2013, December 1st - Getting to ZERO

"Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS-related deaths"

This is the 2013 World AIDS Day theme.

For this goal to be achieved we need to be informed and act. Though there has been progress in the past few years in preventing new infections and raising hope for the people leaving with HIV/AIDS we still have a long way to go.

“It is bad enough that people are dying of AIDS, but no one should die of ignorance. ” 

 Elizabeth Taylor

According to World Health Organization

HIV continues to be a major global public health issue, having claimed more than 36 million lives so far.

There were approximately 35.3 [32.2–38.8] million people living with HIV in 2012.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the most affected region, with nearly 1 in every 20 adults living with HIV. Sixty nine per cent of all people living with HIV are living in this region.

HIV infection is usually diagnosed through blood tests detecting the presence or absence of HIV antibodies.

There is no cure for HIV infection. However, effective treatment with antiretroviral drugs can control the virus so that people with HIV can enjoy healthy and productive lives.

In 2012, more than 9.7 million people living with HIV were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) in low- and middle-income countries. 

 worldaidsday.org

For more information and ways to help please visit:

The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation

Keep a Child Alive
 

amfAR

(RED)

UNICEF

UNICEF - Children and AIDS

ONE International

UNAIDS

World Health Organization

You can also sign this petition to demand world leaders to step up their support for the fight against AIDS, TB and malaria.

World leaders must step up their support for the Global Fund

“Love is the human family’s most precious legacy. Its richest bequest. Its golden inheritance.”
Michael Jackson


Send Me an Angel from keepachildalive on Vimeo.

November 20, 2013 - Universal Children's Day

#ENDviolence

"The foundation of all human knowledge, the beginning of human consciousness, must be that each and every one of us is an object of love. Before you know if you have red hair or brown, before you know if you are black or white, before you know of what religion you are a part, you have to know that you are loved"

Michael Jackson

More on Universal Children's Day / Children's Rights:

UNICEF

UNICEF Report

UN

Human Rights Watch

Philippines Relief

Oxfam - Typhoon Haiyan

CARE.org

Red Cross

Convoy Of Hope

Habitat for Humanity

Doctors Without Borders

UNICEF

World Food Program

Children's Day, September 21st, 2013 - International Day of Peace

“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.”

Albert Einstein

 The UN passed the resolution for a world peace day in 1981 and in the next year the day was first observed as International Day of Peace.

The theme chosen for this year's International Day of Peace is "Education for Peace", in recognition of the importance of educating people about consequences of war on our children, our environment and on every aspect of life with the intent to reduce the probability of wars prolonging and expanding and thus holding captive our spirits and killing our loved ones.

 “The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labour. War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent.”

George Orwell ("1984")

Educating ourselves, our children and people around us will improve our understanding of the world and each other. Getting to know ourselves, the others and the world in which we live will bring us closer to finding a solution to our disagreements and making wars just part of our history. And most of all we need to rediscover our connections.

“Human knowledge consists not only of libraries of parchment and ink - 

it is also comprised of the volumes of knowledge that are written on the human heart, 

chiseled on the human soul, and engraved on the human psyche. ”
Michael Jackson

The end of war is within our power. Now I know I cannot stop the conflict in Syria, or the violence in Sudan, but I can donate, I can sign a petition, I can raise awareness to a cause, I can post a tweet or a Facebook update that will state my believes or help spread the word, I can participate in public debates and in the political process in my country, I can learn, I can open my heart and my mind, I can pray, I will.

“Declare it. Just the same way we declare war. That is how we will have peace... we just need to declare it.”
John Lennon 

"See, It's Not About Races..."

The latest headlines regarding (alleged) racial profiling really struck a cord with many people across the world -people are angry, confused, heartbroken at the state of human relations.


