Project Third World: August 2013

WARM WINTER RECIPE THAT WILL ALSO KEEP THE WEIGHT OFF SEVERAL MOTIVATIONAL TIPS TO GET YOU STARTED AND KEEP GOING

EGYPT: HEALTH AND EDUCATION ARE THEIR PROBLEMS AND ANSWERS

INDIA: NATURE’S EFFECT ON THE POOR CALLS FOR AID RELIEF Aug 2013

Getting Started

Welcome to the first PTW magazine which will

expand Project Third World’s aims to create a healthy and educated world. PTW magazine will include free information regarding health and wellbeing, along with reviews and reports from recent Project Third World events.

This year we have raised $1000 for our causes in Kenya and India so far. Currently, Lauren Simionati holds the reign for highest attendance to the fitness classes in Melbourne, followed by Karan Kapadia in both Melbourne and Bendigo. From Bendigo alone, Navpreet Randhawa holds the highest attendance, followed by Marcus Stirling.

Congratulations to Ali Almehanna, Amanda Epuewe, Chirag Lodhia, Husain Kelaby, Navpreet Kaur, Olivia Gergis and Riya Bhardwaj for taking part in Project Third World’s Urbanathlon team. The event involved ten obstacles over a 12km course which stretched all over The Docklands, Melbourne. Over 1000 men and women took part in the event and overall the team finished 30th with all members finishing within 1:40:00.

We have also had one Project Third World fitness special at the Melbourne Botanical Gardens and one coming up at the Dandenong’s Kokoda Memorial Track (more commonly known as the “1000 steps”). With enough positive feedback and enthusiasm, we will be holding two more fitness specials this year.

We would also like to thank everyone who has been involved in the development of Project Third World and thanks those who have been attending the fundraising fitness classes in Melbourne and Bendigo. The group fitness classes have come a long was since their beginnings in January 2013 and we aim to keep improving the classes to meet your expectations.

We will also be using the magazine to report back on Project Third World’s fundraising and events as they happen.

We will do our best to ensure that you are informed of what the money is being used for and what projects are being developed. Whilst half of Project Third World is dedicated to developing the health of people around the world, the other half is dedicated to furthering education around the world. As such, PTW will regularly feature reports and in-depth articles on various Third World countries as well as major global events that impact many of these countries.

One of the questions that PTW will continue to answer and explore is “What is Health?” The Oxford Dictionary defines health as “the state of being free from illness or injury, a person’s mental or physical condition, a standard for measuring the financial health of a company”. Through PTW, we will aim to address the notion of health, the myths surround health and create an understanding of health that goes beyond how we currently view it.

A special thanks to our journalists for this issue: Anjali Sengupta, Jay Himat and Neena Narsey who will hopefully feature throughout PTW magazine. On that note, we’d like to thank you for taking the time to read PTW magazine and following Project Third World through its aims of making the world a healthier and more educated place to live in. We only have one body and one world to live in, so let’s make it the best we can.

If you have any queries, compliant or feedback for Project Third World on PTW magazine or any of the projects and campaigns being run, or if you would like to become involved in PTW magazine or the running of Project Third World events, please email projectthirdworld@gmail.com or leave a message in Project Third World’s Facebook page inbox.

-Project Third World

Aug 2013

Aug 2013

What it takes to be Superman: Henry Cavill and co-stars give their tips on turning from Man to Steel.

Aug 2013

The director of Man Of Steel, Zack Snyder said the key to his stars transforming into superheroes physically is

simply a lot of hard work. “For them it was a life for 5 months which involved getting up at the crack of dawn, training and just going through all that pain and thinking that the pain in the gym is the pain their characters would have felt through their own journeys. You have to dedicate your life to it to get those kinds of transformations. Anyone is capable of it, they just have to get down to doing it.”

Whilst she wasn’t one of the Kryptonian super humans, Amy Adams (Lois Lane) certainly has a good understanding of the right way to train. “I would say, go slow and have realistic expectations for your body type. That’s what I’ve learnt-going to the gym isn’t going to turn me into a Victoria Secret model. That’s not a reality, so go in with realistic expectations and go in for the right reasons-like health”.

