Plan on wearing your pjs to town today?

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1393765656639563740#editor/target=post;postID=8818609361983422362

 

Comfortable: This family look chilled out hand-in-hand out and about in their pyjamas. Generic photo - dailymail.co.uk

 

Have you ever done something against what is socially accepted and suffered the consequences?

It’s quite wonderful and amazing to see how many people go shopping in their pyjamas these days!

Although it can be quite startling to have someone standing in front of you at a supermarket checkout in winceyette pyjamas and fluffy slippers (yes, some in the image of cuddly animals).

I can’t help smiling and thinking how comfortable those people must be in their own skin to slip out to the shops in their night attire.

I think it symbolises being totally chilled out with a great ‘who cares’ spirit about it and I think, ‘good on you for not conforming to what society says you should do or how you should look’.

It’s probably easier for young parents who have been up all night trying to pacify a new, unsettled baby, to just jump in the car, pjs and all, and go and pick something up from the supermarket that’s desperately needed.

I think that I’ve only been outside of my house twice wearing pjs; once when being transported to hospital by ambulance and the other when being driven home by friends after I was released the same night and not having had the chance to gather up an overnight bag, before I was shuffled off in the ambulance.

I have to say that I don’t think I’d have the guts to go out shopping in my pjs, unless it was for a cause or a fundraising event, or something like that.

Of course another reason could be an emergency occurs and you have to leave your house in a hurry in the middle of the night.

For me, shopping in my pjs comes down to ‘what would people think of me’.

And if it was on a week day, as a job-seeker, I don’t think Work and Income would be very thrilled to see me waltzing around town in my pyjamas when I should be ‘work ready’!

So, what is it about our desire to conform to social norms and opinions generally?

A case study done on conformity to social norms, by a United Kingdom student learning programme found:

http://psypress.co.uk/smithandmackie/resources/topic.asp?topic=ch09-tp-01

People conform to the opinion of other group members and converge to social norms, because of their need to master the world and the need to be connected by others.

Private conformity occurs when people truly believe that the group is right, whereas public conformity occurs when we are pressured to conform to group norms.

When publicly conforming, some people still privately think the group is wrong.

The degree of conformity is higher in collectivistic cultures, where they view conformity as a social glue, than it is in individualistic cultures, where conformity is seen as something negative.

 

But what are the possible consequences of going against what is socially considered as proper?

The link below is from enotes website:

http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-consequences-breaking-social-norms-398200

The answers here are from teachers, about the possible consequences for breaking social norms, and the reactions of some people towards those who may act ‘outside the usual' expected behaviour, so to speak.

 

 

 

 

Child brides not acceptable practice



Innocence: Vulnerable Yemeni girls like these are often married off to older men. Photo - Stephanie Sinclair and dailymail.co.uk.

What do you think?

We have to do our bit here to try to protect the vulnerable!

I don't think these countries can keep hiding behind culture to allow these things to continue.
But then we can't force cultures to drop these kinds of practices either.

Sometimes I struggle with the concept that some people don't know any better.

It's amazing how many deslolate and provety-stricken places you see on news items, where you still see people on smart phones. All the information they need is there to try to effect cultural and economic change to make better choices, one would think?

We can only keep talking about these global issues and putting it out there.

This is not acceptable:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2415871/Yemeni-child-bride-8-dies-internal-injuries-night-forced-marriage-groom-40.html

also in this next story from the dailymail.co.uk:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2216553/International-Day-Girl-Child-2012-Devastating-images-terrifying-world-child-brides.html

What are some of the reasons for cultural practices like child brides?

Council on Foreign Relations website below, discusses the main reasons why this practice occurs in some developing countries:

http://www.cfr.org/peace-conflict-and-human-rights/child-marriage/p32096#!/?cid=otr_marketing_use-child_marriage_Infoguide#!%2F

Early marriage appears to be an answer to poverty mostly, together with cultural norms and how much value there is of women and girls generally, in some societies.

Child marriage transcends regional and cultural boundaries.

Across developing countries, an estimated one in three girls is married before turning eighteen, and one in nine before fifteen.

Analysts project that if current trends continue, 142 million girls will marry before adulthood within this decade.

