What $10 means to you

from http://www.mercyrelief.org/asiatidal.html

Mercy Relief for Singapore Red Cross,
simply dial:
1900 - 911 1150 for $50 donation
1900 - 911 1110 for $10 donation



CHEQUES
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Please make the cheque payable to: MERCY RELIEF with 'ASIA TIDAL WAVES' written on the reverse. Please include name, address and contact number for the issuance of receipt and mail it to: Mercy Relief36, Purvis Street, #02-03, Singapore 188613
Alternatively, you may drop in the cheque at your nearest DBS Bank/POSB Branch(es) and make your donation to:ACCOUNT NAME: MERCY RELIEF ACCOUNT NUMBER: 054-900493-6


DIRECT ATM TRANSFER / INTERNET BANKING
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Donate through any DBS Bank/POSB ATM Kiosk or Internet Banking account to MERCY Relief's DBS Bank accountACCOUNT NUMBER: 054-900493-6

For other ways to help, please click on the respective link in my links section.

koko and smokey

meet Koko.

(from www.gorilla.org)

Koko is a 33 year-old lowland gorilla who learned to speak American Sign Language when she was just a baby. Her teacher, Dr. Penny Patterson, began working with Koko as a Ph.D. project at Stanford, thinking it would only be a 4-year study. Thirty-some years later, Penny and Koko continue to work together at the Gorilla Foundation in one of the longest interspecies communication studies ever conducted, the only one with gorillas. Koko now has a vocabulary of over 1000 signs, and understands even more spoken English. Koko has become famous not only for her language capabilities, but also her heart-warming relationship with kittens (captured in the book Koko's Kitten). As Penny says, "she's just as much a person as we are."

Koko's greatest desire is to have a baby. She has indicated that she will teach her children sign language, which will engender the next generation of interspecies communication.Koko has become the ambassador for her critically endangered species. The completion of the new Maui Ape Preserve by the Gorilla Foundation, and the expansion of our Africa Projects, will help assure the future for Koko, ape language studies, free-lliving gorillas and other great ape species. You can help!

My Four Reasons for Hope - by Dr Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall — My Four Reasons for Hope

It is easy to be overwhelmed by feelings of hopelessness as we look around the world. Is there, in fact, hope for Africa's future? Yes. Provided human populations develop programs that will stabilize, or optimize, their growth rate. It is very important to implement child healthcare programs along with family planning so that women can expect that their children will live - instead of knowing, as they do today, that many of them will die.

There are many signs of hope. Along a lakeshore in Tanzania, for example, villagers are planting trees where all the trees had disappeared. Women are taking more control over their lives, and, once they become better educated, then the birth rate begins to drop. And the children are being taught about the dire effects of habitat destruction. There is the terrible pollution around the world, the balance of nature is disturbed, and we are destroying our beautiful planet. There are fears of new epidemics for which there will be no drugs, and, rather than fight the cause, we torture millions of animals in the name of medical progress. But in spite of all this I do have hope. And my hope is based on three factors.

The Human Brain
Firstly, we have at last begun to understand and face up to the problems that threaten us and the survival of life on Earth as we know it. Surely, then, we can use our problem-solving abilities, our brains, and, joining hands around the world, find ways to live that are in harmony with nature. Indeed, many companies have begun "greening" their operations, and millions of people worldwide are beginning to realize that each one of us has a responsibility to the environment and our descendants, and that the way each one of us lives our life does matter, does make a difference.

The Determination of Young People
My second reason for hope lies in the tremendous energy, enthusiasm and commitment of a growing number of young people around the world. As they find out about the environmental and social problems that are now part of their heritage, they want to fight to right the wrongs. Of course they do - they have a vested interest in this, for it will be their world tomorrow. They will be moving into leadership positions, into the work force, becoming parents themselves. Young people, when informed and empowered, when they realize that what they do truly makes a difference, can indeed change the world.

The Indomitable Human Spirit
My third reason for hope lies in the indomitable nature of the human spirit. There are so many people who have dreamed seemingly unattainable dreams and, because they never gave up, achieved their goals against all the odds, or blazed a path along which others could follow. As I travel around the world I meet so many incredible and amazing human beings. They inspire me. They inspire those around them.

The Resilience of Nature
My fourth reason for hope is the incredible resilience of nature. I have visited Nagasaki, site of the second atomic bomb that ended World War II. Scientists had predicted that nothing could grow there for at least 30 years. But, amazingly, greenery grew very quickly. One sapling actually managed to survive the bombing, and today it is a large tree, with great cracks and fissures, all black inside; but that tree still produces leaves. I carry one of those leaves with me as a powerful symbol of hope. I have seen such renewals time and again, including animal species brought back from the brink of extinction.

So let us move into the next millennium with hope, for without it all we can do is eat and drink the last of our resources as we watch our planet slowly die. Instead, let us have faith in ourselves, in our intellect, in our staunch spirit. Let us develop respect for all living things. Let us try to replace impatience and intolerance with understanding and compassion. And love.

A personal exception.

Attended a talk held by Dr Jane Goodall, someone i knew about since a young age. It does annoy me that very hardly anyone that i talk to knows about her. She's a famous primate conservationalist, and now at 70+ yrs old, travels the world talking about her experiences and conservation. Let's just say it was ...really heartening. Though all the issues she talked about i basically already knew , but it's so much more meaningful and much less cheesy if you hear messages like love and peace, and how individuals can make a difference, direct from someone who really believes in it and has been there and done that. She isn't the kind of magnectic charismatic speaker, but rather a quiet and slight old lady, who yet draws her audience to her in a quiet and understanding way, due to her underlying passion and simple words. I actually got to talk to her personally for a few minutes. Well basically, thouh more time to reflect on this is needed, i came away with a hightened sense of priorities in life, and more hope, that i as an individual can change the world. Which i think people should reflect on; their life priorities.