Saturday, December 25, 2010

Remember the true meaning of Christmas today and this Christmas season!

The Christmas Story from St Paul's on Vimeo.


What I'm getting this Christmas:

ESV Study Bible, Large Print

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Important Children's Home Facebook Update

Update: Sorry about that, I was getting a bit muddled. I just discovered today that the OCR Overseas Community Reach facebook page is actually open to everyone (including those who are not joined up to facebook). So if you wanted to look at any further information you don't need to join up with facebook. The link is: http://www.facebook.com/pages/OCR-Overseas-Community-Reach/157758800933392?ref=mf 

 Jessica Murray says "Jessica Murrayfor Barcelona Orphanage is changing over to this cause. Please transfer over if you are still interested in praying for these children because Jessica Murrayfor Barcelona Orphanage will be closing down soon. You are not required to be friends... There are also some lovely photos and videos on the new facebook cause that I would encourage you to look at. Thanks, Jessica"

See more
OCR Overseas Community Reach is an Australian non-profit organisation, registered in Victoria. It raises funds for development and relief aid to communities in need.
Page:6 people like this.
22 November at 19:37 · · · Share


    • Jessica Murray
      Remember to look under discussions for more information on the children's home...

      22 November at 19:40 ·

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Blog update and Christmas preparation

My complete blog is now under renovation so if you notice that most of my posts have been taken down please bear with me.

You might also be interested in reading the following post that I did last Christmas at this link:
http://1of8kids.blogspot.com/2009/12/gift.html


( I also like the youtube links at: http://1of8kids.blogspot.com/2009/11/tears-of-saints.html and would encourage you to look through what is left on my blog as all the posts that are still up are the ones I have left because they are my favourite.)

Thursday, November 18, 2010

My testimony (Part 2 - As written November 2010)


My testimony (Part 2)
(As written November 2010)

Before Jonathan was born I longed for a little brother or sister and every time I went to bed Mom always used to pray with me that God would give me a brother or sister. One of my earliest memories was of Jonathan coming home from the hospital after he was born. I was absolutely awestruck by the tiniest little curled up fists, small feet and even smaller toes and his cute little face. I remember touching and stroking his little baby hand and I remember Mom saying "Careful Jessica, make sure you touch him gently". I also know that Jonathan was almost named Calvin but the name Jonathan was decided because it was our prayer that we would become the best of friends just like Jonathan and David in the bible.

So what has this got to do with me and my testimony of God's gift of salvation? Well in a sense being born, life and what happened after my life was over was one of my biggest questions as a young girl and I took it so seriously that I was extremely scared of what would happen if I were to die to the point that I was scared of God because I knew he was righteous and just; in other words I was scared of God's wrath if I didn't learn how to love Jesus. I felt a heavy and deep sense of, what I now looking back realise, was feeling separated from God every time I tried to pray to Him at night.

The fact that people are born was something that I was made very aware of every time one of my siblings came to join our family but I wasn't quite sure how I could be born again. I tried to make myself do it on my own but I never really meant it when I prayed. I wanted to love God only as a way to heaven and not really because I was sorry for my sins. And so that feeling of God's righteous presence seemed to bug me and follow my thoughts whatever I did wherever I went. 

Finally, when I was about nine or nearly nine, I just sobbed my heart out and said sorry to God for all my sins. He gave me a peace I had never felt before, a peace that I had always longed for, a peace that was now mine. I had expected to have to 'do something' or that I would somehow 'earn' salvation by learning how to come to be 'favoured' by God because before I always had felt a distance to God as if I was somehow 'rejected' or 'not favoured' by Him. But when finally all I wanted as my primary purpose was to please and glorify God (rather than go to heaven), when I truly wanted God forgiveness and was truly ashamed of my sin I realized that salvation was a gift and that I was adopted and born again into God's family.

A verse that I have loved for years since I discovered it at about the age of twelve has always been this one:

Isaiah 40:11 (ESV)

11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
   he will gather the lambs in his arms;                                                                         

he will carry them in his bosom,
   and gently lead those that are with young.


I now look back at those unusual years and realise that God was with me in a very special way and used my circumstances to strengthen my faith. I am really thankful that God saved me at an early age and that He has drawn me closer to Him over the years. 

