I admit I have never been a fan of Redgrave Skins. Popular, yes and when I 1st came to Second Life no matter who you asked about skins you got directed to Redgraves. I went and tried demos, watched new releases and tried demos but to me they always looked too waxy, like a bit too much bake. I’m not a skin maker , I do not have a clue where to even start and I admire Second Life skin designers.

So today was my 1st chance to get to the Vanity Skin Fair and the skins are all wonderful ! My favs are still my favs LF Chai, Cupcake, Free Speerit, Dutch Touch , and my fav daily skin (FFX3) Bronze – Ruby fill my inventory. And today I purchased my very 1st Redgrave skin ! Calla Tan for the Care International fundraiser. Shes magnificant !

This photo is completely un retouched no PS past resizing. Look at this face!  The lips are perfect and the make up is too. She shines and I love the eyes, they came with. As a matter of fact the purchase came with alot of nice extras.

Also no PS, I love the shading . The breasts and belly are beautiful, and the brows well I think of all the brows on the grid to date Dutch Touch had it nailed but these are extremely nice !  :) I’m so so pleased with my new Redgrave skin!

GeEs Designs was a fabulous discovery for me at the Skin/Shape Expo a month ago. I was so overwhelmed with RL and SL stuff I didn’t even get a chance to blog them, and the photos sat on Flickr for weeks. Click here to see photos of Tara Reloaded.  Vanity Universe Skin Fair 2007 features GeEs Design’s Tara America, Tara Australia, and Tara India.

Vanity Universe Skin Fair opens November 7th, 2009 at 12 pm SLT, and ends November 22, 2007 at 12AM SLT.  5 days of giving towards an important cause!

If you are familiar with the Tara line you will love these.  Tons more makeup in lovely shades, and 3 lovely skin tones. All 3 have beautifully done bodies.  Shading and highlighting are expertly done.  I didn’t find any problems with seam work, and all of them presented a unique lovely face, and overall body.

Tara- America

Tara – America comes in a variety of makeups all named after various states in the Union.  Darker in tone then the Italy, Australia, it’s a deep tan with rich full lips.  With purchase is include variations of the skins with gloss on the lips, and bikini wax.  Shown here are the makeups with no gloss.  GeEs Designs offers a variety of makeups in each of these lines.

As you can see the bodies feature good shading and highlighting on the backs and fronts of knees, no awkward seams, well-defined abdomens, and care taken to the busts and bottom with great effects for added sexiness.

Tara – Australia

Tara – Australia is a step lighter than the America.  Each of the makeups is runs from subtle to colorful in complementary tones.   The bodies as well stay well-defined in this tone as well as the America. Check out the definition along the spine, and the good work around the shoulder blades with the shadows and highlights!

Tara – India

Tara – India is the lights of the three and is a very lovely tone that I just happen to wear in real life, a creamy ivory.  The tone really plays well with the makeup showing off more blush, and making the eyes pop with color.  Again the body work comes through on this tone equally well.

GeEs Designs is featured at Vanity Universe Skin Fair this year.  Stop by and check out these and their other skins they have out, a lovely mime makeup Pierrot, and a Drow which I will be doing a separate blog post on.  Each of the three tones here has one makeup that is the charity selection, purchases will go to Care International, an international charity devoted fighting against global poverty.  Read more about the charity here.  Donation kiosks will be available on the sim.

Teleport to Vanity Universe Skin Fair here.

Teleport to GeEs Designs Mainstore here.

Items & Teleports:

Hair: Devol – Loose Hair – Dark Olive [Teleport to Devol]
Bikini: Solange – Blue Rosette Lingerie (bra & thong) [Teleport to Solange]
Shoes: Armidi Gisaci – Dhali Bow Platforms – Prussian Blue [Teleport to Armidi Gisaci]

]]> http://vivalafeminista.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/top-3-myths-about-women-climate-change-its-a-great-big-bad09/ Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:36:11 +0000 Evin María http://vivalafeminista.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/top-3-myths-about-women-climate-change-its-a-great-big-bad09/

Welcome to VLF’s Blog Action Day 2009 Post! I hope you’re browsing the blogosphere, checking out what web writers everywhere are talking about: climate change. From UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to Google, everyone is talking about it.

But not everyone today is talking about women and climate change. Sure, you say, women are affected just as much as men are.

Think again. Here are the top 3 myths about women & climate change.

1.) Climate change doesn’t have anything to do with gender. Hold up – have you been paying attention? Abre tus ojos, mi amor, because that’s definitely not the case. In the words of Wangari Maathai,

“When the rural environment becomes unsustainable, it’s the women whose lives are most disrupted. Men can decamp to the closest urban center to look for work, but women and children have less possibility of escape. They will be left to deal with the depleted resources; working harder to eke out food crops, or traveling farther to collect water or firewood. Often they make the degraded environment worse in their efforts to survive, until eventually they too are forced to leave, following their husbands. Most often they end up living a periphery existence in an urban slum.”

The extremely sad fact of the matter is that if you are a woman living in sub-Saharan Africa and you are totally dependent on the land for survival, you will be the victim hardest hit. As she said, a man can go to the city to try to make money – a woman’s resort in such situations is sadly often prostitution. The vulnerability of having little skills other than agriculture and little education to speak of disable women’s opportunities, and all too often leave them at the mercy of sex slavery.

And of course, women are by nature and tradition the primary caretakers of children and families. Where does that leave those of us who survive on the land? At its mercy.

Today, more than one billion people survive on less than $1.25 a day and already live on the edge of crisis. If left unchecked, climate change may push them off the edge.*

Consider Kebele Galima, a 35-year old mother of eight children from Yabello in Southern Ethiopia*. “Our lives depend on our animals and the breeding season for our livestock depends on the rain. If it rains a lot we have a good life, otherwise we suffer. We use our livestock to produce milk and butter, which we sell at the market to buy items such as soap, sugar, maize and clothes.”

