The concept is very neat, you get to match a word, from a possible list of four, to a word with the same meaning. There are also different categories for which you can be tested in (Chemistry, Geography, Art, etc.) For each answer you get correct, 10 rice grains is donated to the poor. It’s very catch, and all for two good causes: increasing your vocabulary AND donating food to the poor!

Their two main goals, as stated on their website, are:

1. Provide education to everyone for free.
2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

Give it a try by clicking HERE.

I was reading in Macleans magazine that an estimated one in every nine women gets breast cancer. We all know people who have suffered from cancer and who are suffering from cancer. I’m sure that the fear of cancer has entertained all of our thoughts at least once. So what’s the point of this post? Well, since we all have a fair chance at suffering from this disease, I wanted to know, “what are we all doing to help fight against this war called ‘cancer’?“

We should all hope that research will one day be successful in finding a cure against this deadly and torturous disease, but hope alone is not enough. We have to translate our hopes into actions.

Visit the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and find out how you can help fight against cancer!

Well, it is seen and observed, not only in the movie, but also in everyday life, that we are always in the pursuit of happiness, but it is hard to maintain it. We are moreover, always in the pursuit of finding and maintaining happiness… finding happiness is achievable, but only after a heck of a lot of persistence and maintaining it is even harder! I feel that humans are always unsatisfied, but that issue requires a whole new post!

After watching that amazing movie based on a beautiful true story I began to ponder upon those words, “in the pursuit of happyness”.

Though, at times, it does seem that we live in the presence of happiness… no? isn’t what Will Smith (in the form of Chris Gardner) experienced at the end of the movie, when he finally got the job, happiness?

Hmm… interesting thought to ponder upon.

The first step I took into acknowledging that I’m a logical rationale being was as a child, when I accepted that I had to do something to make a difference in the lives of the poor. This thought of helping out the poverty-stricken in the world grew as a cancer would within myself to the point where my sleep was disturbed at the thought that I’m living (breathing, eating, sleeping, etc.) such a luxurious life while there are millions that are dying from so many causes, with the root as poverty.

There are countless times when I desire to go and bare an eye-witness account of how people live in poverty, only to truly be able to become a thankful being for what I have been granted. It is easy to drag on the list of endless desires, but it is hard to realize the uselessness of what one has if it cannot benefit oneself.

Materialism has reached to such an extent that I am saddened to see people finding “benefit” in buying something as the benefit lies within their own happiness. Fine, true, one should make oneself happy every now and then, but it is a sad fact to know that people are increasingly becoming more selfish with the same route of thoughts, that their happiness is within buying themselves products/services.

Now when I look back, one of the greatest days of my life was as a child, when it was born within me to find happiness with helping others. It is rare to find people that cherish the same definition of true happiness as I do (This definition is just my personal opinion, obviously there are many variations of true happiness and there are also additions to this happiness, which I did not encompass within this post).

There are many documentaries and movies that have moved me to feel greater sympathy for the poor, to name a few:

Born into Brothels, Right to Play, Peace Propaganda and the Promised Land, In the Pursuit of Happyness, Swades, and Akeela and the Bee.

I highly recommend that people watch these and many others to help build sympathy for the poor in more hearts and minds.

One thing I commend about the religion Islam is that every year the Muslims are required to fast in order to feel the hunger, thirst, dizziness and many other side-effects that are accompanied with the feelings of the poor. These actions grow feelings for the poor within their hearts and helps them be more thankful for what they have, and eventually, they learn to give more to the poor.