One of my favourite bible verses, which I learned when I received a cover for my Reformation Study Bible for my fourteenth birthday, is Jeremiah 29:10-14 (ESV):

 10"For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfil to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

This verse in Jeremiah really spoke to me at the time as I was going through a hard place in my faith at that stage of my life. It's one that God has used over and over again to remind me that He always has a purpose for me whatever the circumstances and wherever I am and that God sometimes chooses to lead me through a ‘furnace’ to come out with a stronger faith…

6In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by  various trials, 7so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

9And I will put this third into the fire,
   and refine them as one refines silver,
   and test them as gold is tested.
 They will call upon my name,
   and I will answer them.                                                                                                
I will say, 'They are my people';
   and they will say, 'The LORD is my God.'"

Yes, God has promised me that I am truly His for all eternity, and so I am extremely grateful to God for what He has done in my life and for staying by me to be my comforter and to make a way for me to follow. And so today this is my song:

Psalm 66 (ESV)

How Awesome Are Your Deeds
To the choirmaster. A Song. A Psalm.
 1 Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
 2sing the glory of his name;
    give to him glorious praise!
3Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds!
   So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.
4 All the earth worships you
   and sings praises to you;
   they sing praises to your name."
                         Selah

 5 Come and see what God has done:
   he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.
6He turned the sea into dry land;
   they passed through the river on foot.
There did we rejoice in him,
 7who rules by his might forever,
whose eyes keep watch on the nations—
   let not the rebellious exalt themselves.
                         Selah


 8Bless our God, O peoples;
   let the sound of his praise be heard,
9who has kept our soul among the living
   and has not let our feet slip.
10For you, O God, have tested us;
   you have tried us as silver is tried.
11You brought us into the net;
   you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
12you let men ride over our heads;
   we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.


 13I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
   I will perform my vows to you,
14that which my lips uttered
   and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
15I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals,
   with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;
I will make an offering of bulls and goats.
                         Selah


 16 Come and hear, all you who fear God,
   and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
17I cried to him with my mouth,
   and high praise was on my tongue.
18If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
    the Lord would not have listened.
19But truly God has listened;
   he has attended to the voice of my prayer.


 20Blessed be God,
   because he has not rejected my prayer
   or removed his steadfast love from me!


Yes, God did not turn His face away but He answered my prayers, I have found the way to be born again, He has adopted me as own child, I praise Him for I am fearfully and wonderfully made and His hands that clasp my life in His tender care will never ever let me go for all eternity!

 P.S. What about Jonathan? 
Yes, we have become the really good friends like Jonathan and David in the bible. (Although I feel it is important to note that I am good friends with all my siblings.) Recently God has also made this friendship more special as Jonathan came to the Lord just a few years ago so we can now fellowship together not only as brother and sister, but brother and sister in Christ! We often pray together before we go to bed. You can read his testimony at http://profound-grace.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html and watch it at http://profound-grace.blogspot.com/2010_03_01_archive.html
 

My Testimony (Part 1)
(The Testimony of Jessica-Helen Grace Murray at the time of her Baptism, July 2006)

See link to My Testimony (Part 1 - As written July 2006) as soon as I add it when I have finished typing it up.

Why does autism display itself differently for girls?

News - Why autism is different for girls (2/23/2010)

"We may think it only affects boys. But the female variant is often much harder to spot – and that means thousands of girls may be going undiagnosed. Jeremy Laurance reports"

For further information read the article at:

 

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Why do children throw things?

(This was written for parents with children with Downs Syndrome but this article may apply to other chilren as well.)

Throwing! Suggestions for Managing Throwing Behaviour 

http://www.dsaqforum.org.au/content.php?124-Throwing-Suggestions-for-Managing-Throwing-Behaviour

Links for Families of Children with Additional Needs

Playgroups and Parent Support Networks:

Playgroup Association of Queensland (Home Page)
https://www.playgroupaustralia.com.au/qld/index.cfm

MyTime; Supporting Parents with Disabilities (Home)
http://www.mytime.net.au/

Queensland; To locate your closest MyTime group visit
http://www.mytime.net.au/index.php/groups/queensland
 
Other:

Raising Children Network; the australian parenting website
http://raisingchildren.net.au/



