c. 2004 Religion News Service
(Dale Hanson Bourke is the author of “The Skeptics Guide to the Global AIDS Crisis.”)
(UNDATED) On the same day CNN/Money ran an online report detailing some of the most “outrageous” holiday toys available for spoiled children, the United Nations issued its report on how most of the world’s children really live.
Issued on Thursday (Dec. 9), “The State of the World’s Children,” UNICEF’s annual analysis of the relative health of children worldwide, shows that more than half of the children in the world are not dreaming of receiving special toys, but are instead hoping for enough food, shelter or water to make it through another day.
The contrast between the haves of the world and the have-nots could not be more wrenching. While American parents are paging through the FAO Schwartz Ultimate Toy Catalog, millions of mothers and fathers are watching helplessly while their children barely cling to life.
According to the report, more than 1 billion children worldwide are subject to extreme deprivation, their lives literally hanging in the balance daily.
The heartbreaking summary shows that three factors are primarily responsible for the terrible state of most children: HIV/AIDS, war and poverty.
“When half the world’s children are growing up hungry and unhealthy, when schools have become targets and whole villages are being emptied by AIDS, we’ve failed to deliver on the promises of childhood,” said Carol Bellamy, UNICEF executive director.
While some children are receiving $30,000 playhouses or $15,000 toy Mercedes, 400 million others do not have access to safe water. And while most American children are snuggling into their beds at night, 640 million children have no shelter at all.
Nearly 15 million children worldwide are now orphans because of the AIDS crisis that continues unabated. Many of them live in child-headed households, with young brothers or sisters caring for infants and toddlers. The report shows that the effects of AIDS continue to devastate children at a rate that will continue to grow for at least the next decade.
Of the 3.6 million people killed by war since 1990, half have been children. And a frightening worldwide trend is the aggressive recruitment and kidnapping of children to become soldiers.
Poverty brought on by war, AIDS, and poor governance endangers children’s health, robs them of education and tends to contribute to longer-term patterns that endanger the future of nations.
It’s all very depressing news at a time when most people would rather think happy thoughts. But the contrast between what our children are experiencing during this time of year and the meager existence of a child in another part of the world is too much to ignore.
Some of the solutions to the problems are complex. But most could be helped by a commitment of those who have much to give to those who have so little.
As we go through this gift-giving season it’s time to take a moment to think about what might happen if we bought a little less this year and gave a little more to charities helping the needy children of the world.
Are we really doing the best for our children by increasing the gap between them and the children with whom they will share the world? Or are we contributing to a moral deficit that will leave the world less stable and more polarized?
The cynics would say that charitable giving doesn’t make much of a difference anyway. But that simply isn’t true. As Americans we sometimes feel that way because we don’t take the time to really understand where our money goes. We spend more time paging through toy catalogs or finding the right video games than making informed decisions about our charitable giving.
As the gap between our children and the children of the world increases, we do our children no favors by buying them over-the-top toys and then dropping a few dollars into a red bucket as we leave the store. We owe it to our children and all the children of the world to invest in their future.
KRE END BOURKE
