Mildred Rivera Interview

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Pat Landowska’s interview with artist, Mildred Rivera: “I cannot ignore what’s in front of me”

Mildred Rivera, an artist, who specializes in air brushing and watercolor, and a student at Santa Monica City College, decided to donate 25% of profits from the show featuring her art and the art of her colleagues to Wells Bring Hope. The show opened on November 6 and will be held until November 20 at The Market Gallery, S San Pedro & E 11th Street in Los Angeles.

Why did you decide to donate 25% profits from your show to Wells Bring Hope?

Because I like the concept of it. Everything…the same goes on and on around the world through generations, like homelessness, poverty, racism, nothing really changes. Since I am an awareness artist, I think it is important to make a point that everybody is affected by what’s going on, that’s my job – to make people aware. For an artist it can be that simple as using the color pink to raise awareness about a breast cancer.

Yes, but one may say that there is plenty of poverty and suffering right here where we are, in the States. A person doesn’t have to go to Africa to find the needy ones.

I don’t discriminate among people in need based on their location. We all live in the same world, in which ignorance is overwhelming. Therefore, we all have to do our part. If only one person breaks the ignorance and does something about it, others will follow. Barbara Goldberg, the founder of Wells Bring Hope, is the best example. I cannot ignore what is in front of me. And by that I mean what’s going on in Africa as well as in here.

You are a student. Don’t you need money for yourself?

Yes, I do. But you know what, as long as I’ve eaten today, which I did, I can help others. I am not selfish. God has given me a talent to share, to pass on somebody else.

Is this your first charitable fundraiser?
No, I’ve done it before for causes like fighting breast cancer and AIDS. But I didn’t raise a lot of money.

Well, every little bit counts. Thank you for the conversation, and good luck with your studies.

Water: The Most Precious Resource of All

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by Golda Gonzales

We might not think of it often, one tends to take for granted what has always been here, but it also doesn’t take long to come to realize the preciousness of water. Wherever you turn, and from every angle, life is possible thanks to water. There is no replacement for it.

From the tiniest cell of any living being to the most complex of organisms, like the human body, which is 60% water, survival is simply not possible without water. Most of us could survive on less energy consumption per day—a lower or higher thermostat, depending on the season, a bit less TV or a more fuel-efficient vehicle. However, it is unlikely that any of us could survive without water for more than a week.

It has been estimated that our bodies need approximately two quarts of water each day. From household consumption to agriculture and manufacturing, the extent to which water runs through our lives is precisely why we have to confront the challenge of using it wisely, distribute it evenly and preserve it for future generations.

Clean, safe drinking water is a scarce commodity in many parts of the world because 97% of the world’s total water supply is salty ocean water. Two per cent of the fresh drinking water is ice-trapped in the north and south poles and less than 1% comes from rivers, lakes and underground soil.

With this said, a dilemma is born…how do we ensure enough water for drinking, growing our food, cooling our power plants, etc. given limited resources and a fast growing global population? With more than 83 million new people on the planet each year, (National Geographic, April 2010) in 15 years 1.8 billion people will be living in geographical regions where water will be severely scarce.

A study conducted by Goldman Sachs (Newsweek, October 31, 2010) estimated that global water consumption is doubling every 20 years and that the UN expects water demand to outstrip supply by more than 30% by 2040.

Statistics already show that of the 6 billion people inhabiting our planet, 2 billion lack access to safe drinking water, with more than 1 billion of them living in the developing world. Countries in West and North Africa as well as the Middle East and Asia are the most affected. Groundwater supplies in these areas are critically important for survival since many in these regions get very little rainfall throughout the year. According to studies, many of these aquifers are being drained faster than Mother Nature can replenish them. Tensions among countries lucky enough to be on the shores of the Nile, the Danube, the Tigris, who have been sharing water supplies with neighbors, have increased due to water shortages and drought.

This grim landscape can’t help but bring up a couple of questions: how successful can water management be, at any level, international, federal, local? Is conservation of our fresh water resources enough to offset the growing in population, and therefore the increasing demand on our water supply?

One thing is clear: today we’re using more than half of the fresh water supply in the world and unless something is done soon, we are going to run out of our most precious resource, not in generations from now but in this century. What can YOU do?