Reasons for early marriage of girls include:

Economics

In communities where women are generally not considered viable wage earners, families often view daughters as an economic burden. Impoverished parents may decide to betroth a daughter early to avoid the cost of education—if schooling is even available for girls—and ease the financial load of caring for a child. When schooling is not available, parents have an extra incentive to marry off daughters sooner. Families sometimes marry off a child to erase debts or settle feuds.

Dowries and bride prices also factor into the timing of child marriages. In such cases, youth is seen as enhancing the value of a bride; a younger girl has more time to dedicate to her new family and bear children. In many parts of India, dowries, or money given to the groom's family, can be lowered if the bride is younger. Bride prices, money given to the bride's parents (a common custom in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa), rise if a bride marries at an earlier age.
Research from the World Bank, based on Demographic and Health Surveys data, shows that across countries, girls from wealthier families tend to marry at later ages, supporting the hypothesis that poverty and economic survival are drivers of early marriage. Low esteem for girls and women facilitates these transactions involving young girls.

Cultural Norms

 

Child marriages occur most often in patriarchal societies where parents and elders have a significant role in selecting spouses for their children and new brides are absorbed into their new families as domestic help. Girls are often married shortly after puberty to maximize their childbearing potential.

Many cultures place an emphasis on girls' virginity, which is closely tied to a family's honor. Parents may marry off a daughter at an early age to ensure that she marries as a virgin and to prevent out-of-wedlock births. In Northeast Africa and parts of the Middle East, child marriage frequently occurs shortly after female genital cutting, a practice that is often justified as promoting virginity and deterring sexual assault.

People of various religions and sects support early marriage, which is contentious within many religious communities. In Ethiopia, for instance, child marriage is embedded in the customs of Orthodox Christian communities like those in the Amhara region, even though the country’s Orthodox church opposes the practice.
Some Muslims who follow a conservative interpretation of sharia argue that Islam permits child marriage as the Quran specifies that girls can be married upon reaching maturity, which conservative scholars define as puberty. However, there is debate within Islam about at what age a girl reaches maturity. Many Muslim communities and Islamic scholars agree with the internationally recognized age of maturity, eighteen. Moreover, many Muslims argue against child marriage because Islam mandates that men and women should choose their partners freely, and children are unable to do so.

How false accusations can destroy lives

 

 

 

Accused victim: American-born BBC DJ Paul Gambaccini has been cleared of what he says has been a nightmare of false accusations made against him. Photo - Wikipedia.org

 

 

It all comes down to substantiation or (proof).

The experience of having sustained the effects of false accusations for a year, American DJ Paul Gambaccini, who has worked in the British media industry and resided in the country for many years, is quite heart-felt in speaking about what happened to him in being falsely accused and he is adamant that he does not want to see other people go through what he went through, before his name was cleared and he managed to get some but not all, of his life back.

Read his story here in the dailymail.co.uk: https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-2983606%2FIs-going-terribly-wrong-British-justice-DJ-Paul-Gambaccini-spent-YEAR-bail-case-against-groundless-innocent-proved-guilty.html

Of course, in some cases different to Gambaccini’s, not every situation where a person has been cleared, necessarily means the evidence isn’t there, it may mean that it just hasn’t surfaced.

However, in this case, Gambaccini has definitely been cleared of the allegations made against him and he feels for other celebrities who he believes may be having to walk down the same nightmare path he has.

Another even more disturbing case of false allegation is US father, Daryl Kelly’s really scary story written by Jennifer Gonnerman from the New York News & Politics magazine in December, 2013.This is just how bad it can get being the victim of a false accusation and when something really goes belly up in the justice system:

http://nymag.com/news/features/chaneya-kelly-2014-1/

Here are some valuable tips to help people who may be wrongfully accused, from The Law Dictionary:

http://thelawdictionary.org/article/how-to-handle-being-wrongfully-accused-2/

How to handle being wrongfully accused

People can be devastated by being wrongfully accused of something and they can be caught off guard, leading to errors that can be extremely costly in the long run.

It is essential to ensure you are taking the right steps to protect yourself against potential loss.

Take action immediately:

It is important not to go into denial. Face up to what is happening immediately and directly. Try to hire a lawyer before any formal legal action can take place.

It is then the lawyer’s job to advise the client on the following steps:

This may include filing a pre-emptive police report. In many situations, the person who files the initial report is viewed as the victim rather than the perpetrator regardless of the circumstances.