When Kebele was a child, people didn’t worry so much about the rain. The livestock were happy, and they could buy what they needed. Life has changed a bit. “I remember that a single cow could support an entire family. Now the grass is no good and the animals are weak. When I was young, we only needed livestock but now we need maize because the milk production from our animals is low, and we cannot live off it, let alone have enough to sell for profit.”

Constant droughts in Ethiopia for a few dozen years have caused a water shortage, which has a severe impact on people like Kebele. Water scarcity has a direct link to livestock cultivation, especially finding food for the animals. Unfortunately, climate change projections are grim, certain to worsen Kebele’s situation and women just like her. And in many regions, such as Southern Ethiopia, women are primarily responsible for agricultural production and the family. Combine that with all the extra activities that Kebele has to do each day to support her family due to water scarcity and livestock (and human) malnutrition, and she is already too busy to maximize her efforts – she is pushed to the margins by climate change.

2.) Western women will not be affected as much as women in developing countries. Ever heard of the butterfly effect? No, not the Ashton Kutcher movie. The philosophy and concept; the idea is that a butterfly flittering its wings in Patagonia could influence the patterns of the jet stream. How? Well, that’s a complex and interconnected web of atmospheric and ecological relationships, encompassing animal behavior, migration patterns, food chains, the tides, and meteorology. But in this image, it is all connected.

It’s the same idea here, but slightly more straightforward. Imagine if you will an African woman, much like in the previous description. Climate change causes warming and therefore longer droughts. This causes her husband to go to an urban area to search for work (which all the other men are doing, so there isn’t much). The country’s economic situation, being a sub-Saharan country, is largely agriculturally-based. Said drought is wreaking havoc on the economy, subsequently fraying perhaps fragile relations between ethnic groups – local folktales blame a Hutu legend for droughts, causing increasingly violent conflict. The African woman, in fear of the violence, stays at her hut to take care of the family, though there is little firewood and the crops are practically rotten. The longer she stays, the longer she has to walk for firewood, and the less food there is (albeit rotten). After a time, she’s forced to uproot the family in search of food, and since everyone else is doing the same thing, she probably ends up in a.) a refugee camp, or b.) an urban area as a prostitute or sex slave.

Bad for her and her family and her economy and her society and continent, sure, but what about you? Well her African country is not an island, after all. The economic crisis spills over all of the continent, straining economic relations with American and European countries that have development and business contracts with African companies. For example, a Nigerian oil company loses its contract with Chevron, as Chevron falls into financial trouble. In case you don’t know, that company happens to be one of the top five companies in the world. It’s a pretty good economic indicator if a company as massive as Chevron busts. Let’s say it does. There goes the neighborhood. From there, it is not at all difficult to imagine the economic chaos that would ensue, especially after our brief little recession we’ve experienced. Say bye-bye to your tidy 401K. Say hello to night shift grocery clerk. After all, you gotta pay for your kids’ college somehow. Not to mention the fact that you sold your car for pennies on the dollar – gas is $7/ gallon, who wants your BMW? Premium is almost $9!

Your entire livelihood is about the change. Maybe you aren’t walking three miles each day in the hot sun for water, but surely your water bill is about to skyrocket. Your life will change forever – the 90’s, I’m afraid, are so over.

Let’s call that the Global Warming, no- the Global Volcanic Eruption effect. This isn’t a disaster movie concept – it’s a possible future. And I was mostly hypothesizing financial and economic problems – but there’s a lot more to it.

Impoverished countries bear the least responsibility, are the most severely impacted, and have the least capacity to cope with climatic changes.*

3.) Women can’t do anything profound, special, or important to stop climate change. Leader of the Green Belt Movement, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and international progressive environmentalist-feminist superstar Wangari Maathai has a fun littel African proverb that I like. I tell it to people who judge me for driving a used minivan (do you know how many resources it takes to produce just one brand-new hybrid?!).

Once upon a time in the African jungle is a beautiful hummingbird. She is minding her own business when one day, she notices that her jungle is going up in flames. Frightened, she flutters out, panting through the chaos. Across the river, all the animals are gathered to watch the blaze. Elephant, zebra, lion, crocodile, and cheetah are all lined up, sad but quiet. Hummingbird asks, “Why are you all just standing there?” They don’t respond, and she jets off to the river. After collecting a tiny beakful of riverwater, she drips it on the wildfire and goes back to the river. She repeats this many times. After what seems like forever, the animals start calling to her,”Hummingbird, what are you doing? There is no point in doing this. You will not put out the fire.” But Hummingbird says, “I am doing what I can.”

Not that global warming is an unstoppable forest fire, and not that nobody is doing anything about it, but it certainly does seem insurmountable. But there is much to be done – and being that we are all in this together, we all have a duty to do what we can.

Consider the situation in Ghana. Though they received complete independence first, and even with twice the per capita output of the poorest countries in West Africa, Ghana still is dependent on international financial aid. Almost a third of Ghana’s population live below $1 a day. Rural peoples are completely dependent on natural resources for survival. Women, in fact, comprise 52% of the agricultural workforce and produce 70% of the food crops, also making up 90% of the farm produce marketing workforce.

Due to such lush and abundant natural resources, Ghana has been severely exploited. In ten years (from ‘90 to ‘00), Ghana lost 16% of its forest cover to logging. Women are at risk particularly because they simply are discriminated against and lack recognition.

Meet Ama Ntowaa. She’s a 56-year-old widow who supports six children on a small cocoa farm in Western Ghana. She laid down in front of a bulldozer to stop a logging company that was intent on hauling away her trees without giving her compensation. Amazingly, they gave up, and she held on to her land and her trees, even though her area chief made a deal with the companies without consulting her. She did lose about a third of her land before she could stop them, all for the profit of the logging company and the unscrupulous chief.

Afterwards, Ama took part in CARE International’s community outreach programs, further educating her about human rights and about resource management. She continues to pursue financial compensation by the chief and the logging company.

