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“I am come,” says Jesus, (John 10:10) “that you may have life, and have it in all its fullness.” How this inspiring vision contrasts with the current spiritually impoverished, dollar-driven world view of our society!
And how the heart is cheered to see Catholic Mission Aid and UNICEF join forces this week to go in to bat for children, especially for their chances in education.
Life at its most basic is food and shelter;
and that means dollars. Yes, material goods are essential. But “life in all its fullness” is much more: It is health, safety, knowledge, leisure, love, time for the spirit. And education is often the key. As Nelson
Mandela says: “Education is the most powerful weapon that can be used to change the world. We cannot waste our precious children. Not another one, not another day.”
We Australians read with surprise the UN
Declaration: “Primary education should be free and compulsory.” Wasn’t that battle fought out more than a century ago? Here, yes. But, around the world today, 125 million children get no schooling at all; 150
million more will drop out before they finish primary; and nearly one third of the people in the developing world are illiterate.
Two out of every three of the unschooled children are girls. Apart from their
own right to the full life Jesus speaks of, what about the health of the husbands and children of these future wives and mothers? Surely educated mothers can enhance the physical, mental and spiritual health of
their families? And, culture notwithstanding, they may enrich the wider community through an outside career. Studies have shown that increased female literacy in particular reduces child mortality rates and improves
the health of families and communities, because the women are keen to use their literacy skills to enhance family and society.
Child labour can keep children from schooling and hold up their learning. Work
which involves degrading or psychologically damaging conditions must be seen for what it is: a crime against children. Long hours of work leading to weariness and impaired intellectual development can also be a bar
to learning. Reformers trying to get better conditions for the children have to beware lest they cause the employer to throw the children out of work. Poor families can thus become even more vulnerable. This is no
solution.
On the other hand, where children are working in a stable and safe environment in which labour is part of family socialisation, the work may be beneficial in raising their sense of achievement and
consequent self-esteem. Of course, parents must be genuinely permitting the children time for their schooling.
It would cost $16 billion a year to achieve basic education for all the world’s children within
10 years. This is a tiny figure compared with the $1,200 billion spent yearly in debt repayments by developing countries. Hence the Drop the Debt Campaign – supported by Catholic Mission and other world agencies.
PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE
Next Friday is Amnesty International’s Candle Day. It’s shaping up to be a big day with many schools, churches, community groups and businesses
registering to become human rights defenders and to raise funds for Amnesty International Australia.
The Nobel Prize-winning Amnesty is an independent worldwide organisation which works to free people
imprisoned for their beliefs, race, sex or any innocent activities or characteristics. The only stipulation is that the prisoner has neither used nor promoted violence. Amnesty consistently opposes the death penalty
and torture.
It works in about 110 countries. Each of its 2,000-plus “adoption groups” adopts two or more prisoners of conscience and tries to pressure governments and arouse public opinion by sending
observers to political trials, visiting prisons, publishing reports of human rights violations, and writing letters of appeal for the release of prisoners. In any year, this may mean taking action in some 140
countries.
To safeguard impartiality, Amnesty members do not work for prisoners of conscience in their own country.
Amnesty does not support or oppose any government or political system; it works for
human rights under all systems. It is active where there is a need for practical help for victims and their families, pressing for fair and prompt trials, an end to torture and executions and improved international
standards for the treatment of prisoners. And it works! Since 1961 Amnesty’s successes have included the release of thousands of prisoners, torture has been condemned and the death penalty abolished in more
countries.
Membership is open to anyone who supports its goals.
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