On screen, Henry’s co-star Antje Traue (Faora) was no damsel in distress. As a female warrior from Superman’s home planet, she overpowers Superman in a fist-fight quite comfortably. To make her character realistic, Antje also used Mark Twight to train her into formidable form.

“Working out and lifting weights made me realise that there is a beauty to physical strength, fearlessness and power. Eventually you come to a point where your mind allows you to overcome your physical boundaries and that takes you to places you feel you could never have gone to”.

Whilst she broke all her own physical boundaries, she be-

lieves it’s important to pace your achievements. “Go stepby-step, slowly but surely. It’s easy to go into the gym on the first day and feel motivated and do a lot, but then stop going because you’re hurting a lot on the second day”.

Although he might be a hateful, merciless villain on screen, Michael Shannon (General Zod) says the worst thing you can do is hurt yourself. “If you’re starting up for the first time, make sure there’s someone there to show you how to do everything. Injuries and incorrect form from overdoing things can cause damage for life. Don’t pick things up with your back especially.

For Henry Cavill (Superman), the training regime wasn’t just about getting physically into the body of Superman, but also the mind of Superman. “The training has been a journey of discovery just like Superman’s journey of discovery. Superman learnt how to fly whilst I learnt to do all kinds of things in the gym that I never thought were possible. It’s a physical thing, but it’s also a psychological thing as well”. In terms of how he transformed for the role, Hen-

ry says, “don’t just stick to one thing and most importantly, make sure you have someone knowledgeable who can guide you and be with you to push through your boundaries”.

The trainer for all of the cast of Man Of Steel, Mark Twight, is also the trainer for the cast of 300, professional fighters, football players, endurance athletes and the trainer for American military units in high altitude settings. He believes all you need is two 1hr intense training sessions per week to see dramatic results, and also believes recovery is just as important, if not more important than the workout itself. “I’d rather see a guy recover better, and work less total volume, than the guy who goes at it every single day and whose performance just gets worse because he doesn’t get enough recovery, he doesn’t get enough calories or he doesn’t get enough sleep. The upside is, when you’re in there for the 1hr, you give it your all.”

The mental conditioning is also equally important to Mark Twight as the physical conditioning because he believes that is what will impact a person’s life more than the physical strength they develop. “When you feel like quitting, and you don’t quit, your body and your mind get used to the idea of not quitting, and that carries over into everything else in your life. Fitness is strength and conditioning but it’s also strengthening of character. When you go through the process of strengthening the mind as well as the body in the gym, you begin to develop values that are similar to military values.”

Chirag Lodhia

(Source: © ACP Magazines 2012, TM & © 2013 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc)

Aug 2013

Motivation: That Thing That Gets You Going Motivation is literally the desire to do things. It’s the energy mythologist, Joseph Campbellthat propels you forward into action, with the intent of getting “Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you something done. There are a variety of industries that have sprung up over the years to learn about, understand and develop where there were only walls.” motivation for those who feel they lack this quality in themselves or in certain areas of their lives.

If you are passionate about something you will find the motivation to do it- infact motivation itself becomes a non-issue. The “doing” of the task is transformed into a labour of love There’s 2 parts to motivation- intent and action. Both of these actual rather than chore. My passion for dance which began very are essential for motivation to exist. If you have intent without early in lifeahas fuelled a life long journey and career exploring action then you just think about doing things but never actually and experiencing dance in many different forms, contexts get them done. Action without intent is just going and across many parts of the world. The question through the motions- it is lifeless and robotic and of motivation does not arise in this area of my probably part of the reason why we lack the life because the spark created when pasmotivation to do the thing in the first sion and intent collide drives my acplace! tions.

In my personal training years, I found myself becoming a full time motivator rather than an exercise physician- many of my clients had been convinced by family or friends to “get fit”.

