"Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings."
Nelson Mandela, Make Poverty History rally, London, 2005
I strongly believe that the only way our world can move forward rather than self
destroying is to raise a generation of children who are mindful of their impact on the world around them and who will share their resources more fairly.
How can we help our children to be mindful of the needs of others and to think of ways of helping the poor?
We can start with our own actions.
An obvious way to start is to consider the products you use around your house.
One simple step you can make is when you next purchase your tea or coffee look for the fair trade symbol. You can find it in the health food section of the supermarket, or at certain coffee shops, or online. An added advantage to you is that many of the Fair Trade products are also organic.
Now that your pantry is slavery free, think about your beauty products - how and where are they made? What about your clothes? Once you start, there is no aspect of your life that can't be tweaked and improved. All these small steps make a big difference in the world - and make a difference to you and your family as you become aware of your consumption and how you are helping make a difference.
Talk to your children about poverty and why it is important to be involved.
There are some fabulous books around that will show them how other children live - find some books and share other children's stories with them. I have some great books from
DK - "A Life Like Mine", "Children Just Like Me" and "A School Like Mine". All of these are available through the
Learning Ladder or
Amazon or at your local bookshop. We also source great story books from around the world - especially ones about children's lives - so, if you see a good book on playschool or at your library, grab it! A fine example of this is "
We all went on safari" (Barefoot books), which we love - we saw it on playschool and ordered it online. I have also seen some lovely ones through
Oxfam.
A great way to develop a connection between your child and a child in a poorer nation is to sponsor a child. You can do this through World Vision, and many other great organisations. When you sponsor a child, you get a photo of them along with information about their family and school. You can correspond with them and get your children to send them letters - this is a great opportunity to get them thinking about someone else and their needs. In fact, when I left school and went to Kenya for a few months I managed to meet my sponsored child and see firsthand how they lived and what a difference it makes.
If, like many of us, you are struggling yourself and think "how can I afford to sponsor a child", you could try and get together with some friends - perhaps through playgroup or school - and sponsor a child together. This means that your children are seeing how community can work together to make a difference.
Another great initiative I have come across is this one from Oxfam, where for every doll you buy, they give one to an underpriveleged child. This means that as your little one cuddles their doll you can be reminding them to think of their doll's twin in an HIV/AIDS affected family in Zimbabwe. This is a great alternative to a mass produced plastic doll, next time you are looking for birthday presents.
Act out some simple things that will help your children understand these children's lives - fill up some buckets of water for them to carry and ask them how they would feel carrying them 3-4 kms a day. Serve up smaller portions for one meal and ask them how it would feel if that was all they had every day. Get some international cook books and cook some unusual foods from these countries. Maybe even try and learn some words in Swahili or another African language.
Get your children's school involved. Ask the school if they can run some lessons on globalisation and poverty. Most schools would be happy to get parents involved, so maybe run a session yourself or find another parent who has come from a developing country to lead it. Perhaps the class could sponsor a child (as my son's preschool does). Maybe even look into holding a Fair Trade stall at the school fete.
Get involved yourself and show your children what you are doing. Write letters to your MP together and talk to them about what further action they think would help.
You will probably find that your children once they understand will be very aware and passionate and have more creative ideas than mine.
(August 15th) (
