1.71% of the funds come from the Australian community.
2.12% of the funds come from the Australian Government's overseas aid programs.
3.17% of the funds come from other sources around the world.
Most people are under the impression that all of the money donated to World Vision goes straight to help those in need. However, this is not completely true. The statistics are:
1.78.8% of money donated is used for field programs and advocacy work such as 40 Hour Famine and KIDS HOPE AUS.
This includes:
•73.7% - International programs
•1.1% - Domestic programs
•1.4% - Community education
•2.6% - Program support costs
2.11.5% of money donated goes to fundraising - buying food and equipment.
3.9.7% of fundraising money goes to administration and accountability.
These include:
•Operating supporter service center
•Finance
•Administration
•HR
•Management teams
These statistics are very reasonable and allows fundraising to continue in a successful way.
World Vision uses funds
that have been donated or raised and uses them for programs that benefit
children and their communities. For example, one of the current programs in
Australia is titled KIDS HOPE AUS.
By Brittany Carlson (USAG Stuttgart) (United States Army) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
KIDS HOPE AUS. is a
mentoring program aimed at providing help with education and well-being for
Australians children in need.
There are thousands of Australian
children that need help with school work or their social life and could benefit
from one-on-one mentoring with a caring adult.
A partnership between
local churches and primary schools, KIDS HOPE AUS. works to provide support for
children in desperate need to improve their quality of life.
A mentor is present for an
hour each week, providing additional support with homework, as well as to play
games and other creative activities that the child might require. On top of
that, the mentor provides emotional and social support for the child so that
they aren't getting behind on their school work because of depression or
bullying.
On the website for the St
Stephen's Anglican Church in Bayswater, Victoria, it states that “Ainslie Ellis
is the coordinator for the program.
Ainslie recruits and trains the mentors, provides ongoing support for
mentors and is the liaison point with the school. She also identifies prayer partners for each
mentor and child.”
As well as a mentor, the
church provides a ‘prayer partner’ for each mentor and child. ‘Prayer partners’
are used to guide children in their lives as well as to pray for their health
and well-being and provide additional support for each child and mentor.
According to the WorldVision Australia website, “Children who receive help early on, especially those
considered vulnerable and at-risk, significantly improve their chances for a
good education, health and well-being, and social competence.”
This is very true as many
children lack proper relationships with adults other than their parents. They
need these relationships to improve their ability to communicate with others
and to create other important relationships with family, friends or colleagues
in the work place. Without these relationships, the individual would suffer and
be unable to do normal everyday things.
The Anglican Diocese ofMelbourne is an example of a community supporting KIDS HOPE AUS. From their
website, they have a heart-warming example of how KIDS HOPE AUS. has changed
lives.
“Nine year old Anna had not spoken
to an adult for more than two years – not her foster parents, teacher, school
specialists or relatives.
Anna was referred to the KIDS HOPE
mentoring program and matched with Hilda, a mature aged grandmother. Hilda was briefed
about Anna’s elective mutism with adults, but was keen to accept the challenge
of building a relationship with this troubled little girl.
Eight weeks after the mentoring
sessions began, the principal walked past the alcove where Hilda and Anna met
each week. Imagine her surprise as she observed Anna talking animatedly to her
mentor and friend, Hilda!”
There are mentoring spots
available all over Australia. Being a mentor can make a difference not only in
a child’s life but also in your own life because of this rich and exciting
opportunity that will teach both mentor and child how to cope with the stresses
of everyday life while creating a firm bond between each pair.
Do you have the caring
attitude to help a child reach their full potential? Do you have the ability to
be a positive role model? Do you have an hour a week to spare so you can change
a child’s life for the better?
However, if you don’t have
the time to be a mentor, there are other ways you can help out the program or
World Vision itself. You can donate money as well as books, games and craft
products to improve the life of children in need. It’s only a small thing that
won’t take up much time. Just do what you can, even the small things count.
The 40 Hour Famine is a
fundraising event held by World Vision and includes voluntary fasting for up to
40 hours to raise money and awareness of hunger in different countries of the
world.
By Team World Vision (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
Starting in 1975, the 40
Hour Famine begun in response to the starvation of many in Ethiopia. These days,
the 40 Hour Famine hopes to inspire empathy in our young for others who are
less fortunate as well as educate others on the importance of helping those in
desperate need.
