Journal Entries
Drop the Debt!
Posted Apr 22, 2004
22nd April 2004
World Debt Day May 16th 04
On Tuesday I went to a talk as part of the Jubilee Debt Campaign, which was started in Birmingham in May 1998. The campaign commenced to try and get debt cancellation for poor countries
Have you ever been in debt, or worried about how to pay your bills? More and more people are facing that situation, but what about International Debt? Many countries are sinking in a sea of debt with no way out .
Can you imagine owing $6.5 billion dollars at the beginning of 2004, with interest constantly increasing, so that you have to find the interest (only) payments from money that should be spent on on Education, Health, infrastructure etc. So that you have to sell your natural resources which should be used to support your economy, just to pay the interest.
The talk was by a man from Zambia and he told us this is what they are facing in his country. The massive loans made to Zambia and many other countries come with impossible conditions attached to them
Imagine being trained as a 
or 
only to find that medical staff from outside the country are being hired at a higher rate of pay 
. Is it any wonder they leave their home country and seek employment elsewhere?
They currently have a literacy rate of 75%, but with few schools locally and villages spread far apart, that is likely to drop sharply. Free schooling is not much use if you cannot reach the school without walking miles 
and there is no funding for materials e.g. 
s anyway.
They also face huge problems with HIV/Aids, in that they are losing their population of working age at an alarming rate, leaving children to be looked after by ever more poverty stricken relatives.
There are so many issues involved that it seems an impossible task. But it could be done. We are grateful for the cuts in debt that have been made, and the improvements - children in school, vaccinations, clinics etc. but IT IS NOT ENOUGH.
It is immoral to load debt on to countries that can ill afford the repayments, even more so to continually increase the interest payable so that they may never get out of debt EVER. Even worse to tie them up with impossible conditions which can never be met.
This is not help. This is not a kindness. This is cynical exploitation of people who are not in a position to fight back. Slavery of a different kind.
Make it known to your MP that you want this remedied.
Drop the Debt (World Debt Day) is Sunday 16th May 2004 and there are plenty of links on the Internet, if you want to know more.
Websailor
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Latest reply: Apr 22, 2004
To Smoke or Not to Smoke?
Posted Apr 20, 2004
There has been an issue with rendering this post, please contact the editors.
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Latest reply: Apr 20, 2004
Seal of Disapproval & some good news!
Posted Apr 17, 2004
Saturday 17th April 2004
The total on the Albatross Petition is climbing - well over 70,000 the last time I looked. Do please sign if you haven't already done so. John's latest Log describes perfect weather conditions, and he seems to be really enjoying himself at present! They are heading for the Equator and expect to hit the doldrums some time soon.
They have a deadline to meet, so unlike in a yacht race when using the motor is not allowed, they can use their motor to race through the windless patch if necessary 
in order to reach the Azores on time. My heading says it all. I have been appalled and disgusted at the wholesale slaughter of baby Harp and Hooded Seals in Canada. Whatever they say, this is not a cull, but a hunt, for monetary gain.
That in iself is bad enough, but the cruelty displayed in footage and stills on TV and in the papers, beggars belief. These people can have no souls 
. Their smug faces on TV do nothing to endear them to us 
There has been a huge outcry worldwide but too late to save them. The seal hunt appears to be over for this year. I despair sometimes, having taken part in the last big push to get it stopped many years ago.
IFAW and Greenpeace carry information for anyone who wants to know the background to this senseless slaughter. New markets have opened up to them, which has fuelled the desire to kill more.
I am too depressed to write more today 
.
Websailor
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Latest reply: Apr 17, 2004
Albatross Petition
Posted Apr 11, 2004
11th April 2004
Happy Easter to anyone reading this.
Last night I put the Petition link on the www.Care2.com community message board, under "how can I help the environment". I am hoping that it will lead to some more signatures, and perhaps some feedback.
There are so many bird websites carrying this petition that I cannot understand why there are not more signatures!
The Whooping Cranes are still wending their way North, but the second group have encountered storms which have scattered them. I pity the poor souls trying to track them!
I had two huge Crows in the garden this morning, which only happens occasionally. They must have been hungry. Boy, are they big?! Even the squirrels give them a wide berth. The squirrels are becoming a plague again, eating everything and climbing everywhere. They are comical but it ceases to be a joke when they wreck everything.
Yesterday I found the Footsteps of Man website again. That is a mammoth trek if ever I saw one. Seven years of trekking across Africa and more. Must look in on them occasionally again.
Websailor
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Latest reply: Apr 11, 2004
Fly Away Home
Posted Apr 9, 2004
9th April 2004
The second half of the 03 flock of Whooping Cranes (eight of them) are on their way home to Wisconsin, but are battling unsuitable weather, and have encountered some very silly people on one stopover, who tried to catch one! Fortunately they were stopped, but the birds were scared into flight prematurely as a result.
These birds need to remain totally wild, and have no contact with humans at all. Any approach jeopardises the whole Operation Migration project.
English Rose VI was zipping along in in near perfect conditions for a while, but is now out of Albatross territory, which is kind of sad.
Typical English weather here for Easter, frost, ice, sun, wind, rain etc. so no change there, though flowers and buds are everywhere.
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Latest reply: Apr 9, 2004
Websailor
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