Day: October 9, 2010
Irony in Fighting Poverty: Welcome to the consumerist age
My friend Armen made an interesting reflection the other day during a conversation. Like much of what he says, I needed to give it a day or two to think it over.
Hear me out, but I think there might be something in this.
I was walking past Town Hall Station yesterday and within the space of 100 metres passed three different groups of charity groups looking for people to ‘sign up’ for their cause. Each one had something to do with children and poverty. Each one had a different coloured t-shirt. All of them had slick looking sales materials and a well-rehearsed delivery just waiting for their next customer. Walking down the street I was conscious of them sizing me up and wondering whether I should be their next conversation.
These were people selling a solution to a need you didn’t know you had yet. You could buy your very own monthly subscription to ‘doing good’.
Armen was suggesting that much of the material presented by these groups related to the immediate physical needs of those in poverty. Maybe that is fair enough, given the lack of everything in which they live. And it also makes the message easier to communicate. Poster children for poverty. We look at the photographs and immediately assume so much. Nothing is really said about a spiritual or psychological need. Do these needs matter when someone is dying from physical want?
Over dinner tonight I spoke about this with my friend Bernie. Had we become consumers of ‘doing good’? Were we more influenced by brand and messaging than by actual need?
Bernie has some good experience in this area with the arts so it was interesting to hear what she had to say. Ethical issues of what is important and how we as individuals and society decide this. She also raised the important point that money is necessary to run an organisation.
What do we lose by becoming more consumer orientated?
Five Days to Go: 8 MDG. MDG 4- Reduce Child Mortality
Among the 64 countries with high child mortality rates (defined as 40 or more deaths per 1,000 live births), only 9 are on track to meet the MDG target on child survival. The highest rates of child mortality continue to be found in sub- Saharan Africa.
Child mortality is at the core of what the 10 City Bridge Run seeks to influence through leveraging the awareness of others. The outcomes this would ideally achieve includes greater creativity, influencing decision making through petition of the G20 Summit leadership, and mobilising money towards addressing two of the most immediate causes of child mortality that are also readily mitigated.
The target the United Nations (UN) has set through the Millennium Development Goal 4 is reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.
A brief summary from the UN expresses concern, but also a window of opportunity:
- Child deaths are falling, but not quickly enough to reach the target
- Revitalizing efforts against pneumonia and diarrhoea, while bolstering nutrition, could save millions of children
- Recent success in controlling measles may be short-lived if funding gaps are not bridged
The good news is that there has been progress. The bad news is that this is not a time for back-slapping and reprieve. Not by a long shot. As my friend Suji would say: “Unacceptable!”
Quoting a UN report worth opening for the comparative graph showing improvements, targets and contrasting death rates by region- an all too stark reminder of how bad things are in sub-Saharan Africa:
Despite these achievements, and the fact that most child deaths are preventable or treatable, many countries still have unacceptably high levels of child mortality and have made little or no progress in recent years.
This comment from the UN confirms the need for investment of money into projects that address issues of water and sanitation, as well as malaria:
There is increasing evidence that MDG 4 can be achieved, but only if countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Asia and Oceania target the biggest killers of children. In sub-Saharan Africa, diarrhoea, malaria and pneumonia cause more than half of under-five deaths.
This is a tragedy played out daily.
The 10 City Bridge Run of itself won’t stop people dying. The awareness that it raises and the intervention it causes may well do though. Please sponsor this cause for $24.
I am working hard to make a difference. This is not something I can do alone. We need to act together. Please join me on this journey.
Training log: 9 October. 1600 m fast pace sets.
Good training this afternoon with five sets of 1600 m fast pace runs- less than a sprint, but faster than event pace.
Good response, and legs holding up well. Some good stretching before and afterwards.
I was running along Sydney Harbour between Mrs Macquaries Chair and the western apron of the Sydney Opera House. Unbeatable training location, except that toward the last 400m of the fourth set a filming crew had blocked the path preventing all pedestrian access. I wasn’t really happy about that, but had to work around it which initially I found frustrating but was a good reminder that not everything will go to plan. There will be bigger difficulties to contend with on the journey ahead.
Everyone feels pain the last 6 miles- Suck it up!
Confirming the route for New York and looking to run a 20 mile (32 km) road race on sunday 17 October with The New York Flyers (“From the website that reminds you: If you can’t fix it with duct tape, then it’s truly broken . . .”). It is eight km longer than I expected to run but I think I would be helped along with everyone else on the day.
Great training preparation video here (echoing Bob Dylon and shot with a Nikon D90) thanks to Mike Kobaland Toby Tanser.
The run is called the MTP 3 Bridges 20 Miler Redux. It starts on the Upper East Side on 85th and Lexington, heads to Central Park south to 72nd St then crossing to the Hudson River. Continuing south the Chambers St, it turns east and crossing the beautiful Brooklyn Bridge. The run turns north crossing into Queens at the Pulaski Bridge, and back onto Manhattan at 59th St using the Queensboro Bridge. Returning to Central Park, the run heads north to finish where it began.
I think this will be a good route. I will be taking it easy on the run, and it will be good to have some company!
Building Bridges 