Ama was very brave, and fortunate to have such a grasp of her human rights. Unfortunately for most women in Ghana, most women do not share such an awareness. CARE International is making a huge difference in women’s lives by educating them about their rights and their resources, further empowering them to care for themselves and their families.

There’s a lot that women can do to stop climate change, or even to stop a bulldozer. Not sure what to do next? Here is a good starting point. Once you’re ready for something more proactive, go for it.

*Courtesy of Care International’s Reclaiming Rights and Resources: Women, Poverty and the Environment (.pdf)

Click the image to see the advert

The multinational chocolate firm Cadbury has been accused of racism and perpetuating “colonial stereotypes” of African people in its latest advertising campaign.

That is the beginning of an article from The Independent, which you can read here. The main accusations levelled at the advert revolve around stereotyping, as you can see above, but the article itself is also guilty of that.

Kwame Nkrumah-Agyapong of Ghanaian Migrants Information Services said the campaign had caused outrage among the Ghanaian diaspora. “I’ve been called by loads of people about this advert. Ghanaians are very laid-back people, so for them even to voice this shows there’s a problem. People feel it’s racist and it doesn’t present an accurate picture of Ghana.”

Nii Armah Akomfrah, the chairman of the UK branch of the Ghanaian political opposition group the Convention People’s Party, has sent a letter of complaint to the Cadbury board on behalf of his party and British Ghanaians. He said “It’s like making an advert about America and only showing images of Harlem”

So we now have the complainants saying that Ghanaians are very laid-back people and that Harlem is a bad advertisement for America, blatantly ignoring it’s growth over the past 10-15 years – Bill Clinton even has offices there. Surely that’s stereotyping? As for the advert presenting an accurate picture of Ghana, I never thought it did – or was even attempting to. Or do they think I’d be disappointed if I visited a small town in Ghana and a giant head didn’t float down the road and summon a Ghanaian pop star to perform a gig on someone’s roof?

Toyin Agbetu, the founder of Ligali, a UK-based African human rights organisation, said: “The video makes Africans look like buffooning simpletons. The biggest presence on the advert is a giant mask that people fall about in front of. Part of being able to use the Fairtrade brand should also include a responsibility to advertise ethically.”

The  accusation that “The biggest presence on the advert is a giant mask that people fall about in front of” is misleading. Nobody starts “falling about” until Tinny, the Ghanaian pop star, appears and starts singing. The advert is also just a short edit, the full version actually being the pop promo for the track you can hear – which has also been released as a single to raise money for Care International.

Perhaps the complainants really need to look at the video through more impartial eyes, like most people will have. The setting is a small village where, based on the sign in the background at the start, gets most of it’s employment from cocoa farming. Since Cadbury’s have gone Fairtrade they were probably intending to feature somewhere remote like this because it’s exactly the type of area which will benefit from their new Fairtrade initiative. Accusations that it doesn’t present an accurate picture of Ghana then become pointless, no country can have an accurate picture presented of it based upon a fantastical 60 second clip of an agricultural area. As for the “buffooning simpletons” comment, if doing some incredible dance moves makes you a buffooning simpleton then where can I find my local buffooning simpleton classes?

You can watch the whole video for Zingolo here, or click here to download the single from iTunes.

This is a response from CARE International, quoted from this article by Reuters AlertNet.

Kenya:
More than 10 million people in Kenya are food insecure. The election violence in 2008 caused hundreds of thousands to flee, meaning many families missed the planting season and lost a harvest. Drought and conflict are causing Somali refugees to stream into camps in Dadaab, Northern Kenya, in record numbers, straining the capacities of aid agencies to respond and draining the already scarce water supplies in the region. CARE is providing food aid, water and sanitation, education and community development activities to 290,000 people in the Dadaab refugee camps, and is implementing programs in drought-affected areas of Kenya to build people’s animal-caretaking and health skills, manage and maintain water sources, and help communities diversify their income sources so they are less reliant on livestock during times of drought.
Affected population: 10 million people
CARE is helping: 390,000 people

Tsunami insurance for the poor

A new health insurance plan will enable the poor in India to buy health insurance for less than 10 cents a month, and it will cover natural disasters including Tsunamis.

The new program is a partnership between and aid group, CARE International, and a private insurer, Allianz. It is expected that over 200,000 customers will buy insurance within a year. According to Allianz, the communities have been involved in designing the new policies, which will cover death, medical treatment for injuries in accidents, help with funeral and hospital expenses, as well as paying wages during illness.

“Microinsurance provides a comprehensive measure of social security in an area which desperately needs this sort of protection against accidents and shocks that can push poor communities right to the limit,” said Wolfgang Jamman, national director of CARE Germany.

But don’t be so quick in calling this charity work. With an estimated market of 250 million policy holders in India, there sure is a buck or two to be made.

Posted by Alan Pereira (World Bank Private Deveopment Secotor Blog)

Tens of thousands of people were displaced by the unrest in 2006 (Photo: Jason Reed/ AFP/ file photo)

The East Timor government paid the refugees to move back to their towns and villages, but some say they still do not have enough money to rebuild their homes.

Others say they have not been accepted back.

But East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta says the refugee return program has been a huge success and overall life in his young country is looking up.

“More than anyone in this country or outside this country, I know the problem. I’ve dealt with it,” he said.

“I had internally displaced persons live in my own home; hundreds of them.

“I know what was the problem and I can say looking back to 2006, 2007, it has been a complete success, thanks to the very proactive and the generous compassionate attitude of the Prime Minister and his cabinet.”

Tens of thousands of people were displaced by the unrest in 2006, sparked by a mutiny which split East Timor’s army.

Augusta Pinto, 15, tries to keep the front yard of her home clean. Her house is not much more than a few brick walls, with tarpaulins the only roofing in some parts.

Her father Manuel Gueterres say they returned last month from one of the makeshift camps set up in Dili during the security crisis of 2006.

“It was a very difficult life. We stayed three years in the refugee camps, there were no jobs. We were lucky because the government subsidises rice,” her father said.

