莫测

昨日风， 今日晴， 明日雨， 风雨莫测
昨日哀， 今日喜， 明日愁， 心情莫测
昨日祸， 今日福， 明又何， 祸福莫测
昨日知， 今日合， 明日离， 聚散莫测
昨日贫， 今日富， 明日缺， 人生莫测
昨日失， 今日得， 明日空， 时机莫测
昨日变， 今日变， 明日变， 变幻莫测

Child sponsoring

Today i sponsorred 2 kids, through world vision child sponsoring program. Even though there are some criticism on the way how world vision utilise the funds while reporting a whole different story to sponsors, but i feel this is acceptable, as long as my money did make the community evolve.

i chosen one kid in South Africa, East Orlando, and one random kid in the world who his community need money the most. I dont think i will visit them one day as i know their circumstances are really bad and i might feel so sad for them. i do hope they can take good care of themselves, and get rid of their bad fate a day in future.

As for me, i need to work hard for my own life too. Lets fight together, kids!

World Vision

source : http://www.wikipedia.com/

World Vision, founded in the United States in 1951, is an international Christian relief and development organization whose stated goal is "to follow our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in working with the poor and oppressed to promote human transformation, seek justice and bear witness to the good news of the Kingdom of God." Working on six continents, World Vision is one of the largest Christian relief and development organizations in the world with a 1.6 billion dollar budget (2007).

World Vision was founded in 1951 by Dr. Robert Pierce, a young pastor and missionary, who had first been sent to China and South Korea in 1947 by the Youth for Christ missionary organization. Pierce remained at the head of World Vision for nearly two decades, but resigned from the organization in 1967. Pierce also founded the evangelical organization Samaritan's Purse.

World Vision began caring for orphans and other children in need first in South Korea, then expanding throughout Asia and, eventually, in more than 90 countries, embracing larger issues of community development and advocacy for the poor as part of its basic mission to help poor children and their families build a sustainable future.

According to World Vision's 2006 Consolidated Financial Statements, around 40% of their revenue comes from private sources, including individuals, World Vision clubs in schools, corporations and foundations. 27% comes from governments and multilateral aid agencies such as USAID and the Department for International development (DFID) in the UK. 30% comes from other World Vision programs and nonprofit organizations as Gift in Kind. Aside from cash contributions, World Vision accepts gifts in kind, typically food commodities, medicine, and clothing donated through corporations and government agencies.

Approximately half of World Vision's programs are funded through child sponsorship. Individuals, families, churches, schools, and other groups sponsor specific children or specific community projects in their own country or abroad. Sponsors send funds each month to provide support for the sponsored children or projects.

World Vision Famine events like the 30-Hour Famine and 40-Hour Famine also help to raise money for impoverished countries. Typically, a group signs up to organize such an event, and then spends the next 30 or 40 hours abstaining from food, technology or other things that are taken for granted, and increasing awareness about world hunger. Many schools and individuals are annually successful with this fundraising activity. In the beginning there was only the No Food Famine, but now there is the No Talking Famine; the Techno Famine, without technology (i.e. cellphones, computers, TV or digital audio players); Sports Famine, a triathlon or a sports activity for the whole weekend; and the Theme Famine, where participants come up with an idea of their own: living in a tent, cardboard box or living only on rice for a weekend. Another one is the 24 hour wake, an event that involves a group signing up for lack of any form of rest or energy drink supplements to show the overworked conditions the third world has to deal with

According to World Vision's annual report, in 2008, 87% of its funding was spent on programs, 8% on fundraising and 5% on management and general overhead.

Critics

In a report on famine in Ethiopia, reporter Andrew Geoghegan visited his 14 year old sponsor child. The girl has "been part of a World Vision program all her life" yet says (in translated subtitle) "Until recently, I didn't know I had a sponsor." and when asked about her knowledge of World Vision sponsorship says "Last time they gave me this jacket and a pen." Geoghegan was disconcerted to find that despite being "told by World Vision that [the girl] was learning English at school, and was improving... she speaks no English at all."

In their response, World Vision states "World Vision unapologetically takes a community-based approach to development – a fact we publicly promote at every opportunity. Providing money directly to the families of sponsored children simply does not work, no matter how dire the circumstances. A ‘direct benefit' approach creates jealousy among community members that do not have sponsored children and fosters an ethos of dependency. So while sponsored children may receive some direct benefits – like school materials or a jacket for warmth – this in no way represents the entirety of our work in a community, and it was disingenuous for the Foreign Correspondent story to imply this."

It is clearly stated on the World Vision website: "When you make a gift, your contributions are pooled with that of other sponsors of children in the community where your child lives. Your child receives health care, education, nutritious food, and the entire community benefits from access to clean water, agricultural assistance, medical care, and more."
The journalist and producer were offered the chance to view the full breadth of work World Vision is undertaking in the community, in health, education and food security, but this offer was not accepted."