Eventually I began to only work with clients who were self motivated once I understood the first key to finding motivationBe clear about what you want and why you want it.

What is the intent behind your actions?

In the example above, if I had known then what I know now I would have asked my clientWhy do you want to exercise? Is it something you want to do? What do you really want?

What is the driving force behind your actions?

Intent (thinking) +passion (feeling) + action (doing)= Motivation This is a self-propelling system. When our thoughts, feelings and actions are in alignment we no longer require motivation as our passion provides the fuel for the fires to keep burning. Passion ignites inspired action as long as you regularly check in to make sure that your thoughts, feelings and actions are in alignment.

So if you find yourself lethargic and lacking in motivation to do something, ask yourself the followingWhy are you doing what you are doing? What is the intent?

Is it based on what you are passionate about?

Are your actions aligned with your intent and passions?

Are your actions aligned with what are you passionate about?

Passion is crucial – it is the missing link which transform intent into authentic action. What makes the fire burn within your gut and animates your being when you start talking about it? Notice -Anjali Sengupta, Creative Arts and Movement Psychotherwhat makes you light up when you think about it and you will apist and owner of Embracing Spirit, be guided to what really matters. In the words of the American www.embracingspirit.net

Aug 2013

Struggling To Have Fun Getting Fit? You Just Haven’t Thought Of It The Right Way Yet. Sport is a great way to have fun, increase health and achieve changing goals. Contact-sports or team-sports may not be for everyone, but their are unlimited opportunities to get involved in some sort of a sporting environment to ensure ongoing health benefits, while being motivated by those around you.

Athletes are told to become the best possible sportsman they can be.

Achieving the most out of themselves is a motivation in itself.

Sportsmen are blessed with different attributes; whether it is height, speed or strength. However, despite their differences, the common factor lies between how hard they are willing to work to improve all attributes, and ‘be the best they can be.’

Take Jobe Watson, the 2012 Brownlow medalist and Essendon Captain. During Watsons first few years within the AFL system, he was told by many he’d never make it. He was told his kicking was poor, his speed wouldn’t allow him to grow with the game and his game sense was well below par. Coach at the time

Kevin Sheedy dropped Watson into the lower league (VFL) where he had two options: either give up and say he’d never make it, or Work on his weaknesses and get the best out of himself. After a Brownlow medal and 3 best and fairest awards for Essendon it’s clear he chose the latter.

excel in. Often you’ll see sprinters highly focused prior to their 100m sprints, doing short arm movements, lifting their knees, visualizing their body movements prior to execution. If you are able to visualize where you want to be, you are half way there. The saying goes; ‘always aim for the Moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.’ Create clear goals for yourself when training and ensure no matter what may come in the way you are able to execute your plans to achieving the goal. If you are to fall short of your goal, reassess your goal and plan and try again.

Think of personal training as your sport. Two hours per week of the hardest work you are willing to give, in an attempt to achieve one goal.

Whether you are aiming for general health or a beach body, ensure that your own training is high on your weekly priWhether you are aiming to be orities. Put away your excuses and look an AFL player, a body builder or simply a after yourself! healthy individual the main determinant as to whether you will achieve your goal lies between the ears. Athletes are advised prior to an event to visualize positive -Jay Himat movements, plays and areas they will

Aug 2013

Eating right is just as important as training right. We’ll teach you about what we’re really going into your bodies and some fast, easy, tasty ways of staying healthy in the kitchen.

Aug 2013

Beat Winter Cravings The Healthy Way Welcome to PTW’s nutrition and food section. From the next and add it to the mix. This orange rind will give the soup a bit issue we’ll be discussing topics like ‘carbs’ and ‘proteins’ and how much is enough, how much is too much, but to keep things simple at the beginning, we’re just going to take you through a simple, healthy, vegetarian recipe that gives you a daily serving of vegetables that only contains 480kJ (115calories), 2.5g of fat, 19g of carbohydrates, no salt and high in fibre, and only takes 1/2 an hour to cook! Today we will be making a carrot and orange soup, that will surely beat the winter chills.

