Blog Action Day : yes, I join in.....

-->Today is Blog Action Day to fight against poverty…

What does it mean ?
Thousands of bloggers will write a post related to poverty

What difference will it make to the present state of poverty in the world ?

I think we already know the answer: little steps, little actions, little streams of love, little words which hopefully will grow.

I’ll be sincere…perhaps one year before, I would haven’t joined in, thinking : oh well, others will participate for me. I have no time…I’ve got my own worries. What’s the need of being involved, it won’t change the face of the world in one day, anyway?

May be, having read Maryam's series of posts on Rwanda made me want to react.

May be my job #1 makes me more aware of poverty in the world. (since last summer I do regular translating for the World Bank about their Strategies for the reduction of poverty, mainly in Western African countries)

Certainly the thought of going to Madagascar in a more or less near future, made me ponder a bit more about the ever growing gap between rich and poor countries.

As you know, my parents are from Madagascar. They’ve got lucky. They were born on the lucky side and could get an education, then settled in France, where my sisters and I were born. I went to Madagascar for the first time at the age of 8 for a summer holiday. Until then, I didn’t know what poverty was.

Of course, I was shocked by the kids in rags, begging in the streets. But it’s mostly one little girl I remember who occasionally came to play with us at my uncle's house in Antananarivo. We were of the same age. I soon realized she sometimes had to skip school to help her mother out. It made me sad but then I resumed my quiet happy life in France and totally forgot about her. My parents took us for another journey there when I was 16 and I met the same little girl again. Except that she wasn't that little any more. She had to leave school and was now working selling fruit on the market. Her dream was to eventually get married to a “vasa” (a white foreign man) and escape from her life. Not that she was unhappy or extremely poor. She had food on her plate at least twice a day. But she dreamt of having a future. A better future. I sometimes take it for granted that I had a chance to get an education, to travel when I was 20 and study in the States. I grew more and more conscious about the need for education.

My mother is now commuting between France and Madagascar. She's going back on october 19th. We had a long chat on the phone, last sunday and I was slowly trying to convince her to actively participate to the building of schools in the countryside. It's not done yet but I’m still hoping !

So...you're going to ask me: what did you today on that special Blog Action Day ?

I’ve been naughty and put aside my translation about the Democratic Republic of the Congo for a few hours.
This morning, I updated my etsy shop with the new Xmas cards. I guess the items will appear on the site tomorrow.

I decided to give $0,10 on each card sold to the Fistula Foundation. (you can read more about this foundation here). I heard about fistula for the first time on dear blogging pal P. and it broke my heart to learn that in some parts of the world, women endure suffering when giving birth because of a lack of health care facilities and medical equipment.

Oh I know…there are other zillions of things to take care in this world....

Oh I know….$0,10 per card is trifle….

It’s not much but it’s the least I can do.....with love and caring for women who were not born on the lucky side of the world.

Thank you for reading….