Happy Black History Month!

_Wong.

The Art of Getting Lost.

I loose myself in this entire experience.
I love Imogen Heap, always have since 2007.

 Imogen Heap's, "Neglected Space"

_WONG.

The TOMS Movement

In a recent article written by

 OKA contributor Thiat Makinwa, from the http://www.okayafrica.com/ website, the issues taken with TOMS were exposed. Though I myself am a TOMS supporter the point Makinwa was trying to make was very forward, to say the least, here's a clip from the article below;

"One of the areas directly affected by TOMS’ injection of free goods into a respective community is the local shoe industry. Contrary to what TOMS might have you believe, local shoe makers do in fact exist in many of these areas. However, instead of assisting the local industry by providing funding or other forms of sustainable business growth and development, TOMS bypasses these local businesses and strips these communities of their agency " (Makinwa, Thiat. The Trouble With Toms. Images taken from http://www.okayafrica.com/)

    Now, TOMS Bogo model, (Buy One Give One) is clearly something they have committed too and though Makinwa makes the point in other parts of the article that consumers are under the impression they are ending poverty, this isn't a mind set that TOMS is now responsible for. If the TOMS company makes it their mission to give a pair of shoes to those in need then their mission has transparently been accomplished. We can not blame them for the misconception that our consumers are under, besides the fact that it would be silly for us, the common people, to believe that buying a pair of shoes is going to end world poverty, because it isn't. I must say that when I did get my gift of pair of TOMS I knew the money spent on them was at least making more of a difference then most regular purchases made. However, if TOMS is doing exactly what they said they were, then can we really point fingers?

_Wong.

World Visions

Bangladesh: Sumaya’s new life

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By Lipy Mary Rodrigues


Sumaya Aktar, 11, cannot recall her parents’ faces anymore. She lost them at an early stage in her life, one after another. Her father Mohamad, a driver, died in a road accident when she was a baby. At 5, Sumaya lost her mother, Selina. When Sumaya became an orphan, she became homeless. Nobody wanted to take the responsibility for her. Sumaya’s life became a floating ship without any destination.

The little girl was sent to a relative’s house to work as a maid servant. She does not remember that time in her life as happy. A short time later, one of her uncles learned about the street children drop-in-centre that is run by World Vision Bangladesh. He left Sumaya there.


Sumaya became a member of the Street Children Drop-in-Centre in Dhaka in 2006. Now she is part of a large family atmosphere led by a woman she refers to as her mother. At the centre, she lives with 12 younger girls whom she calls sisters.


After coming to the centre, Sumaya got the chance to go to school. Now in Grade 6, Sumaya has become a leader.


“Sumaya is senior to all daughters in my family. She is very responsible towards her own duties as well as responsible to the other sisters,” says Merina Ma, who runs the centre.


Sumaya is a star student, whom Merina describes as “brilliant.” She sings and she paints.


“My Sumaya is very gentle and benevolent, she never misbehaves with others. She is a little hero in my sweet family,” says Merina. “I do believe that she will be an established woman in future.”


“It is true that I cannot remember my real parents anymore,” says Sumaya. “My father died when I was only six months old and mother expired at my age of five. Sometimes I feel sad for that.”


But she also counts her blessings. “I am lucky enough that I have my Merina Ma here,” she says. “I have got my family back through World Vision. I know there are still children like me who have neither parents at home, living on the streets like a refugee.”


Her dream is to be highly educated and to work for the orphan street children who have lost their parents and home forever.


Sumaya, a light of hope, a little hero, has started her journey to remove all the darkness from her place on earth.


Photo by Lipy Mary Rodrigues.
©2011 World Vision Bangladesh
http://www.wvi.org/wvi/wviweb.nsf/updates/26CC22FD10D09635882578C4004EE186?opendocument

_Wong.