You need to take your Right to Remain Silent:

People rarely know in advance of false accusation/s of a crime. Police raids are unexpected or they serve papers suddenly. When this happens, it is essential that all parties remain silent until a lawyer can be present. Help with the details will come from your legal counsel who will also get rid of any possibility of mistakes being made under the situation of duress.

Refuse Unwarranted Searches

Warrants make the difference between property searches carried out with the accused’s formal permission and when it is not. In the case of a trial, the police are required to adhere to the rules set out in the warrant. When verbal only permission is given, these rules are not necessarily followed.

Get yourself the best lawyer possible:

It is an expensive business proving you are innocent but the best lawyer could mean the difference between being found innocent and being wrongfully convicted of a crime.

Hire a lawyer who is experienced in this type of crime.

If money is an issue, ensure you stay involved in the situation and don’t just rely on the ability of the lawyer in this case.

Paper trail keeping is important:

Keep filed in a safe place documented record of each and every conversation and everything that happens.

Use a tape recorder with all conversations per phone between the accused and other people. Keep documented record of everything about the case and after it.

Documents may hold valuable information that may exonerate the victim.

Don’t go for plea bargains:

Because courts are very busy some accused are offered a plea bargain.

Although these may seem a good option to push things along faster, they are considered admitting guilt which can affect significant areas of the accused’s life such as getting jobs, credit, parental rights and the list goes on.

Seek financial relief for costs:

Defending a wrongful accusation in court may incur massive amounts of money in court costs and legal fees.

Likewise, the accused may lose his/her job which makes life difficult financially.

Even once innocence has been proven, the accused’s reputation may be tarnished for life and the personal life significantly affected.

A person falsely accused can sue for financial compensation and have an official acknowledgement of the wrongful accusation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brave children avert crime





Generic photo - Photo - The Conversation

Two young American boys threw into action using their martial arts skills to save their brother and help their grandfather keep all three safe in the face of a would-be attacker. Story - Pix 11.

An amazing story. Although you wouldn’t encourage children to put themselves in the way of danger but they were able to make a huge difference in this particular case.

Kids fighting crime:

http://pix11.com/2015/03/24/kentucky-kids-use-karate-to-keep-stranger-from-taking-their-brother/

Here is some information on how families can avert crime:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.smartparenting.com.ph/home-living/homebase/family-safety-18-reminders-to-avert-crime

There is definitely more alarming incidents of crime against families world-wide.

And the above situation of the two small boys intervening because the situation called for it, is not always possible and could put more children at risk:

1. Don’t trust anyone you don’t know
Teach children not to trust anyone they don’t know well. Although other people may seem friendly and nice, they should learn to be discerning, too. Encourage your kids to let you know right away if someone tries to talk to them or ask them to do something that feels strange.

2. Know your emergency numbers – and memorise them if you could.
There is often too much dependency on technology. If someone tries to snatch your bag or asks you to hand over your phone to them – where your contacts list is – chances are, you wouldn’t be able to call your family members to warn them about the incident if you don’t know their numbers. Having a list of important numbers to call is essential, but knowing at least one family member’s number by heart could be a life-saver.

3. Be involved in your kids’ activities.
Get to know other families your children spend time with. Attend school activities, events and other activities your child is involved in.

4. Listen to your children.
Ask how their day went. Pay attention to what they say. For younger kids, this is the best way to learn about what happens when mum or dad is not around. If your child brings up an incident in school that sounds disturbing, set an appointment with the teacher to discuss.


5. Keep some things private.
Some things are just best left private. Remind your family and house staff (nanny or housekeeper) not to divulge any detailed information like the child’s school, schedule/routine, places that the family frequents and other such information. You never know who could be listening to conversations.

6. Always wait in well-lit and crowded areas to wait. If a child has to wait to be picked up from school or sports, which sometimes cannot be avoided. Tell the child to stay at a place where school staff or coaching staff or security can easily see him/her, or stay with a group of friends in a common area.

7. Limit what you share on social media.
Take a moment to think before you click that ‘share’ button for the whole World Wide Web to see. How much information do you need to divulge? I know you’re proud of your son’s achievements in school, but maybe you can opt to not include a picture of his section or ID number in the photo. You can also check your privacy settings. Most social networking sites provide this feature. This way, you can select what you share, and only to family and trusted friends.

