Mittwoch, 20. Oktober 2010

A Student of Hope


A Student of Hope (written by NBC correspondent Kate Snow)

My BlackBerry buzzed on my desk and I gave it a quick glance. Very quick.

My BlackBerry buzzes all the time and I’ve gotten pretty good at sorting the important stuff (my husband’s updates from home about our two kids) from the headlines I’m bombarded with as a TV news correspondent. This headline, though, caught my attention: World’s Oldest Pupil Dies at Age 89.

“Oh, no!” I cried. Though the man referred to in the headline had lived thousands of miles away in Africa, and I’d only met him once in my life, I felt a profound sense of loss. Kimani Nganga Maruge was indeed the world’s oldest student, a Kikuyu tribesman from a Kenyan shantytown who, at age 84, decided to get the elementary school education he’d been denied as a child—so he could learn to read the one book he had yearned to understand all his life, the Bible.

I’d done a story on Kimani three years earlier. I’d never forgotten him. In all my years as a reporter, among all the world-changing events I’ve covered and the famous people I’ve interviewed, Kimani Maruge stood out. He was one of the most inspiring men I’ve ever met.

I was lucky to meet him at all. In 2006 a production crew and I traveled to Africa to film an in-depth segment about the Masai Mara, a massive game reserve on the Serengeti Plain in southern Kenya. Only because we were already in Africa on assignment were we able to detour to the Kenyan city of Eldoret, where Kimani lived. Though he was a fascinating subject who’d already attracted lots of international media coverage, network news budgets aren’t what they used to be and I probably couldn’t have justified flying all the way to Africa just to meet him.

When I say that Kimani lived in a shantytown, I mean it. His house was a small one-room mud hut with a door fashioned from wood boards. Inside was a bed, a stool doubling as a nightstand, some clothes and not much else. Kids ran laughing through streets of red dirt. Animals grazed in nearby fields.

Kimani was seated outside his door cooking a sweet potato in a battered tin pot over a pile of smoldering corn cobs. It was Sunday afternoon. One of Kimani’s children, a son named James, was reading to him from the Bible. Kimani smiled. His teeth were crooked, but his face, creased by wrinkles, was radiant. He projected a kind of impatient joy, the happiness of a determined, practical person who has, quite unexpectedly, stumbled upon something wonderful.

That something wonderful was a recently passed law granting all Kenyans free access to primary education. Previously, Kenyans had to pay fees to attend public school—unfortunately all too common in Africa. According to UNESCO, the United Nations education organization, fewer than half of primary-school-age children in many African nations attend class.

Access is even lower in rural areas and urban slums. Schools lack teachers, teachers are untrained and classrooms often do not have a single textbook. Families either can’t afford to send their kids to school or find it’s financially necessary to put the children to work.

That was what had happened to Kimani. He was the oldest of seven children, he told us, and he’d grown up helping his father in the fields so his younger siblings could attend school. He remained a farm laborer, leaving the fields only to join Kenya’s struggle for independence from British rule. He showed us his left foot, missing a toe. “I lost it in the war,” he said.

Throughout his hard life Kimani had remained a steadfast Christian. (More than half of all Kenyans are Christians, a legacy of British missionaries.) Still, he longed to know the Bible better. Because he couldn’t read, he had to rely on sermons and his children for knowledge of Scripture.

All of that changed in 2003, when Kenya abolished fees for primary school. Though schools remained underfunded, enrollment rates grew nearly 60 percent in following years. Kimani saw children, including three of his grandchildren, streaming to Kapkenduiywa Primary School in his shantytown. He saw them learning to read. He was in his eighties, but he thought, Why not me?“All my life I have wanted to read the Bible,” he told us. Now was his chance.

One day he walked to Kapkenduiywa and asked to attend. Jane Obinchu, the headmistress, took one look at him and shooed him away. “We thought he was lost,” she said. “It was the last thing on our minds that he wanted to come to school.” Over the next few months Obinchu turned Kimani away four more times. He always came back.

Finally, in late 2004, Obinchu realized this elderly man was serious. He arrived at school wearing the proper uniform—shorts (which he’d made by cutting the legs off one of his few pairs of trousers), a collared shirt and a matching coat. He told Obinchu he was ready to learn. “All right,” she said. “You may come to school.”

Kapkenduiywa is a far cry from a well-appointed American school. The buildings are more like brick-walled shelters. Students play in a red-dirt courtyard. The school is overcrowded, like many in Kenya. Average class size is 100 students. Despite such challenges, Kimani thrived. The other students made fun of him at first, but he persevered and eventually was named head of his class. He passed exams in English, math, reading and Swahili.