Foreign Correspondent replied to World Vision. In part, that response reads: "Foreign Correspondent sought answers from World Vision representatives on why the organisation's literature creates the impression that donated money goes directly to the sponsor child. The World Vision representative failed to adequately respond to the questions and instead outlined the community projects where sponsor money is spent. Foreign Correspondent does not dispute the integrity of World Vision projects but questions the way sponsorship is promoted to the public. In its response, World Vision has ignored the reporter's surprise at finding his sponsor child speaks no English, yet he has been receiving regular reports from the organisation that she's learning English at school and has a good command of the language. .., Andrew Geoghegan has sponsored Tsehaynesh Delago for a decade and yet she claims she was unaware, until recently, that she had a sponsor and says the only benefit she has ever received directly from World Vision is a pen and the denim jacket she wore on the day of filming."

约会 （2）

今天终于约到了SI。

她今晚也工作到挺迟的，而我就在位子上盘算着要不要约她。想了很久，终于让我想到一件很久没去了的日本餐馆。虽然不会很便宜，但也不算太贵。等阿等的，她似乎还没有走的意思。看看时间，7点半了。最后我决定破釜沉舟，收拾所有东西，一副要走了的样子，走到她旁边问她是不是还有很多要忙。跟她讨论了一些她遇到的问题和解决方法之后，她终于决定要走了。我就问了她要不要一起吃晚餐，而她也爽快地答应了。

整个晚餐的过程还不错，有说有笑，但欠缺了KF一直强调的[惊喜]。整个过程有点平淡，应该不会太让人有太深刻的记忆。这也是我其中一个缺点，不懂得如何制造让人记忆深刻的瞬间。

无论如何，至少，我约到她了，也算是小小的突破吧。

约会

今天想约SI一起吃晚餐的，可是一直找不到机会开口。她有点忙，埋头在工作。不想打扰她，我只好在自己的位子时不时看她一下，看看有没有机会约她。心情其实也蛮紧张的，但更加苦恼的是不知道要约她去那里吃。不好意思带她到贵的地方吃，因为知道她不会让我请。可是便宜的大牌档又都很不方便我。停车位不够啦，梯级啦，水沟等等都让我很困难。结果是，我在一边等，她做到7点多，走之前和我说了一下她的工作进展，在我不知道怎么开口的情况下，她就说再见了。不知道怎么说，自信还是很少，不知道算不算可悲。

Book-ing

Eventually i got back my car today, after 2 weeks of 'car-less'. Thanks to BL, Michael, HS, KL and SI who ever fetched me during the time.

After that we went to PISA for camera fair. The fair is not bad, with a lot of booths and bride gowns show. Many booths had hired pretty girls as promoters. A lot of DSLR camera hobbyists were there taking shoot on the bride gown show. The show is good and i do feel it reached international standard. I was caught by a pretty promoter before we left, all thanks to Sherlyn. She talked a lot to tell us how good is the camera and really, i do feel the camera is really nice. But too bad, i am stingy, haha...

After that we went to Queensbay Borders and Popular to read books. I made a popular card, as i have at least 6 books in list to buy. What books? hehe.. below are 2 of them. I will start book-ing tomorrow.

寂寞在唱歌

我的歌

一直以来都很想写一首歌给自己，但创作方面我似乎还是比较倾向灰色的世界。今晚心血来潮，就写了这首歌给自己。依然不是很满意这个作品，但我有点懒惰再去修改了，呵呵。


****************************************

歌名 ： 夜路
歌词 ： 乌龟杀手
歌曲 ： 还没有曲


曾经以为
这条路只会自己一个人走
月光照亮了梦 蟋蟀演奏着歌
孤独 却不寂寞

你的出现
这条路不再自己一个人走
两人身影相伴 哼唱彼此的歌
路程因你而充满快乐

我以为我们可以走到最后
我期待路的尽头 可以看到明天的彩虹
为何当我伸出双手 你却加快了脚步
丢下我 选择一个人独自去走

我不是一个容易放弃的人
却发现坚持让心越来越疼
每次朝你不顾一切的狂奔
仿佛都是梦里无声的剧本

我不是一个容易伤心的人
却一次一次为你泪雨难分
不说再见的背影已经走远
我却还抓着 彼此间的回忆
一个人哼着 我们的歌

蟋蟀不再演奏的小路
只剩月光陪我走着

民事诉讼

今天明察暗访后才确定了那个安娣确实是有权利对我发起民事诉讼的。无论如何，保险公司其实才是她要追讨的对象。今天把文件交给了保险公司后，胸口暂时松了一口气。两个星期后才由保险公司通知我需不需要上法庭。希望事情真的可以那么简单的解决。

被告

记得一年前的车祸吗？当时因为我鲁莽转弯，结果一辆电单车突然撞上来。驾驶电单车的安娣骨折，被送进了医院。后来我被罚款，保险也做了赔偿给她，就以为没事了。没想到今天竟然收到一封“律师信”，说她要告我鲁莽驾驶导致她受伤，不能工作一年，要我赔偿2万5千作为补偿。神经病，过了那么久才来呱呱叫，哪有这种事？而且我已经照足所有程序作了赔偿，她还能做这样的民事诉讼吗？

最要命的是这封信很随便。虽然打了10几页的纸说我如何如何的错，她如何如何的受折磨，但信的格式，资料，似乎都很随便。所以我朋友怀疑这封信是不是假的。我倒还真的希望这只是一个欺诈集团的花招，那我就完全不需要理会它了。

我的心情就这样完全被这封信毁了。。。。乌龟阿。。。