eleventh.transmission
Arts, Culture, Media, Activism
| December 2006 - Issue 9 |
ARTICLE
A Future without Poverty
Canadian Organization Creating Hope
by Kirk Ramdath
The number of men, women, and children in the world who are afflicted by poverty is staggering. 2.7 billion people
(almost half the world population) live on less than $2 dollars a day. 30,000 to 50,000 people, mostly women and
children, die every day from poverty-related causes such as starvation and lack of water. Poor areas of the world
often lack adequate sanitation, are susceptible to outbreaks of disease, and are often hotspots for outbreaks of
political violence such as war and genocide. Children cannot go to school, and are often forced to work. Natural
disasters are extremely dangerous because of the lack of resources to care for sufferers. Unfortunately, the
dangers of poverty make a long list.
The Borgen Project has estimated that the cost of eradicating starvation and malnutrition worldwide is $19 billion.
The cost to educate every child is $12 billion. The cost to ensure access to clean water and sanitation for every
person living on earth is $15 billion. Contrast this with world military expenditures, which in 2005 surpassed $1
trillion. $1,000,000,000,000 – a number so large it is almost unfathomable. The top ten countries spent about
80% of that money, including the USA, which spent about $420 billion. It is clear that the governments of the
richest countries on earth have not prioritized solving poverty around the world, as the actual cost to do so is paltry
compared to what they spend on war and the ability to make war.
Every citizen in a democracy has the power to influence their governments to move toward responsible actions on
human rights, poverty, the environment, and other important issues. And maybe in North America we influence
our governments more than we think. Each year North Americans spend over $1 trillion during the Christmas
season – $1,000,000,000,000, the same annual total that world nations spend on the military. The massive
spending is in stark contrast to the abject poverty faced by so many of the world’s poor.
The 0.1% Doctrine
Pursuing political change is imperative, but the people of North America have substantial power to create change
for themselves. Christmas is a time of joy, and there is no doubt that the economic exuberance we express is
related to the simple desires we have of sharing and celebrating each other and ourselves. We spend this much
because we are fortunate enough to be able to.
To start, what if we could direct just 0.1% of the amount we spend on Christmas toward initiatives that directly
benefit the world’s poor? That works out to $1 billion for projects in the developing world directly related to health,
nutrition, education, water, gender equity, energy, and agriculture. That is one of the initial goals of
ChristmasFuture (www.christmasfuture.org), a new Calgary-based non-profit organization that is dedicated to
seeing the end of worldwide poverty in our lifetime. The idea is simple: People already want to help make the
world better, just make it easy for them.
It is a simple idea, but one that took a few years to fruit for ChristmasFuture founder and CEO Jay Baydala. Jay’s
path was one of awareness that ultimately led him to action. Working in corporate IT gave him the ability to travel
extensively. “As I travelled more I also started to see the contrast between where I drew the line between need and
want in my own life and what I had seen abroad,” says Jay. He describes seeing that in some areas of the world
there were children that had to wear the same shirt every day. “They were the lucky ones,” he says. “They actually
had a shirt to wear.” He felt himself waking up to some new kind of awareness. Upon returning from one
particular trip, he opened his closet, filled with suits and collared shirts, and saw for the first time not a different
suit for every occasion, but “enough clothing for ten lifetimes.” He knew he had to do something.
Having finally fomented the idea for ChristmasFuture, a daunting array of challenges lay ahead. Governments play
an important role in the functioning of NGOs and can have considerable influence over the range of their activities
and their level of success. Jay has seen NGOs avoid all government participation, while some are fully integrated.
“The most effective model I have seen to date,” he says, “is that of Jeffrey Sachs’ Millennium Villages Project.”
Millennium Villages Project (MVP) works at the grassroots level with villages that agree to participate in the
development process to empower them to change the world around them. The result is that villagers are happy
because their lives are getting better and they are empowered to influence their future, and government officials
are happy because they look good nationally and internationally for agreeing to help their people. “A truly virtuous
circle,” Jay says.
Pilot Project 2006
ChristmasFuture will launch to the North American public during the 2007 Christmas season. There is quite a lot
of work needed to ready the organization for this time next year, but not all of the preparation will be behind the
scenes. ChristmasFuture’s Pilot Project 2006 is currently under way – a collaboration between ChristmasFuture
and the Calgary Science School (CSS). The focus of the project is the building of a school library in Sauri, Kenya,
in partnership with MVP.
Students spent the week of November 27 to December 1 studying poverty-related topics such as definitions of
poverty, Global Citizenship, and how lives change through the work of difference organizations. Students, parents,
and teachers were invited to participate further by redirecting a portion of what they would normally spend on each
other towards the Pilot Project. After Christmas 2006 and throughout next year, ChristmasFuture will provide the
students and families of CSS with the ability to see the change that their gifts have made to the children in Sauri,
Kenya.
In essence, the Pilot Project exemplifies what ChristmasFuture will invite North Americans to do at the Christmas
2007 launch: “Broaden the beneficiaries of their generosity and love that is exemplified at this time of year.”
People who share this spirit of giving will be rewarded by actually being able to see the changes their
contributions are making for entire communities in countries around the world.
The response to the idea of ChristmasFuture has been overwhelming. Volunteers, media outlets, and
corporations have all said they want to help in some way. Jay says that he was unprepared for the overwhelming
positive response he gets from everyone he tells about the project, as well as their sincere desire to help it
become a reality. He balks at the notion that he has stumbled upon an idea that is new and profound. People
light up when they hear about the idea, he says, “because they have already wanted this for a long time – a way to
give and witness the world change, and have that change last.”
Related links:
ChristmasFuture
Calgary Science School
Borgen Project
Make Poverty History
Millenium Villages Project
Kirk Ramdath is Editor-in-Chief of Eleventh Transmission.