Trayvon Martin and Shaima Al – Awadhi aren't the first victims of alleged hate crimes; however, these two cases have reopened and expanded the conversation about race, gender, and cultural differences.
Since the height of the civil rights movement of the 1960's, we have seen many minorities make progress around the world. It is depressing, in the year 2012, we still ask the following question- "How could this happen?!"


I didn't plan on posting anything about these current events,
but I couldn't keep silent. Trayvon, Shaima, and so many others can't speak up for injustice...we must be the voice of unity and love.
With that being said, here is a something I put together: let's keep the conversation going and find ways to make the world a better place.






If you see me in a hoodie,

If you see me with tattoos, 

If you see me in a store at midnight,
does this really give you a clue?

If you see my hair in locks,
do I seem unambitious?
If you see me in Timberland boots...
do I come off suspicious!?

If you see me, you should a reflection:
I'm a dreamer,
I'm a fighter,
I want love and affection.

Look at the reflection, the "Man in the Mirror"-
if you see me looking back at you, the message will get clearer.

So if you see me in a hoodie,
see yourself in a hoodie, too.
If you see me for who I am,
I will see you for you.

*

“Rhythm and Hue”: A Fitting Tribute to MJ

Recently, I came across an awesome work of art by painter/philanthropist David Garibai
At first, I was impressed (mesmerized) by his painting style...it was something I haven't seen before.

                                               The art and the artist speaks for itself!

Looking further into the work of Mr. Garibai, he also has created images in the likeness of President Obama, Bob Marley, Lady GaGa, even Jesus! He also created images to honor the September 11th attacks. Quite impressive to say the least!

David has taken the opportunity to use his craft to help others (sounds like someone we know!) 

He has raised thousands of dollars for various charities and has a vision to help more: you can read more about David, his art and his vision here. 


As so many of our post conclude, we (IAFL webteam,) hope you, the fans and admirers of Michael Jackson and his legacy will find our post inspiring...encouraging  you to follow your dreams and help others around the world!

Ending Modern Day Slavery

Most of us relate slavery to African-Americans being shipped over from Africa to the United States in the 16th through the 19th centuries...few of us are aware of the ongoing struggle many people face in the 21st century.

Modern day slavery is still a strong cell of activity around the world: Globally, some 600,000 to 800,000 people are being trafficked across international boarders each year, 20% of the victims are children.*
In the United States, the CIA estimates 50,000 people are trafficked through the USA annually as sex slaves, domestics, garment and agricultural slaves.*


These numbers are startling to say the least; thankfully, there are many groups dedicated to ending this disturbing trend.

Members of IALF will share information via CNN's Freedom Project. Please feel free to check out the following link for information, stats, and ways to help: http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/

For additional information about human trafficing, visit UNICEF (www.unicef.org), World Hope International (www.worldhope.org), and Save the Children (www.savethechildren.org)

*stats from grnet.com and US State Department

Kids Take Action to Save Sharks

Every second, 3 sharks die at human hands. Many are "finned" so that their fins can be used for shark fin soup. Sharks are becoming extinct and it is affecting all ocean life.

Executive Producer/Director Gary Rose and fledgling group KISS (Kids Involved in Saving Sharks) have teamed up to create a PSA campaign aimed at halting the slaughter of sharks and preserving the ocean's ecosystem.







MJ Fam, please help those kids and spread their message to help the endangered species of sharks that are essential to our eco system!

Why?

Sharks have been around for nearly 400 million years: that makes them older than dinosaurs! There are about 375 different types of shark in the world.

The sea monster myth

Sharks rarely attack people. In fact, the chance of being attacked by a shark is less than the chance of being struck by lightning. The real dangers for people in the ocean are drowning, exposure and being struck by a boat. So no, sharks are not the sea monsters we hear about in stories.

Threat to survival

While sharks are not a threat to people, people are a very real threat to sharks. Each year, over 100 million sharks are killed, most of them for their fins. In fact, there are now 20 types of sharks that are in danger of disappearing because of overfishing.

