affect travelers, the report said.

Among the strategies to control the neglected tropical diseases are expanding preventative chemotherapy, which means treating whole populations where such diseases are identified with drugs that may knock out several of the diseases at once.

The report also recommends doing a better job of identifying the diseases, improving sanitation and controlling insects and animals, which can spread the diseases into human populations.

Chan said the campaign is aimed at making a "deliberate effort" to eradicate the diseases as a means to alleviate poverty, rather than waiting for them to "gradually disappear as countries develop."

Source: AP News
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Re: Charity & Volunteering 01 (Jun 08 - Dec 10)

Postby winston » Sun Oct 17, 2010 7:36 pm

I'm very touched by this guy who was featured on CNN Heroes today ...

Once a rising star, chef now feeds hungry By Danielle Berger

Madurai, India (CNN) -- Narayanan Krishnan was a bright, young, award-winning chef with a five-star hotel group, short-listed for an elite job in Switzerland. But a quick family visit home before heading to Europe changed everything.

"I saw a very old man eating his own human waste for food," Krishnan said. "It really hurt me so much. I was literally shocked for a second. After that, I started feeding that man and decided this is what I should do the rest of my lifetime."

Krishnan was visiting a temple in the south Indian city of Madurai in 2002 when he saw the man under a bridge. Haunted by the image, Krishnan quit his job within the week and returned home for good, convinced of his new destiny.

"That spark and that inspiration is a driving force still inside me as a flame -- to serve all the mentally ill destitutes and people who cannot take care of themselves," Krishnan said.

Krishnan founded his nonprofit Akshaya Trust in 2003. Now 29, he has served more than 1.2 million meals -- breakfast, lunch and dinner -- to India's homeless and destitute, mostly elderly people abandoned by their families and often abused.

"Because of the poverty India faces, so many mentally ill people have been ... left uncared [for] on the roadside of the city," he said.

Krishnan said the name Akshaya is Sanskrit for "undecaying" or "imperishable," and was chosen "to signify [that] human compassion should never decay or perish. ... The spirit of helping others must prevail for ever." Also, in Hindu mythology, Goddess Annapoorani's "Akshaya bowl" fed the hungry endlessly, never depleting its resources.

Krishnan's day begins at 4 a.m. He and his team cover nearly 125 miles in a donated van, routinely working in temperatures topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

He seeks out the homeless under bridges and in the nooks and crannies between the city's temples. The hot meals he delivers are simple, tasty vegetarian fare he personally prepares, packs and often hand-feeds to nearly 400 clients each day.

Krishnan carries a comb, scissors and razor and is trained in eight haircut styles that, along with a fresh shave, provide extra dignity to those he serves.

He says many of the homeless seldom know their names or origins, and none has the capacity to beg, ask for help or offer thanks. They may be paranoid and hostile because of their conditions, but Krishnan says this only steadies his resolve to offer help.

"The panic, suffering of the human hunger is the driving force of me and my team members of Akshaya," he said. "I get this energy from the people. The food which I cook ... the enjoyment which they get is the energy. I see the soul. I want to save my people."

The group's operations cost about $327 a day, but sponsored donations only cover 22 days a month. Krishnan subsidizes the shortfall with $88 he receives in monthly rent from a home his grandfather gave him.

Krishnan sleeps in Akshaya's modest kitchen with his few co-workers. Since investing his entire savings of $2,500 in 2002, he has taken no salary and subsists with the help of his once-unsupportive parents.

"They had a lot of pain because they had spent a lot on my education," he said. "I asked my mother, 'Please come with me, see what I am doing.' After coming back home, my mother said, 'You feed all those people, the rest of the lifetime I am there, I will feed you.' I'm living for Akshaya. My parents are taking care of me."

For lack of funding, the organization has been forced to halt construction on Akshaya Home, Krishnan's vision of a dormitory where he can provide shelter for the people he helps. Despite the demands and few comforts his lifestyle affords, Krishnan says he's enjoying his life.

"Now I am feeling so comfortable and so happy," he says. "I have a passion, I enjoy my work. I want to live with my people."

