Be Part Of It ! (in Off-topic)

Every single day, 30,000 children die, needlessly, of extreme poverty.

I "added my name"

my name has been added too ;)

Mine too! :)

Already up! (now if only we could get decent coverage of the concerts!)

All in the U.S. are encouraged to send nastygrams to AOL and MTv. :)

im on it too.

one thing thats bad about that concert is none of the money raised goes to fight poverty...they want to help why not pay the artists less and spend some money helping the poor instead of just whining to the politicians

Best thing to do is donate to a church or give it directly to someone you know that is in need in the community.

Or I'd find a more trustworthy private donating group based in whatever country you are thinking of..

This isn't about raising money people. It's about raising awareness.

Back into your cocoon...

We (my friends and family) are in a relief organization called "Feed My Starving Children" which is a christian organization to fight starvation in Africa.

And if everyone becomes aware of it, then do we keep throwing concerts to become MORE aware? At some point it just becomes a chain letter.

It is a great orginization though, I just don't know that it's enough.

Now please disregard my post, focus on the positive.

awareness is great

not having kids die because their corrupt governments keep the aid for themselves would be better

you don't see anyone doing anything about the real problem, though. shame.

g bee awareness is nice and good but what gets things done now days is money

so whos really in a cacoon...

One of the daily talk shows on my local NPR station had a segment on this topic last Friday. They interviewed John Coonrod, VP of the Hunger Project, who made some very interesting points about the causes of hunger, the (in)effectiveness of awareness programs, etc. He claims the main cause of hunger and poverty is the poor status of women so the main focus of his group is grassroots education and empowerment.

You can download the mp3 of the (cut short due to breaking news about a Supreme Court judge that unexpectedly retired) segment here
You can check out the Hunger Project's website here

(All links open in new windows)

you know the guy who is runnin this concert has raised 100 mil since 1985 from live aid so i think the man has really done enough money wise and live 8 is to show the leaders at the g8 summit that they should relieve africa of its debts and crap so they are trying to save the african countries millions! yeah um ok bye

i added my name ^_^

I added my name.

Dragon Slayer:
"g bee awareness is nice and good but what gets things done now days is money"

Exactly, and that's why it was such a good thing that the debts will be cancelled for the nations that show themselves to have a democratic government.



Jonathan:
"not having kids die because their corrupt governments keep the aid for themselves would be better."

Couldn't agree more. There's more people aware of this fact now than there ever were before. It's a step in the right direction when the only alternative is to do nothing at all...

Added my name.

"It's great that so many are finally noticing the tragedy of Africa. But sadly, historical evidence says that the solutions offered by big plans are not so easy. From 1960 to 2003, we spent $568 billion (in today's dollars) to end poverty in Africa. Yet these efforts still did not lift Africa from misery and stagnation.

Why don't big plans work? Because they miss the critical elements of feedback and accountability...

Piecemeal fixers do not promise the miracles that planners do; they just quietly deliver results..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/03/opinion/03easterly.html

if you give a farmer foodpacks every year, he'll not find the need to cultivate his land, since he's getting food anyway, so the country stays poor (due to lack of knowledge as well)