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A Personal Statement.

 

This page is a personal statement of my beliefs about how to make a difference.


As you may know our martial arts club supports 6 kids through World Vision. Whilst admirable, the amount of income that I give to charities still only totals approximately 2%. A sobering number that puts into perspective how little this is.

Reasons for me taking action are:
1 - After insuring my own life and income is stable, I believe my next duty is to take care of others.
2 - There are several other charities that are more effective in the use of donations but the World Vision example to kids in our martial arts school is more visual. Seeing the face of a child that they directly help drives the point home. In turn, this shows our kids that it is our duty to help others.

3 - When seeing the difference you can make by helping others, self esteem rises. Today, many teenagers suffer from depression and anxiety. These two conditions can't exist in the mind of a person with high self esteem and a mission in life.

 

 

Our World Vision Kids...

This is Kaveesha.

 

"My name is Kaveesha and I am 8 years old. I was born on 7 December 2006. I live in Sri Lanka."

 

Kaveesha's home is a mountainous rural area about 180km from the capital. The climate is sub-tropical and 34,000 people live here. Most people are labourers or farmers, but poor farming knowledge, natural disasters and crop damage from wild animals make it hard to harvest enough food. Child malnutrition is common and health services poor due to lack of medicines, staff and unreliable access roads. Lack of clean water, toilets, and health and hygiene knowledge all contribute to the spread of waterborne diseases. Schools lack facilities and trained teachers, so education standards are poor.

This is Amily.

 

"My name is Amily and I am 6 years old. I was born on 25 December 2008. I live in Cambodia."

 

Amily's home in Cambodia is where many people try to make a living as casual labourers, but wages are low and unemployment is high, so they struggle to earn enough to support their families. Unsafe drinking water and poor hygiene help spread preventable diseases like dysentery and cholera and illnesses such as diarrhoea. Poor sanitation is also damaging the local environment. Many children miss out on education and illiteracy is high.

 

Pesonal note from Sean:

I chose Amily from Cambodia as I read about the Khmer Rouge in the late 70's and the plight of the Cambodian people, specifically the Killing Fields. I was in high school in those years and only interested in surfing, my friends and looking cool. I can't change the past but sponsoring Amily is something that I can do now.

This is Jiranan.

 

Jiranan was our World Vision child for 14 years from the age of 4 to 18. Her fees were paid for by my last martial arts school. After she left the program, I travelled to Northern Thailand with my two kids and saw her, her parents, and her new baby.

Jiranan was so moved to see us that she forgot all her english, her mother cried and it was a life changing expereince for my kids.

The picture shows me, my son in the white hat, Jiranan holding her baby and her father.

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