Want to get involved? Check out the Akshaya Trust Web site and see how to help.

http://www.akshayatrust.org/

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/04/0 ... index.html
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Re: Charity & Volunteering 01 (Jun 08 - Dec 10)

Postby winston » Wed Nov 24, 2010 2:58 pm

When you are feeling the discomfort from seeing other people in a lackful or needy situation, and you decide to help them from your place of discomfort, no lasting value ever occurs, for two important reasons: first, you are not in alignment with the Energy of your Source, and so you have no real value to give; and second, your attention to their need only amplifies their need.

Of course, it is a wonderful thing to help others, but you must do it from your position of strength and alignment, which means you must be in alignment with their success as you offer assistance, and not in alignment with their problem.

When your awareness of their situation makes you uncomfortable and you offer help to make them feel better and to make yourself feel better, you are not in the Vortex and you are not helping.

When you feel an inspired eagerness to offer something because you want to participate in their happy, successful process, your attention to their success harmonizes with the point of view of your Source; and the infinite resources of the Universe are at your disposal. And that does help.


--- Abraham


Source: abraham-hicks.com
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Re: Charity & Volunteering 01 (Jun 08 - Mar 11)

Postby winston » Sat Dec 11, 2010 5:48 pm

The best thing to do, is to wake up in the morning and help someone.
~ Dr. Pillai
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Re: Charity & Volunteering 01 (Jun 08 - Mar 11)

Postby winston » Wed Dec 29, 2010 6:43 pm

I encourage people to engage in selfless service activities that help less fortunate.

Contribute to creation of a new world without suffering.


~ Dr. Pillai
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Re: Charity & Volunteering 01 (Jun 08 - Mar 11)

Postby winston » Sun Jan 09, 2011 11:47 am

Up close and personal with Chen Guangbiao By CHOW HOW BAN

The billionaire Chinese businessman has pledge to donate all his fortune to charity when he passes on.

WHEN Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, two of the world's richest men, hosted a charity gala to create awareness on their Giving Pledge campaign in China last September, Chinese businessman Chen Guangbiao was the first to make public his participation in the event.

Inspired by Gates and Buffett, Chen wrote an open letter in his company's website, pledging to donate all his fortune to charity when he passes on.

With a net worth of five billion yuan (RM2.35bil), Chen, who owns Jiangsu Huangpu Recycling Resources Co Ltd, may not be the wealthiest in China but he is undoubtedly the most charismatic billionaires and philanthropists.

He is adored by the Chinese Communist Party and so many more for his generosity and commitment to help the less privileged. The numbers speak for itself. He has, thus far, donated some 1.35 billion yuan (RM635mil).

In April last year, he led a convoy of volunteers from his company to provide relief aid to victims of the Yushu earthquake.

Chen Guangbiao showing off his skills on a bicycle while cycling to work in Nanjing, Jiangsu province.

Following the deadly quake in Sichuan province in 2008, Chen dug up 200 people from the rubble (he saved 11 lives).

During a meeting with Chen at the quake area, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao praised the philanthropist: “You are a conscientious entrepreneur with soul, moral and sentiments towards disaster-stricken victims. I salute you!”

Chen has since enjoyed the limelight and title as China's No. 1 philanthropist a culmination of his charity cause throughout the past decade.

He is never one to shy away from the spotlight, which may be difficult to swallow for many traditional Chinese who uphold the trait of modesty and humility.

But Chen is unfazed as his philosophy is to promote his good deeds to as many as possible.

“The reason why I want to be in the public eye is because I want to influence more people to do good deeds and repay society,” says the 42-year-old from Jiangsu province's Sihong county in an interview with StarBizWeek in Beijing.

Citing the saying “a train can run fast because it is powered by the locomotive”, Chen says that China's charity momentum should be spearheaded by more philanthropists.

“For a city to prosper, it's important to have good leadership. The act of leading by example is boundless. Don't listen to gossip and if you think you are doing the right thing, just continue to do it,” he says.

Chen's philosophy of charity and good value of helping others were shaped by his parents.

His growing up years stood witness to his mother helping and feeding other children in their village, although they barely had enough food to sustain themselves.

Evidently, the flame of his entrepreneurial spirit has been burning bright since his early years.

Chen self-financed his third year at school by fetching water from a well in a nearby village and selling it in town; the money he earned was used to pay for his books and school fees.

His charitable traits were also visible back then; upon learning that his neighbour did not have the funds to pay for his child's school fee, without hesitation, Chen would part with his hard-earned money.

He would also be the first to get to school and clean up the classroom and toilet and for these good deeds, he earned little red stars from his teacher.