8. Always have someone you trust watching your kids. Anything can happen in the blink of an eye. Parents and guardians need to be alert and aware at all times, especially if in a crowded area. It has become very alarmingly rampant for abductions to happen in malls, so always have an eye on your children. Nothing is ever more important than your child’s safety.

9. Teach your kids how to say their name, age, phone number and address – and who to tell it to.
At an early age, you can already train your kids to know important information about them. This comes in handy when they’re lost or need help. However, it’s also important to teach them who to approach in such a situation, like a security guard in uniform, or the person manning the mall’s information booth.

10. Talk to your child about the dangers of abduction in a non-threatening way.
Never hide the truth. Parents should always be open to their children especially when talking about the dangers out there. What’s important is that it is explained in a non-threatening way. Keep it factual, and empower them by teaching them what to do in case such a thing happens. Role-play if you feel it’s necessary. Empowerment and knowledge is key.

11. Always double check locked windows and doors.
Be it at home or in the car, always make sure all doors and windows are locked as soon as you get in.

12. Remind your child-minders, nanny, baby-sitter not to entertain anyone they don’t know unless you left word about it.
Even if it requires you to remind them constantly, always tell child-minders or whoever is left at home with the kids to never entertain people that are not expected.

13. Invest on a CCTV camera.
They are your ‘eyes’ and ‘ears’, especially when you have to be away from home. Remember that a few nannies or child-minders have been caught on camera physically hurting their wards, so a CCTV camera will tell you what your child, who is yet to speak, couldn’t.

14. Be social media savvy.
Be up to date on important service announcements or issues that may be of good use to you and your family. Learn from the experience of others. Stay safe and be informed.

15. Keep a good distance from someone in a car asking for directions.
This is important, especially if it’s a heavily tinted one. Raise your voice to be heard, or if you feel uncomfortable, don’t say anything at all. You are not obliged to give directions.

16. There is no need to open your window all the way down, when asking for directions.
The inside of your vehicle is your safe zone. Don’t let anyone cross it.

17. Carry a handheld or pocket-sized pepper spray.
Your family’s best defense is a quick and reliable one. You can purchase a pocket pepper spray at some stores.

18. Pray.
Because you need all the help you can get.

A mother's heart-rending story

 

 

Photo - nzherald.co.nz 

 

This heart rending experience of a totally unpreventable, mother and child-involved accident raises the awareness of those things that can just go wrong sometimes and it’s no one’s fault.

Theresa Vargas tells her brave story about an unthinkable, unpredictable and non-preventable accident that happened involving herself and her baby son.

She tells it in her own words, which is inspiring and thankfully, has a happy ending. See the link above from nzherald.co.nz

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11421754&ref=NZH_FBpage

For information from the World Health Organisation regarding accidents where children become injured and sometimes even die, go to: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2008/pr46/en/

As said, Theresa Vargas’ situation is a complete, non-preventable accident, with a good outcome.

However, the figures for unintentional child deaths are concerning world-wide:

A staggering number of more than 2000 children die every day as a result of unintentional or accidental injuries.

Every year tens of millions more worldwide are taken to hospitals with injuries that often leave them with lifelong disabilities, according to a new report by WHO and UNICEF.

The report, called World report on child injury prevention provides the first comprehensive global assessment of unintentional childhood injuries and prescribes measures to prevent them.

It concludes that if proven prevention measures were adopted everywhere at least 1000 children’s lives could be saved every day.

“Child injuries are an important public health and development issue. In addition to the 830,000 deaths every year, millions of children suffer non-fatal injuries that often require long-term hospitalisation and rehabilitation," says WHO director-general Dr Margaret Chan.

"The costs of such treatment can throw an entire family into poverty."

“This report is the result of a collaboration of more than 180 experts from all regions of the world,” says UNICEF executive director Ann M Veneman.

However, the report finds the rate is 10 times higher in Africa than in high-income countries in Europe and the Western Pacific such as Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and the United Kingdom, which have the lowest rates of child injury.

However, the report finds that although many high-income countries have been able to reduce their child injury deaths by up to 50 percent over the past 30 years, the issue remains a problem for them, with unintentional injuries accounting for 40 percent of all child deaths in such countries.

