Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Beauty and Abandonment

I'm back on deck (woops, I'm using maritime terminology) after two weeks cruising around New Zealand. Although I was out of contact by phone, email or any other form of technology for two weeks, I have to say I did not miss it at all.

While the cruise provided us with some great experiences and some wonderful scenery there was one aspect of the trip that caused us to wonder.


One day the woman who cleaned our rooms on board the luxury cruise liner told me about her son who she hadn't seen for 10 months and her six month old daughter who she had never met. I was curious that she had not met her daughter.

It turned out that her sister in the Philippines was looking after her son and one day a baby girl was dropped at her doorstep in a box. "God gave me this little girl so I will look after it," she told me.

Such situations are not uncommon the Philippines, and someone who has been able to get work on a cruise ship is seen as being more financially secure than most.

Living for two weeks in the luxury of a cruise ship there was something incompatible about the story of child abandonment I was hearing from a woman who maintained her livelihood in "sail-in sail-out" employment.

According to the Abandoned Children's Fund there are more than 20 million homeless or abandoned children in the world today, many of them orphans.

Over the last two weeks I have had the opportunity to appreciate the wonder of God's creation, from the awesome thermal wonderland of Rotorua to the rugged glacier-formed fiords of Milford Sound. But I am thankful that in the midst of this I have been reminded of the vulnerability of human life and the precious gift of love that enables a young mother to take an abandoned child into her family.

This is the world in which we live, and for that I give thanks. 


Monday, January 7, 2013

Being Stewards of our Resources

The year 2013 has been declared by the United Nations as the International Year of Water Cooperation.

The reason for making the declaration according to the resolution of the UN General Assembly is to "emphasise that water is critical for sustainable development, including environmental integrity and the eradication of poverty and hunger, and is indispensable for human health and well-being and central to achieving the Millennium Development Goals."

It also reaffirms "the internationally agreed development goals on water and sanitation, including those contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration" and determines "to achieve the goal to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people who are unable to reach or afford safe drinking water, and the goals set out in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation to halve the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation and to develop integrated water resources management and water efficiency plans by 2005, with support to developing countries."

It's a big call but if the developed nations work alongside the developing nations there is a greater chance that these goals can be attained.   We also have our own issues here in WA and the Water Corporation has embarked on a 10 year plan to drought-proof Perth. It's worthwhile reading this document and consider how we can work towards higher levels of sustainability. 

 I may not post about this subject again this year, but if I have helped in some way to make readers aware of the International Year of Water Cooperation, and through that to raise our awareness of an important environmental issue I think it is worthwhile.  

One of Baptistcare's values is Stewardship of the responsibilities in our care, and sustainability at all levels, including water cooperation, is part of that stewardship. Take a look at this website for some tips about how we can be better stewards of this valuable resource.