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Helping hands: Tsunami of 2006 inspires Oklahoma woman to help children from poor Indian village
Brought to you by: Mercy Hospital
I am a passionate believer in the power of education to transform lives and take people out of poverty. That is why, some years ago, I started sponsoring two children from a very poor village in Tamil Nadu, India.
it was not a spur of the moment decision; I didn’t wake up one morning and think, “I must educate some Indian children today.” After all, there is deprivation in every country, so why randomly pick India?
It was the tsunami of 2006 that prompted my action. seeing TV images of that disaster was bad enough, but personally knowing people who were killed in it while wintering in Sri Lanka rammed home how shocking and unpredictable life can be.
So many orphaned, so many homeless, so much devastation and destruction, it was impossible for me to be an armchair sympathizer shaking my head in despair and making plaintive comments. I had to do something. But what can any one person do? I couldn’t go there because I had domestic and professional commitments. Give money? my cynicism about charitable funds reaching victims of catastrophes held me back.
I floundered in a state of frustrated compassion until a friend told me about the Venkatraman Memorial Trust, a small, bona fide endeavor that was itself borne of a tragic tale which, briefly, is this: an English woman, Sylvia Holder, traveled regularly to Chennai in southern India on business, and she used to stay in a hotel outside the city, farther along the coast at a little fishing village called Kovalam.
One evening while strolling along the beach, she met a group of children playing. They had learned enough English to harass tourists and pester them for money, but these particular ones canvassed and pleaded with style. Animated, attractive and amusing, they proved irresistible. one boy asked the by-now heart-melted Holder for $15 to pay for his schooling. Stunned by his maturity and evident determination, she agreed with one proviso — that if he wrote to her often with progress reports, she would continue to send money. Holder returned to her hotel never expecting to hear from him again.
The boy was 12-year-old Venkat, who confounded Holder’s doubts by maintaining a regular correspondence, completing his high school education, going on to Chennai University and then becoming a successful businessman. But then came calamity: At age 27, Venkat was killed in a road accident, and it was this terribly sad waste of a vibrant life that led Holder to found the Venkatraman Memorial Trust in 2004 with the purpose of providing education for Kovalam’s youths. the trust grew from tiny beginnings, with modest ambitions to improve the existing Panchayat School. Within six years it had grown enough to pay for new buildings, equipment, teachers, school fees, scholarships and sponsorships.
I became one of the original sponsors, giving $30 a month to pay for two children. I had a choice of children, and I chose the very impoverished, delightful, angelic Durga and the even more desperately poor but obviously intelligent Sadis. I based my decision on their need and, seeing their photographs, my instinct.
Both children write to me several times a year; additionally, Holder and Venkat’s brother, who is always known as “JR,” and who runs the school, periodically send me photographs of Sadis and Durga. I also receive a biannual newsletter, a copy of which delighted me recently with the news that the trust has received government permission to build a high school.
it is an amazing achievement; some might even say destiny. But whatever it is, the outcome shows how passion leads to action, and it reinforces the cliche that good comes out of tragedy.
There is an added bonus in that the desire to do something to help others is contagious, and I am proud to say that my 22-year-old daughter began funding a child from Kovalam when she was still at university. instead of spending all her money on drinks in the student bar, she rationalized that some of it could be better spent on Kanimulza, a pretty and indomitable 8-year-old who wants to be a doctor.
In August and September this year, I went to India on a research trip and made a point of ending my stay in Kovalam so I could meet “my” children and Holder, who made sure one of her frequent trips from England to Tamil Nadu coincided with mine. she and I hit it off immediately over a seafood dinner at the Fisherman Cove Hotel’s beach restaurant, where we swapped our life stories.
the next day I was given a tour of the village and taken to meet Durga, Sadis and Kanimulza. one could not say our meetings were exactly intimate as crowds gathered around us when our car drew up to their various homes; the level of interest gave me, on a modest scale, an understanding of presidential or royal walkabouts. Lively, smiling, shoeless, skimpily dressed children clustered around me intent on practicing their English, which mainly consisted of “Hellohowareyou, fine?” repeated incessantly.
