Features
Mayra from Guatemala City with War on Want chief executive Louise Richards
|
War On Want battles the root causes of poverty and inequality - here's how they are helping the disenfranchised throughout the developing world
The hangover cure for poverty
War on Want have come up with the perfect hangover cure this Christmas,
and there’s not a raw egg in sight.
The 
December Damage Calculator lets you add up the price of a festive
round of drinks, and then donate the cost of that round to the fight against
global poverty.
War on Want works in partnership with groups in developing countries.
In the UK, War on Want campaigns against the root causes of poverty and
inequality.
So get ’em in for War on Want, and your money will go to projects
and campaigns like the ones below.
Child workers in Guatemala
According to official Guatemalan government statistics, 28% of children
between seven and 14 are forced to work a number that has increased by
300,000 in five years.
War on Want works in partnership with Conrado de la Cruz, and education
project in Guatemala City. The organisation offers child workers the chance
to gain a much-needed education, so children such as 8-year-old Mayra
(see left) can lift themselves out of poverty.
Mayra visited the UK in the summer, and said; “I want to be a secretary
and Conrado helps me with that. Now I can study and play. I have hopes
and dreams, and because of Conrado, they may actually come true.”
Victims of domestic violence in Brazil
Nearly half of all black Brazilian women are illiterate; no more than
one in ten manages to go beyond the fourth year of primary education;
and only 1% of black women in Brazil attend university.
Generally, they take the lowest paid jobs as domestic servants and cleaners.
They are frequently subjected to abuse and violence by men - often men
they know, and usually the perpetrators go unpunished. War on Want supports
the Black Women’s Centre in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The centre offers legal advice, counseling and training to women affected
by domestic violence.
SINTRAEMCALI – Fighting privatisation in Colombia
SINTRAEMCALI, another War on Want partner, is the public service union
in Cali, Colombia. In the last ten years, 1,500 trade unionists have lost
their lives in Colombia at the hands of paramilitary death squads.
SINTRAEMCALI is at the forefront of the campaign to stop privatisation
in Colombia, and Lucho Hernandez, its leader, knows how important water
as a public provision of water is:
“Transnational corporations just don’t go into poor areas.
They buy up water plants in rich areas, where they know there are profits
to be made, and provide water there. In Cali they overproduce water by
30%. Just ten minutes away they have no water at all, except that which
is drawn from unhygienic wells.”
Privatisation – the poor can’t afford it
Colombia is just one country fighting against the tide of service privatisation
in the global south. From electricity in South Africa to sewerage in Malaysia,
the UK government continues to employ UK big business to “advise”
developing countries on the privatisation of their services.
“Public service delivery is central to the democratic process of
developing countries. Privatisation threatens the poor, as the price for
utilities like water increases dramatically. Workers’ rights are
also threatened, as private companies shed jobs to increase profits,”
says Louise Richards, chief executive of War on Want.
The writing’s on the wall
Israel’s separation wall, built largely on Palestinian land, snakes
through the occupied territories having a disastrous effect on the lives
of millions of Palestinians. The wall, recently declared illegal by the
International Court of Justice, cuts off kids from schools, the sick from
hospitals and people from their jobs.
War on Want has just launched a new campaign website where you can take action and request campaign postcards.
So go to waronwant.org/drink
and buy a round for War on Want.
|
|
LOTS MORE FEATURESIncluding stress in the workplace, getting out of debt and the pensions crisis more... |
© Copyright 2008
