Help the Oxfam Australia charity to demand world leaders keep to their word and provide decent health care for the world’s poorest people by knitting a patch for their giant baby blanket.

In the some of the world’s poorer countries, many mums don’t survive the birth their babies. In less than a year, half a million mums will die in poorly equipped hospitals because they can’t afford to pay health care fees. Numerous promises to end this travesty have falling well short in providing enough aid to deliver the medical services required to care for the sick.

Oxfam Australia is calling for knitters across the globe to help send a visual petition to world leaders in September 2008, to show that people won’t sit silently while this injustice continues. Oxfam are hoping for 250,000 ‘patches for poverty’ - one for every mum who should have survived pregnancy in the last six months.

> > click here to make a donation to Oxfam Australia

> > click here to find out more about the work of Oxfam Australia

As part of Oxfam Australia’s Mid Year Appeal, they are highlighting the plight of the stone quarry workers in West India, who are one of the most disadvantaged groups in the world today.

The workers are made up of mostly women who have to work for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, in unbearable heat. Without portable water to drink, food to eat or a proper house to live in, migrant labourers working at the stone quarries have been severely let down. Not only are they paid as little as $1 a day, they are also exposed to serious amounts of dust concentration. This causes large amounts of respiratory problems and lung impairments for the workers who smash rocks all day in these appalling conditions. Radiological testing has shown that a massive 32.5 percent of all quarry workers are suffering from some form of possibly fatal respiratory problem

Lakshimbai Arjun Jadhav was only 12 years old when she started working in the quarry. She became married at 14 and now has 4 children of her own. Her husband can no longer provide for his family after being blinded by flying stone chips in the quarry. Lakshimbai now has to be a mother, a carer, AND a worker all in one day, just to help her family survive -

“I have worked in the mines every day, even when I was pregnant and on the day I went into labour. If I don’t go to work then I cannot feed my children, so I keep on breaking stones.”

Thanks to the sterling work of Oxfam Australia, the downtrodden quarry workers now have access to clean electricity, insurance, and most importantly clean drinking water This type of change does not happen overnight, but with your help it is possible to improve the lives of even the most disadvantaged people. These quarry workers want their children to have a better life, and with your support we can help make that dream become reality.

> > click here to donate to Oxfam Australia’s mid year appeal

Cyclone Nargis has claimed up to 22,000 lives in Burma, with the number of dead possibly rising to 50,000 according to reports from Oxfam.

The cyclone swept the country with winds as high as 160mph, pulling down trees and phone cables, whilst destroying most buildings in its path.

Burma has declared five regions, including the main city Rangoon, home to most of its expatriate aid workers, to be disaster areas. Towns close to Rangoon have almost no houses remaining, with people living in the open without clean water, power or food. Along with extensive damage to the mainland, over 20,000 homes have been destroyed on the island of Haing-gyi, with up to 90,000 people made homeless.

 

The worst hit areas are in the Irrawaddy Delta region, which also happens to be one of Burma’s poorest. Alongside the massive death toll comes the huge amount of damage to food supplies and crops. Rice prices across the globe have been increasing over the last 12 months, causing severe strain on poorer nations. With millions of gallons of salt water flooding the rice paddies, Burma’s food economy and population may have to become importers of rice, something they cannot afford.

Immediate need for shelter, food and water is vital. In the cyclone-hit areas, communications are down and roads have been washed away, making it difficult to reach those who most need help. Oxfam is part of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), who are co-coordinating an emergency appeal to fund work across Burma in providing cash support and technical expertise. All donations will support the major effort that is urgently needed to meet the needs of this devastated country.

> > click here to buy an Oxfam charity gift

Oxfam have teamed up with Marks & Spencer in an innovative clothing exchange scheme. M&S have promised to offer a £5 voucher off your next purchase of £35 or more when you donate your unwanted M&S clothing to Oxfam.

All you have to do is show the M&S label in the store on the clothing you are donating, to receive your free money off voucher. This is part of the Marks and Spencer £200million ‘Plan A’ investment, which is a 5 year environmental scheme to help combat climate change, reduce waste and promote a healthier planet. In the last year M&S have cut their CO2 emissions by 55,000 tonnes and reduced customer carrier bag usage. Having increased their sale of organic food by 48%, they have also removed artificial colouring and flavouring from 99% of all M&S food stocked around the country. They also lead the market in lowering stocking densities for chicken, receiving the RSPCA Award for Animal Welfare. Marks & Spencer are also working alongside the World Wildlife Fund on environmental projects, with a particular focus on agriculture and marine life issues.

In the UK alone we currently throw away over 1 million tonnes of clothing every year, with the majority of the items discarded still of the quality to re sell or recycle. With Oxfam and M&S joining forces on this excellent clothing exchange scheme, hopefully more clothing will be donated to help those less fortunate than ourselves.

> > click here to make a donation to Oxfam

> > click here to find out more about the M&S ‘Plan A’

The President of World Bank is calling for £250million in extra aid to help the fight against poverty in poorer countries.

The World Food Programme is now 7 years off its intended target due to the rise in global food prices, with wheat alone rising 120% in the last 12 months. This rise has seen the price of a loaf of bread double, with the cost of rice up 75% in the last 2 months.

World Bank claim the West’s fixation with oil costs has seen a slip in the management of food prices, which is being felt heavily in third world countries. The US and EU’s encouragement to create bio fuel, by using crops to provide an alternative to oil, has diverted agricultural land away from the production of food.

In countries such as Bangladesh, half a day’s wages is spent on a 2kg bag of rice, whilst a quarter of all income is spent on bread alone. This is leaving only a quarter of a family’s income for shelter, clothing and education. Rioting recently broke out in India due to the rise in the cost of basic food stocks, with the Indian government now imposing export bans on resources to try and bring prices down. Liz Stuart from Oxfam said:
 
‘We must stop adding fuel to fire by increasing crop production for bio fuels. These have dubious environmental benefits, and by driving prices up, we are crippling the lives of the poor.’

 

> > click here to make a donation for action against hunger

> > click here to help World Vision sponsor a child in Africa