A brief note The song in this presentation

A brief note: The song in this presentation is called ‘Ameno’ (to tender, to liberate), composed by the musical group ERA. The lyrics’ translation, from Latin, follows and it is worth spending some minutes in reflection before going ahead with the presentation.

Dori me Interi mo, Adapare Dori me Ameno, Ameno Lantire, Lantire mo Dori me Feel my pain Absorb me, Take me Feel my pain Set me free, set me free, Discover me, discover my signs Feel my pain Ameno, Omenare, imperavi Ameno, Dimere, dimere Mantiro, Mantire mo Ameno Minimize (my pain), comfort me Notice, notice I have been mutilated, I have been hurt Set me free Omenare, imperavi emulari Ameno, Ameno dore Ameno dori me Ameno, Dom Dori me, Reo Ameno dori me Dori me, Dom AMENO Minimize (my Grupo Era free pain), comfort me Set me Minimize (my pain), comfort me Set me free, minimize my pain Minimize my pain Set me free, O’ Lord, Alleviate my pain, O’ King Minimize my pain Take out my pain, O’ Lord Kyrié Eléison

A brief overview of the chances. The heritage we will leave. Which world are we going to leave behind – for the next generations – by the time we will leave?

What will be heritage ?

The future relies upon our actions! And, for sure, there is too much to do. . .

Kabul, Afghanistan Three years after the fall of the Taliban regime, in a country destroyed by war and where job opportunities, food and basic survival needs are always lacking, children compete for pieces of coal fallen from a Red Cross truck. This way, they can buy food for themselves and their families.

Karkhla, Pakistan Children between the ages of four and six, most of them sons and daughters of Afghan refugee families, work in brick factories. Their tough job consists of flipping bricks, expediting the drying process. Their light weight allows them to accomplish the work without smashing or breaking the bricks they walk on.

Tegucigalpa, Honduras Vultures and children compete for the remains of food in a landfill close to the Honduran capital. Juan Flores and other children pick through the garbage to find anything they can eat or sell.

Siliguri, India Ruksana Khatun, nine years old, breaking rocks in to smaller pieces at the city surroundings. Job paid with low salary and injured hands. According to ILO – International Labor Organization, more than 220 million children work worldwide. Half of them in harmful tasks, under bad conditions and at inappropriate hours. Some of them work as much as seventeen hours daily.

San Vicente, Colombia At the entrance to a house of prostitution, the teenager waits for her next client. Reports from United Nations Children's Fund - UNICEF, reveal millions of children are victims of the worldwide sex trade. Each year, 1, 200, 000 are victims of human trafficking. It is a sad world that abuses its children!

More than 100, 000 girls are victims of the sex trade in Brazil, according to the UN-ILO. The Brazilian movie “Anjos do Sol” (“Angels of the Sun”) describes the cruel reality of the subject. According to the producer’s information, the sex trade happens in two main places: - coastal cities, based upon the sex tourism that brings foreigners to Brazil for this purpose; - and in the North and Northeast region’s cities, where the poverty, created by low incomes, forces parents to sell their daughters. The film exposes practices found in the child sex trade, like “Virgin Girl Auctions”, and the people that make profits out of that market. Agents, that buy the girls from their families, night club’s owners, pimps, farmers and politicians. Among the many sad cases which inspired the film, there is one telling the story of a little girl called “Fifty Cents” (R$0, 50~US$0. 23), because that is how much she used to charge for her sexual services.

The UN-WHO, World Health Organization, estimates there a hundred million children living in the streets of the third world. Ten million of them live in Brazil. Lots of those children still have bonds with their families. However, they spend most of their time in the streets, begging for money, selling candies and cheap things usually at the traffic lights, polishing shoes and washing car’s windshields to increase their family’s income. Sometimes they are involved in small thefts. Other, do not have a home to go back to and really live in the streets, in groups (sometimes gangs), Recife, PE, Brazil sleeping in abandoned buildings, under bridges and Most of these children use drugs viaducts and also in public squares and parks. that help them flee from reality, deceive the hunger and to make In both groups, boys are the majority. Girls usually themselves warmer during the supply the prostitution business. night.

Maybe it's a good time for the politicians to include “Social Compassion” in their agenda.

Such persistent social imbalance and poverty affects mostly children and teenagers in Brazil. Studies have reported that child’s living conditions are harsher where the educational infrastructure is inferior. It is necessary, therefore, to create conditions that increase the presence of children in schools, and as a consequence, maximize their horizons and develop their potentials. Political actions focusing on abolishing child labor must also eliminate the need of having children working to increase family income.

According to the UN-ODC, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the use of illicit drugs has increased worldwide, despite all the efforts to control them. The United States remains the main consumer cocaine and marijuana worldwide. California, United States Not far from Disneyland, - the fantasy land -, children, sons and daughters of addicted parents, collect cans to increase their family’s income, and help as they can at household chores. of

The increase in use of synthetic drugs, like amphetamines, is very serious, since they can easily be produced, while the traditional ones require big stretches of land. To produce them, land is not necessary. They are made of common chemicals, created in homemade labs, which makes their production more difficult to control. According to the UN-ODC, the subject of synthetic drugs requires a redesigned approach, changing the paradigm surrounding the war against drug trafficking, focusing more on prevention and less on repression.

Congo, Central Africa Nine-year-old Chantis Tuseuo’s grandmother, gives her hand to her granddaughter, severely undernourished, and waits for a doctor at a community clinic in the surroundings of Kinshasa. Worldwide, according to UNICEF, it is estimated that 55% of child deaths are related to poor nourishment and hunger, that slowly disables them.

The insanity of War…

Northern Ireland In the 80’s and in the 90’s

Chechnya, 1997 Kosovo, 1999

Africa It was always that way

Gaza Strip, Palestine, 2004

Iraq, 2005

Israel, 2006 Lebanon, 2006

etc, etc. . .

When will it stop?

From the night’s heart, the day is born.

Which world do we want for the future generation to inherit? A world with more justice, certainly. . .

The Kingdom of God is not going to happen tomorrow morning. If we are sincere about our beliefs, His Kingdom will come to us, but we must take on our responsibilities.

The Kingdom of God, the Golden Age stamped with justice, will not freely fall from the sky! It will raise from the soil we walk, watered by the sweat of the ones that really care.

The incoming Kingdom of God relies upon small actions of kindness and compassion.

Which kind of world will be inherited by the children born today? What will be the purpose of their existence?

MERCY In Latin, Misericordia The word misericordia is formed of another two ones: Miserere (Misery), and Cor (Heart). It represents a feeling transferred into your heart reflecting the misery of your brother in-God. The Mercy refers to the feelings of one acting with compassion.

The opposite of love is not hatred, it is indifference. Érico Veríssimo

- K y r i é Eléison - From an ancient Greek prayer: Lord, send us Your Breath, Send us Your Mercy. I am thinking about Your Breath, About Your Power, About Your Mercy.

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Sermon on the Mount

There are lots of things to be done. He who seeds, will harvest. . .

God moves the whole sky, because the human being cannot do it! But God doesn’t move a pin when the human being can do it! Former Oriental citation

- End - one_world_one_vision@hotmail. com