Downs Syndrome:
Downs Syndrome Association of Queensland Inc (DSAQ)
http://www.dsaqforum.org.au/content.php?s=874c5ef964e5a50590390acdddc9872b
 
 
Definition and Symptoms of Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD):
 
Early signs of autism spectrum disorder
http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/autism_spectrum_disorder_early_signs.html/context/886
 
Autistic disorder
http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/autistic_disorder_signs_and_symptoms.html
 
Asperger’s disorder
http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/aspergers_disorder_signs_and_symptoms.html
 
Pervasive developmental disorder – not otherwise specified (PDD–NOS)http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/pervasive_developmental_disorder.html

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Children are a gift from the LORD

Children, a blessing

" Never underestimate the potential you have to touch a child's life! "
- Tarry Home
http://tarryhome.blogspot.com/2010/09/children-blessing.html

 

Luke 9:46-48 (New International Version)

Who Will Be the Greatest
 46An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. 47Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. 48Then he said to them, "Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all—he is the greatest."

Psalm 127 (New American Standard Bible)

Psalm 127

Prosperity Comes from the LORD.
A Song of Ascents, of Solomon.
    1Unless the LORD (A)builds the house,
         They labor in vain who build it;
         Unless the LORD (B)guards the city,
         The watchman keeps awake in vain.
    2It is vain for you to rise up early,
         To retire late,
         To (C)eat the bread of painful labors;
         For He gives to His (D)beloved (E)even in his sleep.
    3Behold, (F)children are a gift of the LORD,
         The (G)fruit of the womb is a reward.
    4Like arrows in the hand of a (H)warrior,
         So are the children of one's youth.
    5How (I)blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
         (J)They will not be ashamed
         When they (K)speak with their enemies (L)in the gate.





Psalm 139

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
 1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
 2 You know my sitting down and my rising up;
         You understand my thought afar off.
 3 You comprehend my path and my lying down,
         And are acquainted with all my ways.
 4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
         But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
 5 You have hedged me behind and before,
         And laid Your hand upon me.
 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
         It is high, I cannot attain it. 

 7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
         Or where can I flee from Your presence?
 8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
         If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
 9 If I take the wings of the morning,
         And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
 10 Even there Your hand shall lead me,
         And Your right hand shall hold me.
 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”
         Even the night shall be light about me;
 12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
         But the night shines as the day; 
         The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

 13 For You formed my inward parts;
         You covered me in my mother’s womb.
 14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
         Marvelous are Your works, 
         And that my soul knows very well.
 15 My frame was not hidden from You,
         When I was made in secret, 
         And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
 16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
         And in Your book they all were written, 
         The days fashioned for me, 
         When as yet there were none of them. 

 17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
         How great is the sum of them!
 18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
         When I awake, I am still with You. 

 19 Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God!
         Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men.
 20 For they speak against You wickedly;
         Your enemies take Your name in vain.
 21 Do I not hate them, O LORD, who hate You?
         And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
 22 I hate them with perfect hatred;
         I count them my enemies. 

 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
         Try me, and know my anxieties;
 24 And see if there is any wicked way in me,
         And lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139, New King James Version)


Songs for Saplings
songslogo
"Songs for Saplings makes music for kids. We want them to understand who God is and what He has done, as well as what He wants your children to do and to be.
We hope that you will benefit from these CDs and use them to help teach your children about our God and his great love for us." 
- http://www.songsforsaplings.com/
songsforsaplings
songsforsaplings
fallsalvation
christwork


Steve Green
Steve Green Ministries

 

 

Hide'em In Your Heart Volume 1

Hide'em In Your Heart Volume 1
CD/DVD - $14.00
HIDE 'EM IN YOUR HEART VOL. 1
CD/DVD Combo Pack
Hosted by Dove award-winning Sparrow recording artist Steve Green , Hide 'Em In Your Heart Volumes 1 & 2 introduce children to Bible verses in a fun, interactive way. Through easy-to-learn songs and illustrations, this CD/DVD combination will stimulate young minds and nurture their faith in God. Psalm 119: 9&11 says, "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to Your word. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."

