A while ago I applied to sponsor a child through World Vision. As I was under 18, I needed parental permission. My mum told me to wait till I was more financially stable, which was fair enough. But then she also said to me, "If you're going to donate money, you should help your own people first and donate to all those poor Chinese people." And then she began to tell me all those newspaper stories of children who had to work and care for their sick parents, etc etc. I don't think I even need to recount the argument that followed.
So, as today is Sunday, my mum dragged me to church this morning. And what else should they focus on but the earthquake in China? (plus a little bit on Burma too). So my Mum leaves the church saying, "See, if you're gonna donate, help the people in China. Help your own people first. Those poor kids, they're gonna grow up without a family."
Excuse me, why is someone's life worth more just because we are the same ethnicity? Are we not all humans? It's the same with how the media reports situations in the Middle East. Whenever an Australian/US/British soldier dies, there are whole reports dedicated to them. Whenever there is a mass suicide attack, the hundreds of dead Iraqis/Afghans are just figures.
And somehow, I don't think that the orphans in China are in a situation any more desperate than those in, say, Mozambique. No matter how deprived the orphans are, I'm sure they'll still be guaranteed clean water.
Anyway, onto less depressing stuff. Last night was Chris's 18th; Nothing extraordinarily fun. I only stayed for the dinner - which was sort of pathetic (sorry to be mean) but it was seriously 3-4 small dishes between a whole table. I mean, these are carnivorous males I'm sharing a table with. The cake was more interesting - a boobies cake. Kevin attempted to start a cake fight by caking Daniel but got told off by Johnny. Ahh... Funny stuff. Being a good girl of course I went home after dinner, while the rest went up to a hotel to ... do stuff that you do when you're 18. And other...stuff. (I'm a bit paranoid about what I say on this cuz I know my Dad knows I have a blog. And since its emblazoned on my MSN PM there's every chance he's reading this right now.)
And ... today was just spent integrating. And integrating some more. I swear I could kill the person who invented calculus.