Mr Gueterres says he is happy to return home, after being given about $AU53,000 to rebuild his house. But he says it is not enough.

“Security is no longer a problem. The problem we face is how to re-build our house. Materials have become expensive,” he said.

In other areas it is not money but community tensions causing problems.

Ivo Noel, a 25-year-oold student, says his return from a camp has not been easy. He say at first his neighbours threw stones, but now the situation has eased.

“I am not accepted but I have no choice. This is the reality I have to face,” he said.

Care International works in an area of Dili which had the second highest number of internally displaced people.

The country’s director, Diane Francisco, says the experiences by those who return vary greatly.

“I think that the experiences are probably as varied as the number of IDPs that have been returned; from IDPs that have been warmly welcomed back into their homes, to people who are still a little unsure, maybe wary,” she said.

“I think for a variety of reasons some families may have used some or all of the money to meet more immediate needs. But I do know from our experiences that some of the money is certainly being used to rebuild houses.”

This weekend East Timor prepares to celebrate 10 years since its independence referendum.

Mr Ramos-Horta says people in east Timor are reconciling their differences. He says the country is still young but the economy is growing.

At his home, Mr Noel says he hopes the days of violent conflict in East Timor are over.

But he says the Government must create more jobs and training for young people to avoid that.

“To unite is easy but now the leaders must put more young people into training and school,” he said.

“If everyone is busy and has something to do, we won’t be able to go onto the streets and cause problems.”

Source: ABC News

Rekaman ini adalah salah satu rekaman talkshow saya yang disiarkan live di Radio Djati FM Banda Aceh. Kali ini temanya adalah Kehamilan yang tidak diinginkan. Walaupun ada beberapa statement yang kurang pas, tapi overall mungkin bisa dibilang lumayan lah..hi..hi…

Oia, videonya di gabung dengan foto2 yang saya ambil dari Keukenhof (Taman tulip di Belanda).

Selamat menikmati..

This is the best news I have heard in a long time.

Yesterday, the DEC described the £600,000 pledged through the website prior to the broadcasts as an “unprecedented” response.

They need much more then that to rebuild.

Iran has also said they are willing to help rebuild 1000 homes.

By Jerome Taylor
January 27 2009

The Gaza appeal which the BBC is refusing to broadcast raised £600,000 before it was shown. Donations flooded in to the Disasters Emergency Committee website before the initial transmission of the two-minute appeal on ITV1 last night.

On previous occasions the DEC has not accepted donations until an appeal has gone out live but members of the public have been able to donate to the Gaza appeal since Thursday. Charity chiefs will be hoping that the controversy over the broadcast has increased public awareness that a way of donating to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is available.

Yesterday, Sky News sided with its main newsgathering rival in refusing to broadcast the appeal for aid for Gaza as the head of the BBC ruled out any last-minute policy change over its own decision.

The BBC director general, Mark Thompson, said the public broadcaster had a duty to cover the Middle East in a “balanced, objective way” and reiterated the corporation’s belief that broadcasting the appeal could undermine its journalistic impartiality. The BBC has received more than 15,000 complaints since the weekend and has been publicly criticised by more than 50 MPs and two archbishops.

Dame Suzi Leather, head of the Charity Commission, adding her voice to the criticism yesterday, said she was “disappointed” that Sky had joined the BBC in not broadcasting the appeal. Along with ITV, Channel 4 and Five also agreed to show the two-minute appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee, a group of 13 charities including the Red Cross, Oxfam, Save the Children and Islamic Relief, before their main evening news bulletins.

Yesterday, the DEC described the £600,000 pledged through the website prior to the broadcasts as an “unprecedented” response.

Ian Bray, a senior officer at Oxfam, said the media coverage had generated a huge amount of interest among the general public and added: “We hope that level of interest continues.”

Previous appeals to aid victims of war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and cyclone victims in Burma raised £9.7m and £18m respectively.

Source

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Member Agencies
The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is made up of 13 member agencies which provide humanitarian aid in times of disaster.

The 13 member agencies are:

• ActionAid
• British Red Cross
• CAFOD
• Care International
• Christian Aid
• Concern
• Help the Aged
• Islamic Relief
• Merlin
• Oxfam
• Save the Children
• Tearfund
• World Vision

To Donate to those in need in Gaza

Be part of the Solution.

Donations to Doctors without Boarders are also needed. Just add a notation, you wish the donation to go to Gaza victims.

Gaza Report: Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières

Doctors without Boarders/MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES (MSF) Canada

Lets help those, who are helping victims in Gaza.

“Save the Children Canada” has also been helping those in Gaza.

Reports from: “Save the Children Canada” Charity in Gaza

Israel infantry soldiers walk in formation on the border as they leave Israel for the northern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2009. (AP / Sebastian Scheiner)

Israeli soldiers peer out of their tank as they move towards the Gaza Strip from southern Israel early Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. (AP / Anja Niedringhaus)

A wounded Palestinian boy is treated at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, after an Israeli missile strike early Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. (AP / Hatem Moussa)

January 5 2009

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip

Israeli forces pounded Gaza Strip houses, mosques and tunnels on Monday from the air, land and sea, killing at least seven children and six other civilians, as they consolidated a bruising offensive against Palestinian militants.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the offensive would continue until Israel achieved its objective, “peace and tranquility” for residents of southern Israel who continued to be bombarded by Palestinian rocket and mortar fire.

A stream of diplomats and world leaders hoping to end the violence headed for the region to meet with Israeli leaders as world outrage over ballooning Palestinian casualties mounted. Gaza health officials reported 524 dead and nearly 2,000 wounded since Israel embarked upon its military campaign against Gaza’s Islamic Hamas rulers on Dec. 27. At least 200 civilians were among the dead.

Israeli forces seized sparsely populated areas in northern Gaza on Sunday and by Monday morning were dug in on the edges of Gaza City. Further movement into the heart of the built-up areas would mean deadly urban warfare, replete with house-to-house fighting, sniper fire and booby traps, in crowded streets and alleyways familiar to Hamas’ 20,000 fighters.