There are 12, 24, 30 and
40 Hour Famines that people can partake in and are held all over the world in
such countries as Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
However, the 40 Hour
Famine is not just about giving up food, people can also give up their
favourite or loved items. These can include giving up technology such as TV or game
consoles as well as books, sports, certain activities and even talking.
It’s not just for adults
though, kids can participate too. The 8 Hour Famine is aimed at the younger
children who want to help fundraise any way they can. However, the children
should only do a maximum of eight hours because it could be dangerous as well
as other health risks involved.
“With our advocacy and
commitment to help poor families uplift themselves from poverty, at the same
time promote awareness and social responsibility among the youth” World Vision
offers a unique opportunity for the younger generations to help many starving
children all over the world.
So where do the funds go
for the 40 Hour Famine? The funds go to special programs that are carried out
by World Vision all over the world. The programs are aimed at benefiting
children and their communities.
As well as supporting
others by donating money to their fund-raising, events and games may also take
place to help educate people on the real issue of famine in underdeveloped
countries such as Africa or Asia.
Here are some tips on
staying safe when giving up food for 8-40 hours which are sourced straight from
the World Vision website.
Drink plenty of
water, fruit juice or tea.
Feel free to eat
energy sweets (like barley sugars) occasionally.
If you’re at
primary school, please consider skipping food for only eight hours.
Talk to your
parent or guardian if you have any existing health issues before participating.
When you finish
the 40 Hour Famine, ease your way back to normal eating by having something
light and healthy, like a salad or fruit.
Do remember that
going without food is not the only option. There are plenty of other things you
could choose to give up.
Click here for more guidelines
when starting the 40 Hour Famine.
You don’t have to do the 40
Hour Famine to support starving children all over the world, you can sponsor a
child by donating money weekly or monthly or you could just donate money straight
to World Vision in the hope that they do some good with it.
Donations of any sort can
help feed, educate and clothe children in need and provide them with a better
future. You can change somebody’s life by doing the 40 Hour famine, any way why wouldn't you want to do that?
With the recent legalisation
of same-sex marriage in New Zealand, Prime Minister Julia Gillard is unmoved on
her position against gay marriage.
By Kate Lundy from Canberra, Australia [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
''I doubt we're going to
end up agreeing, I’m sorry,'' Ms Gillard said at a community cabinet meeting in
Melbourne.
Gillard has said that a
recent vote for the same-sex marriage bill to be passed that occurred in the
House of Representatives was defeated by a vote of 98 to 42.
Australia is a country
that can no longer pride itself on giving everyone a ‘fair go’ because of the
Australian Government’s unwillingness to treat everybody equally.
Globally, there are many
countries, which recognise same-sex marriage certificates even if you can’t get
married there.
Although it is likely that
many Australians are going to take the three hour flight to New Zealand to get
married, when they return to Australia, sadly, their marriage won’t be legally
recognised because of the laws against gay marriage.
For several years, a
majority of Australians have supported marriage equality for same-sex couples.
According to the Australian Marriage Equality, a website for the equality of
marriage, 64% of Australians support marriage equality, 53% of Christians
support marriage equality, 76% of Coalition voters want Abbott to allow a
conscience vote, 75% believe the reform is inevitable, and 81% of young people
(18-24 years) support marriage equality.
Though same-sex marriage
is not legalised in Australia, a ‘civil union’ can be held between same-sex
couples which is a legally recognised union similar to marriage.
Peter Tatchell, a
Melbourne-born UK gay rights advocate says “Marriage is the internationally
recognised system of relationship recognition. It is the global language of
love. When we were young, most of us dreamed of one day getting married. We
didn’t dream about having a civil partnership.”
There are over 190
countries in the world and only 14 of those have legalised gay marriage,
including, recently, Paris, and New Zealand as the first in the Asia-Pacific to
do it.
Though, gay couples will
have to wait four months for the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs to
organise to receive gay marriage licences, it is expected that thousands of couples
are going to fly to New Zealand to tie the knot.
Loud cheering and singing
of the New Zealand love song "Pokarekare Ana" erupted as the same-sex
marriage bill was passed in the New Zealand’s Parliament. The bill was passed
with a large majority, with 77 votes in favour of same-sex marriage and 44 against it.
Neither Julia Gillard, nor
Tony Abbot want to give the people of Australia want they want, which is
same-sex marriage to be legalised in Australia. Also, neither seems to
recognise or care that Australia is falling behind the rest of the world
because of this out-dated minority view.
