Remember we are looking at the following:

• stone age man and how humans developed since leaving Africa
• early towns around Mesopotamia region or the Middle East and the Tigris/Euphrates Rivers
• Ancient Egypt along the Nile River
• Ancient Greece and the city states
• Ancient Rome

Have a look at the headings in the wikipedia articles.  Jot these down as they might be helpful for when you are planning your research and final presentation. Create a mindmap or use bubbl.us which will then allow you to embed your mindmap in your blog. Add any more interesting information you find while searching the web during today’s computer blocks.

Can you find any great websites, videos or audio visuals that I could add as a link?  This could include activities to help with your presentation as a team. I have already linked this post to sections in wikipedia so don’t include those in your comments.

So this week’s challenge involves visiting the ‘Bringing us Together’ blog and reading the post about heroes, taking part in the survey and leaving a comment. Some of you might want to write your own post(with a link back to the original) about someone you consider to be a true hero or heroine.  Be careful to spell heroine correctly on your post.

War often brings heroes and heroines to our notice and while I have been ill over the last few weeks, I have been watching a lot of TV on the History channel.  A person I consider a heroine is Vivian Bullwinkel and a hero is Sir Weary Dunlop.

Thanks to Miss Ale and her grade six class in Argentina for the idea for this post.

Original image: ‘Hero of the Soviet Union‘
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124385307@N01/95230930
by: Kees de Vos   Released under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License

• What do you know about ANZAC Day?
• What was the event that began the tradition of ANZAC Day?
• What does ANZAC Day feel like, sound like and look like to people taking part in the parade and to people watching the parade?

This is another great post to be completed by Friday.  Make sure you have done some research and know your topic.  If you visit the website for the Australian War Memorial you will find lots of information and you might also find some images you could use. Remember to give attribution like I have for this photo (tells the readers where you got the photo).

You might also find some information from these BTN websites:  one about ANZAC Day and the other why people joined up. 

From Picture Australia:  www.brisbaneishome

070425 Anzac Day March, April 25th 2007, Adelaide St, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia-52

Flickr

I have always loved anything Egyptian and have actually visited there and climbed through one of the pyramids.  I also went on a week’s cruise down the Nile River, visiting many of the tourist areas on the way like the Valley of the Kings, Queen Hatshepsut’s tomb and the temples at Thebes.

If you also have an interest in ancient civilizations then the Penn Museum currently has an online exhibition worth visiting. 

They also have lots of activities for kids to do.  Thanks to Mr Byrne for the link to this great museum.

A doctor surveys the damage to a medical facility in the Gaza Strip during the conflict in 2009. International humanitarian law urges combatants to respect the neutrality of health facilities, staff and ambulances during conflicts to ensure they are not caught up in the violence and can continue to provide care.

WHO/Christopher Black

In Pakistan’s most-affected areas during the 2005 earthquake, 49% of health facilities were completely destroyed, from sophisticated hospitals to rural clinics and drug dispensaries. A woman receives medical care outside a hospital in Muzaffarabad after the earthquake.

WHO/China

The May 2008 earthquake in China’s Sichuan province damaged or destroyed more than 11 000 health facilities and killed and injured tens of thousands of people. Chinese health, emergency and military authorities led a massive response effort shortly after the earthquake hit.

WHO/PAHO

To ensure health facilities can withstand earthquakes or avoid sea surges caused by cyclones and hurricanes, planning is needed in terms of proper site location, design and construction in compliance with building codes. Two construction workers review the model of a hospital in Costa Rica.

WHO/Myanmar

After Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar in May 2008, makeshift health and accommodation centres were set up in temples, monasteries and other buildings that were unaffected by the cyclone. About 2.4 million people were affected by the cyclone.

WHO/Margie Peden

Members of an emergency aid team participate in a training session in Durban, South Africa. Simulating response scenarios and conducting field tests allow health workers to practice their skills and teamwork and be ready for real emergencies.

WHO/Paul Garwood

A nurse checks the intravenous (IV) fluid infusion for a patient at a treatment centre in the district of Norton in Zimbabwe during the cholera outbreak in 2008. Many emergencies occur in remote locations and require strong, flexible and multi-sectoral means of response to save lives and treat the critically ill.

WHO/PAHO/J. Vizcarra

Poorly built and located health facilities are extremely vulnerable to natural disasters but with modest investment and appropriate planning they can continue providing health services when most needed. Two nurses visit the site of a hospital being rebuilt in Mexico.

WHO/Christopher Black

Families of those affected by emergencies need help, particularly psychosocial services, to cope with the tragedy of the event. Mohammed Rafaiq brought to a hospital in Pakistan’s Muzaffarabad his son Razaif who was in shock after the 2005 earthquake, which destroyed their home and killed four in the family.