A total of 13 civilians died in the various attacks across Gaza on Monday morning, said Gaza health official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain.

Four young siblings were killed in a missile strike on a house east of Gaza City. Three other children died in a naval shelling of a Gaza City beach camp, and three adult civilians died when a missile struck near a house of mourning in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, he said. Three other adult civilians died in attacks elsewhere.

Israeli troops took over three six-floor buildings on the outskirts of Gaza City, taking up rooftop positions after locking residents in rooms and taking away their cell phones, a neighbor said, quoting a relative in one of the buildings before his phone was confiscated.

“The army is there, firing in all directions,” said Mohammed Salmai, a 29-year-old truck driver. “All we can do is take clothes to each other to keep ourselves warm and pray to God that if we die, someone will find our bodies under the rubble.”

Civilian casualties have spiked since Israel launched a ground offensive Saturday, following a week of punishing air strikes. Of about 80 Palestinians killed during the ground operation, at least 70 were civilians, Hassanain said.

Black smoke from tank shells and windswept dust billowed in the air over Gaza City, while white smoke from mortar shells rose in plumes above a main road leading to northern Gaza that the Israeli military seized on Sunday, cutting off Gaza’s north from its south. Explosions could be heard in Gaza City as aircraft attacked buildings.

The streets of Gaza City, home to 400,000 people, were almost empty. Two children crossing a street near a Hamas security compound didn’t look right and left for cars, but gazed up at the sky, apparently looking for attack aircraft. The only vehicles on the road were fire engines, ambulances and press cars.

Unmanned Israeli planes and Apache helicopters circled overhead.

“Hamas has sustained a very harsh blow,” Barak told parliament’s foreign affairs and defense committee.”But we still haven’t reached our objectives, so the offensive continues.”

Israel has three main demands: an end to Palestinian attacks, international supervision of any truce and a halt to Hamas rearming.

“If we withdraw today, without reaching some kind of comprehensive agreement, we haven’t done anything,” Israeli Cabinet Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told Army Radio. “The military has to carry on with its work.”

Hamas demands a cessation of Israeli attacks and the opening of vital Gaza-Israel cargo crossings, Gaza’s main lifeline.

The violence has deepened the suffering in impoverished Gaza, home to 1.4 million people. The military said Monday that 80 truckloads of humanitarian aid and critical fuel supplies would be let in.

Mohammed Almbaid, a Canadian resident working with aid organization CARE International, says the Israeli offensive has made it increasingly difficult to deliver food and medical supplies to Gaza.

“By the hour, it’s becoming more difficult to reach needy people,” Almbaid said in a telephone interview from his office in Ramalah, West Bank. “As of yesterday we’re having extreme difficulty to move any of the stuff in our stockpiles.”

Almbaid said a rising number of Palestinians are forced to go without crucial aide as Israeli battle tactics restrict the movements of those hoping to deliver humanitarian relief.

“It’s extremely tragic, extremely heart-breaking to see this happening,” he said.

Militants, defying the attacks, fired more than a dozen rockets at Israel early Monday, police said. No injuries were reported, but the rockets continued to fire deep inside Israel, some 32 kilometres from the Gaza border. One reason Israel launched the Gaza campaign was because militants have acquired weapons able to reach closer to Israel’s Tel Aviv heartland.

Israel’s ground operation is the second phase in an offensive that began as a weeklong aerial onslaught aimed at halting Hamas rocket fire that now threatens major cities and one-eighth of Israel’s population of 7 million people.

The spiraling civilian casualties have fueled an intensifying international outcry.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who unsuccessfully proposed a two-day truce before the land invasion began, was due to meet with Israei Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who lost control of Gaza to Hamas in June 2007.

While blaming Hamas for causing Palestinian suffering with rocket fire that led to the Israeli offensive, Sarkozy has condemned Israel’s use of ground troops, reflecting general world opinion. Sarkozy and other diplomats making their way to the region are expected to press hard for a cease-fire.

A European Union delegation including foreign policy chief Javier Solana was due to meet with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

The Czech Republic, which took over the 27-nation EU’s presidency on Thursday, urged Israel to allow humanitarian relief aid into Gaza. German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke on the phone Sunday with Olmert and advocated a quick cease-fire in Gaza, her government said in a statement. Merkel also called for an end to the smuggling of weapons into the Gaza Strip.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said in a statement “Canada is deeply concerned about the increase in hostilities between Israel and Hamas.”

“We urge renewed international diplomatic efforts to achieve a sustainable and durable ceasefire, starting with the halting of all rocket attacks on Israel. Canada maintains that the rocket attacks are the cause of this crisis,” said Cannon.

Cannon also urged the international community to come together to address the humanitarian situation, including ensuring access to food, fuel and medical supplies.

Source

Israeli invaders have killed and wounded many Palestinian children
By Hiyam Noir

January 5 2009 03.24am

Gaza City January 4 2008

Photographer “name withheld”

GAZA

Some 20 minutes before the ground invasion Israeli launched air strikes at more than 45 targets throughout the Gaza Strip, their ground forces trespassed Gaza borders at 10 pm on Saturday evening, pushing deeper into Gaza.

At the eastern parts of Gaza, Israeli tanks entered through the Erez and Karni crossing points, the artillery advanced towards the southern parts of Gaza City.

The Israeli intruders are stationed at the abandoned Israeli settlement of Netzarim outside Jabaliya.  Tank fire killed earlier three residents in the Shujayya neighborhood. Palestinian fighters clashed with heavy armed Israeli ground forces in Gaza City, one Israeli is reported dead and 30 where injured.

In Beit Hanoun in the north eastern Gaza Strip, Israeli tanks penetrated hundreds of meters then they closed the main road between Beit Hanoun and Gaza City. From the northwest Israeli forces reached the American school in the north of Beit Lahiya. The American school was leveled to the ground on Saturday targeted in an Israeli air strike.