Hide'em In Your Heart Volume 1

1. Let the Little Children Come
2. Do To Others
3. This Is How We Know
4. Overcome Evil With Good
5. When I Am Afraid
6. Children Obey Your Parents
7. Our Father In Heaven
8. And Jesus Grew
9. Believe In the Lord
10. You Are the Light Of the World
11. Keep Your Tongue From Evil
12. You Shall Love The Lord
13. Hosanna!
14. Where Two Or Three
15. I Can Do All Things
16. Trust In The Lord
17. Without Complaining
18. For All Have Sinned / For God So Loved
19. Even A Child
20. Your Word Is A Lamp
* Performance Track Available!
Click on the song to view lyrics and purchase performance tracks.

Hide'em In Your Heart Volume 2

Hide'em In Your Heart Volume 2
CD/DVD - $14.00
HIDE 'EM IN YOUR HEART VOL. 2
CD/DVD Combo Pack
Hosted by Dove award-winning Sparrow recording artist Steve Green , Hide 'Em In Your Heart Volumes 1 & 2 introduce children to Bible verses in a fun, interactive way. Through easy-to-learn songs and illustrations, this CD/DVD combination will stimulate young minds and nurture their faith in God. Psalm 119: 9&11 says, "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to Your word. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."

Hide'em In Your Heart Volume 2

1. Train Up A Child
2. Encourage One Another
3. Greater Love
4. Do Not Worry
5. G-O-D Is L-O-V-E
6. Honor Your Father And Mother
7. If We Don't Lose Heart
8. In My Father's House
9. God Loves A Cheerful Giver
10. We Love Him
11. There Is A Friend
12. You Knit Me Together
13. Think About Such Things
14. Give Thanks To The Lord
15. The Eyes of the Lord
16. A Joyful Heart
17. The Fruit of the Spirit
18. Where Your Treasure Is
19. All Things Work Together For Good
20. I Will Lie Down And Sleep
21. I Have Hidden Your Word
* Performance Track Available!
Click on the song to view lyrics and purchase performance tracks.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

AIDS in Africa - SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA'S BIGGEST KILLER


AIDS in Africa

Last reviewed: 03-12-2008
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA'S BIGGEST KILLER

AIDS is now the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa and the main threat to the region's development, according to the World Bank. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to two-thirds of people with HIV, even though it is home to only 12 percent of the world's population.


The majority of people infected are women (60 percent), and most are not aware of their status, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

AIDS was first identified in Uganda in 1981. Since then more than 22 million Africans have died and the virus has spread across much of the continent, according to the World Bank.
Southern Africa is the worst-affected region.

South Africa has the world's highest caseload and seven other countries in the region have more than 15 percent incidence.

Swaziland has one of the highest infection rates - in 2007 it was 26.1 percent - and AIDS has devastated the country's agriculture. King Mswati III has been strongly criticised for taking numerous wives and for ending a ban on sex for girls under 18, introduced in 2001 to try and curb the AIDS epidemic.

But not all African countries are equally affected. Many have infection rates of less than 2 percent. 

Impact on the region
 AIDS has had a dramatic effect not only on families and communities, but also on national economies and overall health statistics.

Across sub-Saharan Africa, the size of the labour force will be 10 to 30 percent smaller by 2020 than it would have been without HIV/AIDS, according to the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP).

Families have lost their breadwinners and farming has been severely affected. In some parts of sub-Saharan Africa AIDS orphans have had to take over the farming. This means they are less likely to go to school and it also affects crop production and the food security of entire regions.

In the most affected countries, the pandemic has eroded the economic and social gains of the past 30 years, says the World Bank.

UNAIDS says HIV prevalence in southern Africa as a whole is levelling off but at very high levels. This means the number of new infections is equal to the number dying of AIDS.

Some AIDS campaigners claim even a drop in figures may not necessarily be good news. The Treatment Action Campaign, South Africa's powerful AIDS lobby group, says a fall in infection rates may be because people are dying of AIDS instead of receiving life-saving anti-retroviral treatment.

The provision of treatment is a major issue and has remained erratic.

Botswana has rapidly increased its treatment coverage to over 75 percent in 2007, as has Namibia. Another four countries have achieved over 50 percent coverage. Elsewhere, however, the majority of people who need anti-retroviral drugs cannot access them.
Overall 2.1 million people are on ART - nearly double the number in June 2006 but still far from the total needed. And new infections outpace access to treatment - for every person put on therapy, another two or three are newly infected, says the World Bank. 