U.N. Millennium Development Goals Appear Out of Reach in Africa

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by Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times

With only five years left to meet the targets of poverty reduction and healthcare improvements set for 2015, most of sub-Saharan Africa lags behind amid the lack of aid and political will.

Sub-Saharan Africa will not reduce poverty and hunger and improve child and maternal healthcare to meet the goals set a decade ago by the United Nations unless African and Western leaders do much more, several recent reports suggest. The main reasons: Donors have failed to keep pledges and many African nations have not improved their governments or increased health spending as promised.

Only a handful of developed countries have met a pledge to increase foreign aid to 0.7% of their gross domestic product, while in some countries aid is declining. And only Rwanda, Tanzania and Liberia have met their pledge to spend 15% of their budgets on health, while in some African nations — Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa and others — the proportion has fallen since 2000, according to a recent report out of Britain.

The average spending on healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa remains less than 10% of GDP. The Millennium Development Goals were adopted by about 190 U.N. member countries in 2000 to tackle poverty, hunger, disease and early deaths in poor countries, with a series of targets set for 2015. The struggling efforts to meet those goals will be discussed at a three-day U.N. summit in New York beginning Monday.

Almost from the outset it was clear that countries and international organizations were not moving fast enough to meet the targets. The eight goals include halving the rate of poverty from 58% of the population in 1990 to 29% in 2015; reducing child mortality by two-thirds from 18% of births in 1990 to 6% in 2015; and cutting maternal mortality from .92% to .23% during the same period. Other goals include providing universal primary education, combating HIV/AIDS and providing universal access to treatment, and eradicating malaria.

“There’s progress, but not at all sufficient if we are to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015,” said Elhadj As Sy, the Nairobi-based regional director of UNICEF. “Even in countries where we had a drop in child mortality, in the best cases we saw a reduction of 2.5 or 3% and we need a 5% reduction to meet the targets.” He said the situation is worst in countries mired in conflict, such as Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In the 10 years since the goals were set, meeting them has become more complicated, as the global financial crisis plunged an additional 64 million people into extreme poverty, many of them in Africa. Global warming threatens future food production in sub-Saharan Africa, but in the last five years the amount of arable land under irrigation has increased by less than 1%.

The most disappointment has been in the efforts to reduce child and maternal mortality, both of which were to be slashed by two-thirds by 2015. So far, child mortality has been reduced, but 14% of children still die before their fifth birthday. The rate of maternal mortality had barely shifted, according to a U.N. report on the Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs.

There also has been little improvement in the poverty and hunger levels. In 2008, 32% of people in sub-Saharan Africa were undernourished, a proportion little changed since 1990, according to the recent report by Britain’s Commission for Africa. More than 1 billion people worldwide were hungry last year, with insufficient nutrition a key factor in poor health and mortality. Although the proportion living on less than $1.25 a day declined, the overall number in poverty has risen to more than 400 million.

One worrying element, according to analysts, is that the easier improvements — slashing debt, distributing mosquito nets, vaccinating children, improving primary school enrollments — have been carried out in many parts of Africa. With only five years left till 2015, far more challenging programs must be implemented, such as setting up decent health services for women in remote locations and improving the quality of primary education.

The U.S. has released its strategy to reach the goals, including providing an extra $63 billion for healthcare in developing countries, $3.5 billion to help improve agricultural production and $30 billion to help countries adapt to global warming.

“The road ahead will likely be more difficult than the road already traveled,” said a USAID report on meeting the 2015 goals. “To meet the MDGs by 2015, historic leaps in human development will be required. Many of the remaining poor and undernourished will be harder to reach because they live in marginal areas or face ethnic, religious, and other kinds of deep‐seated social exclusion. Some reside in conflict‐affected or fragile states, where the prospects for development are least auspicious.”

Osten Chulu, a policy advisor in Johannesburg to the United Nations Development Program, said the efficient use of aid in Africa was sometimes compromised by poor governance and the extreme disempowerment of populations who are unable to hold leaders accountable through democratic elections. “In Europe and America, a politician is always wary of the reaction of voters,” Chulu said. “But here, it’s the other way around. People are afraid of politicians and civil leaders.”

