World AIDS Day - We Care!

World AIDS Day is a great opportunity to get the public talking about HIV and fundraise.

Today is the day  for all of us to learn the facts about HIV.

According to wikipedia AIDS has killed more than 25 million people between 1981 and 2007, and an estimated 33.2 million people worldwide live with HIV as of 2007, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. Despite recent, improved access to antiretroviral treatment and care in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic claimed an estimated 2 million lives in 2007, of which about 270,000 were children.

There are different numerical  data about  the worldwide effect of HIV infection in children on the internet: no matter how many children are infected - the goal is ZERO! 

The Rights of the Child in the context of HIV/AIDS

All children under the age of 18 living in today's world - whether they are themselves infected with HIV, affected by AIDS in their households or communities, or living in the shadow of HIV risk - are recognized by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.The United Nations Con-vention on the Rights of the Child in the context of HIV/AIDS has spelled out principles for reducing children's vulnerability to infection and for protecting children from discrimination because of their real or perceived HIV/AIDS status. This human rights framework can be used by governments to ensure that the best interests of children with regard to HIV/AIDS are promoted and addressed:

•  Children's right to life, survival and development should be guaranteed.The civil rights and freedoms of children should be respected, with emphasis on removing policies which may result in children being separated from their parents or families.                                                
• Children should have access to HIV/AIDS prevention education, information, and to the means of prevention. Measures should be taken to remove social, cultural, political or religious barriers that block children's access to  these.                                                                                                          
• Children's right to confidentiality and privacy in regard to their HIV status should be recognized. This includes the recognition that HIV testing should be voluntary and done with the informed consent of the person involved which should be obtained in the context of pretest counselling. If children's legal guardians are involved, they should pay due regard to the child's view, if the child is of an age or maturity to have such views.

•  All children should receive adequate treatment and care for HIV/AIDS, including those children for whom this may require additional costs because of their circumstances, such as orphans.States should include HIV/AIDS as a disability, if disability laws exist to strengthen the protection of people living with HIV/AIDS against discrimination.

•   Children should have access to health care services and programs, and barriers to access encountered by especially vulnerable groups should be removed.

•  Children should have access to social benefits, including social security and social insurance.

•  Children should enjoy adequate standards of living.

•  Children should have access to HIV/AIDS prevention education and information both in school and out of school, irrespective of their HIV/AIDS status.No discrimination should be suffered by children in leisure, recreational, sport, and cultural activities because of their HIV/AIDS status.

Special measures should be taken by governments to prevent and minimize the impact of HIV/AIDS caused by trafficking, forced prostitution, sexual exploitation, inability to negotiate safe sex, sexual abuse, use of injecting drugs, and harmful traditional practices. 
Source: The Role of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and its Impact on HIV/AIDS: Problems and Prospects, presentation by the World Health Organization Global Programme on AIDS at "AIDS and Child Rights: The Impact on the Asia-Pacific Region", Bangkok, Thailand, 21-26 November 1995.

November 23rd, Children's Day - Future Generations? / Thanksgiving

"I think about the generations
and they say they want to make it
a better place for our children and our children's children
so that they they they know it's a better world for them
and I think they can make it a better place"

Michael Jackson - Heal The World

Since 2002on the third Thursday of the month of November UN / UNESCO celebrate World Philosophy Day, under the declared objective " .... to honor philosophical reflection in the entire world by opening up free and accessible spaces. Its objective is to encourage the peoples of the world to share their philosophical heritage and to open their minds to new ideas, as well as to inspire a public debate between intellectuals and civil society on the challenges confronting our society" 

This year's theme was "Future Generations". The project sounds good, and worth following but international events just throws it into yet another event category instead of a headline sparking a much needed talk.

The European Union leaders are discussing the new budget and though I know there are a lot of issues, a lot of problems for the member countries that need attention and a very well balanced budget, the "solution" to cut development and humanitarian aid is just not the way to go. 

I come from a country within the European Union, one that has benefited greatly in rebuilding at all levels after the Iron Curtain fell from development funds for new members so I have experienced the benefits of these types of policies.

You can take action and help the campaign to keep the EU development and aid fund at One International. Already a petition with 143,021 member's signatures was delivered to the UK Prime Minister under the words of Nelson Mandela “our human compassion binds us; the ONE to the other”.

 

 Days before the "Future Generations" talk in Paris, France the conflict between Israel and Palestine intensified. Both sides fight for future generations. In the process they kill the future. 