“We’ve already fallen
behind the rest of the world on this issue, in fact Australia is the only
English speaking democracy now with a leader of the country does not support
marriage equality,” says gay rights activist Kerryn Phelps in a heated debate
on Sunrise.
In May last year, Barack
Obama announced that he believes that same-sex couples should be allowed to
marry.
"At a certain point
I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead
and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married,"
said President Barak Obama.
For children who are gay,
growing up being bullied and believing that wanting to be with someone of the
same sex is wrong, can lead to mental health issues and instability in their
life.
“Marriage equality is primarily
about ending social exclusion and giving all Australians the same basic rights.
Lack of equality has strong links to mental health issues among same sex
attracted young people. We want to see an end to the unnecessary stigma and
isolation another generation of young Australians could face because of this
inequality,” says Australia’s youth mental health foundation, Headspace's chief executive Chris Tanti.
We want the future
generations to be happy in a world where everyone has the same human rights,
instead of this stigma about same-sex marriage. We don’t want them growing up
in a world that tells them that being yourself is wrong.
So, with this debate about
same-sex marriage, we can only hope that Julia Gillard’s successor has the
ability to change the laws to create a bright future for the coming
generations.
Bookstores are on the verge of extinction. With the growth of online shopping, bookstores are becoming redundant and therefore most of the bookstores are closing. Most notably, Borders and Angus and Robertson are the major stores that have gone under.
But why? Online shopping is so much easier. You can shop in your pyjamas while you're in bed watching a movie and have it delivered to your home without once stepping outside. One of the best websites in which to buy books is The Book Depository (one of my own personal favourites). They're a UK based bookseller and they have been recently been purchased by Amazon. The books are cheap and it has free shipping. The reason that they're so cheap is because they (usually) print on demand, though they do have some warehouses incase of returns and other things, and the shipping price is factored into the overall cost (but they're still cheaper than everywhere else). So these online bookstores, because of how cheap and accessible they are, have put in store bookstores out of business.
Not only is it online bookstores that are putting physical bookstores out of business, but ebooks are too. Ebooks are easier to carry around on your Kindle or Kobo (or whatever else you read on) and you can have hundreds at your beck and call, rather than carrying around 10 heavy books in the hope that you might want to read one or all of them. Usually you can get most of the ebooks for free, and if you did pay for them, you'd only be paying about $3.
Last year for Christmas, my brother bought me a Kobo E-Reader. I was grateful for the gift but I was unhappy at the thought of cheating on my books with ebook versions (that always have a large number of typos which makes me want to stop reading the book). I used to select a few books from my bookshelf and pack it into my 'book suitcase'. Then I realised how amazing E-Readers are. I can carry hundreds of books around with me and I'm not weighed down. However, I'm an old fashioned girl. I love the feel of a book in my hand or the smell of one as I turn the pages. This is why I am sad about bookstores closing down. I like to visit stores and be surrounded by thousands of books. I do and always will love the feel of a book in my hand and visit my local bookstores (AllBooks4Less, $5 books) as much as possible.
Everybody always makes those jokes about the uni student being poor and how they can't afford anything because all the money coming in is going straight to their education and transport. I've made these jokes myself too but the reality is that uni students can't really afford much. This post is ways uni students can save money on food yet still have be able to have delicious home cooked meals.
By Gila Brand at en.wikipedia (Own work) [CC-BY-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons
Shop at NQR (Not Quite Right). I know what you're thinking, shop at a place where everything is out of date and possible mouldy and gross? Not true. Some of the products are out of date but not months out of date, a couple of days maybe or even a week. These thing are still in perfect condition and it is very unlikely that you will get sick from them. Also, they are so cheap that it's ridiculous. You can buy almost anything or everything from there at almost half the price you would pay at Coles or Safeway. So why not save yourself some money?
If you don't want to shop at NQR and want to shop at Coles or Safeway, then opt for the home brand products. From personal experience, the home brand products are much better and they save you some cash as well.
Buy cheap cuts of meat. Even though these may not be as attractive as other cuts of meat, like steaks for example, they are cheaper and often tastier.
Shop at markets. They are usually cheaper and you can often try and bargain with the seller and if you shop right before closing time, you can get the produce for cheaper anyway.
When cooking, make it in bulk and freeze whatever is left over so you can have an easy home cooked meal another day by easily defrosting it.
All in all, it's not impossible for uni students to save money and be able to afford other things they want by saving money on food, yet still being able to have lovely home cooked meals.