It was lovely to meet the three little people in whom I’ve invested hope as well as money, and so moving to see the — to Western eyes — squalid, miserable conditions they live in. For example, there’s no running water, spasmodic if any electricity, dirt floors, five living in one room, basic cooking equipment and few possessions.
Yet, incredibly, every day these children manage to go to school, wearing their uniforms with pride. the girls all have their hair in the same style (pigtails) adorned with the same colored ribbons. They look every bit as elegant as the beautifully clad pupils of Casady School in Nichols Hills. But beyond superficial appearances, the comparison ends abruptly, for these young Kovalam kids have nothing except innate optimism and the charity of others on which to rely for their futures.
Durga, Sadis and Kanimulza were shy, well-mannered and dignified in my presence; it is humbling to witness their obvious cheerful dispositions overcoming adversity. their polite answers to my questions, posed through an interpreter, failed to elicit much of their true personalities, but they nevertheless became real to me, as I did to them, and that encourages us all. Sponsors such as me take a gamble; not every child is going to be a doctor, lawyer or nuclear physicist, but education goes a long way toward improving self-esteem, and I would recommend giving help as a reward in itself.
If India seems too remote and unconnected, then there are many children here in Oklahoma who need help.
Mary Ann Prior is the executive director of City Arts Center in Oklahoma City.
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Helping hands: Tsunami of 2006 inspires Oklahoma woman to help children from poor Indian village
Death toll in Sao Paulo floods rises to 13
By BNO News
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL (BNO NEWS) — Sao Paulo’s fire Department on Tuesday informed that at least 13 people have died due to the heavy rains and flooding in the populous Brazilian state, the Jornal do Brasil reported.
Heavy rains began falling on Monday in Sao Paulo state, killing so far at least 13 people. The rains caused mudslides and flooding in some areas of the state and, in cities, houses collapsed due to the high amounts of water.
Five women died in Sao Jose dos Campos, three people in Maua, three in the state capital Sao Paulo, one in Mogi das Cruzes, and one in the tourist town of Embu das Artes.
Authorities said that two children aged 3 and 11 were among the victims in Sao Jose dos Campos but rescue teams were able to rescue two teenagers alive. The boys, aged 13 and 16, were transported to a local hospital.
In Maua, houses collapsed all across the city, killing three people. one victim died after his house collapsed over him while two more residents died in other collapses and two more were rescued alive by firefighters.
In the state’s capital Sao Paulo, a mother and a daughter were killed after their home fell down. The two women were initially rescued from the debris and rushed to a nearby hospital. however, the two died shortly after admission due to the injuries sustained. Authorities reported that another resident also died in the state capital.
However, Sao Paulo’s fire Department also informed this Tuesday that firefighters rescued at least 176 people in the state, 99 of them in Sao Paulo and nearby areas. The Department announced that it has increased rescue efforts as well.
On December 1, 2010, the fire Department launched “Operation Heavy Rains” in order to assess residents and respond to emergencies in the season. The operation simulated rescue efforts in floods, landslides, falling trees, among other disasters.
THE GERMAN MILITARY: TRAINING FOR FAILURE ON THE GORCH FORK « Case About Bird Flu
As more details emerge about the scandals on the German navy’s flagship training frigate, the Gorch Fork, one thing seems more and more clear: the navy is systematically inculcating a culture of failure into its cadets.
In response to the developments, Defence Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg on Friday night suspended the ship’s Captain Norbert Schatz and ordered a review of all branches of the German army in order to identify any others „rituals“ violating human dignity.
Less clear is what Guttenberg intends to do about the culture of systematically training military personnel for failure that has been exposed by these scandals.
For the events on the Gorch Fork point not just to personality flaws in virtually the entire crew from the captain and training officer all the way down to the regular sailors. Extraordinarily, they point to a training culture purposefully geared to make cadets fail.