You will need:  Olive Oil Spray  1 Brown Onion; finely chopped  1kg of carrots; peeled first then coarsely chopped  4 Cups of vegetable stock, or if you want to add some meat, chicken stock  1 Orange  2 tablespoons of continental parsley leaves

of zest. Then reduce the heat to medium-low and let it simmer for 20 minutes or until the carrot becomes tender. After 20minutes, remove the orange rind.

Now you’re pretty much done! Leave it aside for 5 minutes and use a stick blender, or any blender you have, and slowly puree until your soup is smooth. Juice the orange now and add to the soup. The orange should be added to taste. If you don’t want too much zest in the soup, add a little, if you like the hit, add more.

Place the mix over medium heat again and cook for 2 minutes or until it is heated enough for eating. Finally, add your parsley to the top and voila!

Ok now you’ve got your ingredients at the ready, let’s start making magic. First, heat a saucepan over medium heat and spray it with olive oil. Then add the onion pieces and cook for 3 minutes or until they are soft. Make sure you stir it occasionally, or else it will cook unevenly. Then add carrot and cook for 5 minutes more until they are soft too. Again, keep stirring the carrots around for an even cook.

Next, add your stock of vegetable oil or chicken stock and bring the mix to boil. Then peel 2 strips of rind (skin) from the orange

Do You Have A Sweet Tooth? Embrace It With This Healthy Dessert Option!

For those of you that know me, I am a ‘cakaholic’! And this has been my weakness for a while. So over the past few weeks I've given up added sugar. By this I mean, anything that has added sugar; like cakes, biscuits, lollies and so forth. You get the idea. One question I've been asked over the past few day is "Do I miss it"? Well, no!

"Do I get sweet cravings"? Hell yeah! So how do you handle this? Well, I've stumbled across this amazing raw chocolate fudge recipe that I 'neenarised".

First, you’re going to need a couple of things:  100 grams of almonds (dry roasted gives a different taste)  100 grams of your choice of nuts (please no peanuts)  100 grams of coconut oil (go organic if you can)  250 grams of pitted dates  100 grams of shredded coconut  30 grams of raw cacao  1 tsp of vanilla bean paste or seeds of one vanilla bean.

First, in a food processor, grind the nuts until finely ground and set aside.

Grind the dates then add cacao and the vanilla bean seeds, or paste, and all remaining ingredients.

Place mixture in flat baking tray and cut into slices.

Place in fridge for 2-3hrs and enjoy your cleaning-eating dessert! The only thing you should feel guilty about is how easy it was to make this treat!

Aug 2013

-Neena Narsey, Personal-Training Student

India might be one of the fastest growing economies on the planet, but mother nature shows us why this country of poverty still needs a lot of help.

Aug 2013

ager of the BadrinathKedarnath Temple Committee stated that “several hundred people were inside the temple when the floods struck. The government has made arrangements to airdrop food packets and medicines on villages cut off by the rains”.

Within two days, even the Temple began to flood.

Naresh Kukreti, a priest at the Kedarnath Temple accounted the events when the emphasises the issue of flooding happened. minutes, a climate change like a devastating death river of black water “Within and big stones foltoll-much like the recent flooding in New lowed us into the temple. People were Delhi, India and Western Nepal. Mon- scared. They ran into forests to save so soon rains sweep the Indian capital often, themselves. I worry how any helicopters however; over the past few years, the can reach those who are in narrow valleys people have faced their worst set of jungles. They might die of hunger befloods in decades, with the effects becom- or fore the government reaches them”. The ing catastrophic, resulting in mass flooding.

New Delhi has been suffering heavy rains starting towards the end of June. In mid-June, the city’s Yamuna River flowed over the danger mark, causing the closure of their 145 year old railway bridge and the evacuation of 2,000 families living along the river. At the time, the rains had not been too heavy, and so authorities did not take measures for a situation of floods.