One of the reasons the shark population is decreasing rapidly is that it takes a long time for sharks to become adults. When a young shark is caught they do not have the chance to grow up and produce baby sharks (pups).

When it comes to reproducing, sharks are more similar to mammals such as whales, dolphins and humans than to other fish. While most fish reach maturity in only a few years and produce thousands or millions of eggs per year, sharks take many years to reach maturity, with some species not reproducing until they are over 15 years old. So when sharks are overfished it may take them many years to recover and in some cases they may never recover.

Why care?

Sharks are crucial parts to the ocean ecosystem. They are at the top of the ocean food chain. They control populations in a beneficial way by eliminating diseased and genetically defective animals. Sharks are an important part of the Earth’s biodiversity.

YOU can help endangered sharks!

1. Educate yourself and others about their importance to our world.

2. Send letters to politicians and other influential people. Let others know how you feel about endangered sharks and how crucial they are to the environment.

3. Sign a petition or start a petition against shark finning and send it to representatives of China.

4. Avoid purchasing products made from sharks.

5. Organise a fundraising activity at your school or in your community and donate to a shark conservation program or organisation.

Together we can make a difference! Tell us how you’ve helped the sharks and inspire other to do the same.

(credits: Save the sharks! on www.ecokids.ca/blog/)

For more information on sharks, please check out and support these websites:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/theglobalsharkinitiative

http://www.stopsharkfinning.net/

http://www.facebook.com/#!/StopSharkFinning

http://www.sharksavers.org

http://www.sharkwater.com

http://www.sharks.org

http://www.sharkalliance.org

MAKE THAT CHANGE!!!

June, 25th: Keeping Michael´s L.O.V.E alive - Donate to Charity

The Sunday Project – Distribution of Meals to hungry Children in Haiti

„It´s unbelievable that it´s been a whole year. We still can´t believe it´s true. It´s like unreal, it´s a dream, but unfortunately it is reality,” Tito Jackson told  in an interview. The entrie´s headline is

“A Year Without Michael”

Bet, we are millions, who feel the way Tito feels, though our way of grief may be different. One year ... and doesnt´t it more feel like this tragedy happened yesterday?

For me this was no year without Michael – just the opposite! I think most of us will have spent much more time than before with talking and writing about Michael, re-reading his books and books written about him, interpretating the lyrics of his songs, listening to his music, watching videos with him on You Tube, reading tribute-sites on the internet, going into the theater to see “This is it”,  paying attention to audio files of his  speeches, researching the web for some wandwritten, lovely notes to his fans such as

and so much more....What it all comes down to is: he kept us pretty busy.:))

His loss made some of us even creating an own MJ-related website or blog, to keep his legacy of L.O.V.E alive...

So this year was both: A year without Michael – and on the other hand so fullfilled with thinking of him. We felt frustrated to the extreme because he has physically left us – and we were blessed enough to feel his spirit all around us, making us meeting wonderful friends on an international level and inspiring us for actions and activities of L.O.V.E.

The anniversary of Michael´s passing will be a hard and strange day. There will be people visiting Forest Lawn`s Holy Terrasse and various memorials all over the world; there will be prayers, candlelight and ...tears – though Michael would like us to smile. There will be events to celebrate Michael Jackson for what he was and will always be: The world´s greatest entertainer.

People will spend this day in many different ways – how about doing something this day to honor him and his humanitarian efforts for children?

He spend hundreds of million dollars for children who were in need.

Let´s follow him  on his  humanitarian path and donate some money for some of the poorest of the poor: The children of Cité Soleil in Port au Prince, Haiti.

After the devasting earthquake in January 2010  Carel Pedre, a born Haitian became THE VOICE of Haiti, keeping the world updated with what was going on in Port au Prince and coordinating via his account on Twitter (@carelpedre) aid supplies given  to charity to come to people who were in strong need for it over weeks. Left himself with bread and water and sleeping in his car with some friends he was still on air to send stories from people who survived to encouraged the  haitian people. 

