my baby turned 4...how this happened is beyond me...seems like only yesterday she arrived and brightened up our lives like nothing we could ever have expected...on birthdays I feel so lucky to have her and her sister in my life...apart from anything else I feel lucky that we are privileged enough to live in an affluent society...though elements of this affluent capitalist society irritate me beyond belief there is no arguing with the fact that we have plenty to eat, a roof over our heads and wonderful health care should we ever need it...
my baby turning 4 prompted me to think of the kids less fortunate...I don't do this very often as it leads me to a dark place full of wondering what sense or reason there is in this crazy world where bankers earn millions in bonuses and people starve. Instead I have a fairly innocuous amount of money come out of my bank account once a month...about the amount it would cost to buy two pretty mediocre bottles of wine or 5 super skinny vanilla frappucinno deluxes...and I sponsor a little girl in Paraguay through Plan. I've recently given up alcohol and coffee (in a temporary way!) and so have even less need for pretty mediocre bottles of wine or frappucino deluxes...which means I can now extend my sponsorship to cover two little girls ...which feels right given that I have two little girls of my own, like I am putting something back and helping in a tiny way to redress that awful imbalance...
I feel funny telling you about this, I don't think anyone outside my immediate family knows, why should they? it matters only to me really...but as I was browsing Plan's website while sorting things out for my new sponsorship this week I noticed that they actively solicit people with websites to link to them...free viral marketing I suppose you would call it in this free market economy...and so I've put a link at the side of this page...I urge you to visit their site, read a bit about the work they do, and make your own judgement...
am off to Ireland for a while over Easter...see you when I'm back
in the meantime have a very Happy Easter...hope the bunny is good to you!
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12 comments:
Food for thought, definitely.
Have a lovely time in Ireland! x
Happy Birthday to E and Happy Easter to all of you. Know what you mean about babies turning 4, I am completely freaked out about Joey's impending birthday.
I agree with you that the imbalance of the world seems terribly unfair and it would be great if more people were like you and actually saw that a small amount of money can make a huge difference to another person. I will have a look at the PLAN site and will put a link up on my blog. I give money to Great Ormonds St hospital in the same way but it might be time to look a bit further afield.
Happy birthday to your little one! Mine youngest is about to turn two and it's blowing my mind too :)
And thank you for your insightful post.
cripes. Ginge is 4 this year too, where does the time go? And miss g will be 10, now that's scary.
Have a great time away and Happy Easter! My monster will be 13 in a few months, very scary, its seems like only yesterday she was a toddler.
Happy birthday to your little one!
we do not live life like I would like to, every month I struggle to have enough money to pay the rent but my husband always tells me to sponsor a child because there are people that lives are much much harder than our but I think your post is now going to speed up our decision...
we already set up direct debit to water aid in Africa but I am sure it isn`t enough, we can do more
thank you for your thoughtful post
have a lovely Easter time
lovely thoughts for this Easter weekend.
hope you have a wonderful weekend
xo
This is not a ploy to lure you to my blog but my latest post is much the same..well part of it is like part of yours. I express my amazement that my younger son has turned twenty 4.Enjoy your children while you can.
Happy Birthday to your girl. Hope she had a lovely day.
We also sponsor through Plan International - it's such a great charity and you can really see the difference your contribution makes. We are so very fortunate - it's terrible to think of the hardship elsewhere in the world, particularly when I look at my own children.
Happy Birthday to your daugher! My Rascal is 5 this year! They grow up so quickly.
Thanks for letting me know about Plan International. I must checkout you link.
Hope you have a great time in Ireland.
Mary
Your little ones are fortunate to have a mum who doesn't take things for granted.
Have a good time in Ireland Annie! That's where "home" is, is it?
I feel exactly the same way - blessed and really a bit over consumptive (that's not a word?). I think sponsorship and donating where you can is an excellent idea.
Happy birthday to your little one! I see Midori is here and it's almost Joey's birthday! My little one is wearing Joey's hand-me-down shorts and t-shirt today!!
Thanks for following my blog. I have yours in my reader, lovely read each morning.
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