Support Eduation For All
As we close out this month of September, most of the children in the United States have gone back to school for a new year of education. As I was growing up, the beginning of fall always meant “back to school” time… a new school year, new classes, new books, and new lessons. In the United States, we tend to take education for granted since it is provided to us as a fundamental American right. Many Americans don’t realize that even basic education is unavailable to many people in other countries, especially women.
Women are the key to ending global poverty. Because women are at the core of their families, the empowerment and education of women affords us the ability to uplift their children and their communities as well. Below are some important and enlightening statistics from CARE:
- Young women’s earnings increase 10-20% for every year of school completed.
- Girls’ education is the best path to achieving smaller, healthier families.
- An extra year of a woman’s education has been shown to reduce infant mortality by 5-10%.
- Children born to literate mothers are twice as likely to make it to their 5th birthday.
- Children with educated mothers are twice as likely to go to school and are less malnourished.
- Education is a powerful weapon against AIDS. Seven million cases of HIV could be prevented in the next decade if every child received an education.
What can you do? The United States can take an important step toward getting children in the world’s poorest countries into school by passing the Education for All Act of 2007. This bi-partisan legislation would make achieving universal primary education a U.S. foreign assistance priority. Send a message to your legislator today asking them to co-sponsor the Education for All Act of 2007!
Did you know that in some countries just $49 can send a girl to school for an entire year? Through tomorrow (9/30/07), when you donate to CARE towards educating women Sheila C. Johnson (a CARE Ambassador) will DOUBLE your donation (dollar for dollar)! It’s great opportunity to make your donation more powerful than it’s ever been.
New Animal and Plant Species Found in Vietnam
This week, the World Wildlife Federation reported that eleven new animal and plant species were found Vietnam’s ancient tropical forests region known as the “Green Corridor”. This forest area offers a unique habitat for a variety of species as it has been undisturbed for thousands of years. Among the eleven new species was a snake, two butterflies, five orchids, and several new plants that are exclusive to the region. Findings of this kind are exciting and important and clarify the importance of forest conservation efforts.
The WWF wrote the following about the new snake species (featured right), “The new snake species, called the white-lipped keelback, prefers living by streams where it catches frogs and other small animals. With a beautiful yellow-white stripe sweeping along its head and red dots covering its body, the white-lipped keelback can reach 31 inches-almost a yard in length.”
The Truth
The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of painful truths. For some reason, the sixth anniversary of 9/11 left me raw and thirsty for a deeper understanding of why and how such a horrible act could have been committed.
I have been disturbed by what I have found.
What my last post did not include was how I also remember watching the towers collapse and wondering how that was scientifically possible. I am not an architect or an engineer, so at that time I simply dismissed my confusion. The fact is, the towers fell at free fall speed (about 10 seconds) which is impossible for buildings of that size because there would have been resistance encountered during the collapse from the floors below, thus slowing down the speed of the fall. How, then did they do that?
I also remember seeing the collapse of World Trade Center building 7 and being confused by it. NO PLANE HIT BUILDING 7 – so why had IT collapsed? And more troubling, why do discussions about 9/11 often fail to even mention building 7? Most disturbing, why was building 7 not mentioned AT ALL in the 9/11 commission report?
I also remember learning about our plans to invade Iraq and wondering why? Wasn’t it supposed to be Osama Bin Laden that attacked us? We were then told that there was proof that Iraq had somehow funded the attack… a truth that we now know to have been a total lie.
These issues have weighed on my conscience. They have torn at my soul. No one wants to believe that our government would have anything to do with the worst mass murder in our nations history. While I will refrain from directly accusing anyone here (at least in this post) I will ask that you seek out the truth about what really happened on 9/11. It is neither comfortable nor painless… but it is necessary.
A group of architects and engineers have united in an effort to shed light on the truth about 9/11 and what really happened. I believe we owe it to those who lost their lives on 9/11 and the families that have been left behind to make sure we know exactly what happened on that day. Take the time to visit this website and see for yourself what their educated explanation is:
As we watch our government officials discuss Iran and the problems that loom there, ask yourself if we are being primed for another invasion. As yourself the hard questions and seek out the answers with an open mind. Here are some other resources worth your time:
Know that it is never my intention to offend you, my readers. Only to enlighten you with ways to make a difference. I believe that we each have the power to change the world. Learn the truth and take action to make a change for the better.