In spite of two destructive world wars, the German military seems to have learned little about military training.
In November 2010, a cadet fell to her death from a mast after being bullied into climbing the mast even though she was exhausted and not trained to negotiate the challenges.
Another 18-year-old cadet died during her night watch in 2008 Her parents are now filing charges alleging that sexual harassment resulted in her death because of suspicions awoken by emails their daughter sent.
The „Gorch Fork“ has earned the sobriquet „a swimming brothel“ and George Fuck, so prevalent was sexual harassment ob board.
The day after the fall of the cadet, the crew held a „sex party.“
Seeing no need to learn, evolve or change — probably because he knew there would be no investigation and indeed there wasn’t any — , Schatz told the cadets that accidents happen, planes and cars crash and cadets fall to their death from masts.
Outrage resulted in a near mutiny. Schatz and the crew appear to have resorted to threats and bullying – much like Juncker’s method of handling Germany when it comes to the euro stability fund (perhaps calculating on encountering the same victim mindset inured to failure?)
It is known that adequate rest, sleep and food increase performance. But the cadets on the Gorch Fork were systematically deprived of sleep and rest and even the opportunity to have a meal in comfort. They had to sleep in hammocks and were allowed only four hours sleep a day. Cadets were told they had to stand when they ate in the cantine.
Communication decreases stressful events. But the cadets were deterred from speaking to each other. If two cadets were found talking together, they were accused of mutiny.
The activities on the ship appear to have had little purpose: cadets report that they were made to clean the ship with a tooth brush.
Because there appears to have been no meaningful training programme, no clear goals and, therefore, no way of measuring success in attaining those goals, the cadets could not built up their confidence or resilience. They were exposed to severe stress by being given difficult tasks on the 3 mast sailing ship they were bound to fail at simply because they have never been instructed on how to perform them.
One cadet reported that he broke two fingers when his hand became tangled in rope after he clambered up the mast to unfurl sails on the first day without being given any instructions on how to do it.
How can cadets not feel physically threatened as they hang 30 metres from a mast with the crew shouting at them to perform tasks more quickly when no one has taught them to perform the tasks in the first place? How can they not feel intense fear, inadequacy and hopelessness in this situation?
And yet the normal reaction of fear was treated as abnormal. Cadets who were reluctant to put their life on the line on the whimsical order of the crew were threatened with the end of their career.
The crew are reported to have shouted constantly at the cadets, adding yet more stress.
The result of privations, dangers, physical exhaustion, and so much constant stress without adequate periods of rest is predictable: it is burn out, overload, accidents and loss of effectiveness.
One cadet reported in dpa that cadets cried themselves to sleep.
Bear in mind these are young and inexperienced people, many only 18 or 19 and they are supposed to be being trained to command ships.
But the Gorta Fork „training“ appears to be designed for one thing only: failure, the readiness to endure pain pointlessly and without complaining, and a willingness to commit suicide on a whimsical order under pressure. the cadets are being trained to be the next generation of cannon fodder – and probably for world war three that the Globocrats so want.
What, after all, do cadets learn in the environment of ships like the Gorch Fork about leadership, cooperation, competence and honour let alone success?
This treatment teaches them that their commanders do not want them to be in good or safe hands. They learn they cannot expect a training programme to build up skills and knowledge or resilence. They learn that they are to blame for the failures of their superiors. If they cannot perform a task quickly enough, it is their fault even though they have not been given the necessary technical training or the proper instructions.
They learn that when they are stripped of their human dignity and rights and subjected to danger, theft and sexual assaults that they not allowed to ask for help or communicate with their fellow soldiers. That those senior in rank flagrantly abuse their power. They learn there is no honour, no integrity among their leaders. They cannot have confidence in them. They cannot serve as a role model to inspire them. Power is there to be abused cynically and shamelessly. They learn that there is no meaningful measure of performance, and that risks are never calculated.
They learn that their lives can be put at risk on the whim of some officer who does not have their best interests in mind and that they can be killed and yet there is no investigation or inquiry. They will even be mocked.
