Ian Wilson's Christmas message

There is a problem in that the $100 dollar bill looks very similar to the 1,000 Tanzanian shilling note, (worth 40p) especially if you are 6 years old and called Jake Wilson.

We were still living in Tanzania and Jake happily trots off to school as usual but before he goes asking for his 'Dennis the Menace' wallet to pay for his school lunch (He's going to need therapy after this!). Later that morning Andie my wife (She's a girl!) screams, 'Where has the $600 holiday money gone?' to which I replied,'Where was it last?' She replied, 'In the spare 'Dennis the Menace' money wallet!'

Please don't ask why we had a spare one...we just did OK! After demolishing the house and the neighbourhood to find this wallet it was the phone call from the school that really made our day when we discovered that our 'generous' son had been 'donating' what he thought was 1,000 shillings to his buddies in the dinner queue but in fact was giving away the whole of our saved holiday budget!!!...he had soooo many friends that day!

I get amazed at the hype when it comes to 'getting'; Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It is taken to obscene proportions, even more amazing are the stats at this time of the year.

• Adults in the UK will receive £2.6billion worth of unwanted gifts at Christmas
• 4.2 million Christmas dinners wasted across the United Kingdom,

Please don't think this is Ian 'Bah Humbug' Wilson having a rant but perhaps we could all reflect on:

• At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day
• Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the highest prevalence (percentage of population) of hunger
• One person in four there is undernourished
• Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45%) of deaths in children under five - 3.1 million children each year

"As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality exist in our world, none of us can truly rest."  — Nelson Mandela, Former President of South Africa

Perhaps this Christmas season as we gather with friends and families we could spend some time being thankful for the privileges we have, the education we can receive and the opportunities we have to make a difference.

Posted by Gemma