 The report finds that the top five causes of injury deaths are:

• Road crashes: They kill 260,000 children a year and injure about 10 million. They are the leading cause of death among 10-19 year olds and a leading cause of child disability.
• Drowning: It kills more than 175,000 children a year. Every year, up to 3 million children survive a drowning incident. Due to brain damage in some survivors, non-fatal drowning has the highest average lifetime health and economic impact of any injury type.
• Burns: Fire-related burns kill nearly 96,000 children a year and the death rate is 11 times higher in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries.
• Falls: Nearly 47,000 children fall to their deaths every year, but hundreds of thousands more sustain less serious injuries from a fall.
• Poisoning: More than 45,000 children die each year from unintended poisoning.

 

 

Kind New Zealand celebrity



Humanitarian: New Zealand Race Relations Commissioner and squash great Dame Susan Devoy believes we should accept more refugees into the country. Photo nzherald.co.nz

I've often wondered what would happen if we found ourselves in a situation where we no longer had anywhere we could call home.

Hopefully, we would never have to find out. But I like the view of New Zealand Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy here in this nzherald.co.nz article:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11420787

http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1213/13rp01

 An Australian Parliamentary research paper on refugees says:

• At the end of 2011 there were over 16 million refugees and asylum seekers worldwide. By far the majority of these are hosted in the developing world, close to the refugee-producing hotspots. However significant numbers do make their way to developed countries to apply for asylum.
• In the context of increasing numbers of asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat in recent years, there has been much debate about the impact of certain policy measures on numbers of arrivals, and the relative significance of ‘pull’ versus ‘push’ factors in influencing the rate of arrivals.
• There is a growing body of research (albeit largely from outside Australia) into the issue of asylum destination choice–that is, the extent to which asylum seekers are able to exercise choice when it comes to their destination country, and their reasons for choosing certain countries over others.
• This research reveals a number of common themes, chief among them being that asylum seekers generally have limited options available to them, and choices are made within a very narrow field of possibilities. Their choices and their journeys are often strongly influenced by the people smugglers, or agents, they engage to assist them.
• Where asylum seekers are able to exercise choice in determining their destination country, factors such as the presence of social networks, historical ties between the countries of origin and destination, and the knowledge or belief that a certain country is democratic, where human rights and the rule of law are likely to be respected, are highly influential.
• Policies and processes relating to the asylum procedure in destination countries are generally not well known and therefore not highly significant in influencing choice of destination. This represents a major challenge for governments which are attempting to curb flows of asylum seekers through changes to asylum policy.

Why do some people get involved and others don't?

New Zealand woman Lucy Knight paid a price to intervene



Brave intervention: Lucy Knight was prepared to put her own health and safety at risk to rescue a fellow citizen who was a victim of crime. She paid a huge price with a long journey back to reasonable health.

Many would have to take their hat off to New Zealand woman Lucy Knight who stepped in to help a crime victim.

See her story here, which was televised on TVNZ's TV 1 Sunday programme: http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/lucy-knight-i-haven-t-forgiven-my-attacker-yet-6260107?autoStart=true

But what makes some people get involved and others stay out of it?

Aeon magazine ran this article about bystander helpful and unhelpfulness. See the full article here: http://aeon.co/magazine/psychology/how-we-can-get-bystanders-to-help-victims-of-crime/

Following some horrific crimes - so horrific in fact, that the work of psychologists Darley and Latané couldn’t really account for the phenomenon of unhelpfulness in full.

Why, in the face of such devastating violence, were otherwise ‘good people’ looking the other way?

One issue worth exploring was the long-standing idea, perpetuated by the Genovese story (where a bar manager was brutally assaulted and murdered), that big cities breed apathy, even callousness.

The theory turns out to be flawed – city size played a role, but not the most important one.

Robert Levine, a social psychologist at California State University, Fresno, has evaluated ‘helping behaviours’ in cities all over the world.

In each city, Levine and his team have run a series of experiments in which bystanders have the opportunity to help or not help a stranger.

In one experiment, for example, researchers feigned a leg injury and dropped a large pile of magazines in view of a passing pedestrian, visibly struggling to bend over and pick them up.
In another, researchers feigned blindness at a street crossing, held out their cane and awaited assistance. Still other experiments were simpler – researchers dropped pens or stamped-addressed envelopes and tracked whether a bystander tried to return the pen or mail the envelope.

Results challenge the long-standing assumption that big, anonymous cities are destined to be full of unhelpful people.

In his 1994 paper on helping behaviours in 36 cities in the US, for the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, some smaller places such as Paterson in New Jersey and Shreveport in Louisiana ranked low on Levine’s helping index.

Meanwhile, the most helpful city internationally, of the 23 he and colleagues studied for their 2001 paper for the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, was Rio de Janeiro – population some 6.5 million today.
‘There were some big cities that were helpful, and some small cities that weren’t helpful,’ says Levine.
‘And that would indicate that there’s something in the culture – there’s this magical, mysterious part of the culture that breeds helpfulness. The opposite of what I was taught growing up in New York, which was not to help. That you’re not a bad person if you don’t help.’

Brave comedian talks about ongoing health battle



Brave entertainer: New Zealand comedian Mike King continues to battle the difficult condition of depression. Story link and photo - The Hits

New Zealand comedian Mike King has never made any secret of the fact that he battles depression.

See the link here below where he talks about dealing with it again.

http://www.thehits.co.nz/thescoop/comedian-mike-king-reveals-recent-battle-with-depression/

Go to: http://www.depression.org.nz/depression for general information about depression:

Most people feel miserable now and then, often when something upsetting or stressful is happening such as a relationship break-up, or losing a job.

Feeling down in response to difficult situations is pretty normal, and usually the feelings fade over time and you get on with life. But when the feelings of unhappiness are intense and persistent - and they don’t go away even when things improve - this could be depression. The medical term for this is ‘major depressive disorder’.

There’s no simple answer as to why people become depressed. It’s often a combination of things and it varies from person to person. We do know that some people are more likely to become depressed than others. Depression can also be triggered by a difficult situation in your life, or it can build up over many years. Sometimes there’s no obvious reason.

Being aware of the risk factors in your life will help you identify what might be causing your depression and help you find the right way through it. Here are some of the risk factors we know about:

family history

• other members of your family having depression
• traumatic experiences in childhood, including violence

Family history explained

events

• death or loss of someone close
• relationship break-ups
• traumatic, often life threatening events
• financial pressure
• unemployment
• serious accidents (particularly head injuries) or long-term illness
• some medication (check with your doctor)
• stress or problems at work, school or university or on the farm
• bullying or abuse
• some women experience depression during pregnancy or after childbirth
• Natural events such as drought or earthquakes

How events play a role

lifestyle

• excessive alcohol consumption
• recreational or party drugs
• social isolation
• lack of sleep
• poor diet and lack of exercise

Why lifestyle factors matter

Next step

Look through the lists above and ask yourself if any of these are strong influences in your life. Addressing these factors could help with treating your depression.

The link under each list explains which treatment strategies and/or health professionals may best help.

Marathon Bible readings planned for New Zealand town

 

 

 

 

 

 



Community spirited: Dargaville's Jane McDonell is creating some good, positive vibes in her community by organising a cover to cover Bible reading marathon in her town.

Northland New Zealand woman Jane McDonell has been inspired to create some community spirit by organising a non-stop community cover-to-cover Bible reading marathon over four days.

Mrs McDonell decided to plan the Bible reading marathon in her town of Dargaville, as a way of creating some hope and promoting her area in a positive way.

But she needs around 600 people to do 15-minute reading slots and she only has 36 who have shown interest so far.

 

The Bible marathon will kick off on Sunday, March 22, at 3pm and will continue until the last page is read on Thursday, March 26.

“We need the numbers so that we can get through the pages in the time,” Mrs McDonell says.

She heard about this being done in a town in England and it seemed to be successful in bringing people together.

The mayor of the English town and his wife were asked if they would go along to participate in the Bible marathon and he turned up alone, saying his wife was at home entertaining visitors who turned up just as they were leaving.

“He said his situation with the visitors was similar to a story played out in one of the Biblical books and he wanted to be part of it despite his visitors,” Mrs McDonell says.

She believes the Dargaville readings will create an awareness of community and is an opportunity for people to participate in something that is community.

“Our farmers have had a struggle with droughts and there are people unemployed and empty shops in the town, so I thought it’s a positive thing to do and a way of people coming together to participate in a group effort and be proud of their area,” she says.

Mrs McDonell makes it clear that the readings are not in any way about preaching to anyone and everyone is welcome to join in, non-church or church people, visitors, towns people, rural people, whoever.

“Someone commented to me that it’s a good idea if it would make people happy and increase community spirit,” she says.

Various groups and organisations have put the word out around their people and she’s told community radio, newspapers, social media and asked for flyers to be put in shop windows, as well as church newsletters and community notice boards.

Anyone interested in participating in the Bible reading marathon in Dargaville can contact Jane McDonell on (09) 439 8101 or mobile (021) 023 18539 and there is email: fjmcdonell@hotmail.com

 

 

Vanuatu hit hard by Cyclone Pam

 

 Great need: Vanuatu communities are struggling to survive in the wake of devastating Cyclone Pam. - Photo Save the Children.

 Vanuatu is having to start again after entire villages have been demolished and dozens of people are feared dead following devastating Cyclone Pam considered the worst ever to hit the country.

Save the Children® is one aid organisation that has launched an emergency appeal to respond to the severe devastation caused by the cyclone in the Pacific Region.

“The next few hours and days are critical for children’s survival," says Nichola Krey, Save the Children’s Head of Humanitarian Response. 

It’s estimated 90 percent of all structures in Efate, one of the main islands, are either damaged or destroyed and food crops have been heavily hit. 

Thousands of people across the island nation are now homeless and living in evacuation centres.

We urgently need funds to help distribute: 

• equipment to provide clean water to communities
• emergency shelter kits for home repairs
• hygiene equipment to keep communities clean, safe and healthy
• essential household items including blankets and mattresses

We have teams of disaster experts on the ground working around the clock to set up and distribute supplies, but we urgently need funds to reach children and families facing this desperate situation.

The next few days will be critical as the scale of this emergency unfolds.

Please help children and their families by making a tax-deductible donation today.

We are calling on all New Zealanders to donate what they can.


Statement from Heather Hayden, chief executive officer, Save the Children

Go to: http://www.savethechildren.org.au/ to donate.

Women encouraged to get the most out of life

Inspiring: Power house New Zealand business woman Lindy Nelson encourages women to get the most out of the short time they have to realise their passion, potential and purpose. 

 

New Zealand Agri-Women’s Development Trust (AWDT) founder and executive director Lindy Nelson would have to be one of the most inspiring women I have come across in my career.

She names among her friends, New Zealand business woman power-house former Spark (Telecom) CEO and My Food Bag founder, Theresa Gattung and rural business woman and Rural Women of New Zealand national councillor, Fiona Gower.

I attended an inspirational and challenging day-course called ‘Reveal’ at Whangarei, hosted by Rural Women New Zealand, where Lindy was speaking to over 100 enthusiastic women.

Her message was that life is short and it's about how we get the most out of it to realise our passion and potential.

Topics she covered in connection with the above message included; people operating using their strengths and skills, being courageous to move forward toward what they want, thinking properly, people finding their passion, goal setting and taking small steps towards them and success celebration.

I found the workshops helpful, interesting and informative.

One where she asked attendees to write down what they thought six of their strengths and skills were, and then asked to grade them from 1 – well developed, 2 being ok and 3 – needing development, was an eye opener to me and others I sat with.

If we scored low on any of the skills or strengths it meant that skill/strength was well developed but if we scored high, it meant we needed development.

Some attendees were surprised and disappointed at their results. She commented that they had perhaps been a little too hard on themselves in the grading process.

I felt the values of passion, potential and purpose and being asked to place our pens on paper and just write for 15 minutes, asking ourselves the question:

What is the highest purpose I can have for my life? If I couldn’t fail … was a view I needed to explore, as fear can really cripple people and impede them from going ahead.

She taught women how to refine their purpose, set realistic goals for themselves and be positive and find their own ‘fit’ in life, which made me think about my own path and made me more determined to follow what my true passion is.

A very short piece of red ribbon was used to illustrate the short amount of time we have left in life, to do what we really love, from everything else we need to fit into it, and we were encouraged to put this piece of ribbon in a place where it is a reminder of that short time-frame.

She taught about the importance of developing confidence and getting rid of negative self-talk.

I found the action of being encouraged to replace a negative thought with a positive one was magic because it means practising what we say to ourselves, can have an impact on the results we get in life.

This day was well worth giving up some time to attend. I highly recommend it.

For more information on Lindy Nelson and the AWDT go to: www.awdt.org.nz