Chulu said governments in both developed and developing countries had failed in their commitments to meet the U.N. goals. “The question is not so much the money,” he said. “It’s how you use the money.”

This week’s summit is reportedly aiming to generate billions of dollars in pledges of aid. Nongovernmental groups such as Oxfam are calling for a much greater commitment from developed countries. In 2005, the Group of 8 leading industrialized nations promised an extra $50 billion in aid by 2010, but only 61% of it has been delivered.

“Unless an urgent rescue package is developed to accelerate fulfillment of all the MDGs,” a recent Oxfam report said, “we are likely to witness the greatest collective failure in history.”

Devastating Floods Sweep Niger After Months of Drought

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Excerpted from: http://breakingnews.ie/world

Drought-stricken Niger has been struck by devastating flooding, aid agencies said today. Crop failure combined with a severe drought had already thrust tens of thousands of people into a perilous state in Niger and neighboring Chad in the Sahel region of central North Africa.

But now severe flooding is making the situation even worse, Save the Children said today. Heavy rainfall since the end of July has inundated six regions of Niger, affecting more than 58,000 people. Houses have collapsed and rotting animal carcasses are contaminating flood water, spreading disease, the agency said.

The region of Zinder in the south of the country has been hit hardest, with 28,000 people affected. More than 37,000 animals have drowned in the floodwaters. Zinder is also one of the regions suffering most from the current food crisis.

Children in Zinder are already incredibly vulnerable as they have been without enough food for months and their immune systems are already desperately weak. The lives of over 300,000 children in Niger are already at risk, and the floods will put even more children in danger.

On Saturday, the UK Government called for more countries to provide aid to the stricken area. International Development Minister Stephen O’Brien said: “The current humanitarian situation in Niger and Chad is dire and millions of people are desperately in need of food. “The UK Government has been swift to respond to this crisis, providing food aid to feed over 810,000 people, treating 85,500 malnourished children and providing seeds to more than 81,000 households across the Sahel.”

“The World Food Programme (WFP) and agencies on the ground are working to deliver vital aid to those who need it most but they do not have enough funding to meet all the needs. We are calling on other donors to increase their response to this crisis before it’s too late.”

Malek Triki, West Africa spokesman for the WFP, said villagers in Niger are describing the situation as worse than in 2005, when aid organizations treated tens of thousands of children for malnutrition, and worse even than 1973 when thousands died. “What they are saying is that this is the worst crisis in living memory,” Mr Triki said.

The WFP estimates that 7.3 million people – almost half the country’s population – are in desperate need of food. Niger is susceptible to famine because it is mostly not irrigated. Its agriculture is heavily dependent on rain and when the rains fail, so do the country’s crops.

“This year was a double whammy,” said Christy Collins, the country director for US charity Mercy Corps. She explained that in most years, even if the country’s primary crop failed, at least the secondary crops survived. But this year there was so little rain that not only did the fields of millet not bloom, but the secondary greens used for animal fodder also failed. This means that not only do villagers not have enough to eat, but their livestock also died off.

What Our Partner, World Vision Is Doing To Ease The Famine

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“The situation is escalating and we aren’t even at the peak of the hungry season between harvests yet,” said Sarah Carr, a World Vision nutritionist serving in Niger, West Africa.

“Young boys are banging on my door at night begging for food,” said Carr. “That’s something I’ve never seen in Africa, even here in Niger where people are so poor.”

Drought and locust swarms destroyed most of the crops, driving the price of food out of reach for the poor.

Ousseini’s twin brother died of malnutrition the day before this photo was taken. Ousseini lives in a village near Maradi in eastern Niger.


Officials estimate 2.5 to 3.6 million people in Niger may go hungry.

At risk are an estimated 800,000 children under age five, including more than 100,000 who are severely malnourished. World Vision staff members fear that 10 percent of the children in some areas could die.

Food aid and long-term solutions

World Vision was one of the first to respond to the famine. Food is being distributed at more than seven sites in the south around Zinder.

Aid includes an outpatient therapeutic feeding program in Zinder for up to 5,000 malnourished children. Severely malnourished children who have medical problems are evacuated to a hospital in Maradi—about four hours away by road.

Projects providing long-term solutions to the food crisis include food-for-work agro-forestry programs (planting drought-resistant Acacia trees) and stocking 120 cereal banks and building 25 more (loaning grain to farmers who pay back with grain from the next harvest).