South Africa
South Africa has the largest number of people with HIV/AIDS - 5.7 million.

But the South African government has been widely criticised for dragging its feet over the epidemic, which kills almost 1,000 people a day.

Fifteen years ago the infection rate was similar to that of Brazil. Brazil's has now dropped to just 0.6 percent, compared with South Africa's at 18.1 percent.

For many years the government rejected a public anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment programme, partly on cost grounds.

It dropped its official objections in 2003 and now has one of the world's largest ARV programmes, even though it reaches just 27 percent of those in need, UNAIDS said in 2008.

In late 2006, South Africa unveiled a draft five-year HIV battle plan.

It calls for South Africa to halve new infections by 2011 and deliver treatment and support to 80 percent of HIV-positive children, adults and their families. It will also aim to boost AIDS education and access to testing and counselling.

The new plan was developed after South Africa came in for angry ridicule at the 2006 global AIDS conference in Toronto - an embarrassment which many analysts said may have finally persuaded the government to change its tack.

International scientists said that the health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, should be dismissed for advocating traditional medicines - including garlic and beetroot - rather than anti-retrovirals to fight HIV.

And the U.N. special envoy on AIDS denounced South Africa for negligence in dealing with the epidemic and for propounding "lunatic" theories.

President Thabo Mbeki, who previously enraged activists by questioning the link between HIV and AIDS, has dropped out of the public debate.

The new approach is being led by Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who has been named head of South Africa's National AIDS Council.

Another factor causing concern in South Africa is the emergence of a new strain of tuberculosis among AIDS patients in the KwaZulu-Natal region which is highly resistant to most antibiotics.

TB is an airborne illness that is particularly deadly for those with immune systems weakened by HIV.

Women
Women make up two-thirds of new infections in the region.

As in other regions their vulnerability is increasing. UNAIDS says although the traditional ABC - Abstain, Be faithful, use a Condom - approach to prevention has saved many lives, it is not enough for women. Many are not in a position to abstain from sex, rely on fidelity, or negotiate condom use.

The Global Coalition on Women and AIDS says that in some of the worst-affected countries - South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe - young women aged 15 to 24 are at least five times more likely to be infected than young men.

And researchers in 2003 found that young married women in Kenya and Zambia are at a higher risk of HIV infection than their unmarried counterparts, according to the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

Poor education about the virus and women's lack of power to ask husbands to use a condom are major factors in the soaring infection rates among women.

HIV infection rates can rise during humanitarian crises. Rape in areas such as Sudan's Darfur region and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is used as a weapon of war.

Some women and girls in conflict zones may also be forced into sex work as displaced families lose their usual source of income.

Another AIDS-related factor affecting women in many parts of Africa is inheritance rights. Many women lose their land and home when their husband dies. If this happens when the widow has AIDS (often having been infected by her husband), she is essentially condemned to an early death. Her property is taken, which means she loses assets she could use for medical care and the shelter she needs for survival.

In a 2002 report on Kenya Human Rights Watch found that parts of western Kenya with the highest AIDS prevalence also commonly practised "wife inheritance" where a male relative of the dead husband adopts the widow as his wife - and "cleansing" rituals, which often involves unprotected sex to cleanse the widow of her dead husband's evil spirits.

What's the solution?
The African Union launched a campaign in April 2006 to prevent new infections through education, counselling, testing and condom distribution.
At the same time there has been a strong international focus on stepping up treatment programmes. In 2007, over 2.1 million people were receiving life-saving HIV drugs, according to UNAIDS. That's double the number of the previous year.

Peter Piot, head of UNAIDS, says one of the main obstacles to preventing the spread of AIDS in Africa is social stigma, although this is beginning to change as more HIV-positive Africans go public.

Research by academics in the U.K. and U.S. suggests that taking a preventative approach by prescribing a daily dose of the drug tenofovir could save up to 3.2 million people from becoming infected with HIV over the next ten years in sub-Saharan Africa alone - at a cost of $2 billion.