By the end of June, New Delhi and Nepal were experiencing monsoon rains. The Nepalese Army, the Red Cross and locals began rescue and relief operations to help reduce the rising death toll, the thousands strand- temple withstood the force of the floods, ed and missing, and the damage and de- and the water receded after a night of struction caused by homes and buildings prayer in the cold, wet darkness. Naresh being swept away. explained that the morning after was not with relief, who found himself standMany of the people who were stranded met ing among a pile of dead piland lost were pilgrims of the Char Dham grims. “Everywhere I looked I saw dead Pilgrimage who were visiting holy sites. men, women and children”.

The surrounding areas of the Kedarnath Temple were being badly damaged by By the 24th of June, nine days after the floodwaters, and so people in these areas flash flooding and landslides truly started, sought refuge in the temple itself, which the death toll had surpassed 1,000 and has been standing for centuries. The man- more than 8,000 were still awaiting rescue. To give you a comparison, it would be the same as having almost all of the New South Wales population awaiting rescue and almost all of South Australia’s population dead. “Many more bodies are yet to be pulled out from isolated areas that are completely cut-off,” disaster management official K.N. Pandey explained. Despite this, India’s efforts were

Nothing

Aug 2013

phenomenal, having evacuated 73,000 pilgrims- by this point according to Indian officials.

Aiding the mass flooding was made even more difficult by a lack of sufficient equipment and poor roads, highlighting the reality that India and Nepal are still very much developing countries. “The flash floods are an eye-opener for us,” stated J.K Sinha, a member of India’s National Disaster Management Authority.

India is considered one of the fastest growing economies and countries of the world, however; even they cannot overlook the fact that their climate and environment has a huge impact on how well they grow and develop as a country. Furthermore, both India and Nepal have unbelievable poverty rates of 29.8% and 25.2% respectively. Whilst India has made significant improvement from having a population of 37.2% below the poverty line three years prior, it still emphasis the need for support and aid of these countries, who many believe will one day stand with China as the economic superpower of tomorrow, and hopefully, return the favour to the unfortunate of tomorrow.

-Chirag Lodhia

Revolution After Revolution: What is it about Egypt that makes them so accustomed to revolutions and why now than ever before they need this one to be their last?

Aug 2013

This month, the world’s eyes have

watched over Egypt’s second revolution within two years. Whilst international media and politics, and the country of Egypt remains in debate over the overthrowing of former President Mohammed Morsi, it has placed a shadow over Egypt’s deeper underlying issues of growing poverty.

To understand the underlying issues in Egypt, we need only look into its recent history. For some time, Egypt remained under the ruling of the British Empire.

During WWII, Muhammad Anwar elSadat, moved to overthrow, and remove British ruling from Egypt, with the help of Germany. After much conflict with British, including an implicated assassination of a pro-British minister in Egypt, and imprisonment of Anwar el-Sadat, the British were eventually pushed out of Egypt in 1942, leaving Egypt to run its own country for the first time in almost 60 years.

Anwar el-Sadat became Egypt’s army officer and a politician. In 1970, he became Egypt’s president. In his ruling, he changed the entire structure of Egypt’s economy through decentralization and diversification of the economy as well as introducing trade and foreign investments. This came at a significant cost, including high inflation, uneven wealth distribution and growing inequality through poverty, leading to ‘The Food Riots of 1977’. Matters became worse when Egypt announced war with Israel in the following years. Regardless, his most famous achievement was the success of his peace negotiations with Israel in 1979, making him co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978 for his efforts.

Despite his rising popularity in the ‘western world’, his popularity throughout Egypt fell irreversibly. In the unrest and poverty which Egypt was facing, Anwar el-Sadat was assassinated in 1981, and in came Hosni Mubarak as the President of Egypt. In his early years of ruling, Mubarak achieved much for Egypt on the world stage. He improved relations with other Arab nations and also eased relations with Israel after another feud. He also grew relations with the United States of America, who were Egypt’s principal aid donors. This further developed in 1990, when Iraq in-

vaded Kuwait, and sparked the Persian Gulf Crisis. In response, Mubarak and other Arab states supported Saudi Arabia’s decision to invite the aid of U.S military coalition to recover Kuwait.

