Dr. Martin Luther King
“We are called to play the Good Samaritan on life’s road side… but one day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed. True compassion is more then flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that a system that produces beggars needs to be repaved. We are called to be the Good Samaritan, but after you lift so many people out of the ditch you start to ask, maybe the whole road to Jericho needs to be repaved.”
I have been trying to find out where shops get their merchandise from- like when it says “MADE IN CHINA” what does that mean, or “MADE IN INDIA”, who made it? How much are they making off of the producers? Are they getting treated fairly with basic human rights? Was it made by a child who should be in school? ETC….
I really think these are questions we need to be asking before buying all these gifts every year. Every time we make a purchase we make a statement weather we want to or not, we show who we support and what we support. I really want to challenge you all to find out before you buy, and also look into some of the FAIR TRADE options out there.
The United Nations reported in 1992 that income disparities between the world’s richest and poorest have doubled since 1960. TODAY, the wealthiest 20 percent of the words population receives 83% of the worlds income, while the poorest 20% receives less then 2%! In 1965, the average US worker make $7.52 an hour, while the person running the company made $330.38 an hour. TODAY the average worker makes $7.39 an hour, the average C.E.O makes $1566.68 per hour. 212 times more.
Coca-Cola has been accused of arming it’s factories in Columbia with paramilitary thugs.
Nestle had been accused of mass-marketing an infant formula as a breast-milk substitute to third-world women.
Disney has been accused of maintaining sweatshops in Bangladesh and Haiti.
Gap has been accused of having similar factories in Cambodia and china. These are a few of the companies who continually appear as human rights violators documented by corporate watch groups across the globe. Some, like Gap, have made significant improvements, but usually only after public outcry brought attention to their abuses and they lost lawsuits.
Here are a couple good groups working for corporate accountability and who suggest health alternatives…
www.gxonlinestore.org - this is an online store with gifts for any age, party or event. Even stuff to decorate your home with. Check it out. All of it is FAIR TRADE.
www.puravidacoffee.com - FAIR TRADE coffee, buy it online and be sure the farmers are getting enough to live and continue producing!
www.globalexchange.org - this site gives lots of information for those of you who would like to find out about products, companies and policies.
www.Hrw.org -This is a Human Right Watch sight. There is information, employment opportunities, country profiles, tons of info on this site.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Hospitals- YWAM- and ultra sound....
Ok one of these pictures is my bely almost two weeks ago now.
The other oen is Wightson vinjelus best friend holding two of his sisters kids.
How we are doing
For those of you that haven’t heard. I (Kathryn) was feeling sick Friday night but didn’t think much of it since that has become apart of my life in the resent months
But I started throwing-up around 1am that night and continued every hour up to the morning. I also had a bad case of the “runs”. So by morning vinj and I were concerned I was getting dehydrated. So we went to a little hospital/Clinic, they admitted me right away. I was on a I.V within an hour I think, something like that. I wasn’t really with it at the time. Was still throwing up every 30 minutes by then.
The first Doctor kept saying it was normal for pregnant women to be throwing up, “morning sickness” type of thing. I wanted to yell at him for such a stupid statement, but I was not in a state to start arguing with Him. I knew I was not experiencing morning sickness. Anyway, it was a long process of finding out what exactly was wrong. It went from morning sickness to cholera, to infection of the intestines, to a urinary infection… really frustrating for Vinj especially I think. So I basically threw up for 24 hours straight. Lost A LOT of water in my system. Dad said I sounded delirious on the phone, mom and dad called a lot to make sure I was fine. (THANK YOU!)
So in the end I was told I did have an infection in my digestive system and that’s what the problem was. In basic terms I got food poisoning.
One of the problems with the medical system in Zambia is if you don’t have money you won’t be treated, you just cant do anything. We were short about $300.00 for my medical care, it was the weekend so we couldn’t get any money out of the banks, and no money could e sent to us. So I didn’t get to go to a real room, I was in an examination room all day and night, which meant I had to run down the hall with my I.V in to get to the toilet in time. This was just as exhausting for vinj as it was for me. It was frustrating we couldn’t get into a self contained room, but it was just the way the cards were dealt that day. I woke up Sunday morning feeling a little more stable and managed not to throw up since midnight (Sunday morning). The bill for the hospital was getting WAY TO HIGH because of the bank situation. So we asked for me to be discharged. I felt stable enough to go home with oral medication. So we went home, I just layed in bed all day, I felt literally like I had been hit by a truck! My whole body ached, it hurt to move. My chest hurt so bad, it hurt to breat actually, and the arm the I.V was the worst part (I would really love it if I never had to have another I.V in my life!
We wondering what all of that did to our baby. We had an appointment for the next day to have an ultra sound to make sure the baby was fine. That was yesterday (Monday)
I woke up feeling aa bit sick still but much more energy. So we got to town had an ultra sound (the doctor was TERIBLE! I can’t wait to get back to my family doctor!)
The baby is fine, still very active, and getting bigger and bigger, this week it measured at 4 months and 5 days. Which is exactly what I am suppose to be.
I had been craving a sub from this delicious place in town, they make the worlds BEST fresh bread subs! So we went, and I suffered for eating that all last night and this morning. But I did manage to digest it! So I think my body is getting stronger and stronger by the minute. I will be really fine.
I am on Antibiotics, and re-hydration drinks.
This has shaken both vinj and I a lot. Initially we were thinking we are just going back to Canada. That we have had enough scares with this pregnancy and it’s just too much for now. We are taking a few days to think and pray about it. We don’t want to rush out. It looks like we are debating on staying to closer to the end of August, depending on flight changes, if they are possible or not.
We will e going to live at the Lusaka YWAM base at the end of this week. They have a international team there now that is taking up all the rooms. So we need to wait till they are gone. The YWAM Directors, who have become our friends are in the hospital as we speak having a baby! I am excited to e able to help Mrs. Banda with her family, cooking and such. We will keep you posted on this.
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