NETWORK Issue No. 1 (March 2010)

‘Network’ Newsletter Introduction Welcome to the Participation Unit @ Save the Children’s Network newsletter! This newsletter is yours! We are trying to produce something exciting, informative and different for young people all over Wales. We want to involve you in everything we do, from fundraising to running workshops with other young people and everything in between. This is not like any other newsletter; we want our readers to decide what kind of newsletter they receive. Is there a burning issue that you want

discussed? Do you want to test your budding

writing skills? Want to finally feel connected to

something that could accomplish real change?

Network is for you. Although we will be putting the newsletter together and sending it down the wires into your home, you are the spark that will ignite the project. Tell us how you feel about young people in Wales! Get Informed. Get Involved. Get Active.

Follow us on We are hoping to give you lots of information about opportunities to get involved and learn new skills through our new Facebook group. We hope that you will post suggestions and talk about the important issues on the discussion boards, as well as joining in with any projects we are running. You can find us by searching Facebook groups for ‘Save The Children Wales Youth Network’ and request to join. Because we want to keep the group safe from inappropriate adults we will need to accept each request separately but it shouldn’t take more than a day for you to be a member of the network! This is an All-Wales network so there’s only one thing left to say…

What is happening at Save the Children in 2010? The Haiti Disaster Appeal An update about the relief effort (Page 2)

The General Election Campaign What can you do to influence tomorrow’s Prime Minister? (Page 3)

‘Young People Say’ The programme that lets you train local service providers in your right to participate (Page 3)

The EVERY ONE Campaign How you can be involved in this major campaign to combat preventable deaths of under 5 year olds (Page 3)

Gaza: One Year On An update on the huge scale of child poverty in Gaza, Palestine, one year on from the war with Israel (Page 4)

Save The Children’s Wales Youth Network Find out how you can get involved and get connected to youth across Wales (Page 4)

UPDATE: The Haiti Disaster Appeal As you will be aware, the disaster in Haiti has affected up to 3 million people with around 230,000 fatalities. By all accounts, the situation in the country is catastrophic with no real roads or significant buildings standing to help aid efforts. Nevertheless, aid has been pouring in from all over the world. People everywhere have seen the devastation and donated what they can. The issue now becomes keeping a steady flow of aid to Haiti after the cameras have stopped filming the rubble and human misery. Therefore, we need you guys to keep fundraising! Stay visible with your buckets and fancy dress to raise what you can for the Haitian people. If you think that you can help by organising a fundraising event at your school or college, please contact Jessica Evans, our fundraising officer, on: (029) 20803252 or by email at J.Evans@savethechildren.org.uk

EVERY ONE is our campaign to save millions of children’s lives. We stopped children dying

from basic illnesses in rich countries a century ago. With your help, we can end it for good in

poor countries too. 24,000 children under the age of five will die today — their lives cut short

before they’d really begun. Most of their deaths could have been prevented. A small number of

diseases and conditions are the biggest killers of young children today. Pneumonia, measles,

diarrhoea, malaria, HIV and AIDS and complications during pregnancy and after birth cause

more than 90% of deaths in children under five. Visit http://www.EVERYONE.org to Demand,

Debate and Donate. We can prevent these unnecessary deaths but we need your help.

One of our big General Election ideas is the Robin Hood Tax. Other than having a cool name, this tax is aimed at the banks that have had huge bailouts from the government. The Robin Hood Tax is a “tiny tax on bankers that would give billions to tackle poverty and climate change, here and abroad.” Many other organisations including Oxfam, ActionAid, Barnardos and Comic Relief are also supporting this chance for the banks to pay back their debt through reducing child poverty. Visit the website at http://robinhoodtax.org.uk/ to sign up to the petition and find out more!

As most of you will be aware, we run a training programme called Young People Say. The aim is for young people to decide upon a service they want to change in their area. We then help young people prepare to deliver training to service providers in how better to involve young people. So far the programme has been very successful as young people have trained the Police, youth workers, housing officers, forest schools and others. Well done to all those that have been involved with the Young People Say groups! We will be launching new groups within the next couple of months and hope to make them even more successful!

Gaza: One Year On On 27 December 2008, Israel launched Operation Cast Lead, a major military offensive, in the Gaza Strip. The resulting explosive conflict led to the deaths of 1,393 Palestinians (347 of them children) and 13 Israelis. By January 18th, when the offensive stopped, homes, hospitals and schools had also been destroyed. The lives of Gaza’s 750,000 children and young people were turned upside down after the three weeks of intense fighting. Many were left with no homes, access to healthcare or education, and living in a dangerous environment. Shayma, 13, is the youngest daughter and one of seven children in the Khader family. Her family’s home in the north of Gaza was destroyed in the fighting. Today the 7th grader, her siblings and parents live in a makeshift structure fabricated from the rubble of their previous residence. They live in cramped quarters and deal with regular water shortages. Like Shayma, Bilal, 15, also lost his home in the conflict. “Everything was turned upside-down in my life, I have no more dreams. I just want to feel like I am living in a home again.” Just as happened recently in Haiti, Save the Children responded quickly to provide food, clean water, basic essential items, and safe-play areas for children. Since then, the agency has reached 358,300 people, including 200,600 children. However, there is much more still to be done.

Save The Children’s Wales Youth Network Save the Children in Wales wants to involve as many young people as possible in what we do. We realise that you are the experts in your own lives so we want your participation in the Wales Youth Network. The Wales Youth Network has two main strands: 1) Our Facebook group, imaginatively named ‘Save The Children’s Wales Youth Network’, will offer you the chance to talk to young people across Wales on the issues that affect you and, when you join, we’ll know where you are to let you know about the brilliant opportunities that we hear about. 2) This newsletter will try to let you know about the issues you’re interested in. But for us to do that, you need to get in contact to let us know what you would like to hear about and also help by writing some articles!

If you would like to get in contact (which I hope you do), please write to: J.Davies@Savethechildren.org.uk John Davies 3rd Floor, Phoenix House, 8 Cathedral Road, Cardiff CF11 9LJ