I am turning a
year older tomorrow, and I always get asked what I want for my birthday and I am
epically awful at thinking of material things I want. It’s time to put material things aside and
remember those who paved the way for me. Every year I know what I want — I want
to be able to make an impact to the lives of my adopted kids in my community (Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro). I usually do
this every year since 2008. I know it’s not everyday that you get to help people
around you and not everyone has the heart and passion to reach out to those who
are in need.
For those who
don’t know, I started a charity works and a volunteer’s organization (Keep Hope
Alive) in 2008, a lifetime commitment for queer children who experience poverty,
hunger and depression. I firmly believe that to bring change to our world we
need to keep as many queer and questioning and amazing young people in this
world as possible before anything else we do matters, and Keep Hope Alive helps
me do that. Every act of involvement says you believe in the idea of making the
world a better place. Children will not remember you for the material things
you provided, but for the feeling that you cherished them. I admire those people who do and pray for the hearts of those who don’t that someday their hearts will be touched and be able to share their blessings.
I’ve been
thinking about this for a while, and it’s really the thing that will make me most
happy second to serving God and family. In giving, I believe nothing is too
little, no matter how small. Napakasarap sa feeling na nakakapagpasaya at
nakakatulong ka sa mga tao lalo na sa mga musmos sa paligid mo. Ako aaminin
kong wala akong pakialam sa mga batang palaboy-laboy lamang sa lansangan nung
bata pa ako, dahil unang-una hindi ko naman sila kaano-ano. Pero nung nakita ko
kung gaano sila kasaya sa ginagawa kong pagtulong, narealize ko na lahat ng tao
sa mundong ito ay dapat pangalagaan ang isa’t isa sapagkat tayo’y mga nilikha ng
diyos na may kaakibat na responsibilidad para magserve. Lalo na kapag
nakaka-angat ka or kaya blessed ka with good job and family na di nararanasan
ng mga batang ito. I know money is hard, and charity can be very personal, but
God’s provision is immeasurable.
I’m very excited for my birthday tomorrow. Another wish will come to pass. I’m excited to see more
children to be fed and be inspired with the feeding and healthy teeth program
we prepared. To all the people, friends and my family who helped and supported me
with this passion and advocacy, thank you is not enough. Let God deal with your
good deeds. To some people just reading this and knowing and respecting that
this is something I care about means a lot to me. J
Playing with the kids. These kids loved to be cuddled. As soon as their done with handwashing they ran towards me and asked me to carry them on our back. (piggy back ride)
Corruption has
been one of the major problems of our country for centuries. It can be traced
back during the Spanish era wherein our own colonizers itself practice
corruption in many ways, some in government affairs and projects and most are
from religious means from Spanish priest or prayle. For 333 years, we were
exposed to that kind of obnoxious attitude which taught us to abuse minority
and feel superior to ourselves while lavishing the money poor people had worked
hard to earn.
We are now in the middle of
advancement where our country encourages development and breakthroughs for the
betterment of people. The undeniable influence of modernity became an imprint
to our daily life which left nothing but history books to tell us of the ruins
and traditions our colonizers had instilled us. Slowly, we are loosing our
tight hold to our old cultures which were the product of hundred years of
imprisonment and great oppression from different countries; however,
corruption, still rigid and hard, had survived and remained as an unresolved
problem reigning in our society and a bit of a remembrance from our colonizers.
Up until now, we see through our
own eyes how corruption is solved with tolerance and no action. It seems like
its pretty normal that a politician is corrupt, that a government leader is
being paid for illegal means that a man must die to stand against corruption
and that nobody survives when you’re against it. If you can’t beat them, then
be one of them. That might be the reason why only a few stands for the right.
I’m afraid if this continues, no progress could be seen and we will forever
remain as a developing country. We will forever suffer the aftermath of
lenience with corruption. However, it is never too late to move and put your
plans into action. With strict implementation of anti-corruption campaign and
should be powered by the government itself and the people as the watchers of
justice, corruption may still be shattered into pieces. We, citizens should pay
attention to the politicians who are not practicing the campaign. There should
be no exceptions, no family, friends, or close relatives that will stop them
from being charged with corruption. To this campaign, there is no blood and
acquaintances involved. Everyone should be punished if failed to get rid of
corruption. The implementation of the campaign should be fair and equal.
With the increasing number of
population, the greater the demand of food and the higher risk of poverty, we
should not let corruption get in our way again. By exterminating it, other
branch out problems would be gone like poverty and scarcity of food. So let us
be part for a bigger change.
