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SCMP Reporter

EVERY year, thousands of people make New Year resolutions. Many make them silently, and work towards achieving them on their own.

  Maybe one girl wants to be nicer to her younger sister - she has not really treated her like a friend throughout 1995, and she wants to change this.

  Meanwhile, a boy might promise to himself not to lie to his parents anymore about having no homework to do when, actually, he has many hours of work ahead.

  Others are more public about these wishes and tell their family, friends, classmates and teachers . . . Some want to quit smoking; others want to eat healthier food and do more exercise.

  Everyone's Resolution The United Nations' 'resolution' to eradicate poverty in 1996 is a very public one - many organisations worldwide are joining the UN to promote the message of reducing or eradicating poverty.

  Here in Hong Kong, people are getting involved as well. For the next several weeks leading up to the Lunar New Year, for instance, Oxfam Hong Kong, FM Select and Kowloon City Plaza are organising events to reach shoppers on the busy weekends with information on how people can help eliminate poverty and the suffering it brings.

  Poverty is the world's greatest killer, killing a young child every three seconds. Oxfam believes that this is avoidable, this is stoppable, and it is everyone's responsibility to help stop this horrible thing from happening.

  Make fighting poverty your New Year resolution, your wish for the world. You can't do it alone. You'll need a group of people to make a real difference. First, make sure you read last week's Young Post article (if you didn't get a chance to read it, fax me on 2527 6213 and I'll fax it back to you). Those ideas can get you started.

  Next, support programmes that work to change poverty-stricken lives. Oxfam Hong Kong organised 101 programmes last year that helped do just this. I'd like to tell you about a few of them.

    In southwest China:   A sum of HK$12,000 helps villagers build an electric grain-processing station which can grid grain products much faster. With electricity, 160 farmers have more time to do other work that can bring in money for their families.

  HK$6,000 helps 12 poor families with a special credit programme which provides very low interest loans, much lower than the interest that banks offer. With this money, about 60 people can buy improved breeds of piglets and chickens, attend training in inoculation (which prevents illness) and raise healthier livestock for profit. With this extra money, 12 families can work their way out of poverty.

  HK$3,600 helps feed 72 poor families for a year. This money provides seedlings and agricultural training for these families to improve their harvest - no longer will they have to suffer food shortages from four to six months a year.

  HK$1,200 provides cats to 21 poor families. The cats help eradicate rats from their homes; otherwise, the rats can eat up to half of the grain that should have fed one person!   These cats help ensure that about 100 people have more food to eat.

  In Bihar, northeast India:   HK$12,000 constructs two irrigation systems so that about 300 poor people can grow more crops to feed their families. This helps stop hunger.

  HK$6,000 provides technical and management training to 14 poor communities so that they can have water to use for their crops. This can double the harvest.

  HK$3,600 provides seeds, fertilisers and pesticides for 20 hectares of land.

    HK$1,200 buys 40 metres of pipes for an irrigation system. Water is crucial for farmers, and properly irrigated farmland is a necessity.

In Langson province, northern Vietnam:   In several minority villages in this part of the country, Oxfam has been working with women who are skilled weavers. HK$6,000 helps buy materials for 24 women to make crafts that they can later sell for profit. The extra cash can help their families buy basic supplies such as salt, oil for lamps and cooking fat.

  HK$3,000 provides weaving and tailoring training for 20 women. This training helps ensure that the crafts are marketable. One woman wants to use the income from the project to buy a motor-cycle so she can carry wood and fruit to sell at the market, a four-hour walk away.

  Isn't it wonderful to see that a little money goes a long way in poor communities throughout the world? Isn't it refreshing to realise that organising an educational and fund-raising event at your school can really help suffering people? You have power. Your school has power.

    Start today. Talk to your classmates and teachers and plan an event at your school. For assistance, call Madeleine Slavick on 2821 3219 for international schools or Chow Wing-hang on 2821 3213 for local schools.

Oxfam Hong Kong is an independent development and relief agency. For information, please call 2861 1411.



Help fight poverty this year