From 1993 onwards, Mubarak faced tough times involving guerrilla violence and growing unrest amongst political parties who pushed for democratic electoral reforms. He also launched a campaign against Islamic fundamentalists, which lead to assassination attempts on his life.

Despite this, Mubarak reigned through five presidential elections. The 2005

elections however, marked a turning point in his reign, with very low voter turnouts and allegations of corruption and irregularity.

By 2011, this notion of corruption and repression swept through Egypt and Mubarak’s legitimacy to rule the country was questioned by the people of Egypt.

Meanwhile in Tunisia, the ‘Jasmine Revolution’ occurred which overturned their president Ben Ali. This, along with a surging level of poverty, lead people of Egypt to follow in their example and demand that Mubarak step down as President. Despite Mubarak’s offer to not stand as a candidate in the next election, the people of Egypt wanted his immediate removal. Allegations of corruption, abuse of power and money laundering, and the ordering of killing protesters were laid against Mubarak.

Whilst Mubarak denied all charges against him, Egyptian court found him guilty of being a main accomplice in the deaths of demonstrators. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, despite prosecutors seeking the death penalty.

In the revolution to overthrow Murbarak, Egypt pushed for a democratic reform of government structure, once again supported by US and Europe-

Aug 2013

an Union, who hoped to see Egypt follow their democratic ideals. Elections were held and Mohammed Morsi from the Muslim Brotherhood took office.

All revolutions in Egypt which have happened since 1950’s have had two common factors: economic downfall and poverty; the 2011 revolution was no exception. This was also met with growing tension between religions in Egypt.

Egypt’s economy continued to suffer a severe downfall following the 2011 revolution and the government immensely struggled to restore the market and investor confidence. Political uncertainty started to regrow, unrest redeveloped, poverty escalated, and Egypt’s first democratically elected, non-militant President was being seen to move democratic Egypt towards a dictatorship, which has led to the recent revolution of 2013.

The recent revolution in Egypt marks the sixth revolution in Egypt’s history since 1880. More alarming than the fact that Egypt has needed six revolutions in such a small time frame, is the fact that two of the revolutions have happened within two years of each other. Regardless of whether you call this revolution a military coup, analysts believe that Egypt has had only one “successful” revolution, in 1919, which is the only revolution where the army was not involved.

The 2011 revolutions were met with violence, destruction and death, all factoring into what is now considered Egypt’s greatest economic crisis since the 1930’s. For every building burnt down, every car torched and every worker protesting, Egypt’s economy has bled along with its people, and has continued into 2013. In Cairo’s ‘city of the dead’, one of the poorest areas in the city, people have said that whilst their lives have never been easy, their current situation is the worse they have ever faced. Here, political and religious differences are irrelevant to the people. A local man stated, “we are really frustrated. We do not have money to buy medicine. I can’t feed my children. We don’t care if the president is Morsi or otherwise. We just want to live and have all people love each other”. Another civil-

ian suffering through poverty believes Morsi’s failure to develop the economy has led to his downfall. “Many of us lost our jobs and the prices of everything went up. I am afraid I won’t have enough money to buy food or anything else for my children. The acting president must solve these economic problems immediately.”

The ones who have suffered the greatest from Egypt’s problems are those already living in poverty within Egypt. Many Egyptians now live under a dollar a day.

These Egyptians don’t riot, they don’t have their voices heard, but are also heavily rooted in all of Egypt’s problems, and the source of its answers. The problem is “Nobody cares about the poor now," remarked Galal Amin, professor of economics at the American University in Cairo.

Along with Egypt’s finance minister following the 2011 revolution, Samir Radwan, Amin argues that previously, the poor in Egypt were protected from absolute poverty from state subsidies, overseas aid or relatively low unemployment. "You are talking about nearly half of the population now being in a state of poverty," said Radwan. "Either in absolute poverty or near-poor, meaning that with any shock, like with inflation, they will fall under the poverty line."

