Worldwide, at any given moment, there are approximately 20 million children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Malnutrition kills 6 million children each year. That means that 1 child dies every 6 seconds—about the time it takes to read this sentence.

Photo credit: Sally Najera/Doctors Without Borders/MSF.

Did you know that:

• Introduction of ready-to-use foods has made it possible to treat 80% of severely malnourished children at home, reducing the length of stay and associated costs of care at feeding centers?
• One week’s worth of Plumpy’nut can equal an extra two pounds for a starving baby?
• This year, more than 120,000 children in Niger were treated for malnutrition with Plumpy’nut?

Global Impact charities, including Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres, World Vision and Save the Children, have made great strides in treating malnourished children.

At the center of this achievement is a revolutionary product called Plumpy’nut, a nutrient-dense peanut paste. Because peanuts are a staple food in many African countries, children reach for the food packets eagerly. A number of countries, including Ethiopia, Malawi and Niger, are now producing a similar paste locally.

Your gift of $100 can help cure 5 starving children with a 4-week regimen of Plumpy’nut.

Global Impact is dedicated to helping the poorest people on Earth. Representing more than 50 of the most respected U.S.-based international charities in giving campaigns across the nation, Global Impact touches more than 400 million lives worldwide through disaster relief, education, health training and economic programs that promote self-sufficiency.

This post was published @ Middle Zone Musings in conjunction with the “What I Learned From” group-writing project.

I started The Giving Hands in March 2007 though I bought the domain about a month earlier. It is an extension of my charity and conservation work online, which revolves around creating and spreading awareness on matters pertaining to charity, conservation, the environment, health and volunteerism.

A post from every month of 2007:

• March — Have you heard of Operation Smile?

  This was my second post on The Giving Hands, and the one which made me realize the simple things that we could make a difference or change a person’s life. Making donations IS a simple thing to do, no? :D

• April — 10 things you can do to save the earth

  This was my first environment-related post, and I remember I had so much fun researching and writing it. It was during the writing process that I realized that there were so much things that we could do to make the earth a cleaner and safer place to live in.

• May — Tuberculosis — the disease that won’t die

  TB is a curable disease. And I am a walking example.

• June — Psst.. Have you heard of Eden Handicap Centre?

  I first blogged about a Malaysian charity, Eden Handicap Service Centre, which I would be raising funds for during Blogathon.

• July — Blogathon 2007 category

  The entire month was dedicated to raising funds for Eden Handicap Service Centre through Blogathon, an annual event where bloggers get together and blog for a straight 24 hours to raise funds for charity. Similarly, I have also learned a lot about issues related to people with disabilities while researching for my Blogathon materials.

• August — Sand-mining threatens the survival of river terrapins

  Some inconsiderate people mined sand from the very spot that the river terrapins come to nest every year. So I took some photos and wrote an article to a local English daily, with which I am working part-time :D The assemblyman couldn’t be reached for comment (as usual) but I am glad that the sand-mining activity has stopped.

• September — How much plastic bags do you use?

  An educational post with a lot of facts and figures on the consumption of plastic bags, and why they should be banned. I also initiated a month-long blogging campaign on environment-related issues which would conclude on Blog Action Day on October 15th.

• October — 18 ways to conserve energy in your home

  Some things are just worth the time and effort and bandwidth repeating :D

• November — Pledge to buy handmade this holiday season!

  Give ONLY handmade gifts this festive season. Support independent artists. Be personal.

• December — “Save the Ocean” group-writing project begins

  I initiated a month-long “Save the Ocean” campaign to raise awareness on the importance of saving our oceans. A dozen bloggers have volunteered to take up relevant topics, and the posts will be published at The Giving Hands everyday throughout January 2008.

This article was posted in PlanetThoughts.

A San Francisco man has saved over a year of trash because he ran an experiment in consumption. For one year, 35-year old professional caterer Ari Derfel kept every tissue, receipt, food wrapper and plastic bottle inside bins located in his kitchen and living room apartment. Ari even organized the trash by type, so it could be “seen, felt and understood more clearly.”

What started out as dinner with three friends ended up with him collecting his trash in his kitchen closet. His original intention to get two 96-gallon bins from the local waste management company did not get through because “it was illegal to keep trash in bins and not have it removed regularly.”

So what has he learned from his project? In his own words:

1. The vast vast vast majority of trash comes from food packaging.
2. When I ask people to put prepared food in my own containers it disrupts their flow and makes them think.
3. Saving trash leads to increased consciousness of what I consume.
4. Recycling sucks.
5. It doesn’t take much to make a big difference.
6. Trash sucks.
7. Changing is fun, much more fun than it is stressful.
8. Cleaning out food packaging takes time and is necessary to get rid of odors and to ensure bugs and rodents are not attracted to it.

Ari is planning to start a second year to see if he could make less trash then he did the first year. He also hopes to attract some other people to do it with him, “perhaps make it a national competition for fun to see who can make the least amount of trash in a year”. On top of that, he also plans to film the second year and to make a fun, interesting, funny, informative documentary about it. So if you want to help out, now is the time.