Have you ever wondered about a 12-year old child working at a store during school hours, when they should be learning? If we put ourselves into the shoes of such children who face child labour, it would seem very challenging and horrendous. Child labour exists, and this is a fact, but we should be focusing…
Looking past personal prejudices, similar to sexism and homophobia, racism is systematic. It exists within societal institutions like the government, the education system, the health care system, the criminal justice system, and the work force. This results in underrepresentation of people of colour in positions of power and mistreatment of people of colour across institutions…
Abdul Halim al-Attar, Syrian refugee and now the owner of 3 businesses, didn’t have a great start. A photograph of him selling pens on the street in Syria whilst carrying his sleeping daughter went viral throughout the world, sparking sympathy and grief. I remember seeing the picture online a few months ago in August, and…
How do you feel when you see a homeless person? Speaking from personal experience, I have to admit that I feel uncomfortable. However, I know that I shouldn’t feel that way. It’s something that I’m continually working to overcome. The first step is identifying how I honestly feel, so that I can figure out what…
Soweto, the name of the South West Township that borders Johannesburg, the city where I was born. Merely thirty kilometers from where I was born, a drastically different country seemingly resides. It’s paradoxical the drastic wealth disparity between the luxurious golf and country estates to the township that many call home. A tour took us past…
“My biggest passion is helping people. When I was little, I went to India and saw a bunch of the poverty and hurt there. There were people living inside sewers who relied on selling the metal they found for their next meal. Living here, we are so privileged and we don’t see what’s right outside…
“Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice.”-Nelson Mandela Going to the other side of the world to volunteer? Why do that when you can volunteer in your local community? After attending WeDay Alberta 2013, my interest in international volunteer trips was once again stirred up. I was part…
Collecting food bank items instead of candy A couple weeks ago, I wrote this post about alternative ways for teenagers to spend Halloween. So what did I end up doing on Halloween? Nothing even close to what I included in that blog post. Except maybe the concept of spreading happiness. Why? I scared hunger. I…
If you haven’t heard of We Day before, then you are missing out on some fun. We Day is an education movement for youth around the world to make a difference: lead global change. We Day is run by Free the Children and Me to We as part of We Act, which is a forum…
Hopefully by now you are in touch with the goals of the World Partnership Walk (WPW) through the articles that Malika and Sarena have both written. So on the Sunday morning that is June 9th, I volunteered there along with Malika (we saw Sarena later on) and off the day began! Without further ado, please enjoy this vertical wall…
Man, we have lots of forces battling against Poverty right now. Remember the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness that I mentioned in both the Security or Poverty and Hunger Dinner articles? Did you read Sheliza’s poem on homelessness? What about Lily’s take on Seniors in Poverty? Okay, I know that’s a bit much of a…
Did you know that 215 million children’s intelligence is being wasted because they are forced into child labour instead of attending school? Or did you know that 1 in every 3 children in developing countries are starving and 1 BILLION children are deprived of daily necessities like: food, water, education, and health care! Then take a…
Have you ever thought of those people in developing countries who are barely surviving in poverty? Have you ever thought that it would be possible to survive on $4.00 a week, without clean water, or shelter over your head, while starving? I don’t think so because here in Canada we are fortunate to have comfort…
Note: read my article on what the hunger dinner is before reading this one. 🙂 The Hunger Dinner was very inspirational, I would say. No, that sounds a bit too generalized. We’ve finished promoting this event and the fruits have blossomed! How do I start? F0od perhaps? Talk about differences there. Sharing is caring, though. Alice was…
Hi everyone. In my spare time, I decided to write a poem about the thoughts that run through my head during these cold winter days! Essentially, all I can think about are the homeless people that wander around our city looking for a warm and cozy place to live… something we take for granted. Today,…