Word got out and Kenyan journalists began writing stories. The British Broadcasting Corporation aired a profile of Kimani, and suddenly reporters from around the world descended on Eldoret.

By the time we met Kimani, he was in third grade, perhaps the most famous elementary school student in all of Africa. His English was by no means perfect, but he knew enough to tell us the basics about himself. What I remember most was his shining spirit. Here was a man who’d endured incredible hardship and yet the joy never left his face. He was thrilled to have something most Americans take for granted—a free education. He wasn’t reading the Bible cover to cover (he was only in third grade, after all), but he was full of thanks to be progressing toward his goal.

“There are those who don’t like to work,” he said. “But look at me! I do the hard work.”

Just two years after I met Kimani, rioting broke out in Kenya following a disputed election. Kimani’s shantytown was devastated and he was forced to relocate to a refugee camp. He stayed in school, walking with a cane two and a half miles each way to attend class. Only when he became ill with cancer the following year did he drop out. News reports of his death said that words from Scripture were among the last sounds Kimani heard.

I turned from my BlackBerry to my computer to blog about Kimani for ABC News. “Kimani Nganga Maruge was one of the most charming, most determined men I’ve ever met,” I wrote. That only began to capture his impact on me. Meeting Kimani changed my perspective on life.

These days, whenever I find myself complaining about the stresses of work or parenting, I think of Kimani and suddenly I feel tremendously grateful for what I have and pretty sheepish about my grousing. I think of him sitting in his hut, poring determinedly and delightedly over his Bible, always seeking to know more. He was the world’s oldest student. And one of my most inspiring teachers.


Decisisons means to make a difference

When you decide to do a decision that included always a change. Nothing is like before. To make a decision can have different reasons. But mostly is a decision based on something new, on a change.

Sometimes you have no time to make a decision and it has to be done very fast and it gives decision this use a long time. But both has the same result, it will follow a change. The future can not exist without the past and the presents. Decisions are based mostly on the past and will change the present and the present will change the future. Decisions are always a personal movement in a life of a person.

It gives good and it gives bad decisions. Bad decisions make nobody happy, and there is a time limit. Bad decisions are never build for the future and will never live long. The good ones, the good decisions will live forever and will bring you happiness and success for your soul. A rested soul is always a good soul. A bad soul is always on the run. Never happy, never succeeded, angry and will never find peace.  

Every day you will stand in front of new decisions. Every day is a new day and a day to take a chance for a change in your life.  Today is the day, not tomorrow not next week, today is the day to make a difference.

Convention on the Rights of the Child


Convention on the Right of the Child

UNICEF’s mission is to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. UNICEF is guided in doing this by the provisions and principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Built on varied legal systems and cultural traditions, the Convention is a universally agreed set of non-negotiable standards and obligations. These basic standards—also called human rights—set minimum entitlements and freedoms that should be respected by governments. They are founded on respect for the dignity and worth of each individual, regardless of race, colour, gender, language, religion, opinions, origins, wealth, birth status or ability and therefore apply to every human being everywhere. With these rights comes the obligation on both governments and individuals not to infringe on the parallel rights of others. These standards are both interdependent and indivisible; we cannot ensure some rights withoutor at the expense ofother rights.

A legally binding instrument

The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate the full range of human rightscivil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. In 1989, world leaders decided that children needed a special convention just for them because people under 18 years old often need special care and protection that adults do not. The leaders also wanted to make sure that the world recognized that children have human rights too.

The Convention sets out these rights in 54 articles and two Optional Protocols. It spells out the basic human rights that children everywhere have: the right to survival; to develop to the fullest; to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation; and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life. The four core principles of the Convention are non-discrimination; devotion to the best interests of the child; the right to life, survival and development; and respect for the views of the child. Every right spelled out in the Convention is inherent to the human dignity and harmonious development of every child. The Convention protects children's rights by setting standards in health care; education; and legal, civil and social services.

By agreeing to undertake the obligations of the Convention (by ratifying or acceding to it), national governments have committed themselves to protecting and ensuring children's rights and they have agreed to hold themselves accountable for this commitment before the international community. States parties to the Convention are obliged to develop and undertake all actions and policies in the light of the best interests of the child.

(published by UNICEF)

The Peace Sign turns 50 years old


The Peace Sign turns 50 years old

Tens of thousands of people converged today on the border between Colombia and Venezuela for a free concert called Peace Without Borders, held as a call for peace after the region’s worst diplomatic crisis in decades. The concert featured some of the biggest names in Latin American music, and was organized by Colombian rock star Juanes, who said he wanted the event to ease tensions and promote good relations. It was intended to send a message to the leaders of the two countries to give peace a chance.