Nearby the destroyed Yasser Arafat Airport, east of Rafah amid heavy artillery fire, Israeli tanks killed one and injured several other Palestinian fighters. Before noon on Sunday an airstrike killed the DFLP senior leader, Muhammed Abed Barbakh, his father Abed and his two brothers Mahdi and Yousef, also his nephew Musa Yousef was killed when missiles struck the home in the An-Nahdah neighborhoodof. Barbakh was a commander in the military branch of the National Resistance Brigades (DFLP).

On Saturday before noon three children where killed in the southern town of Rafah.

Since the start of the Zionist Israeli ground invasion on Saturday night, 70 people, including 21 children and 11 women have been killed, more than 370 are reported injured. Gaza governmental Health Ministry on Sunday confirmed that since the 27 of December, 507 Gaza residents have been killed including 107 children,  over 2450 are injured, hundreds are seriously injured.

Four children together with their mother became some of the victims today in the Zionist air and ground offensive their bodies where cut to pieces when missiles hit the house of the Baker family in the At-Toufah neighborhood in Gaza City.

In Beit Lahia in northern Gaza Strip, 4 children were killed during a series of air strikes in which 13 people have been killed, 34 have been injured.Tank missiles have killed at least 23 Gaza residents including 14 residents in Biet Lahia, and another 4 in Beit Hanoun.

In the Zionist Israeli escalated onslaught across Gaza Strip, from north to south the Palestinian resistance continue to confront Israeli tanks and ground troops invading Gaza Strip from four points. Hamas have prepared for an all out ground invasion of Gaza Strip for more than a year, building up a military force of almost 20.000 fighters, well trained in urban warfare.

Sounds of heavy mashinegunfire can be heard throughout Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza Strip, the Palestinian resistance are involved in fierce fighting with the Israeli intruder also in Jabaliya refuge camp, in nearby Netzarim, and in parts of Gaza City, including As Shuhayya and the At Toufah neightboorhod.

At 6pm last night 3 Gaza paramedics where killed and one was wounded in Tal Al- Haw a in the southern part of Gaza City and two residents have been killed in the Zayton area also in Gaza City.

At least 514 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began intense air strikes on 27 December.  Gaza medical officials put the number of wounded at 2,250 over nine days.

Sources report that some 20 Israelis have been killed, and many others are wounded.

Source

I wonder how much Depleted Uranium the Israelis are using?

If they are using weapons from the US, I can be relatively sure there is a large amount of DU being used.

Israeli tanks, soldiers invade Gaza Strip

Vanity Universe Sim is pleased to present a Charity Event:
A Winter Fairy Tale

The opening is on December 6th, 2008 at 11 am SLT. The  theme of the expo is inspired by the fairy tale “The Snow Queen” (Hans Christian Andersen)

Donations for the aid organization “Care” will be collected during this event. Please see more information on Care International HERE

50 % of the rental revenues will be donated to Care,as well as the designer items sold via the ” Care vendors “. Some designers specially -designed dresses for the fair which are only available  here- In addition, we have also donation boxes for a care donation positioned.

More than 70 international designerswill take an active part at this event.
They  will be presenting their latest fashion and style:
Collections, such as brand new designs for men and women casual fashion, party fashion, formal wear and jewellery.

Dates to know
=================================
December 6 th, 11 am SLT opening
December 19 th, “Christmas Weekend Hunt”
December 21 th,“ Christmas Weekend Hunt End “
December 28 th, 12 am End

See you at Vanity Universe!

Have you ever heard the saying that you vote with your wallet; so when you buy a product or service, you are “keeping them in power” by supporting them financially? Well, wouldn’t it be nice if we could finish our Christmas list AND support something good? Well, you’re in luck because Urban Green Girl has some great gift ideas that are not only great for the earth, but help save the world at the same time!

1) SUPPORT ECO-FRIENDLY E-TAILERS:

Increased access to internet has made consumers more powerful by being able to find eco-friendly or green products more easily. Here are some great examples.

WorldofGood teamed up with eBay to connect artisans in developing countries with mainstream retail channels. Here you can find jewellery, mugs, clothing, art, skin care products and more, from around the world and you help end poverty by supporting income generating means .

BuyCanadianFirst offers Canadians a place to buy exclusively made Canadian products ranging from everyday goods to great gift ideas. Thus, you can buy local and help support your neighbour.

Etsy is another great site that connects buyers and sellers of handmade items. Lots of beautiful artisan products from clothes and jewellery from sustainably sourced materials to furniture made from recovered wood. You can even do a search for products made locally in your area.

Here’s a random gift idea, an eco-friendly shower curtain that’s NOT made of PVC and instead made of earth friendly materials like organic cotton or hemp. Not only are they  “green”, they’re beautiful and stylish too.

Another great idea is to buy a membership for an organic food delivery service. Great gift idea for skeptical parents, or children going off to college.

And check out these great 100 green gifts thanks to the Daily Green.

2) MAKE A GIFT DONATION TO CHARITY:

Environmental Organizations:

Help save a rainforest

Know someone that drives or flies a lot? Why not offset their carbon footprint by purchasing carbon offsets from CarbonFund.org? Their site allows you to calculate their carbon footprint then purchase the necessary credits towards reducing it through carbon reducing projects like reforestation. I’m considering this gift for my dad.

Know a big coffee drinker? Why not offer them a 1-yr membership to Rainforest Alliance who created a certification program to protect coffee workers AND the rain forest and birds from where it came?

Know a tree hugger or camping enthusiast? Why not plant trees in their name in South America through the Nature Conservancy? One dollar per tree and with a donation of $50 ore  more, the recipient will receive a nice package including a calendar, world map, magazine and info on deforestation.

Have a Sex and the City fan on your list? Do what Big (aka Chris Noth) would do and offer them a tribute gift that will help save rainforests through Rainforest Action Network.