Carel Pedre (wearing the Sunday Project shirt)

This world could really need more people like this.

Carel did not leave Haiti - he remained staying there. He sent his wife with his little daughter to The States, where they are save.

On EasterSunday he started a project called "theSundayProject" intending to distribute food to the children in Soleil Cité,  one of the poorest departments in Port au Prince. 

 Cité Soleil, department of Port au Prince

It´s great work these guys are doing and the world needs more people who just look around and feel that they have to care and start acting having nothing left but their life, their love and their intent to care for others.

Dear #MJfam, let us support #TheSundayProject on Haiti and donate money  in Michael Jacksons´s name to honor him on his first anniversary of death.

Michael has taught us, that the children of the world are OUR children, especially when their parents not able to care about them. 

 Children attending their Sunday Meal

Therefore WE have to care about them. 
We can not relax and say “they´ll” help them.

Who - if not WE?

WE have to make that change and help. 

Go for it, spread the word around and help Carel Pedre and his team be able to buy food for the hungry children of Cité Soleil -so that we can go on dreaming of a better tomorrow.

Every Dollar can help. Do not give up the idea of donating just because your are not able to spend much. Help spreading the word around to finally get many, many people of the MJfam helping #TheSundayProjet to go on with their great work.

Do it to honor Michael. Do it all for L.O.V.E.

Thank you. Love and peace to you.

God bless you.

How you can support:

Follow TheSundayProject on Facebook

 Follow TheSundayProject on Twitter

Donating: watch the project´s website
(add the note: Donation in remembrance of Michael Jackson ...or something similar)

Get some more  informations about the project and how to donate here:

http://www.sundayprojecthaiti.org/ 

Two freelance writers, Eleanor Miller from the USA and Gemma Pitcher from Australia, whom both visited Cite Soleil on two different occasions  The Sunday Project and wrote great articles about Carel Pedre and The Sunday Project. 

Article from Eleanor Miller

Article from Gemma Pitcher 

Please take the time to follow the links, they are very positive. Get ready for pictures and updates this sunday as  the amazing people of #TheSundayProject  are getting ready to do their 11th Distribution.
 

Henrietta Lacks: A Legacy of Love

This is Mrs. Henrietta Lacks. To some, this name means nothing; to millions around the world, this woman's is the reason they're alive today.

Loretta Pleasant was born and raised in Southside Virginia in 1920.

Ms. Pleasant married and moved to Baltimore and became Mrs. Henrietta Lacks (no one knows why her name was changed from Loretta.)

Early in 1951, Mrs. Lacks discovered she had an aggressive form of cervical cancer; as she

was being treated, her cells were removed without her consent for research. Her cells were referred to as HeLa (hee-lua) cells so doctors wouldn't have to disclose the name of the donor.

Mrs. Lacks passed in October of 1951;buried in an unmarked grave, she passed unaware of the extraction of her cells and the impact she would have in the world of medical science.

I strongly encourage each of you to research the history of Mrs. Lacks life and the "HeLa cells", there are many articles relating to her life as well as a book entitled "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" (Skloot.)

Over the past thirty years, the Lacks family has been making strides to have their beloved mother, sister, grandmother's name honored, on Saturday, May 29, 2010 the healing began.

A doctor with Morehouse College in Georgia provided funds to give Mrs. Lacks a proper headstone so people from all walks of life can identify the final resting place of this phenomenal woman.

I had the pleasure to attend the memorial service for Mrs. Lacks in my hometown. I was glad to see so many people in attendance on a Memorial Day weekend. I later began to see that the base if attendees were the extend family of Mrs. Lacks. This was the first encounter for many of the family members, and you could feel the love for one another.

Doctors, family members, public officials gave remarks on the life and legacy of Mrs. Lacks and the way the HeLa cells are still saving lives to this very day.