"The place we chose is something symbolic. It does not mean that this is intended to promote peace between Colombia and Venezuela only. The border means the border of all countries," explained Juanes. "It would have been much more practical and simple to do it in a city, but the border is a symbol of peace between all countries. And this message is for everyone, all the countries in Latin America and the U.S. as well."



The artists and many of the attendees dressed in white in a show of cross-national solidarity. The concert took place on the Simon Bolivar bridge linking Cucuta, Colombia, and San Antonio del Tachira, Venezuela, surrounded by white flags. Children’s choruses from both countries started the concert, with each artist performing three songs and then joining together for several songs in the finale.



"It’s not that a song is going to change people. But music becomes an excuse to send a message, that we’re all here together building peace, that we are here as citizens and this is what we want, and we have to be heard. I think the governments have to understand and listen. We don’t want to get involved in conflicts between people," said Juanes.



"Peace is the most important thing we have and we have to fight for it."

It is inspiring how quickly the symbol created for nuclear disarmament has spread around the world as the "peace symbol", becoming one of the most recognized symbols on earth. It seems to show a huge demand for expressions of peace, especially after the World Wars. People everywhere identify with the concept of peace, and feel a need to express that concept universally. There has never been that desire to have a symbol for war, which seems to reflect people's basic preference for peace.The "peace symbol" was designed on February 21, 1958 by Gerald Holtom in England. The symbol is the composite semaphore signal of flags for the letters "N" and "D" standing for Nuclear Disarmament ("N" is two flags held down at a 45 degree angle, and "D" is one flag up and one flag down). The symbol was introduced at the Aldermaston March, the first action of the newly formed Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). The "Disarmament Symbol" made its public debut on April 4, 1958, in front of 5,000 people gathered in London to show support for the Ban the Bomb movement.

They came to demonstrate against Britain's first hydrogen bomb tests. The Cold War was in full swing and Britain had just carried out its first hydrogen bomb test at Christmas Island in the Pacific. They assembled at Trafalgar Square, and then thousands walked to the town of Aldermaston, site of an atomic weapons research plant being built.

It was a very socially mixed, musical affair. Musicians kept up the marchers' spirits by playing their instruments, a key role in this historic event. Over the next four days, the marchers braved rain and snow to march over 50 miles. By the time they reached Aldermaston, they had grown to a procession of marchers a mile long.

Gerald Holtom was a professional artist and graduate of the Royal College of Arts in London. He was one of many intellectuals in Britain during the 1950's who were deeply disturbed by witnessing the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and then watching in disbelief as their own government, despite being in a time of post-war material hardship, raced to join the nuclear club.



The peace symbol was first drawn on home-made banners and ceramic badges. Although the symbol was originally designed only as a sign for nuclear disarmament, it quickly spread around the world and within ten years had become the international symbol of peace. It has deliberately never been copyrighted. Throughout the years it has taken on many different meanings, including freedom and unity.



Millions of people around the world, regardless of race or religious beliefs, have looked to the peace sign to unite them. It has become an enduring cultural icon. It is probably the most commonly used non-religious symbol of hope in the world, instantly recognized anywhere as the universal sign for peace. Quite an accomplishment for an image which, instead of being based on some famous existing object, was created from scratch to represent a common idea.



Unfortunately, after 50 years we live in a world no closer to nuclear disarmament than it was in 1958. In fact, it seems we are farther away than ever before. Although the world is currently filled with wars, the peace symbol is a reminder of how much people long for peace.

I have dreams but I am not a dreamer


I have dreams but I am not a dreamer

You wake up and you have a great idea...You sit together with friends and have great ideas....You see the news and you know you have to do something... To begin to do something for peace always starts through an emotional and personal experience.  To work for peace is not based on your intelligence or your skin, race, religion or mentality.  You can simply begin to work for peace in your normal life or in your free time after work. Then there are those who dream big and are able to give 24 hours of their lives working toward their dream of achieving peace.  We need people that do big things and we need people that are doing little things. Both can't live or achieve these goals without the other.  

When you start to work for peace, a feeling of euphoria comes over you... a feeling of "wow"  I am really doing something good here.  There is a feeling of accomplishment... But not everyone is as excited about this accomplishment as you.. There will always be the person who says it cannot be done or that what you are doing is crazy. Trying to make a difference is never easy.  Change takes time, work and patience.



