I am so very, very grateful to have been born into a wonderful family and been given ample opportunity to

1. Get an education
2. Be in a position where I can use it

It is a tragedy that over 1.3 billion people suffer in extreme poverty including hunger, malnutrition and limited or no access to education.

Knowledge is Power. Education is Everything.

Right now you’re probably scratching your head as to why I’m writing about something that has nothing to do with my practice. Bear with me.

Consider this… 3 billion people live on less than US$2 a day. 1.4 billion people live on less than US$1.25 a day – the definition of those who live under the condition of “extreme global poverty.”

Poverty is Crippling

• 2.6 billion people around the world do not have access to adequate sanitation and about 885 million people do not have access to clean water
• Inadequate access to healthcare sees nearly 11,700 people die every day from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Nearly two-thirds of these people are living in sub-Saharan Africa

Women are even More at Risk

• According to the U.N., the majority of impoverished people are women, who globally earn roughly half as much as men
• Women in developing countries travel an average of almost four miles each day to collect water
• People living in the poorest slums can pay as much as ten times more for water than those in high-income areas of their own cities

Children are the Most Vulnerable

• Approximately 600 million children live in extreme poverty
• An estimated 30,000 children die each day as a result – this is 18 children a minute; a child every 3 seconds
• Of those, 4100 children die each day from severe diarrhoea – as a result of poor sanitation and hygiene
• In 2005, a conservative estimate stated that 72 million children around the world of elementary school age were not enrolled in school, a figure equivalent to the entire primary school-aged population in Europe and North America

Staggering isn’t it.

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by these statistics and think… ‘What can I do..?!”.  The great news is each one of you reading this right now can make a difference, today.

My beautiful friend, Annabelle Chauncy, was just 21 when she and David Everett founded School For Life. They were both moved by the lack of access to education in rural, disadvantaged Uganda, and set out to provide educational and vocational training in Katuuso.

Every year I donate a hamper of D’jeunesse products to support the ongoing development of this education centre. Their fundraising events are always an incredibly uplifting experience where, every year, we get to witness the transformation of both the place and the people. This years ball, ‘African Circus’, with entertainer and comedienne Julia Morris was no exception.

So here’s where I get to my point.

Fittingly, Annabelle was nominated for Cosmo’s 2012 Fun Fearless Females Award in the Role Model category and not surprisingly she is in the final three! You can make a difference and support the ongoing development at Katuuso in just a couple of minutes, with a few clicks or your mouse, at a price tag of $0. If she wins, the prize money of $10,000 will go directly towards Katuuso Primary School in Uganda.

Please click here and have your say: