EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL
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SAVE OUR CHILDREN
Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, and Sheikh Maktoum of Dubai are three great philanthropists and humanitarians who have taken charge of campaigns to improve the lives of children in their countries and worldwide. It is worthwhile to acknowledge their dedication and wise contributions to these causes and to support the most needy.
Bill Gates Reaches Out
CEO of the behemoth company he created in his youth, Bill Gates--one of the world's richest men and mastermind behind Microsoft's meteoric rise--along with his wife Melinda have donated over $3.3 billion this week, making their gifts the largest charitable donations ever made. $2.23 billion was donated to the William H. Gates foundation, which is named after Gates' father. The foundation was established to provide grants to causes related to world health, population, education, and other services in the Seattle area. Another $1.15 billion was donated to the Gates Learning Foundation, which is dedicated to providing computers and Internet access to lower income families and schools. Gates has pursued a number of philanthropic endeavours, donating large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, established in 2000. In total, the Gates have donated over $5 billion to these two charities since 1994. As of December 2006, the total endowment for the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation is a whopping $33 billion making it the largest global non-profit and transparency charity in the world.
Oprah Winfrey Foundation
Media
celebrity and mogul, Oprah Winfrey, has made a name for herself both on the
screen and outside of it. The Giving Back Fund, the premier resource in celebrity philanthropy,
recently announced that Oprah Winfrey tops the inaugural Giving Back 30, a ranking
of the celebrities who have made the largest personal public donations to
charity in 2006. Oprah also manages her own philanthropic organization
The Oprah Winfrey Foundation which provides grants to not-for-profit
organizations that offer educational opportunities and enhance the quality of
life for children and families throughout the world.
So far in 2006, The Oprah Winfrey Foundation distributed more than $6.5
million to 18 organizations and sponsored the building of a 30,000 square
foot, state-of-the-art facility for The Oprah Winfrey Boys and Girls Club of
Kosciusko/Attala County.
Her personal projects includes opening a new school she funded in South Africa to give an education to girls from poor families. The school, which has 28 buildings across a 20 hectare (50 acre) site, with hi-tech classrooms, computers and science laboratories, is located in the small town of Henley-on-Klip south of Johannesburg. The total cost of building the school was $40m and selects its students from families whose income is less than $700 a month. The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy will eventually cater to 450 girls who show outstanding promise but whose families cannot support their education.
Sheikh Rashid al-Maktoum's Donation
Noting the high illiteracy rates in the Middle East, The sheikh said his generous donation was in response to the Middle East's high illiteracy rate and the limited scientific capabilities and book publishing, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai gave $10 billion to help raise his nation's standards of education and to create a Middle Eastern educational foundation. The sheikh said his funds would go to the creation of "a knowledge-based society" in the region and would promote increased research efforts. "In order to realize these objectives, the [....] Foundation [will] focus on human development," he said. He noted that the knowledge gap between the Middle East and the developed world in the West and in Asia is vast and that the only choice is to bridge this gap as quickly as possible.
Children In the Crossfire
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In an era of madness where everyday news brings stories of death and destruction in every corner of the globe, the level of inhumanity has reached unbelievable heights. It is saddening to hear about the destruction of Sunni and Shiite mosques in Iraq on a daily basis and the escape of Iraqi Christians from their country. Bombers have been convinced that their only road to heaven is through the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians, seniors, women and children become targets of daily campaigns of extermination. An Iraqi child of 12 years old appeared on an Arabic television station wielding a knife and slitting the throat of a Iraqi man, becaming a symbol of madness in the increasingly miserable Iraq. In another country, a deplorable man called Tourbini killed around 20 street children after sexually abusing them .
In Gaza, fighting unfolds between Hamas and Fatah which has crippled much of the Palestinian territories, involving horrific acts of madness including reprisal killings and throwing people out of high buildings. Large numbers of civilian deaths, including children, were reported throughout the territory as a result of this war for political control..
In Lebanon, more than 400,000 Palestinians live in refugee camps throughout the country. What happened in Nahr el-Bared camp and the fighting between Fatah El-Islam militias and the Lebanese army has left a major scar for both the Palestinians and the Lebanese people, with many children killed or orphaned.
In London, thanks to God, the police foiled two attempts to detonate explosives in the downtown area. Two vehicles were in the touristic city center were loaded with explosive devices and nails to ensure the greatest number of casualties possible - again in an area filled with innocent families and their children.
It was also strange to hear that a member of one of the royal families in the Gulf was found to be a top operative in a global network of drug trafficking and was caught and convicted in a European court. The primary customer base for their poisons were unsuspecting youth and children.
I am more than convinced that to DEFEAT TERRORISM NOW we have to search for ways to SAVE OUR CHILDREN.
International Development Projects
In Afghanistan, a forensic doctor reported that many of the bombers who killed seniors, women and children suffered from different disabilities. This was reported in the Ambassadors News Section. Through my experience for more than 50 years as a community paediatrician and medical geneticist in the Middle East, Europe and North America, I have unlimited belief that to defeat terrorism now, we must have clear cut projects to save our children everywhere. The world needs a movement to establish two MEGA GLOBAL FUNDS within the WHO and the other through the UNICEF. To guarantee we never hear again about a child without access to education, access to free healthcare, or to live in the streets if he/she were born in a broken home!
Why not build a global organization supported by some of the
petrodollars and donations from billionaires who are listed in Forbes
magazine for projects which can operate on three levels: global,
regional and national. If we know that there are more than 85 million barrels of
oil produced daily, and if we collect just $2 from every barrel of oil sold ($1
goes to the WHO projects and $1 to the UNICEF education programs), this would
raise around $30 billion annually for each of the WHO and UNICEF funds. While oil
has been a major source of competition and war in the past, it is time to change
the course of history and human destiny by ensuring that the black gold serves a
higher moral cause than simply making profit.
In The Ambassadors Magazine's 10th Anniversary, help make our dream become a reality by promoting it everywhere and sending us your opinion.
Prof. Talaat I. Farag
MD, FRCP(E), FACP, FACMG
Former adjunct professor, Dalhousie University, Canada.
Founder and director, The Ambassadors Research Foundation
Email: tfarag@dal.ca.
