YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Fifteen years ago a highly paid engineer in the Philippines gave up his job to live in a bamboo hut in western Thailand. He is now known as “Dada” to the 40 orphans he takes care of at Baan Dada in Huay Ma Lai, near Myanmar.

Baan means “house” in Thai and Dada is Sanskrit for “brother.” For the past three years, small volunteer groups have visited his home deep in the woods. It’s part of the Neo-Humanist Foundation and is referred to officially as Ananda Vidyadharma

Where is it?

The nearest landmark on a map is the Three Pagoda Pass, which is now a shrine commemorating an attempt by the Japanese tried to build a railway from Singapore to India.

This was the area where it was to have crossed from Thailand to Burma (now Myanmar). Baan Dada is about 45 minutes away from this in a town so small it’s not on any maps.

The nearest well known city between Baan Dada and Bangkok is Kanchanaburi (kahn chan a buu D). Even if you’ve never heard of the city itself, you’ve heard of one of its landmarks, the bridge over the River Kwai.

If you would like to help out with this wonderful story, just log into http://www.baandada.org and make a contribution.

A volunteering stint is on my bucket list for next year.

POVERTY

I thought this Ted Talks was worth re-posting. Just click.

THE HIDDEN REASON FOR POVERTY

AREN'T KIDS GREAT?

I have been provided some feedback from people who say this blog is too negative. Well, gee. I guess stories about starving and marginalized children are kind of negative. Anyway, just to lighten things up I offer the following;

GREANWOLD'S WORLD and the GREANWOLD FOUNDATION

My dream on developing the Greanwold brand has always had one main focus. To generate revenue that will flow to the Greanwold Foundation for Kids Worldwide. As with any project, there are investors who expect a return on their investment, overheads to be covered, loans to be paid back and funds to be put aside for growth.

These taken into account, the balance of revenues will go to the foundation. The foundation will be managed by Christy Ellynby, the originator of the little character that became Greanwold. Christy lives in New Zealand and has a lifetime of experience, both work and personal with children and families. Christy will work in conjunction with a board of directors, yet to be named.

How did the idea for the foundation come about? 

Some years ago, my wife and I traveled to several third world countries. In the course of our travels, we came across a number of children living in dire poverty with little chance of an education, no medical care and an uncertain future. One small boy, I would say around the age of 10, was supporting his family by acting as an unofficial guide at the Angkor Wat complex in Cambodia. His father was injured, he had several younger siblings and lived in a 3 room, thatched roof, for the lack of a better word, shack. 

He asked for $5 to act as our guide but said he had to be careful as the tourist police would take his money and throw him out of Angkor Wat complex if he was caught. We gave him $10 that we later found out was the cost of one month schooling in Cambodia. No free education there.  The average annual income is USD$950.

His English was excellent and had been learned from tourists he guided for. He could also speak some French, German, Spanish and Japanese, all learned from tourists. An amazing little guy.

This was just one incident. There were many others. 

Another introduction into the dire straights of many of the world's poorest children was through a young lady I met several years ago who worked as a volunteer at an orphanage in Thailand at the border of Myanmar at the Baan Dada orphanage.

Most of the children at the orphanage come across the border from Myanmar, either orphaned after losing their parents through the brutality of the military regime or were sent across the border because their parents could not longer afford to look after them. The orphanage relies solely on donations from individuals and the Neo Humanist Foundation.

If you are interested on knowing more, please email me. admin@greanwold.com I would be happy to provide further information.

If you would like to help getting Greanwold off the ground, please click on the Greanwold on Kickstarter image at the top of the page. You will be supporting children, far less fortunate than your own. Thanks.

RESPONSE TO SOME CRITICISM

I have received some comments advising me it is immoral to be raising financing for a project on the back of a foundation for children. My response to this criticism is as follows: 

My wife and I have traveled to a number of third world countries and have seen the effects of poverty on families, particularly children.  Over the years, we have contributed to charities for children, supported a child from age 3 to teenage years in a 3rd world country through an international organisation, have raised money for an orphanage in Thailand (www.baandada.org) and created from scratch, a sailing program for children at a local yacht club that we ran for 8 years where many children from low income families were taught to sail at no cost. 