Animal rescue organizations:

Save an endangered species

Is there a Dumbo fan in your family? The Elephants Sanctuary in Tennessee rescues  elephants from circuses and zoos so they can retire on a 2700 acre natural-habitat refuge. Help them help elephants.

Help save a baby bear cub or seal by purchasing one of IFAW’s (International Fund for Animal Welfare) holiday packets starting at $25 which contain a canvas bag, stainless steel water bottle, and pamphlet telling the story behind the animal you just saved.

Looking for teenage appropriate gifts? Sign them up for a PETA membership. I’ve done this with my sisters in the past. Memberships start at $16 and they will receive a years subscription to Animal Times magazine. PETA also offers ethical gifts, where you can save an animal in the name of someone else and they will receive a gift package.

Know someone that melts at the site of a baby tiger or polar bear? Why not adopt an endangered species in their name or purchase other types of charity gifts through the WWF ?

Humanitarian organizations:

Help the fight against poverty

Know someone studying in med school or nursing? Why not donate to Doctors without Borders in their name? Helps save thousands whose lives have been struck by poverty, catastrophe and violence.

Know someone that volunteers their time in the community? They’d appreciate one of the many kits available through MercyCorps who help people in developing nations by offering women small business loans and maternity care,  HIV/AIDS programs and provide families with income generating solutions.

Got a feminist, women’s rights activist or simply “a woman” on your list? Why not give them the gift of ending poverty through CARE who place special emphasis on working with women in poverty?

And if you  don’t know what organization the recipient would appreciate, why not offer them a charity gift card through TisBest where the donation can be applied to over 200 different registered charities of their choice.

Here’s wishing you a wonderful 2008 holiday season and a Happy New “Green” Year!

One of the questions that the wave of new philanthropic marketplace tools is how to control quality and ensure donor confidence in the organizations in which they invest. While people tend to be comfortable with brand-name humanitarian organizations like CARE acting as stewards of their donations, its less clear how your average individual donor becomes comfortable giving directly to small, locally-operated nonprofits around the world.

The issue brings up the question of metrics in that it reminds us that there aren’t broadly applicable tools for measuring social impact, taking that off the table as a way for donors to feel confident. Most of the marketplace philanthropies emphasize how much of the individual’s donation makes it directly to the organization,  but that’s more a measure of intermediary efficiency than of on the ground quality.

One of the more common strategies has been to add a layer of professional intermediaries. Kiva.org works with local financial institutions to ensure that borrowers can pay back loans. GlobalGiving.com projects have to be sponsored by a larger group which, theoretically, has vetted the organization and can help donors feel more confident. The problem is that there’s no guarantee that these intermediaries are actually doing their jobs and/or are, themselves, competent, efficient organizations. At best, its a good system, but no matter what, it adds an extra step between the donor and the recipient that the platforms are trying to break down.

Betterplace.org is trying a slightly different approach. They allow supporters to connect directly with global development projects, and allow people to take on different roles for supporting the project.

In their “web of trust”, anyone who donates time or money is a “supporter,” someone who has actually seen a project on the ground is a “visitor,” someone who can personally vouch for those responsible for the project is an “advocate,” etc.

While its still much more art than science, its a nice stab at bringing down the barriers for people who care about common issues to support one another, and if the community grows more robust, could be a nice platform for experimenting with more user-review tools for validating the impact of social change focused organizations. I would love to see someone figure out how to enable the recipients of aid or the participants in local programs to have a voice in reviewing the activities. That sort of “downward accountability” just doesn’t exist in any really coherent way right now.

Has anyone used betterplace.org? Any thoughts?

CARE, one of the largest relief and development organizations in the world has just launched “CARE Connections,” a social network for CARE supporters to discuss relief and development issues. The email announcing the launch was inauspiciously titled “Move over Facebook, here comes CARE Connections.”

I think its a smart recognition on CARE’s part that there is space in the digital realm to bring together a varied set of conversations about development and humanitarian issues. The best features of the CARE Connections portal are those that get it away from feeling like you’re just supposed to be discussing the organization itself. They have blog and news feeds which might be useful once they have a few more sources they’re drawing from. Additionally, because CARE incorporates advocacy in many of their development campaigns, there are a variety of action opportunities that users can browse.

At the end of the day though, I have a hard time believing that people will add another sign-in branded around any single organization like CARE to their routine. Many, many people support their work. Many of those people are interested in the sort of digital discussions that happen when you bring groups together around common interests. But few are going to want to hang around and create a new set of log-in data and connections around a specific organization. The buy-in to CARE just isn’t high enough, and the value proposition to the user isn’t unique enough.

I think its really hard to brand a general change focused network around a specific organization. Mycommitment.org (a project of the Clinton Global Initiative) has had some struggles with this as well. I think at the end of the day, sites like Change.org and Justmeans.com have a much better chance as stand alone social change platforms than anything built into just one organization will.

If nothing else, CARE should think about getting rid of the orange and black Halloween feel to the site..

What do others think?

Die Nachrichten über den Zyklon Nargis in Birma lassen einen nicht mehr schlafen. Sie machen traurig und extrem wütend. Vor einem Monat erst bin ich mit meinen Kindern und Freunden durch Birma gereist, z.T auch in den jetzt betroffenen Gebieten und Lilian und Vico sagen diese Tage immer wieder: “Da waren wir doch erst gerade” und “wenn wir ein paar Wochen später gefahren wären …”

Die Zahl der befürchteten Opfer ist mittlerweile auf 100.000 gestiegen – und selbst jetzt – fast eine Woche nachdem der Wirbelsturm entlang des Irrawaddy-Deltas wütete, werden die Hilfsangebote der internationalen Gemeinschaft von der arroganten und machtbesessenen birmesischen Militärjunta massiv behindert. Helfer warten vergebens auf ihre Visa, Flügzeuge mit Hilfsgütern dürfen in Rangun nicht landen. Ein Sprecher des Welternährungsprogramms, bezeichnete die Visa-Verweigerung als “beispiellos” in der Geschichte der Katastrophenhilfe.

