Jan. 9, 2018 "Make your 2018 count": Today I found this article by Marc and Craig Kielburger in the Globe and Mail. I agree with this article that we should donate all year long. I know it's important to donate to the Food Bank during the summer time.
I didn't know that a lot of pets are returned after the holiday season when getting a pet isn't a good fit for the household:
Another holiday season of giving is gone. You've made your annual donation, and delivered cans to the local food bank. You've got your good karma sorted out for the year ... right?
One third of charitable donations in Canada are made in December. But the needs of others don't cease when we put away the ornaments.
Did you know, come January, millions of Canadians and Americans lose their jobs, putting pressure on shelters?
Did you know there are more orphaned kittens in the spring and more hungry school children in the summer?
As you make New Years' resolutions, consider how the needs in your community peak throughout the year.
There is more than one season of need; there should be multiple seasons of giving.
January is National Mentoring Month. Why not kick off the year by becoming a role model? In addition to its one-on-one mentoring, Big Brothers and Sisters also runs group programs. With "Go Girls!" and "Game On!," volunteers lead groups of 12 to 14-year-olds in fitness activities, and teach healthy eating habits and communication skills. The eight to 10 week program is tied to the school year, so every January, (and again in September), Big Brothers and Sisters is on the hunt for volunteers for just two hours per week.
January is also the month of buyer's remorse — even for furry friends given as presents but returned to animal shelters. Humane Societies and other caregivers need funds, pet food and volunteers to walk dogs on cold winter days. Spring brings "kitten season." Shelters are inundated with thousands of newborn felines needing food and veterinary care.
As spring warms to summer, some kids can't wait to escape the classroom. For others, the end of the school year also means the end of school breakfast and lunch programs. Families who rely on the programs turn to food banks to ensure their children have enough to eat.
Consider supporting your local food bank after the frost, with food items and funds, and even a few volunteer hours to help sort and deliver donations.
Survivors of domestic abuse will often wait until school's out to leave their partners, to give their children some stability before their lives are turned upside down, according to Women's Shelters Canada.
Come June, short-term women's shelters especially need financial support, and donated items like diapers and women's sanitary products. You can find and support local shelters through Sheltersafe.ca.
If you want to help vulnerable young people have a better summer, YMCA is always on the hunt for counsellors and support staff to help run its camps for low-income children and youth.
Coach a YMCA children's basketball or soccer class, or teach swimming if you have your certification. Basically, you can relive the summer camps of your own youth.
These are broad national trends. Every community, and every community organization, will have its own unique needs and timetables. Resources like your local United Way and community centres can help connect you with the causes in your neighbourhood that need your support throughout the year.
'Tis the season of giving — all year long.
Jan. 23, 2018 "CSI: Congo": Today I found this article by Marc and Craig Kielburger in the Edmonton Journal:
Abducted from their homes one by one in the dead of night, more than 40 girls from the village of Kavumu in eastern Congo were raped, mutilated, and dumped the next morning, barely alive, in nearby fields between 2013 and 2016. The youngest victim was just eight months old.
For decades, the Democratic Republic of Congo has held a terrible reputation as “the rape capital of the world.” Few perpetrators have ever been successfully prosecuted, so the girls of Kavumu had little faith that they would see justice.
Fortunately, they were wrong.
This past December, 11 militiamen and a high-ranking politician were sentenced to life in prison after an unprecedented trial and landmark verdict. It was the country’s largest successful mass prosecution for sex crimes in history.
The case brought hope to a nascent democracy with a weak justice system, aided not by international authorities, but by a non-profit group.
Launched in 2012, the Forensics Training Institute program from Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) trains Congolese doctors, police and court officials in forensic investigation—techniques that cracked the Kavumu case.
Though the International Criminal Court is often seen as the venue to deal with crimes against humanity, it should be a measure of last resort and not a default solution. Ideally, every country should be able to handle such cases in its own courts.
For nations like DRC — ravaged by civil war and afflicted by poverty — police and justice officials lack the training and resources to effectively investigate and prosecute major crimes.
Rather than outsource to an international body that brings politics with questionable effectiveness, these nations need capacity-building for local authorities.
When a sexual assault occurs in Canada, doctors treating survivors rely on a “rape kit” to gather critical evidence. In the Congo, there was no equivalent until PHR introduced tools and training for emergency room doctors.
They learned to preserve DNA evidence, and sensitively interview patients.
When girls from Kavumu began arriving at nearby Panzi Hospital in 2013, doctors there knew what to do.
In 2015, officers from a newly formed sexual violence unit of the Congolese police launched an investigation into the Kavumu assaults. After training in forensic crime-scene examination, they gathered crucial evidence and identified suspects — the militia led by Frederic Batumike, a local politician.
Because a militia was involved, the Congolese military joined the investigation.
Military investigators also received training and equipment to analyze cellphone data and track the suspects’ communications.
With support from TRIAL International, a legal NGO, military prosecutors received legal training to present forensic evidence in court, and to outline the data that doctors and police had carefully gathered.
Ripples from the verdict are spreading. Already, observers in neighbouring countries that have experienced mass crimes, like the Central African Republic, are talking about how they can learn from the DRC case, according to Susannah Sirkin, PHR’s Director of International Policy.
Sirkin says the case needs to set a precedent, even outside the country: “One victory is not enough.”
To ensure more such victories, international donors must invest in growing programs, like PHR’s forensic training, that support countries in building their own robust justice systems. Because access to justice is a basic human right.
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