Very inspiring, but has anything changed? We are destroying
more than what we are saving.This is exactly what the world needs, to stop
fighting wars and to build schools, hospitals and stop pollution, this girl is
right, we must act together now, before it's too late! We are one world, one
people and we must all live together on one planet.
Here is the full text of Severn Cullis-Suzuki’s speech
before the UN Earth Summit in Rio, Brazil in 1992, made when she was 12 years
old. Too bad the world listened, applauded, and shed an emotional tear, but did
not do anything substantial for her, as the likes of George W. Bush decided it
would be too restrictive on their accustomed way of life, and would cost their
industrial cronies too much. (ssjothiratnam)
Hello, I’m Severn Suzuki speaking for E.C.O. – The
Environmental Children’s Organisation.
We are a group of twelve and thirteen-year-olds from Canada
trying to make a difference: Vanessa
Suttie, Morgan Geisler, Michelle Quigg and me. We raised all the money
ourselves to come six thousand miles to tell you adults you must change your
ways. Coming here today, I have no hidden agenda. I am fighting for my
future.
Losing my future is not like losing an election or a few
points on the stock market. I am here to speak for all generations to come.
I am here to speak on behalf of the starving children around
the world whose cries go unheard.
I am here to speak for the countless animals dying across
this planet because they have nowhere left to go. We cannot afford to be not
heard.
I am afraid to go out in the sun now because of the holes in
the ozone. I am afraid to breathe the air because I don’t know what chemicals
are in it.
I used to go fishing in Vancouver with my dad until just a
few years ago we found the fish full of cancers. And now we hear about animals
and plants going extinct every day — vanishing forever.
In my life, I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild
animals, jungles and rainforests full of birds and butterflies, but now I
wonder if they will even exist for my children to see.
Did you have to worry about these little things when you were
my age?
All this is happening before our eyes and yet we act as if
we have all the time we want and all the solutions. I’m only a child and I
don’t have all the solutions, but I want you to realise, neither do you!
• You don’t
know how to fix the holes in our ozone layer.
• You don’t
know how to bring salmon back up a dead stream.
• You don’t
know how to bring back an animal now extinct.
• And you
can’t bring back forests that once grew where there is now desert.
If you don’t know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!
Here, you may be delegates of your governments, business
people, organisers, reporters or politicians – but really you are mothers and
fathers, brothers and sister, aunts and uncles – and all of you are somebody’s
child.
I’m only a child yet I know we are all part of a family,
five billion strong, in fact, 30 million species strong and we all share the
same air, water and soil — borders and governments will never change that
I’m only a child yet I know we are all in this together and
should act as one single world towards one single goal.
In my anger, I am not blind, and in my fear, I am not afraid
to tell the world how I feel.
In my country, we make so much waste, we buy and throw away,
buy and throw away, and yet northern countries will not share with the needy.
Even when we have more than enough, we are afraid to lose some of our wealth,
afraid to share.
In Canada, we live the privileged life, with plenty of food,
water and shelter — we have watches, bicycles, computers and television sets.
Two days ago here in Brazil, we were shocked when we spent
some time with some children living on the streets. And this is what one child
told us: “I wish I was rich and if I were, I would give all the street children
food, clothes, medicine, shelter and love and affection.”
If a child on the street who has nothing, is willing to
share, why are we who have everything still so greedy?
I can’t stop thinking that these children are my age, that
it makes a tremendous difference where you are born, that I could be one of
those children living in the Favellas of Rio; I could be a child starving in
Somalia; a victim of war in the Middle East or a beggar in India.
I’m only a child yet I know if all the money spent on war
was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful
place this earth would be!
At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us to behave in
the world. You teach us:
• not to
fight with others,
• to work
things out,
• to
respect others,
• to clean
up our mess,
• not to
hurt other creatures
• to share
– not be greedy.
Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to
do?
Do not forget why you’re attending these conferences, who
you’re doing this for — we are your own children. You are deciding what kind of
world we will grow up in. Parents should be able to comfort their children by
saying “everything’s going to be alright” , “we’re doing the best we can” and
“it’s not the end of the world”.
But I don’t think you can say that to us anymore. Are we
even on your list of priorities? My father always says “You are what you do,
not what you say.”
Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown ups say
you love us. I challenge you, please make your actions reflect your words.
Thank you for listening
Severn Cullis-Suzuki has been active in environmental
and social justice work ever since kindergarten. She was twelve years old when
she gave this speech, and she received a standing ovation. Now 23,
Cullis-Suzuki spearheads The SkyFish Project and continues to speak to schools
and corporations, and at many conferences and international meetings. She lives
in Vancouver, British Columbia.(ssjothiratnam)