Uganda has been hailed by many for its approach to containing the virus. Uganda's infection rate peaked at 15 percent in the 1990s but by 2007 it had dropped to 5.4 percent.

Uganda has used the ABC approach. It quickly acknowledged the epidemic and began a public information campaign early on, the key message being "Zero Grazing" - avoid casual sex.

Much of the prevention work was done by grassroots organisations who educated people about HIV/AIDS by word of mouth, and helped break down the stigma associated with AIDS.

But behind all that was a strong political will to stop the epidemic, and openness about HIV. Successive governments mobilised the entire population in the fight against the virus.

In 2006, however, Human Rights Watch criticised the Ugandan government and evangelical Christian groups for promoting abstinence-only messages and for attacking the effectiveness of condoms. HRW said the effect was to raise infection levels.

There has also been some evidence that rates of HIV infection are now on the rise in Uganda's rural areas - but experts have been cautious in coming to any definite conclusions so far.

Zimbabwe's government also responded very early on to the virus. In 1987 it set up the National Aids Control Programme to lead the national response. In 1999 Zimbabwe became the first country in the world to introduce a 3 percent levy on taxable income in order to pay for preventative measures and treatment.

Zimbabwe has one of the worst infection rates in Africa, and is home to one million children who have lost at least one parent to the disease, according to UNICEF.

But the proportion of people living with HIV has dropped sharply from 25 percent in 2000 to 15.3 in 2007. Health experts attribute the fall to more condom use and programmes encouraging people to have fewer sexual partners.

But NGOs have been sceptical about the drop, questioning whether falling prevalence might be due to deaths from AIDS and the high numbers of people leaving the country as its ongoing economic crisis continues to bite.

Retrieved 26th August 2010 from ‘AlertNet – Alerting humanitarians to emergencies’ http://www.alertnet.org/db/crisisprofiles/HIV_AFR.htm?v=in_detail

Unlike some other content on this website, the written content in this article may be republished or redistributed by any means free of charge. Any use of photographs and graphics on this website is expressly prohibited. You must check whether written content contained in other articles on this website may be republished or redistributed without the express permission of Reuters or the relevant third party provider.

AlertNet’s  Home Page is: http://www.alertnet.org/

Monday, August 2, 2010

'Parent Does = Child does; Parent is = Child becomes = Child is'

"The abuse of children is a blight on society...


As Christians, we must protect children from abuse... In addition we must maintain the highest standards when investigating claims of abuse. Such claims need to be investigated impartially, and handed to police for thorough investigation. Cover-ups of alleged abuse of children - or of adults - is totally unacceptable...

Abuse is listed under various categories - physical, sexual and emotional, as well as neglect.
The recent AIHW reports are listed below...
Read the full article at:
http://saltshakers.org.au/issues/child-abuse

Note: The following YouTube is not suitable for younger viewers. The only abuse depicted is neglect and emotional, verbal, physical and domestic abuse.




Description: The theme of the video is
'Parent Does = Child does;
Parent is = Child becomes = Child is'

Starts with a parent walking fast in a hurry talking on a mobile phone and a child follwing doing the same.

The content gradually changes from the 'little' things we don't mind our children learning how to do from us in the busyness of today's society...
....such as reading the time on your watch while waiting at a bus or train terminal,

to the 'little' things that we don't want our children to learn from us...
such as pushing past a mother with a pram and not helping her pick up her bags when you bump her.

The content graudually changes in degree from the 'little' things that we don't want our children to learn from us...
to the 'big' things most parents don't want their children exposed to.

These 'big' things are the things that abusive parents don't want their children to learn from them as they grow up...

....are the 'big things' that can then become the 'big problems' children should never see or learn from their parents as role models but sadly can,

...are the 'big things' that, once learnt, have then become the 'big problems' humans should never need to learn to deal with but sadly can grow up to have to deal with if they become abusive towards others as teenagers or adults.

REMEMBER:
If you know a child is being abused either because they have told you or because you have witnessed them being hurt never ignore this but rather report it.

RISK:
Reduce the risk of harm in children by reporting suspected abuse

REDUCE:
By doing this you are reducing the risk of cycles of abuse that show themselves in adults who were abused as children

REMEMBER:
'Parent Does = Child does;
Parent is = Child becomes = Child is'