They learn that mindless obedience even to the point of total self destruction is what is required of them – and absolutely nothing more. Intense fear is the norm, that death and degradation could come at any moment but they must ask why or complain. And they learn that nothing has changed. Brutality and stupidty is rewarded. Guts and responsibility punished.
Der Spiegel´ identified the fatal flaw in German military thinking when it said that a readiness to obey orders under all circumstances was the alpha and omega of military discipline. Der Spiegel even appears to subtly praise German soldiers who obeyed orders and went to their certain death, running into machine gun fire in world war one and in fighting in hopeless combat situations in world war two.
The fact that Germany lost both wars is not mentioned by Der Spiegel.
In fact, winning is usually considered the alpha and omega of military action, at least, not outside Germany. Armies train to win. the up side of this culture is that armies do not engage in wars that cannot be won, so sparing the world a lot of devastation.
The same cannot be said of Germany, promoting a victim culture.
Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, after all, was told by generals that the German army could not win the war he envisaged before it even started. Germany simply did not have the resources or manpower for „total war“ on several fronts, which Hitler’s plans pointed too. But Hitler, a corporal in world war one, insisted on unconditional obedience and iron discipline. the result? Disaster! Tens of millions dead in a war whose outcome was accurately predicted by General Ludwig Beck in 1938 simply on the basis of logistical considerations.
Formulating a clear strategy, deploying resources, determining tactics, training soldiers, taking care soldiers, civilians and prisoners: these things are even more important to an army than discipline.
Training cadets was given as high a priority in the Irish army as in the British or American army. I can say that for a fact. My Mum grew up in the Curragh military camp in Ireland: her Dad taught cadets among his many duties. Until the second world war, Ireland only had 7000 regular soldiers. tiny though the army was, it was pretty professional and had a great deal to do to keep the young Republic safe and neutral in the second world war.
The aim of the training was always to empower cadets to do their jobs. They were shown models of behaviour and given the skills, competence and knowledge they needed to perform their task at their level of the organisation – in this case, as lieutenants in the army. of course, there were instances of bullying and abuse but it was not fostered and promoted by the higher ups. the ideal officer did not have a victim mentality with an inbuilt expectation of death, suffering and degradation but a positive, can do attitude to obstacles and difficulties with the expectation of success.
Maintaining a positive outlook during difficulties, facing setbacks with confidence were basic parts of the training. anyone paralysed with fear, exhausted, and without technical knowledge, skills etc is a danger to himself and others.
But this knowledge which even the little Irish army had so many decades ago appears to be too advanced for the mighty German army in 2011 under the „charismatic“ Guttenberg and his conveniently “chaotic” ministry of defence.
If the naval high command did not know about the problems on the ship, they should have known given the two deaths occurred.
But no investigation appears to have been carried out. the Captain was never even questioned.
And no attempt has been made to alter the culture of blind obedience, bullying, terror and destructive failure that appears to pervade the German military culture today as much as it during world war one and two.
Unfortunately, it appears that the entire German nation is being trained for failure.
The Norbert Schatz of the EU, Jean Claude Juncker, is bullying Germany to sign the longest economic suicide note in history in the form of a commitment to hand over every last cent to the euro stability fund. this will mean meltdown not just for Germany but for all the eurozone countries. the obvious solution is an insolvency mechanism with political reform (direct democracy) to reduce corruption etc.
Die Welt recently reported companies threw out university graduates because they were not able to do practical tasks. No mention of training the graduates as you would expect.
This week Der Spiegel has brought out a special edition focusing on burn out, stress and overload among the German population.
„People of exhaustion,“ pipes Der Spiegel. „The world in the 21st century is fast, challenging and unpredictable – and is leading to burnout among millions of Germans. Behind this epidemic is often a clear depression. in special clinics those affected learn to live more healthily and to avoid stress.“
Germans don’t need special clinics. They need proper training and proper salaries, rest and respite like everyone else.
