Newsletter December 2015

Dear friends,
In this circular I will try to give you an answer as to whether the Millennium Goals which were drawn up in 2000 have been achieved. But first I want to tell you that we have sponsored Margaret Groot. On November 1 she went for seven weeks for Nepal to volunteer there. More information on the site.

Millennium goal 2

In 2015, all children - both boys and girls - must follow primary education.
The number of children has increased somewhat, but not enough to say that this goal has been achieved. There does seem to be a small improvement. More than 57 million children are not currently attending school. Worldwide there are 123 million young people who can not read and write. Far more than half of them, about 61%, are girls. This means that girls are often not considered to be equal to boys.

Millennium goal 3

In 2015 men and women have equal rights.
The UN may say that part of this goal has been achieved, but I do worry about this. We see and hear often in the newspapers and on the news that girls and women are "less" than boys (India, child prostitution). Getting education is very important because the girls are given the opportunity to develop themselves into women who are equal to men.

Millennium goal 4

In 2015 the infant mortality must be reduced by two thirds. In 1990 90 children out of 1,000 died who were younger than five years. In 2015 this decreased to 31 out of 1,000 children.
This goal is behind target. Infant mortality has fallen by 41% but that is not enough to say that the goal has been achieved (reduced by two-thirds). Every year about 7 million children die before their 5th birthday due to diseases: diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria. Malnutrition and lack of clean drinking water and sanitation make the children more susceptible to disease.
(Source: UN, Maite Vermeulen, Jan Sluyterman, UNICEF)

The remaining goals will be addressed in the next circular. However I want to say already that I am convinced that our foundation has contributed, and still contributes to the achievement of the Millennium Goals.
Without your support we could not have done this. Many thanks.

October 2016: time to celebrate our 30th anniversary. How? We will let you know.

I wish you a very happy Christmas, and all the best for 2016.

Kees Ooijevaar (secretary)

KvK: 371000429 Bank: NL16 RABO 03689.48.870 t.n.v. Auxilia