 

Children get killed, hurt, live in fear and bare the emotional scars into the future. Future doesn't mean only generations not born yet. I guess being part of a so called "sacrifice generation" set to get lost in transition from communism to democracy, this strikes an emotional chord. 

"The child shall enjoy special protection, and shall be given opportunities and facilities, by law and by other means, to enable him to develop physically, mentally, morally, spiritually and socially in a healthy and normal manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity. In the enactment of laws for this purpose, the best interests of the child shall be the paramount consideration."

Principle 2, DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD  Adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution 1386 (XIV) of 10 December 1959

 

 We have legal framework, we have and create opportunities for talks and setting lines of actions.

ACT.

 

The "It's All For L.O.V.E" blog team would like to wish a Happy Thanksgiving !!! to all of you celebrating.

We are thankful for the love we share.

"For as long as we do not go beyond possible, beyond accounting, we will never conceive of or claim paradise" 

Nicolae Steinhardt, "Happiness Diary"

October 23rd, 2012 - Children's Day: "That One in the Mirror"

  ..... war and hunger, poverty, diseases, economic hardships, injustice and leaders killing the people they were supposed to protect ..... so many of us are living through all of this, many of us learn about them on the media and pay attention for a while, so many of us try to act and help, few of us get the information about it then move on, few of us just turn a deaf ear to all the suffering.

And possible do all of this at different times.

But we cannot separate ourselves from what going on. whether the problems are next to home or across the world. 

Discouraging. Shocking. Sickening. 

This can be some of the words to describe both various situation like the events in Syria or the famine in many regions of our world and their aftermaths.

Same words can be used to describe what we feel when we get confronted with this directly or via news......

What we wanted to share with you for today is a piece of writing from Michael Jackson's book "Dancing the Dream. Poems and Reflections" 

 

That One in the Mirror

I wanted to change the world, so I got up one morning and looked in the mirror. That one looking back said, "There is not much time left. The earth is wracked with pain. Children are starving. Nations remain divided by mistrust and hatred. Everywhere the air and water have been fouled almost beyond help. Do something!"

That one in the mirror felt very angry and desperate. Everything looked like a mess, a tragedy, a disaster. I decided he must be right. Didn't I feel terrible about these things, too, just like him? The planet was being used up and thrown away. Imagining earthly life just one generation from now made me feel panicky.

It was not hard to find the good people who wanted to solve the earth's problems. As I listened to their solutions, I thought, "There is so much good will here, so much concern." At night before going to bed, that one in the mirror looked back at me seriously, "Now we'll get somewhere," he declared. "If everybody does their part."

But everybody didn't do their part. Some did, but were they stopping the tide? Were pain, starvation, hatred, and pollution about to be solved? Wishing wouldn't make it so � I knew that. When I woke up the next morning, that one in the mirror looked confused. "Maybe it's hopeless," he whispered. Then a sly look came into his eyes, and he shrugged. "But you and I will survive. At least we are doing all right."

I felt strange when he said that. There was something very wrong here. A faint suspicion came to me, one that had never dawned so clearly before. What if that one in the mirror isn't me? He feels separate. He sees problems "out there" to be solved. Maybe they will be, maybe they won't. He'll get along. But I don't feel that way � those problems aren't "out there," not really. I feel them inside me. A child crying in Ethiopia, a sea gull struggling pathetically in an oil spill, a mountain gorilla being mercilessly hunted, a teenage soldier trembling with terror when he hears the planes fly over: Aren't these happening in me when I see and hear about them?

The next time I looked in the mirror, that one looking back had started to fade. It was only an image after all. It showed me a solitary person enclosed in a neat package of skin and bones. "Did I once think you were me?" I began to wonder. I am not so separate and afraid. The pain of life touches me, but the joy of life is so much stronger. And it alone will heal. Life is the healer of life, and the most I can do for the earth is to be its loving child.

That one in the mirror winced and squirmed. He hadn't thought so much about love. Seeing "problems" was much easier, because love means complete self-honesty. Ouch!

"Oh, friend," I whispered to him, "do you think anything can solve problems without love?" That one in the mirror wasn't sure. Being alone for so long, not trusting others and being trusted by others, it tended to detach itself from the reality of life. "Is love more real than pain?" he asked.