They need a leadership that knows how to make the economy grow by boosting domestic spending on German products and switching to the Chinese method of printing money without interest, promoting a high quality economy and culture and not a leadership that confines itself to budgets of savage fiscal austerity to pay the interest on Germany’s national debt – and indeed the entire eurozone’s gigantic debt.
They need a leadership that stands up and says no to the bullying of the Norbert Schatz’s of the eurozone.
They need a leadership that says: insolvency mechanisms are what are needed; political reform; direct democracy throughout Europe etc
It is hopeful that the young cadets did stand up to Norbert Schatz and so show a capacity for independence and responsibility and above all self respect.
If human dignity is important for others, it is also important for us.
The hopeful sign from Berlin is that the government has so far stood up to the bullying, blackmailing ways of the eurocrats and bankers and refused to fall on the sword of Damocles and commit to unlimited funding for the banks .
An economic meltdown increases the chances of a third world war – and with the kind of training the cadets on the Gorch Fork are getting, it could be as pointless, prolonged, devastating as the other two wars.
Germany should say a collective “No” to a destructive mindset and a culture enamoured of pointless death.
It needs to stand up tall and show some self respect and draw a line in the sand like the cadets on the Gorch Fork.
They did not to succumb to the victim culture and allow themselves to be trampled all over just to satisfy the sadistic whims of their higher ups.
The military culture should be about courage when it is required, the capacity for defense when it is required, sparing life whenever possible. It is actually about life and about preserving life. It is about winning and the real winner in any conflict is always the one who preserves the most life and the freedom and happiness and well-being of a people and state against aggressive threats.
This is also the political culture we so badly need in the eurozone being run like the Gorch Fork or rather the Titanic.
We need a new mindset, a positive attitude, a life-affirming spirit.
We need to print money like the Chinese – but obviously without the totalitarian culture. this two things do not necessary belong together as the Founding Fathers understood, a little detail some readers of this blog have failed to grasp.
this entry was posted on Monday, January 24th, 2011 at 8:04 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. you can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. you can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
THE GERMAN MILITARY: TRAINING FOR FAILURE ON THE GORCH FORK « Case About Bird Flu
Piers Morgan to sue TV production company? |#cnn
Piers Morgan to sue TV production company?
#bb11 | An Independent Gem: Fictionalised last interview of Jade Goody is a welcome surprise
An Independent Gem: Fictionalised last interview of Jade Goody is a welcome surprise
by Gareth Williams, Staff Writer
A lot of DVDs cross my desk, its just a fact, I am sent many screeners. I don’t get to watch all of them, or even most of them, I just don’t have the time and often you will find a pile of them, collecting dust in the corner of my cubical. One caught my eye today, it was the title that did it and I ended up being very glad it did. Today, I watched a short film entitled “Pigsould Presents Jade Goody’s Final Interview”.
The film creates a fictionalised world where the former Big Brother star grants one last interview before her untimely death from cancer last year. The interview is conducted by celebrity interviewer, “Pigsould Morgellon”, who is as smarmy and unpleasant as his name suggests, bringing to mind some of the more loathsome bottom feeders regularly on our TV screens. I could name some names, but I’m sure I don’t need to, you’ll think of several that the character is based on, yourselves.
Jade Goody, as portrayed in this film, is a revelation, far smarter and more astute than the tabloids ever let on. And in what must be a bit of a rye in-joke with a wink, the actress playing Jade is a British Asian woman, which is an ironic bit of casting, following Jade’s controversial appearance in Celebrity Big Brother along side Bollywood superstar Shilpa Shetty.
Jade turns the tables on Pigsould, getting her own back on him and the media at large. Pigsould represents the media at its worst and the actor playing him seems to be enjoying playing every note of fake sincerity with gusto and aplomb.
“Pigsould Presents Jade Goody’s Final Interview” is an independent gem, if you get the chance to see it, you will enjoy it very much.
For a limited time, you can download a version of the film formatted for the iPad, for free, courtesy of the production company, SLAP-TV.