Tough times until October harvest, at least

Olivier Saugy of World Vision said, “Even in good years, people have little to eat during this season and we see cases of malnutrition. But this year, because of the drought, the number of malnourished children under five is soaring in Zinder.”

Most families are trying to exist on one meal a day. An increasing number of people are fleeing south into Nigeria to get away from the famine.

Famine in Niger

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While our mission is to bring safe water to rural villages in Niger, West Africa, we cannot ignore the most immediate problem: Niger is experiencing the worst hunger crisis in its history. And unlike the previous but not nearly as severe famine in 2005, this government is doing something about it. The following is excerpted from Rukmini Callimachi’s AP posting of 8/14/2010:

Niger is now facing the worst hunger crisis in its history, with almost half the country’s population in desperate need of food and up to one in six children suffering from acute malnutrition, aid officials say. Malek Triki, West Africa spokesman for the United Nations’ World Food Programme, said villagers in Niger are describing the situation as worse than in 2005, when aid organizations treated tens of thousands of children for malnutrition, and worse even than 1973, when thousands died.

National surveys conducted in May and June in the drought-stricken country on the southern fringe of the Sahara desert indicate that 16.7 percent of children under the age of 5 are acutely malnourished. That is well above the 15 percent threshold used by the U.N. to declare an emergency, according to the WFP.

The WFP estimates that 7.3 million people — almost half the country’s population — are in desperate need of food. In rural areas like Diffa, Triki says he spoke to numerous people who eat at most once a day. “A woman I spoke to basically said, ‘We’re in a constant state of fasting. If we eat lunch, we cannot eat dinner. If we eat dinner, we cannot eat lunch.’”

It’s unclear if people have begun to die of starvation, he said, and mortality figures are not available from either Niger’s government or the U.N. Aid workers, however, say that the high rate of malnutrition is obvious at the food distribution points. Many of the children “look stunted,” said Triki.

Niger’s government, now being run by a military council after a February coup ousted President Mamadou Tandja, had said it would provide more than 21,000 tons of food. In 2005, Tandja played down the food crisis, dismissing it as “false propaganda” used by the U.N., aid agencies and opposition parties for political and economic gain.

Niger has historically been susceptible to famine because the country is mostly not irrigated. The success of its agriculture is heavily dependent on rain and when the rains fail, so do the country’s crops. “This year was a double whammy,” said Christy Collins, the country director for U.S. charity Mercy Corps, which opened its Niger office at the height of the 2005 crisis.

In most years, even if the country’s primary crop failed, at least the secondary crops survived. This year there was so little rain that not only did the fields of millet not bloom, but the secondary greens used for animal fodder also failed.

A Day at the Sunland/Tijunga Watermelon Festival

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A BIG thanks goes to Evan Sobel, Elizabeth Gervase and Jessica Hooks, who worked so hard in the heat and dust and blaring music of the Sunland/Tijunga Watermelon Festival on Saturday, August 14, 2010. We raised $375, and while that doesn’t sound like much, it was quite an accomplishment, given the demographics of the people who attended. We did make connections with several groups and churches that have funded projects in the developing world and we will follow up for speaking engagements. Elizabeth’s focus was to try to get some schools to take up our cause and she got a couple interested in doing that.

The majority of the people who attended were from the low end of the income scale and many who liked our cause were sad that they did not even have $10 to contribute for a set of bracelets. One woman, moved by what we’re doing, had $10 and her choice was to eat or give it to us. She thought about it for a few moments and I said, “Go eat…if you want to send us $10 later, you can do that.” Some gave us the few dollars they had. They could relate to people in need and wanted to help.

There was also a strong sense of community at the Fair. Everyone got free watermelon and a lot was consumed! Other vendors and reps of causes came by and were also interested in helping us as we were interested in their causes. The church booth next to us was selling a week’s worth of food for a family of four, valued at $75, for only $30 and people were signing up.