The highlight of the ceremony for me was the remarks of a pastor in our area. To paraphrase his remarks, he gave what some would call a prophetic vision of the day doctors/scientist discover the cure for cancer thanks impart to the HeLa cells.

I found myself very moved, to the point of tears about this woman and her story. She was my age when she passed away and almost sixty years later, I had the opportunity to be in the midst of her family and friends.

As I heard how the HeLa cells are used, I felt a since of gratitude to Mrs. Lacks as she could be the reason my grandfather lived an easier life as he battled cancer. I thought about the couples that now have families of their own, those who don't have to endure endless sickness because of one woman's unique genetic code.

The service ended with a sense of closure with optimism for the future of science and of course, love.

There is more to come from this story, so much more. I hope this has given you as much interest as it has given me. I also hope to follow up on Mrs. Lacks in future entries.

Thank you, Mrs. Lacks.

Finding the L.O.V.E. .....

I am and always have been a firm believer in Random Acts of Kindness. I believe that stopping to help someone even if it's only for a second, or smiling at someone as you pass them by things like that can leave a lasting impression on the person. You may never know how much you helped that person but maybe that small act of kindness set in motion a change in their life. I once read this story, two young boys were walking home from school, not together, the one boy was ahead of the other that boy tripped and fell over a crack in the sidewalk spilling everything he had in his hands and in his backpack. The other boy came up to him helped him pick up the stuff & helped him carry it to his house. Along the way they became friends and from then on they were life long friends. One day many years later, when they were years older they were sitting around talking. The one friend confessed to the other that that day that he had tripped that he had been on the way home to take his own life. He had felt as if no one in the world cared he was alive & he told the friend if it wasn't for him he wouldn't be here today & he thanked him because on that day his life was changed by one random act of kindness. I wanted to write about this because I saw a few examples recently & I wanted to share with the rest of you. A couple weekends ago now, my aunt was in the hospital in the emergency room. I was out there with her but I am in no way a fan of hospitals between the germophobia i have and the fear in general of them I usually get fidgety and end up roaming the halls while I wait. As I was walking around I turned down this one hallway, at the end of it I could hear someone coughing in one of the rooms. I then saw a woman who was a bit in front of me and from the looks of her she was very pressed for time and looked like she was in quite a hurry but she also heard this person coughing in the room and she stopped what she was doing backed up & walked in the room by the time I got up to that room i peered into see she had filled up the patients water jug she had poured some into a cup for her and was sitting there waiting patiently until the lady felt better. This woman was not family nor was she a nurse she was just a regular person who was there for something or someone herself who took maybe 10 mins out of her day to help this patient who was in need. It made me feel great to see that. I've said this in another blog I wrote called "Where is the L.O.V.E." sometimes I feel like people have become to involved in themselves they look out for number one to the point where they end up being cold to others in need & while I know there are people out there like me, like all of you that read this sometimes I have to remind myself of that when I see cruelty. Right after I left from the hospital I saw yet another act of kindness. I had stopped by the grocery store to pick up some items & there were two pre-teen or teenage boys hanging by a car most likely waiting for a parent to come out of the store. An older woman came out of the grocery & was pushing a cart that was very full and by the looks of it almost too heavy for her to push without strain. I saw these two young boys come up to her & help her. They pushed her cart to her car, they unloaded the groceries and they even held the door open for her to get in once she unlocked her car. That really made my day just because of the age of the boys. I do not in any way want to stereotype here but it seems that todays youth can be somewhat rude & I've seen instances of them mocking or picking on the person rather then helping so to see those two boys do that again lifted my spirit and made me feel like there is kindness out there. There is love. & I feel more and more people are seeing through tragedies like Haiti, the volcano that exploded that we need to take care of each other we need to help each other. To continue to be cold and cruel to one another can only end badly & I'm thinking more and more people are realizing this. Thank you all for reading this & letting me share this with you :) L.O.V.E. to you all! :)