Make Poverty History
7 Oct 08
after the Youth March on 9 August.
The Koonwarra Markert Day banner is at the front.
The weather on 7 July 2007 was not kind to the Koonwarra Farmers Market stall holders or those inviting passers by to sign a 3 metre banner for the Make Poverty History Campaign. The Koonwarra Store kindly allowed them to shelter under the veranda of The Store.
Koonwarra resident, Johanna Haasjes, worked extremely hard recently co-ordinating this campaign in the Leongatha area and held a sausage sizzle and banner signing the previous week outside IGA in Leongatha. A large number of people attended an Expo that was conducted at the Daker Centre on 8 July where displays clearly depicted the eight Millennium Development Goals agreed to by all members of the United Nations, including Australia, in 2000 when they pledged to achieve these goals by 2015. July 2007 represents the half way mark.
These goals are:-
- Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
- Achieve universal primary education.
- Promote gender equality and empower women.
- Reduce child mortality.
- Improve maternal health.
- Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
- Ensure environmental sustainability.
- Develop a global partnership for development.
25 banners were made by schools and organisations in the Leongatha area with some 120 young people and adults walking with them from Mary McKillop College to St Peters Anglican Church where they were left on display for the day. The Koonwarra banner was part of the March. All the banners will be sewn together with others made across Australia and will be displayed on 2 September at South Bank and Federation Square during the family-friendly fair and for the APEC Forum and eventually presented to the United Nations and governments, kindly asking them to fulfill their promise to fight extreme poverty. They will then be taken to Washington DC for the 21 October International Banner Launch for the World Bank Meeting.
Goal No 7 - Ensure environmental sustainability - aligns well with Koonwarra's emphasis on environmental sustainability.
The aims of this goal are to
- reduce by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water,
- transform the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020,
- reverse the loss of environmental resources.
The Millennium Goals recognise that environmental sustainability is part of global economic and social wellbeing. Unfortunately exploitation of natural resources such as forests, land, water and fisheries, have caused alarming changes in our natural world in recent decades, often harming the most vulnerable people in the world who depend on natural resources for their livelihood.
Make a difference - check out www.makepovertyhistory.com.au All this is being done to stress the absolute importance that governments commit further energy and resources to achieve the Millennium Development Goals they agreed to.
Thank you to all those who signed our banner.
Click here for www.bannersagainstpoverty.com
Johanna Haasjes is still working hard to ensure we are all still focused on the Millennium Development Goals. On 4 October 2008 she manned another display and encouraged people to sign two Petititions- one on Maternal Health and the other on Climate Change - as they both affect the lives and livelihoods of the poor around the world.
Well done Johanna - Koonwarra can be proud of you and your efforts. Johanna and Albert have lived in Koonwarra for over 30 years and for six years ran the Koonwarra General Store.