All photos from the WHO gallery.

Imagine you are one of the people in one of these photos.  Write about what you see, hear and feel.

A few health comparisons between Australia and some of our Asian neighbours.

Country     A                B          C         D            E           F

Australia    $3200                17        12          2.77             1             17

China            $94                  1            5         1.55           34             31

Fiji              $150                   9           ?           0.37             0             15

Japan         $2700                 18        12           2.18             1            29

Malaysia      $255                  7          15          0.87           22             21

New Zealand   $2420             19          ?          2.30             0              21

Papua New Guinea  $29          7         38           0.13        668              ?

Phillipines        $45                 6         37          1.14         122             23

Singapore     $1450                 6            ?          1.61             1             13

Vietnam           $47                  6         29          0.62          41             18

A=Health expense per person

B=% government spends on health

C= % population below national poverty line (different each country)

D= Doctors per 1000 people

E = Deaths from malaria in a year

F = % population smoke daily

What can these statistics tell you about our health and that of people in our neighbouring countries?

But we are now in the 21st century, so what do the 3R’s represent now?  Reduce, reuse and recycle.

How do you reduce, reuse and recycle at your home or school?

Are you and your family going to take part in Earth Hour on 28th March at 8.30pm? What would you normally be doing at this time of day?  Will you need to practise doing something in the dark like the fellow in this video? Check out their website to find out what is going to be happening around the world.

Since March 14, 2008 we have had nearly 18,000 visitors to our blog.  We have had 50 or more visitors from these countries:

Can you work out the names of ten other countries where our blog visitors have come from?

Well, it is going to happen again!!

This time we will be talking with Grade 6 students in British Columbia, Canada.  It will be 9am Friday our time and 2pm Thursday their time. But to make the activity more interesting, we need to think about what we want to show them.  We also need to think about what questions we want to ask them.

Please comment about what you think:

• we should tell them
• they should tell us

Original image: ‘canada flag‘
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78873033@N00/83616186
by: Alistair Howard    Released under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License

Did your school take part in the STAND UP 2008 against poverty campaign?  I know my school did, even the grade 6/7 students who were on a bush walk and barbecue for the day.  I was in a meeting organizing next year’s timetable with the senior staff at my school and we all stood up when one of the students read a message about povery over our P.A. system at midday on Friday.

Please make sure you visit some of these blogs where students have written some excellent work about poverty both locally and globally.

 Amanda,  Lauren,  Kevin,  Megan,  Diogo,  Julya,  Bigfoot,  Edw002,  Hailey,  Norma,  Nadine

The World Bank describes it as “…a condition so limited by malnutrition, illiteracy, disease, squalid surroundings, high infant mortality, and low life expectancy as to be beneath any reasonable definition of human decency.”  This is called absolute poverty.  Nowhere in this definition is mentioned the income of the person.

Below is a list of those countries which have more than 50% of their population living on less than $1 per day: The first % is under $2 per day, the second % is under $1 per day. These countries don’t have the luxury of a government paying out social welfare or unemployment benefits.

Burundi

87.6 54.6

Central African Republic

84.0 66.6

The Gambia

82.9

59.3

Haiti

78.0

53.9

Madagascar

85.1

61.0

Niger

85.8

60.6

Nigeria

92.4

70.8

Rwanda

87.8

60.3

Sierra Leone

74.5

57.0

Tanzania

89.9

57.8

Zambia

87.2

63.8

Zimbabwe

83.0

56.1

Source:  Wikipedia

Yet many people living in industrialized countries including Australia would spend a dollar per day on lollies, chips, soft drink, comics or some non-essential item.  But we still have people living in relative poverty.   These countries work on a poverty line. This is the amount needed, per week, by two adults and two dependant children to supply basic living needs.  These are the poverty line amounts for Australia:

• 1973 – $62.70
• 1983 - $212.70
• 1993 – $383.90
• 2003 – $562.10
• 2006 – $663.10

Source: Poverty lines March 2008 quarter

Why do families in Australia need $663.10 per week to live on, while over 90 % of the population of Nigeria live on less than $2 per day per family member or about $50 per week per family of 4? 

What can we as a developed country do to help those people in absolute poverty?  This includes the indigenous aborigines of Australia.

I decided when I was in college, training to be a teacher, that I could easily afford $1 per day to help another person in need.  So since my very first pay check back in the 1970’s, I have sponsored a child through World Vision. I have helped children go to school, have clean water put in villages, allowed children to be immunized and helped women buy animals and plants to grow and feed their children.

Thinking about our schools, if there are 30 children in a class and 12 months in a year, if each child could donate $1 per month or $12 per year.  It costs about $360 per year to sponsor a child, imagine the number of children, families, villages we could start leading out of poverty!!

This post is part of Blog Action Day 08 – Poverty