Ali’s Blog

Spending time in Vietnam has made me think long and hard about all that we have that we take for granted. Coming back to NZ to the full commercialisation and shopping frenzy before Christmas has reinforced to me that we all have far more than we need. It has also helped me consolidate some thinking that I started some time back, but had done nothing about.

Currently, 80 million children remain out of primary school due to poverty.We all know that access to literature is key to a child’s development, and that school books are essential to a child’s learning but in some of the poorest regions of the world they are scarce. Books help teachers and children work together and can improve attendance and self-esteem.

So, I have sat down and chatted to Thomas about presents and what he has and what some other children have and do not have. We already sponsor Juma, a 6 year old Tanzanian boy, through the Wolrd Vision campaign, and have often chatted about Juma and the differences between his life and Thomas (who wants for nothing, except an X-box that his parents refuse to buy him!). In the end we have decided that he does not need any presents from his cousins, instead we have asked them to support Oxfam’s programme to provide school books to disadvantaged children. In the same way we will donate instead of buying them things that they do not need. .

As Oxfam say, an education can be a ticket out of extreme poverty, early marriage, even AIDS in developing countries. Yet too often it’s the girls who miss out.When parents can’t send all their children to school they’ll often make the hard choice of keeping the girls at home.

Oxfam is currently working on improving access to and the quality of primary education for children through the Education Sector Monitoring Project.

Every child needs it; every child deserves it. Yet for 121 million children living in poverty it’s just a dream. Hopefully our small contribution will make a difference to someone somewhere.