A Future without Poverty
Canadian Organization Creating Hope
by Kirk Ramdath
The number of men, women, and children in the world who are afflicted by poverty is staggering. 2.7 billion people
(almost half the world population) live on less than $2 dollars a day. 30,000 to 50,000 people, mostly women and
children, die every day from poverty-related causes such as starvation and lack of water. Poor areas of the world
often lack adequate sanitation, are susceptible to outbreaks of disease, and are often hotspots for outbreaks of
political violence such as war and genocide. Children cannot go to school, and are often forced to work. Natural
disasters are extremely dangerous because of the lack of resources to care for sufferers. Unfortunately, the
dangers of poverty make a long list.
The Borgen Project has estimated that the cost of eradicating starvation and malnutrition worldwide is $19 billion.
The cost to educate every child is $12 billion. The cost to ensure access to clean water and sanitation for every
person living on earth is $15 billion. Contrast this with world military expenditures, which in 2005 surpassed $1
trillion. $1,000,000,000,000 – a number so large it is almost unfathomable. The top ten countries spent about
80% of that money, including the USA, which spent about $420 billion. It is clear that the governments of the
richest countries on earth have not prioritized solving poverty around the world, as the actual cost to do so is paltry
compared to what they spend on war and the ability to make war.
Every citizen in a democracy has the power to influence their governments to move toward responsible actions on
human rights, poverty, the environment, and other important issues. And maybe in North America we influence
our governments more than we think. Each year North Americans spend over $1 trillion during the Christmas
season – $1,000,000,000,000, the same annual total that world nations spend on the military. The massive
spending is in stark contrast to the abject poverty faced by so many of the world’s poor.
The 0.1% Doctrine
Pursuing political change is imperative, but the people of North America have substantial power to create change
for themselves. Christmas is a time of joy, and there is no doubt that the economic exuberance we express is
related to the simple desires we have of sharing and celebrating each other and ourselves. We spend this much
because we are fortunate enough to be able to.
To start, what if we could direct just 0.1% of the amount we spend on Christmas toward initiatives that directly
benefit the world’s poor? That works out to $1 billion for projects in the developing world directly related to health,
nutrition, education, water, gender equity, energy, and agriculture. That is one of the initial goals of
ChristmasFuture (www.christmasfuture.org), a new Calgary-based non-profit organization that is dedicated to
seeing the end of worldwide poverty in our lifetime. The idea is simple: People already want to help make the
world better, just make it easy for them.
It is a simple idea, but one that took a few years to fruit for ChristmasFuture founder and CEO Jay Baydala. Jay’s
path was one of awareness that ultimately led him to action. Working in corporate IT gave him the ability to travel
extensively. “As I travelled more I also started to see the contrast between where I drew the line between need and
want in my own life and what I had seen abroad,” says Jay. He describes seeing that in some areas of the world
there were children that had to wear the same shirt every day. “They were the lucky ones,” he says. “They actually
had a shirt to wear.” He felt himself waking up to some new kind of awareness. Upon returning from one
particular trip, he opened his closet, filled with suits and collared shirts, and saw for the first time not a different
suit for every occasion, but “enough clothing for ten lifetimes.” He knew he had to do something.
Having finally fomented the idea for ChristmasFuture, a daunting array of challenges lay ahead. Governments play
an important role in the functioning of NGOs and can have considerable influence over the range of their activities
and their level of success. Jay has seen NGOs avoid all government participation, while some are fully integrated.
“The most effective model I have seen to date,” he says, “is that of Jeffrey Sachs’ Millennium Villages Project.”
Millennium Villages Project (MVP) works at the grassroots level with villages that agree to participate in the
development process to empower them to change the world around them. The result is that villagers are happy
because their lives are getting better and they are empowered to influence their future, and government officials
are happy because they look good nationally and internationally for agreeing to help their people. “A truly virtuous
circle,” Jay says.
Pilot Project 2006
ChristmasFuture will launch to the North American public during the 2007 Christmas season. There is quite a lot
of work needed to ready the organization for this time next year, but not all of the preparation will be behind the
scenes. ChristmasFuture’s Pilot Project 2006 is currently under way – a collaboration between ChristmasFuture
and the Calgary Science School (CSS). The focus of the project is the building of a school library in Sauri, Kenya,
in partnership with MVP.
Students spent the week of November 27 to December 1 studying poverty-related topics such as definitions of
poverty, Global Citizenship, and how lives change through the work of difference organizations. Students, parents,
and teachers were invited to participate further by redirecting a portion of what they would normally spend on each
other towards the Pilot Project. After Christmas 2006 and throughout next year, ChristmasFuture will provide the
students and families of CSS with the ability to see the change that their gifts have made to the children in Sauri,
Kenya.
In essence, the Pilot Project exemplifies what ChristmasFuture will invite North Americans to do at the Christmas
2007 launch: “Broaden the beneficiaries of their generosity and love that is exemplified at this time of year.”
People who share this spirit of giving will be rewarded by actually being able to see the changes their
contributions are making for entire communities in countries around the world.
The response to the idea of ChristmasFuture has been overwhelming. Volunteers, media outlets, and
corporations have all said they want to help in some way. Jay says that he was unprepared for the overwhelming
positive response he gets from everyone he tells about the project, as well as their sincere desire to help it
become a reality. He balks at the notion that he has stumbled upon an idea that is new and profound. People
light up when they hear about the idea, he says, “because they have already wanted this for a long time – a way to
give and witness the world change, and have that change last.”
Related links:
ChristmasFuture
Calgary Science School
Borgen Project
Make Poverty History
Millenium Villages Project
Kirk Ramdath is Editor-in-Chief of Eleventh Transmission.
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