Sunny Side Up

John Mayer concert: Check
Lots of 'catch up' sleep: Check
Weekend off: Check
Thank You Notes: Check
Uploaded Pictures: Check
Media Releases & Interviews: Check
Formal Report to GCAP & UN-Millennium Campaign: Check
Tabulated Figures: Check
Collect Event Data: Check

What an incredibly crazy 10 days it has been, Stand Up is just about done. And the immensity of what we just did is slowly starting to sink in. Never in my wildest dreams did i imagine it would turn out the way it did.

I remember talking to Jaser (my good friend and colleague) days before 'Stand Up', when things were as hectic as ever and telling him that i hoped we would have atleast 5 thousand people a part of this amazing initiative. Look what happened...

So what exactly happened?
20 THOUSAND people 'stood up' against poverty in the Emirates alone. An incredible figure, by any stretch of your imagination, especially when you think about how tiny this country is. (second only to Syria in the region in terms of participation)

But here is the big number, the final number, the global number:

23, 542, 614

The largest single coordinated movement of people in the history of the Guiness World Record.

That is how many of us there were! In just twenty four hours a breathtaking 23 and half million people in more than 100 countries around the world set a new Guinness World Record for the largest number of people to "STAND UP AGAINST POVERTY".

And if that doesnt qualify as making a very 'global sttement' nothing will. We broke a record, sure. We did a great job of it, definitely. But that wasn't what we were trying to achieve (ofcorse it was a part of it but you see where im going with this...)

What impact did we have...time will soon tell. But our message was extremely clear: ' The World is watching and growing impatient'

Remember though that the fight against poverty is not a sprint but a marathon. And as incredible as 'Stand Up' was, it will take more of the same to see our demands achieved on a global scale. I guess it is a really good sign that we, as a movement, are only growing in numbers and not loosing any momentum.

Together we will put those people & governments, with the capacity to do so, in a position that they cannot dismiss and will have to take action, so that the world will come to a point where we will no longer be 'Waiting, Waiting on the World to Change'

--

AK,

National Coordinator

Lives encapsulated in a song

"These kids trapped in a struggle and
No where to head at night,
Head full of trouble is all that their getting,
and nobody knows the suffering they go through,
and you wouldn't believe them if they told you"

- Joel Turner, These kids.

Sometimes you come across songs or artists that really reach out to you. Sometimes in the form of love songs, break up songs, happy songs or maybe even sad songs. I have songs I listen to constantly because they encapture, in their soulful lyrics; my mood, my thoughts and my emotions. I've got a wide variety of music genres that I listen to, so while I was going through my I-tunes I came across a song I had heard so many times, but never paid enough attention to. It's words were a blur and it never really "reached out to me". However, I decided that today I would 'listen' to the song rather than just 'hear'it.

Suprise; it didn't reach out to me. No sir. It didn't reach out to me, rather, it grabbed me, enthralled me and held me stunned. This song, by Joel Turner captures the lives of millions of children around the world. It provides a real picture of the millions of lost souls roaming the street at night, resorting to crime, death, drugs, violence in a bid to survive. Trapped in a struggle, not knowing if they will live to see light the next day, not knowing where their next meal comes from. They are alone, cold, broken emotionally, physically and perhaps even spiritually. And though the song doesn't nessecairly speak of the children in Africa or Asia, it provides an outlook that we rarely find in commercial hits, and songs making it to the number one place on the billboard charts.

I thought maybe you'd like to know that sometimes paying attention and listening to ONE voice, listening- not hearing- their words could really suprise you, shock you and maybe even stun you. Sometimes it's a good suprise and other times it's an eye opener. In my case, I'm glad I chose to listen, it came to me as a reminder of why I chose to be part of MakePovertyHistory. For me, it was an eye opener, a reminder that we still have a long way to go, but we'll make it.

I'll leave you with a question and this question is adressed to world leaders and to you, the readers;

Will you choose to listen too and do something, or will you just let the words roll right off you and ignore the voices that sound?

Think about it. You may actually find yourself craving the wake up call.

---------

Nadia Rashed;
Campaign Reporter

'Stand Up' World Wide Pictures

20,003 Stand Up in the UAE

20, 003

That, folks, is how many people stood up at the 21 STAND UP events hosted on the 15- 16th of October in the United Arab Emirates. You will not believe how proud that number makes me and the rest of the team. To everyone who made this happen for us, to everyone who stood up, to everyone who wants changes to happen and happen now, I have a feeling this will really be an eye opener for those in a position to make that change happen. That number encapsulates the attitude, the feeling and emotions of so many people that even if the world leaders wanted to ignore it, they couldn’t. And for that, pat yourselves on the back. SLOWLY, but surely we can and must erradicate poverty in our lifetimes.
--

Nadia Rashed

Campaign Reporter

LIVE8 One Year On

‘In 2005 we made great strides in the fight against poverty and I’m proud of every one that joined the campaigns around the world to make poverty history. Because you came together and acted as one, world leaders made promises that have the potential to help millions escape the prison of poverty. That is a great achievement. But now we face the difficult task of making our governments turn their promises into the actions that will save millions of lives.
We can be the great generation that makes poverty history. But to make poverty history we must now make promises happen one by one. Don’t give up now - let your politicians know you are watching every step they take.’

-Nelson Mandela

‘Live 8 was, and remains a brilliant moment but what is more important is the brilliant movement of which it was a part. This gives the poorest of the poor real political muscle for the first time.It is this movement of church people and trade unionists, soccer moms and student activists, that will carry the spirit of Live 8 on. It is this movement, not rock stars, that will make it untenable in the future to break promises to the most vulnerable people on this planet.That was always why we put on the concerts.’

-Bono

Remind the G8 about the promises they made to us. Do this here.
–

Anish Kattukaran

National Coordinator

Welcome to MPH

Welcome to the blog. First and foremost I’d like to thank everyone who is taking a look at this blog right now; because you’re one of those people that care enough to see changes made to our world; because you are one of those people that believes that the world doesnt need just charity but that it needs justice. The world needs more people like you.
The world today has become very unpredictable. But nothing we can’t get through or at least try to get through. Everyday somewhere in the world a child might be getting an education, having a meal to eat, clean water to drink and all of this because YOU chose to ‘Stand Up’ and make poverty history. Kudos to you!

You might be staring at this reading the ramble of words on the screen wondering what the point of this blog is. MakePovertyHistory, the blog, will try to give you an insight into the opinions and thoughts that result in the driving force behind the guys and gals that make up this team.

Entries on this blog would cover personnal experiences, links to related articles, videos that we found interesting, news articles we think you should read and alot of other stuff. Some entries might be about success stories we’ve heard about, read about or been a part off (and we all know how sometimes we just need a little boost to show us that the work we are doing is not going to waste) Some might even be about controversial matters (you know how everyone has an opinion on those!), some might be about what they did to help, some may tell you about what more you could do and some might even be written by you. (So if you have something that you think would be interesting to read, in context, then send it across. We would love to hear from you)

However it is important to note that the material and content from this blog does not necessarily represent the views of Make Poverty History-Emirates, its member organizations and/or GCAP but rather are the personnal stories of a team we hope you will be a part of. The campaign and its member organizations can not be held responsible for the content that appears on this page.
I’m absolutely ecstatic to have you here with us because from now you are ‘US’. You are the driving force behind MakePovertyHistory and together we could become the generation that goes down in history as the ones that eradicated poverty.

I hope you enjoy the blog and all the writers. Welcome to the campaign.
Regards,
–

Nadia Rashed

Campaign Reporter