“I pasted the little red star on my face as I wanted it to stay on my face. After class, I ran from one class to another announcing that I got the little red star and helped a fellow student to pay for his book and school fees,” Chen recalls.

“I learned from that day that it was important to let people know the good things you have done. After I received that little red star, all the other pupils wanted to emulate me.”

While half of 50 Chinese tycoons were hesitant to attend the banquet hosted by Gates and Buffett fearing that they would be pressed for donations, Chen had sleepless nights not because of such fear but thinking of how to express himself in his open letter to both.

“I wrote that I welcome them to China on their charity trip and am grateful that they have decided to share the good values of Western philanthropy with the people in China.

“But unlike others who have pledged to donate only half their fortune, I have decided to give all my fortune back to society. I will leave nothing behind for my descendants. I will leave them with the experience of overcoming hardship and the spirit of industry,” he says.

On that note, Chen says he had started from zero and therefore, hopes that his children would do the same.

He believes that his sons 7 and 15 years old would succeed in their own right. In fact, according to him, they are already displaying musical and academic talents.

But will he really do that give up ALL his fortune? “When I say I will give away all my fortune, surely I will do so. I don't want my descendants to face public rebuke.”

In 2007, he donated 181 million yuan (RM85mil) and in the following year, some 100 million yuan (RM47mil) as well as provided relief aid in quake areas. In 2009, he raised his donations to 313 million yuan (RM147mil), which was 75% of his company's net profit.

Judging by the pace he goes by pledging at least 50% of his company's profits to charity every year and the total fixed assets like some 600 million-dollar machineries, factories and houses he owns, not many doubt that Chen will keep to his donated-all word when the time comes.

His benevolent deeds are aplenty. He recently read about a paralysed girl from Guangxi province and had asked for her address in his microblog stating his intent to send her 50,000 yuan and pay for all her medical bills.

He posts all of his good deeds on his blog while his company's website mainly consists of information on his spirit of giving.

Chen is also an environmentalist. One of the driving forces when he set up his company that specialises in dismantling factories, bridges and houses and managing construction waste seven years ago, was to do his bit for the environment.

He cycles to work in Nanjing. He challenges people that if they see him taking a car to work, he will reward them 10,000 yuan (RM4,700).

Whenever he heard of any major pollution incident, he would go to the site to check out the problem himself and report it to the environment protection department.

The day before the interview at a restaurant in the Chinese capital, Chen and his team burnt the midnight oil in Nanjing to complete the production of a music video DVD that he later distributed to the media in Beijing.

The music video features Chen's youngest son singing a song he and his wife wrote about the need to protect the environment. In fact, two years ago he changed his son's name to Chen Huanbao which literally means protect the environment. His eldest son's name has also been changed to Huanjing which means the environment.

“It's necessary to change their names. This is to remind people of conserving the environment when they call my children's names.

“Initially, they didn't like the names. But after visiting the environment-themed pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo, they told me that now they like their names very much,” Chen laughs.

He describes his company as an “unglamourous business that clears somebody's mess” but the reward has been great. Last year, he says his company would register at least 400 million yuan (RM188mil) in net profit.

His company mainly hires people from three groups, namely ex-prisoners who have been released, migrant workers and former members of the Liberation Army. His employees, once sidelined by society, earn more than 3,000 yuan a month.

“I am grateful to the opening-up policy by the Chinese government and the good legal system as well as the labour of our workers that resulted in the rich gaining their wealth.

“That's why we have to give back to society and make a difference in the world in conserving the environment,” he says.

He adds that repaying society is the highest level of the spirit and philosophy of making money among entrepreneurs.

“Wealth is like water and it is merely worldly possession. If you have a glass of water, you drink it yourself. If you have a bucket of water, you keep it in your house, but when you have a river, you have to learn to share it” he says.

“I have at least 50 million fans,” Chen claims proudly. “I receive hundreds of letters every day from my fans who show their support for me. Of course, there are also some hate letters but it really doesn't matter. The most important thing is to insist on walking your own path.”

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.as ... c=business
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Music & Songs 03 (Oct 10 - Mar 11)

Postby winston » Sun Jan 09, 2011 9:25 pm

Another day in paradise by Phil Collins

http://www.mundopelos.com.ar/musica/contacto.mp3
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