Listen to thisBon Jour and Groet to everyone from Brussels, administrative centre for the European Union where I spent a few days recently on child care duties. While there the weather was nice enough to get out for a walk and exploration of an historic city, cross-cultural diversity and changing landscapes. The Commission Europeenne offers leadership through diplomatic dialogue in a world increasingly shaped by politics threatening force, economic crises created through reckless banking policies, and food shortages generated in part by agribusinesses shifting to bio-fuels for gas-guzzling cars or SUVs and consequent reductions in edible commodities. Why can’t there be more resolution of conflicts through Cooperation Exterieure!
EU Cooperation in support of the world's most vulnerable children
Watching kids do what they do highlighted common themes during my visit. Skateboarding appeals to European kids, just as it did amongst the Australian youths I encountered last month. There in the middle of a huge war memorial plaza “commemorating young people who died in the Great War of 1914-18 and during World War II – youths had constructed a ramp so they could do wheelies and practice jumps with their bikes. Having survived two world wars, Europeans know there are good reasons to advocate for diplomacy and dialogue at every turn. It may take longer but the results are longer term. Just like Child and Youth Care, eh?
Pedalling into the unknown?
How many of you knew about or paused to reflect on the significance of World Malaria Day on 25 April 2008? UN statistics on the impact of malaria are scary. This disease kills a million people every year. It claims the life of a child every 30 seconds! 3,000 children under the age of 5 years die every day! Malaria remains a disease of the poor. And perhaps because it is most deeply experienced by people living in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, this disease seriously impacts the economies of countries in those places.
Malaria claims the life of a child every 30 seconds!
As I tried to increase my own learning about attempts to manage the scourge of malaria, I was reminded that it is transmitted through mosquito bites. So as the Northern Hemisphere prepares for summer and the prospect of an odd mosquito bite now and again, try and remember as you scratch that first mosquito bite of the season that during the course of an afternoon of play in the sunshine, roughly 480 children under the age of 5 will have died. I find that truly mind-boggling! I hope you do too!
Child and Youth Care health volunteers tackling malaria
And when you stop to consider what might be done to help reduce the impact of malaria in some parts of the world, it isn’t simply a matter of DDT or other insecticide sprays. That was tried with devastating consequences because the mosquitoes developed a resistance to such chemicals. So now the little creatures are immune, and bite with even greater impact. Instead, mosquito nets are the recommended option. They cost less and if hung properly at the start of the rainy season, the little buzzing creatures simply can’t spread their deadly virus. Think of how many children died while you were reading this postcard! It’s scary, isn’t it? Watch out for the mozzies!
Sierra Leone community posters help with education