The idea for a children's character came to me many years ago as a way of providing ongoing income to a foundation that would have a board of directors, independent of the business,  distributing the foundation funds to worthy causes that benefit children, anywhere in the world.

As in any business, overheads have to be covered, shareholders are entitled to a return on their money and there has to be funds set aside for company growth. In this regard, my pledge to persons who support Greanwold's World either through our Kickstarter program or as investors is; I will ensure that it is children who will mainly benefit from Greanwold. Once we are up and running, a portion of every membership dollar, a portion of every Greanwold item sold and a healthy portion of the eventual sale of the Greanwold brand will go to the foundation.

I hope this clarifies matters.

Even though it has taken a long time for Greanwold to develop some traction, in my world, persistence pays off. Thomas Edison got it right. 

“Five percent of the people think; 
ten percent of the people think they think; 
and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.” 
― Thomas A. Edison

Please, comments gratefully accepted.

CANADA DOES NOT HAVE A NATIONAL POVERTY REDUCTION PROGRAM

There is something deeply wrong in British Columbia and with our government that thousands of children are hungry and school districts are forced to beg private donors for food on their behalf.

The Vancouver school district feeds breakfast and lunch to 5,000 elementary and secondary school children every day. But it says there are another 2,000 who are going hungry. It would cost $1.7 million to feed those 2,000 kids. It’s money the district doesn't have.

How many kids in other school districts are hungry and going unfed is an open question because most others haven’t done a detailed school-by-school analysis as Vancouver has. But it’s definitely not just a Vancouver problem.One in five B.C. children is growing up in poverty, according to 2012 Statistics Canada data. That’s 169,240 children.

And, while there are pockets of extreme poverty in Vancouver, the Central Coast Regional District has the highest rate with 54.8 per cent of children living in low-income families.Hungry adults can be hard to identify because they often try to hide it.

But children? They’re visible, especially to teachers.

Many are young enough not to be ashamed to say that they’re hungry and they’ve had no breakfast and there’s no food for lunch.But even if they don’t, their hunger shows up in other ways: poor marks, the inability to focus, the anger and frustration that are manifest when the body screams out for nourishment. The Vancouver school district spends $4.4 million on food programs. Of that, the $300,000 for breakfast programs already comes from by private donations either directly or through charities like The Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-a-School.

The provincial government provides $2.4 million in Community Links grants for lunch programs, while parents who can afford it provide another $1.7 million.Yet it’s clearly not enough if 2,000 kids are still without food.

Canada is one of the few developed countries without a national poverty reduction program. So, as poverty in Canada has increased, it’s charity — not taxes — that has filled the gaps.

Before 1981, there were no food banks in Canada. Since then, their use has risen exponentially. Since 2008, the number of British Columbians using food banks has increased by 25 per cent since 2008.

Of the 97,000 B.C. citizens reliant on food banks, one-third are children.

WANT TO READ MORE?: CHILDREN AND POVERTY IN CANADA

5 WAY TO END CHILD POVERTY AROUND THE WORLD

1.     With a quality education, children will get the knowledge and life skills they need to realize their full potential. Education is essential in creating change in a child’s life. Plan helps by training teachers, building new schools and breaking down barriers that prevent many children, and girls in particular, from attending school.

2.     Access to health care is essential. Plan helps communities build health clinics, train health care workers and invest in equipment and medicine so children can grow up healthy and strong.

3.     Water and sanitation are essential for every child’s survival. Every year, Plan helps communities build school latrines, community water points and helps to establish organizations to ensure the continued management and maintenance of water points.

4.     Plan works to overcome poverty by helping communities around the world gain the economic security they need to thrive. Plan is training people living in poverty to acquire the skills and knowledge they need to secure a livelihood, and support their families.

5.     Plan helps children learn their rights and take active roles within their community. Child participation helps children engage in citizenship, express their views and make decisions that will shape their future and influence the people around them.

      PLEASE CONTACT PLAN CANADA IF THIS RESONATES WITH YOU