"I can't promise that it is. But it might be. Let's discover," I said. I touched the mirror with a grin. "Let's not be alone again. Will you be my partner? I hear a dance starting up. Come." That one in the mirror smiled shyly. He was realizing we could be best friends. We could be more peaceful, more loving, more honest with each other every day.

Would that change the world? I think it will, because Mother Earth wants us to be happy and to love her as we tend her needs. She needs fearless people on her side, whose courage comes from being part of her, like a baby who is brave enough to walk because Mother is holding out her arms to catch him. When that one in the mirror is full of love for me and for him, there is no room for fear. When we were afraid and panicky, we stopped loving this life of ours and this earth. We disconnected. Yet how can anybody rush to help the earth if they feel disconnected? Perhaps the earth is telling us what she wants, and by not listening, we fall back on our own fear and panic.

One thing I know: I never feel alone when I am earth's child. I do not have to cling to my personal survival as long as I realize, day by day, that all of life is in me. 

The children and their pain; the children and their joy.

 The ocean swelling under the sun; the ocean weeping with black oil. 

The animals hunted in fear; the animals bursting with the sheer joy of being alive.

This sense of "the world in me" is how I always want to feel. That one in the mirror has his doubts sometimes. So I am tender with him. Every morning I touch the mirror and whisper, "Oh, friend, I hear a dance. Will you be my partner? Come."

One International

Oxfam International 

Medecins Sans Frontieres / Doctors Without Borders  Red Cross (International Committee of the Red Cross) 

Care

1Goal

Nelson Mandela Children's Fund

War child

Amnesty International

UNICEF

International Center for Missing and Exploited Children

The Global Missing Children's Network 

Children´s Day-September22nd,2012 POEM: When I was A Child

         When I was a child, I thought they could do no wrong,
         When I was a child, everyone seemed to get along.
         When I was a child we were always together,
         When I was a child, I thought it would last forever.
         When I was a child, playing with my cousins was always fun,
         When I was a child, my face always brightened by the   
                                      beautiful sun.
         When I was a child, I was young and free,
         When I was a child, no pain or worries I could see.
         When I was a child, I learned from my mistakes,
         
         Now I am an adult, now my heart breaks.

                                (~ Nicola Burkett)

Data released in September 2012 show significant progress in reducing child mortality: globally, the number of under-five child deaths fell from nearly 12 million in 1990 to an estimated 6.9 million in 2011.

This shows that we an make a change but there´s still a lot to do to make this world a better place for the children. 

Please do not stop to support organisations  below that work hard to bring down the mortility of children. Here  are just a few, working on an international base:

• doctors without borders
• the world´s largest humanitarian agency beating hunger
• ONE fights against extreme poverty
• UNICEF

Wisdom Of Life...

On occasion of one of my dearest friends´birthday,
I want to wish a very Happy Birthday to M.
You are a bless in my life.  
May the Lord watch over you and protect you...


"The  deep  wisdom  of  life is  ever  present 

and only asks  to be lived. "

~Michael Jackson

What is LIFE about?

Life is a chance

- take it.

Life is a dream

- make it to come true.

Life is a journey

- see it through to the end.

Life is a challenge

- take it.

Life is a mystery

- disclose the secrets.

Life is wealth

- save it.

Life is LOVE

-enjoy it.

Life also is pain

-get over it.

Life is unique

-enjoy it and fill it with LOVE.

 

Happy Birthday, Michael !

It's a beautiful day

It's love we celebrate today.
It all starts with the soul.

 

Happy Birthday, Michael !!!

Thank you.

“Sometimes the heart is so heavy that we turn away from it and forget that its throbbing is the wisest message of life, a wordless message that says, "Live, be, move, rejoice -- you are alive!" Without the heart's wise rhythm, we could not exist.” 
Michael Jackson

LOVE: The more we give - the more we get

We make a living by what we get-

we make a life by what we give!  ~W.Churchill

In today's Children's Day article we want to share a self written story that parents and children gave to their class teacher as farewell gift. Farewell gifts for teachers are common when children leave school, but this time it was an especially meaningful, emotional moving gift, which includes a special MJ-touch. Instead of a short speech with some words of thanks one parent wrote a story about love and read it on the last day at the farewell ceremony. It remains to say that the children of this class haven´t particularly privileged parents. It´s more the opposite. Some have  to fight hard with what is called a new social reality. Every day is a day of battlling to survive; unemployment determines material shortages and the problems of being single parents  mark their lifes. These facts make these  parent´s  gift even more precious.