Das Land selbst ist von den unzähligen herumliegenden, verwesenden Toten und der nun drohenden Seuchengefahr und Hungersnot völlig überfordert. 1.5 Millionen Menschen brauchen Nahrungsmittel, Trinkwasser, Decken, Zelte und Medizin. Alleine kann Birma, eines der ärmsten Länder der Region, eine solche Krise nicht meistern. Zumal die Militärs, die letzten September, als es galt, friedlich protestierende Mönche zu erschießen, auf den Straßen des Landes omnipäsent waren, plötzlich nirgends zu sehen sind.

Das paranoide nur am eigenen Machterhalt interessierte Regime der Generäle hat Angst vor amerikanischen Militärflugzeugen auf birmanischem Boden – sie befürchten eine potentielle Invasion der USA und so erhielten gestern auch nur wenige Flugzeuge der UN und des Roten Kreuzes eine Landeerlaubnis für Rangun. Nun hört man, dass Frankreich und die USA den UN Sicherheitsrat einschalten wollen, um die Birmesen zu zwingen Helfer ins Land zu lassen.

Warnung ignoriert

Zu der Empörung über die Junta trägt bei, dass Indien Birma 48 Stunden im Voraus vor dem Zyklon gewarnt hat. Wenn die Regierung diese Warnung schnell aufgegriffen und verbreitet hätte, hätten unzählige Leben gerettet werden können.

Aber Than Shwe nimmt wahrscheinlich den Rat seiner Wahrsager ernster als den eines meteorologischen Instituts. Der birmesische Staatschef – wie auch schon seine Vorgänger – ist bekannt dafür, wesentliche politische Entscheidungen dem Übernatürlichen zu überlassen. So ließ er 2005 den Sitz der Regierung von Rangun ins 300 km entfernte, neugegründete Naypyidaw verlegen, nachdem ein Wahrsager blutige Unruhen für Rangun vorausgesagt hatte. Auch das heutige Referendum wird nicht verschoben – weil ein Astrologe das Datum als besonders glückbringend errechnet hat.

Wo landen die Hilfsgüter?

Frustrierend, insbesondere für Spendenwillige, ist auch die Frage, ob Hilfe im Land überhaupt effektiv verteilt wird. Bislang hört man, dass die Ladungen der Flugzeuge, die in Rangun landen durften, dort festgehalten werden. So hat die Junta gestern fast 40 Tonnen Nahrungsmittel des WFP in Rangun beschlagnahmt. Das Militär verweigert die Einreise ausländischer Helfer, mit der Begründung, es wolle und könne die Hilfslieferungen selbst verteilen.

Das mag glauben wer will und dementsprechend zögerlich laufen die Spenden in Deutschland auch an. Hatten Deutsche nach der Tsunami 2006 innerhalb kürzester Zeit 670 Millionen Euro für die Nothilfe und den Wiederaufbau gespendet, so sind, laut Aktion Deutschland Hilft, dem Dachverband von 18 Hilfswerken, bislang erst mehrere Zehntausend Euro zusammengekommen.  

Die Organisationen, die schon mit Mitarbeitern im Land etabliert sind, haben in dieser Situation einen großen Vorteil. Care International, die sich seit 14 Jahren im Land engagieren, scheint eine der ersten zu sein, die Soforthilfe leisten können, da sie schon 500 Mitarbeiter im Land haben.

Wo sind die Nachbarn?

Jeder der schon mal in Birma gewesen ist, wird das große wirtschaftliche Engagement der Nachbarn, wie Thailand, Indien und China, aufgefallen sein; sie fördern Öl und Gas, bauen Supermarktketten auf und investieren in die touristische Infrastruktur.

Aber wo ist die thailändische und chinesische Katastrophenhilfe? Gerade China profiliert sich seit einigen Jahren als neuer Entwicklungspolitischer Player weltweit. Was läge in dieser Situation näher – zu einer Zeit als China im Vorfeld der Olympischen Spiele so massiv unter Beschuss ist – als sich als Wohltäter zu präsentieren, der dort effektiv Hilfe leisten kann, wo anderen der Zugang verwehrt wird?

*Sepia Mutiny

From PSD Blog — World Bank Group:

A new health insurance plan will enable the poor in India to buy health insurance for less than 10 cents a month, and it will cover natural disasters including Tsunamis.

The new program is a partnership between and aid group, CARE International, and a private insurer, Allianz. It is expected that over 200,000 customers will buy insurance within a year. According to Allianz, the communities have been involved in designing the new policies, which will cover death, medical treatment for injuries in accidents, help with funeral and hospital expenses, as well as paying wages during illness.

Roughly a billion people live on less than $1 a day. And 3 billion – fully half the people on Earth – survive on $2 a day or less. Among that first billion, the poorest of the poor, 70 percent are women. For them, each day is a struggle. They simply do not earn enough to meet their needs, but with your help, CARE is working for change.

CARE pioneered programs that help women create self-sufficient credit groups. These groups use loans to start income-generating activities. So instead of struggling each day to meet basic needs, women can make long-term plans for themselves and their children. Health, education and community participation improve. Families are no longer forced to accept the least harmful of several bad options – they become the architects of their own futures.

	In celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8, donate to CARE and help women around the world gain economic independence, fulfill their dreams and unleash their full potential.

Two decades of warfare in Afghanistan have created thousands of widows who strive to keep their families together and make ends meet. In 2000, CARE offered training to Afghan widows in several trades, including sewing, knitting, quilt-making and broom-making. Now hundreds of women sell their products in the market. Women like these in Afghanistan have the power to change the world – and you have the power to help them do it.

Donate $50 or more today, and we’ll send you a beautiful, handcrafted shawl made by widowed women in Afghanistan.

CARE empowers women to escape poverty by offering skills development, “financial literacy” training and other support that helps women establish and grow their own businesses. Millions of women are already making life better for their families and communities and, with your help, millions more can do the same!