Would you Give Up Your Jacket ?

Children in Syria are cold, give them a warm jacket:  this is the slogan of a social experiment set up by SOS Mayday, an action network which wants to raise awareness about the thousands of children suffering in Syria and to raise funds for SOS Children´s Villages, as part of their winter campaign. 

The experiment involved an 11-year-old boy who told people that his jacket had been stolen while sitting at a bus stop in Oslo, Norway. Watch the video to see how people reacted. 

What would you do? Do you think it is an effective campaign? Why (not)?

A Song for Syria

The Syria humanitarian crisis continues unabated. Families who have been forced to flee their homes are struggling to find shelter. Medicine, food and water are running out. Hospitals have been bombed, schools are closed and children in all areas report that the shelling is constant and terrifying.

More than a million children are now refugees. Some 6.8 million people - including more than 3 million children - need urgent assistance.

If action isn't taken soon the physical and mental harm will irreparably damage a generation of children. Such an impact would resonate throughout Syrian society for decades after the war ends.

You can donate to  Save the Children´s Syria appeal by downloading Ellie Goulding´s song "I Know You Care" at http://bit.ly/1euLyJ3

"I Know You Care"by Ellie Goulding: LYRICS: 

Clinging to me
Like a last breath you would breathe
You were like home to me
I don't recognize the street

Please don't close your eyes
Don't know where to look without them
Outside the cars speed by
I never heard them until now

CHORUS: 

I know you care
I know it is always been there
But there's trouble ahead, I can feel it
You are just saving yourself when you hide it

Yeah, I know you care
I see it in the way you stare
As if there was trouble ahead and you knew it
I'll be saving myself from the ruin
And I know you care

I used to run down the stairs
To the door and I thought you were there
Do you shape through the comfort of us
Two lovers loved out of love

CHORUS

And know it wasn't always wrong
But I've never known a winter so cold
Now I don't warm my hands in your coat
But I still hope

'Cause this is how things ought to have been
And I know the worst of it wasn't all that it seemed
Why can't I dream
Why can't I dream

'Cause I know you care
And I know you care
I know you care
I know you care
I know it's always been there

Restore Your Faith in Humanity

Read the story behind this video told by videographer Casey Neistat. The film studios 20th Century Fox asked him to create an ad campaign to promote their new movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Casey spent the entire budget ($25,000) on the typhoon victims in the Philippines - 20th Century Fox agreed ;  This is the story told by Casey: 

no crew traveled with us, it was just Oscar and me. we filmed this ourselves, with a tripod, using my personal cameras.

the whole story; i often get solicitations for work, all kinds of companies, people, organizations etc asking if i would be interested in making a video for them. i was really concerned after the typhoon, as anyone with a heartbeat was. left with the frustration and guilt i often feel when i learn of other people suffering, a guilt for not being able to help more. i had made donations but it's hard to see or feel the effects of ones contributions. a few days later i was contacted by 20th Century Fox, they wanted to know if i could make a promotional film to get the word out about Ben Stiller's great new movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Mitty is a movie about chasing a dream and they wanted me to make a movie about chasing a dream. I am a big dreamer but at that time only one thing came to mind; if i could do anything in the world right now what would it be? that's to help the victims of the typhoon. i, someone crassly, replied to 20th Century Fox that the only movie i wanted to make is one where i give away the budget to those in need. i still don't understand how or why but they agreed. i jumped on a plane with my best friend and fellow adventurer Oscar and we flew to Manila. there was little time to think or plan before we left, actually we did zero planning before we left. my original thought was that we'd connect with an NGO already in place, a non-profit that's already doing a lot of good, and i'd simply hand them a check. but that turned out complicated and it sort of felt like the non-profits we contacted did not want to link up with us. so on a whim we decided to launch our very own relief mission. it was complicated and at first improbable but with the help of an extremely loving group of locals, all who were total strangers, we were able to stretch the production budget really far. beyond the food distributed in the video we also worked with a local nurse and purchased a lot of medicine and medical supplies, as well as providing tools to village leaders to be shared within the village and aid in the rebuilding process. 

never have i met such people with the resilience of these typhoon victims. there was one thing that stuck out, one big huge tiny thing, that was; of everyone we were face to face with, thousands of people, not once, at anytime for any reason did anyone complain. no one. their focus was on rebuilding and healing, not sympathy.

big thank you to Fox and Ben Stiller for not freaking the fuck out when they saw what i did with their money.

Now tell this story to someone; remember the 5 questions: who? when? where? what? why? Rehearse it to yourself and then share it; include the expression "restore one´s faith in humanity" some time in your version of the story

Click here  to read some other amazing stories like this one.

Child Soldiers

Here´s a video that will help you to understand the story Remember Atita better. In the documentary Out of the Shadow of War, three girls describe their traumatic experiences of being abducted by rebels and forced to be child soldiers in Liberia during the civil war.

The organization that helps these children is called "Plan International." It works with children and communities in fifty of the world´s poorest countries to help them realize their full potential. 

World Water Day, March 22nd

Today, March 22nd, is World Water Day and we are celebrating it just as we should: it is pouring with rain. The rainy weather in Lugo probably makes it difficult for us to imagine life without plenty of water around us but ads like these really show what lack of water must be like; this is their message: 

Today 1.1 billion people will have no choice but to drink dirty water.

Thanks to an accident of birth, you're not one of them.

But what if you were? If you had to wash the dishes with it, bathe in it, drink it - and ask yourself this question-if you had to give dirty water to those you love knowing it could kill them, would you?

Imagine New York City's taps went dry, what would people do? Jennifer Connelly walks to Central Park to get dirty water for her family as millions of mothers in Africa do every day. This is an ad by Charity: Water; it was directed by Hotel Rwanda's film director Terry George.

More about water, click here and here

Our World

Survival International has launched a campaign to persuade the Minister of Justice in Brazil to send away the invaders -loggers mainly- who are killing the very few Awá people who still remain in the Amazon.

The campaign's goal is to persuade Brazil's Justice Minister to send in federal police to clear out the invaders.On the "Survival International" website, visitors can send a pre-coordinated message to the Minister of Justice in Brazil or share the information on their social media pages.

According to National Geographic the Awá are one of only two nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes left in Brazil. This unique tribe has a profoundly warm relationship with their forest, which provides them with food, shelter and spiritual solace.

The Oscar-winning actor Colin Firth supports this campaign; this is his speech in the video below:  

Many Awa remain uncontacted, they are the most threatened tribe in the world. Their forest is being illegally cut for timber. When the loggers see them, they kill them.When the loggers see them, they kill them. Their bows and arrows are no match for guns. And at any other time in history, that's where it would end. Another people wiped off the face of the Earth, forever. But we're going to make sure the world doesn't let that happen.Here´s the plan

One man can stop this: Brazil's Minister of Justice. He can send  in the federal police to catch the loggers and keep them out for good.But But right now it's just not his priority. We have to change that before its too late. We need enough people to message him so that he takes notice: you, me, our friends, our families, everyone counts. But we don´t have much time, when the rains stop, the loggers will be back. This is our chance right now to actually do something. And if enough people show they care, it will work.

Here´s a piece of advice for you to practise your pronunciation: 

• watch the video once (listening exercise)
• play it a second time while reading Colin Firth´s words above; pay attention and make sure you get the message. 
• Then play the video again and read the speech at the same time as Colin Firth: imitate his pronunciation and intonation. You could´t have a better teacher than the one who helped the King of the UK with his speeches. Click here  to watch the trailer of "The King´s Speech" in original version with English subtitles. By the way, you can borrow the film from the school library...