Stand Up Against Poverty

I was very proud to see over 200 staff turn up on a cold morning to take part in the world record making stand up against poverty http://www.millenniumcampaign.org/. This campaign is calling on world leaders not to forget the commitments they made when they signed up to the UN Millennium Development goals to be achieved by 2015, www.un.org/millenniumgoals.
There are thousands of events like this happening all over the world. Timely reminders that the Make Poverty History marches that took place last year in Edinburgh http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/ were only the start of the journey.
Here are the facts. Across the world 70 million girls and 40 million boys get no education. 30,000 young people (that’s equivalent to every high school pupil in Edinburgh), die EVERY DAY of avoidable diseases. Millions live on less that half a dollar a day.
Why should we bother? In my view the stranger is my neighbour, especially in the global village in which we now live. Edinburgh is a creator of great wealth. We have amoral responsibility to share that wealth. One survey suggests that Edinburgh is the 6th most talked about city in the world. I want those conversations to say that’s a city where people care about the poor and the suffering. It’s what I would want if I were one of the suffering.