It is even more saddening for me to learn that there are millions of poor people residing in countries like India, which themselves are advancing forward as:

…the world’s twelfth largest economy by market exchange rates and the fourth largest in purchasing power, India has made rapid economic progress in the last decade. Although the country’s standard of living is projected to rise sharply in the next half-century, it currently battles high levels of poverty, illiteracy, persistent malnutrition, and environmental degradation. In addition to being a pluralistic, multi-lingual, and multi-ethnic society, India is also home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats and national parks. (Wikipedia)

I know for a fact that there are only two standards of living in countries like India: the rich, or the poor. There are no middle grounds in such countries. The middle category is very rare, hardly a sight. The rich like the fact that they are wealthy and to stay wealthy means the poor have to remain poor, many have to remain poor. This isn’t a troubling fact to them, nor a troubling sight as poverty is seen EVERYWHERE in such countries and it doesn’t bother the rich at all. Moreover, this has been passed down with generations of the caste system of having everyone do the same job – meaning, the poor stay poor and the rich stay rich. Instead of feeling sympathy, some of the rich enjoy that the poor live off of begging them for daily sustainence. The rich prefer to feed a whole poor village once in a blue moon, rather than teach them a skill so that they can “fish for life”.

True wealth is not found within one’s assets, but it is found within one’s heart. To be truly rich is to have enough space in one’s heart to find happiness is in the smile of the hungry.

This is a documentary worth watching!

We are all after wanting to know the truth. Well, to know the truth about the sad forced situation, of the former country, Palestine, you will have to watch this 79-minute informative documentary that will totally change your perception of the media at large. It will show you how closely the media is linked with Public Relations efforts and the numerous filters a news report can go through when it’s about a touchy topic.

It is heartbreaking to see the conditions the people of Palestine are made to live in. The Israelis have taken over their land and are controling their lifestyles. There are borders up everywhere that make Palestinians beg to be allowed to travel short distances. They are being deprived of their needs and are forced to stay most of the year in house arrest. No one should be forced to live like this! It is awful to know that there are people who are willing to sacrifice the lives and freedom of others for their own happiness.

To view the documentary click here.

The Plant Wall at the University of Guelph-Humber is quite a charmer. It acts not only as a beautiful decoration that brightens the day of each student, but also as an air filter, clearing the air, and a vent, which circulates warm air during winter, and cold air during summer.

The 1000 plants provide a relaxing environment that freshens the minds of the young students at the university. One can only imagine the amount of thought and hard work that went into the creation of this wall. It is nice to know that there are people willing to care for the environment that students study in.

Students that have been blessed with the opportunity of learning in such educational facilities should always be thankful for their chance to learn and achieve as there are many who are only left with the desire to ‘learn and achieve’.

The Virginia Tech Massacre, that occurred on April 16, 2007, marked the new worst school shooting in American history.

Why are there so many guns in the hands of wrong people? Why is power in the hands of wrong people? Well, both these questions are linked together. If nations will not focus on the reformation of its youth, how do they expect to reform themselves when the present and future also lies within the hands of their youth?

Today kids are roaming killing one another in schools for their own problems, tomorrow who knows what extent they will go to.

The Economist states:

The difference, as everyone knows but no one in authority was saying this week, is that in America such individuals have easy access to weapons of terrible destructive power. Cho killed his victims with two guns, one of them a Glock 9mm semi-automatic pistol, a rapid-fire weapon that is available only to police in virtually every other country, but which can legally be bought over the counter in thousands of gun-shops in America. There are estimated to be some 240m guns in America, considerably more than there are adults, and around a third of them are handguns, easy to conceal and use. Had powerful guns not been available to him, the deranged Cho would have killed fewer people, and perhaps none at all.

More thought and effort should go into focusing on programs to keep the youth busy in intellectual activities rather than having them waste time thinking of how to hurt others.

Countless numbers of people get haircuts each year, yet not many care to notice that their hair, which will end up in the garbage after the cut, could go to benefit a disadvantaged person. “Angel Hair for Kids” is an organization that makes wigs for children, 19 and under, that have lost their hair due to cancer or other diseases.

It is estimated that at least 10,000 children will lose their hair this year because of illnesses. Thus, the next time you decide to get a hair cut, try to think of the smile your cut hair will make on a disadvantaged child.

Click here for more information.

Mailing Address for Donations:

Angel Hair for Kids,
A program of A Child’s Voice Foundation,
3034 Palstan Road, #305,
Mississauga, ON L4Y 2Z6