Spending time there put us in touch with the reality of what our country is going through. Evan said that he didn’t feel like we were in Los Angeles. There were a number of people who brought loved ones in wheelchairs, a lot of special needs people being taken out by their families. One woman, upon reading the insert in the necklace, started to cry. She had recently left a homeless shelter after suffering physical abuse from her husband and had just gotten her child back. She was working with her father selling jewelry and was proud that she has turned her life around. When she read the words that come with our necklace, tears welled up, turning to sobs. She could relate to words praising the strength and flexibility of women.

This day filled our spirits to see how generous people can be with so little.

The best way to end this is with “Blessings.” We were “blessed” by a lot of people for our work and that felt good.

Water and Sanitation is a Human Right

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“General Assembly Declares Access To Clean Water And Sanitation Is A Human Right”

Excerpted from www.wateronline.org July 29, 2010

Safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights, the General Assembly declared recently, voicing deep concern that almost 900 million people worldwide do not have access to clean water.

The 192-member Assembly also called on United Nations Member States and international organizations to offer funding, technology and other resources to help poorer countries scale up their efforts to provide clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for everyone. The Assembly resolution received 122 votes in favour and zero votes against, while 41 countries abstained from voting.

The text of the resolution expresses deep concern that an estimated 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water and a total of more than 2.6 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation. Studies also indicate about 1.5 million children under the age of five die each year and 443 million school days are lost because of water- and sanitation-related diseases.

Today’s resolution also welcomes the UN Human Rights Council’s request that Catarina de Albuquerque, the UN Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, report annually to the General Assembly as well.

Ms. de Albuquerque’s report will focus on the principal challenges to achieving the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation, as well as on progress towards the relevant Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs, a series of targets for reducing social and economic ills, all by 2015, includes the goals of halving the proportion of people who cannot reach or afford safe drinking water and halving the number who do not have basic sanitation.

Water: It’s About Women

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Many people don’t realize that water in the developing world is a women’s issue. Why do I mean by that? Women and girls are responsible for getting water for their families. They spend much of their waking hours walking miles to get water–water that can be deadly. Young women who have heard me talk about life in Niger say, “Why do they accept that?” “Why don’t they make the men do more?” These are questions that are not surprising, coming from activist, equal rights women who see injustice and want to right it. They find it hard to accept the fact that this is the tradition of these Muslim women, generations of women who don’t question their roles.

Are they angry, resentful? Absolutely! Do they have hope for a better life? Absolutely. They know that if is drilled in their village, their time is freed up, they can get a micro-loan and begin to earn money. It is a joy to see that happen and you can see and hear it on the 14 minute version of our video if you haven’t watched it yet. Like women everywhere, they take pride in having their own money to spend, relieved that they don’t have to ask their husbands for it. Our partner, World Vision, gives micro-loans only to women because they know that it is the women who pay back the loans.

The former Director of World Vision Niger, Hortense Palm, has said, “To educate girls is to educate the whole nation.” Women are the greatest hope of countries like Niger and with our wells, we bring them HOPE for their future.

A Concert & Cabaret “Blame It on the Movies!”

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by Cathie Lippman, M.D

The evening was a huge success, with close to 100 people attending. Millicent Gappell’s piano concert, featuring classical music and the musicians who composed for Hollywood in the 1940′s, 50′s and 60′s, was brilliant. After a wine intermezzo and desserts under the stars, we were entertained by our divas in the Cabaret. Marion Ramsey, Patti B. and Lynda Levy serenaded us, accompanied by Ron Snyder on keyboard. We thank them for putting on fabulous show.

Best of all, this exciting evening raised over $12,000, enough to drill two wells. in Niger, West Africa. Our deep gratitude goes to Millicent Gappell who conceived of and made the evening possible. Special thanks to Allison Johnson, at the second piano, empressario, Chuck Marso, Event Planner, Carol Rosen, assisted by Joyce Fletcher, and photographer Peter Fletcher. The evening was topped off by Ben & Jerry’s ice cream sundaes, thanks to the very generous Jennifer Gedrick of Ben & Jerry’s Century City.

Some comments from our guests:

Congratulations! You must be very pleased with not only the outcome of this event, but also by all you have been able to accomplish in such a short time. Your vision and hard work are bringing your goals to fruition and helping thousands in Africa lead better lives in the future. I applaud your efforts and will support you in any way I can.

Maureen Winick

It was a great evening. Thank you for the privilege of contributing in such a delightful way.