Please read the other two blogs of mine;

1. Working for peace - you have to walk through three phases

2. Non-Violence is nothing for cowards.

    

So who are these people with the big dreams and how did they start?  Everything begins with a dream.  This dream turns into a vision.  A vision that can be seen clearly.  When this vision is put down on paper and a plan is devised it becomes a mission with a purpose.  A purpose to fulfill that dream.  It takes a team to accomplish big dreams. Men and women who share your dreams and visions and can understand the purpose of this mission.  Together anything can be accomplished one step at a time.



I have dreams but I am not a dreamer... dedicating your life to peace is not easy.  I have never met in my life so many talkers since I began my work for peace. In the beginning everyone has passion and are filled with emotion but then reality sets in and people fade away. When you ask people to help you and be on your team ,be very careful. Make these decisions with a sharp mind and as a Christian I can only tell you , always be in dialog with God.  Hopefully you will run into people full of passion like you willing to work through the good and the bad times. These people have your back and you can share everything with them.  Then there are those that pretend they are interested in your dreams but in reality they have different aims, like fame, money...

These people are the foundation of stress.  Friend today , tomorrow enemy. I can only repeat be careful what you share with these people.  Email address, contacts and connections. Later they can use these things against you.  The devil does not want to see you succeed,  Kick the devil out of your life by always staying in prayer and dialogue with God.

United Nations Song Story


UNITED NATIONS SONG STORY

 

"New York is the pulse of the free world and the United Nations is the keeper of that freedom.   

 

I was honored and delighted then to be selected as the first German artist to perform a peace concert for the United Nations. It was here that I first performed a song I wrote called"The United Nations Song".  It was such a success that I was invited to sing the song at several other huge United Nations events and at the Ringing of the Peace Bell Ceremony.

 

While in New York attending a meeting of the United Nations, I was invited by the Former Undersecretary General for a personal tour of the United Nations building and it's museum.  The museum was very enlightening!  It contains cultural artifacts from each member of the United Nations.  It is so amazing to walk through the United Nations and realize that here people from all over the world unite for one goal, peace.  While touring the museum, I came across a very unusual gift someone had donated to the United Nations.  It was a rifle and guitar combined.  The guitar neck was the rifle barrel.

   

As a musician I found this absolutely fascinating, it touched my heart..."Let's change guns into guitars".  I had tears in my eyes realizing that music really is a universal language that is so strong it can affect even the political arena.  The vision of

this guitar/rifle and the ability to change guns into guitars burned into my heart.  I remembered the song "We Are The World". 

This song touched the whole world and helped so many children. This is when I realized that the world is ready for a new songand that my "United Nations Song" is ready for the world".

Sometimes Thoughts


Sometimes Thoughts 

Sometimes I feel so strong and sometimes the problems just feel too big.  

 

Sometimes I think I can walk like John Wayne and sometimes I fall over every stone.  

 

Sometimes I can reach the highest mountain and in the next moment I fall deeper than the depth of any ocean.  

 

Sometimes I feel I have reached the goal and than I feel I have lost the way.  

 

Sometimes I feel so powerful and sometimes I feel so empty.  

 

Sometimes I feel that everybody loves me and sometimes I feel so alone.  

 

Sometimes I feel my whole life is worthless.  


 

Everyone on this earth, whether rich or poor, little or tall, black, red or white, or Christian, Jewish or Muslim – everyone on this earth knows these feelings.

Everyone experiences these “SOMETIMES” feelings or they will at some time. “Sometimes” is past, present and future at some time for everyone.

The problem with all these “Sometimes Stories” is when you are alone and there is no one to talk with. Or perhaps you feel too ashamed to talk about your problems.  

The answer to all these “Sometimes” is that we need a friend, a brother, and a sister that we can talk and share with. We have to learn, that to share a problem and to share sadness or happiness is always better and makes life much easier, enriches our soul and brings us more success.

 

Together we are strong and whether we are kneeling or walking to the top of a mountain, together we can make a difference in our lives, relationships, neighborhoods, community and family. Every day really is a new day to make a difference. The children in our world need our help and not just to keep talking about it or putting it off until tomorrow. Today is the day, not tomorrow and not next week; today is the day to make a difference. Children in our world have no time for delays; children need a future and hope. We, yes, that’s you and I, are responsible for this. We don’t need children soldiers and we don’t need children who work in companies as child labor. We need children to go to kindergarten, to go to school and get the best on education that they can get. Children are our future, yours and mine. Always know that the answer to war is Non Violence and that we are all winners!