Now the bench has its place in the teacher´s garden, where she is constantly reminded of how important it is to spread love in a place, where most people expect cognitive performances  first.

A small unimposing bench stood on a large meadow. Many people cavorted with friends in the meadow - but no one sat down on the bench. People always are in a hurry and sometimes forget the essentials and as well the small but important things in life.

One day a little boy looked at the bench, gently caressed over the wood, sat down on the bench and watched the people around him.

"You know, dear bench," the boy said, "people always talk about LOVE. But I don´t really know what that means."

The wooden bench began to creak a little and answered:

"Oh, there are so many different kinds of LOVE, but every kind of love is made of many; many small things.Imagine , love needs a frame that is TRUST. Trust. is what holds everything together. "

"Trust I know! That's when I tell someone a secret and can be sure that he doesn´t pass it on. Or if you're scared and you have no doubts that you are helped."

"Yes, that is TRUST. But there are still many, many things, all of which sum up to something very big."

"The Love?" the boy asked.

"Yes,  right. Love is there, where people encourage each other ... and care."

"Oh, I don´t like  caring! Always cleaning up the room!"

The bench corrected amused : "No, caring is when someone cares about you and cares for you."

"Oh, I see.Yes, then I do know that, too!"

"Sometimes a dispute can also be love. Most important, however, is the reconciliation after a disput."

The child interrupted: "At school, we argue and our teacher always says, we may disagree, but we should not be at odd with our classmates.And after we have been at strife, she helps us to meet again. Please continue, dear bench, what there is more than this to love. "

"When you are sad or grief you need SUPPORT and SOLACE. FRIENDSHIP, TOLERANCE and ACCEPTANCE are also parts of LOVE. To SHARE JOY with each other and especially ENJOY each other is important."

"Uhmm ... Our teacher showed us that everyone is special, no matter how he looks or what he is good at. It is important to like others the way they are -and  to appreciate them just because they are different."

"More small little things," the bench continued, "which make up the love, are: GENEROSITY, UNDERSTANDING, ATTENTION and EMPATHY. Also, HELP, WARMTH and INTENTIONAL  SELF-LIMINTATION are important."

"Yes, that's right!"  the boy shouted. "Well, if I have not done my homework, my teacher doesn´t have that much understanding, but otherwise, she helps us whenever we haven´t understood something, she always listens if we have personal problems and  sometimes she dispenses for us  her leisure time. But that´s something we children do as well for her. "

The bank noted:

 “I think you knew what LOVE is before, you just weren´t aware all the many names for love! "

"I think so too, but I´m no dictionary. Is there more to love than that?"

"There is something else: LOYALTY and TENDERNESS! And most of all is to love even LET GO, even though it is very difficult!"

The boy just sat there in silence, thinking. Then he concluded: 
"In our class we are helped and comforted, we are  encouraged, we have fun, we share  everything and we trust each other. All the things related to love, I have already experienced at school - and at home. I think our teacher really loves us because she let us go very soon, although she would like to stay us."

And suddenly something changed with the bench. Magically by and by the names of the classmates the boy had spoken of appeared on the backrest.

The bench said to the astonished boy:
"In your class is so much  LOVE. Take me to your school. I'm helping your teacher to remember .... and you are helping me to finally be used.."





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August 19, 2012 - World Humanitarian Day "I Was Here"

"Every year on August 19th, World Humanitarian Day recognizes those who face danger and adversity to help others. August 19th is the anniversary of the 2003 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, which killed 22 people" 

http://www.whd-iwashere.org/

 I am looking forward to the day when the work of so many amazing people will become the norm. It will not diminish in any way their efforts but such happening would lift us all and our actions would truly make this world a better place. 

 Most people who dedicate their lives,resources, energy and love to helping others do so without public acclaim. Some use their fame to promote and support.

All deserve our respect and all need for us to step up and do our little bit.

"To give someone a piece of your heart is worth more than all the wealth in the world"
Michael Jackson

Michael's artistic talent and achievements in the fields of music and entertainment can only be matched if not surpassed by his humanitarian work. His dedication to make the world a better place has been ridiculed at times but brought him and all those he helped joy.

“In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. In a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. And in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe.”

Michael Jackson 



 

""One for the ages: Michael Jackson inspired humanity to believe in itself"

Michael Jackson 'the forgotten humanitarian' 

Remembering Michael Jackson: The Global Humanitarian