A recent joint report by the United Nations World Food Program, the government’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics and the International Food Policy Research Institute found that an estimated 13.7 million people, or 17% of the country’s 82 million population, suffer from food insecurity, compared to 14% in 2009. “These findings are a threat to the political situation and they show how stagnant the economy is as well. I predict there will be worse poverty rates for 2013 because unemployment is at 13.2%,” stated Monette Doss, chief economist at Cairo-based HC Securities.

Currently, 25.2% of Egyptians are below the poverty line, with 23.7% sitting just above it, according to figures supplied by the Egyptian government. Most of these poor people of Egypt are farmers and agricultural crop growers in rural Egypt, rather than those living in Cairo and major cities.

Although the Egyptian government provides food subsidies to help the poor, the programs are not developed enough to solve all poverty-related problems, such as nutrition, and with the people of

Egypt pushing America away, Egypt’s largest aid relief, it leaves a very uncertain picture for Egypt’s poor.

Poverty has also lead to Egypt’s suffering education. Illiteracy rates amongst young women in Upper Egypt are almost 30%, twice the rates of their males in comparison. The International Fund

for Agriculture Development believe a better targeted system of social benefits would help ensure that the needs of the most vulnerable are being met while reducing the pressure on the national budget. Furthermore, those alive in Egypt today have never lived under a truly democratic constitution and will need to be educated and informed of the structural changes required to drive eco-

nomic reforms. Egypt will also need to address social inequality by developing an education system that gives students the skills to compete in the global economy, and a private sector administered that allow for equal access to both entry and opportunities.

Iris Boutros, an Egyptian applied economist and strategist believes Egypt has failed to battle poverty over the past ten

years. “Poverty is not simply the absence of money but rather a state of living with lower levels of well-being. The state of health, level of education, and availability of jobs are all also valid concepts to assess a person’s well-being.

Well-being for Egyptians is about education, health, opportunity, justice and much more than putting money in the pocket, and this is ultimately why Egypt has failed at battling poverty when so many other nations are succeeding.”

For Hoda Goma, a Cairo architect, the situation is highlighting the serious health and education effect on her young sons. "They're getting worse at school. They're getting ill more often. They have these black patches under their eyes and their teeth have got worse. It is down to their diet.

Food prices are rising and we cannot afford it."

Religious tension and political revolt has remained the sole focus on Egypt, however; from Anwar el-Sadat to Morsi, history shows that Egypt’s continuous series of revolutions is far more deeply rooted. In a country that is suffering religious intolerance and prejudice mixed with political instability, disagreement, corruption, power abuse, propaganda, ill information and rumours, it is difficult to see much truth from what has happened. As such, it is important to look at history and facts, rather than the theories and conspiracies which so many people now have.

The recent revolutions, similar to the protests developing in Turkey and Brazil, have been met with hope by the Egyptian people and will hopefully mark the last revolution they have for a long time.

If Egypt has taught us anything, it is that political and social unrest has always been ignited by a poor economy, which in turn is heavily affected by poverty involving health and education levels of the country. Every country has disagreements and political issues, but through a rising poverty, Egypt had been pushed into acts of desperation. By working to aid the poverty and education of Egypt, the once successful country may be reinstated and lead Egypt to find peace amongst its people, and hopefully prevent the social unrest which lead to over 800 Egyptian deaths during the 2011 revolution, and dozens of deaths during the 2013 revolution.

Egypt’s top 3 development aid donors over the past 10 years

Aug 2013

-Chirag Lodhia

Abdellatif, R. 2013. Poverty, Food Insecurity Could Trigger Further Egypt Unrest. The Wall Street Journal, 26 May. Adams, K. 2013. Post-revolution Egypt: Not much better and about to get worse for the poor. American Public Media, 07 June.

Boutros, I. 2013. While the world succeeds in battling poverty, Egypt fails. Daily News Egypt, 03 June.

Connolly, K. 2013. Egypt: A presidential democracy without a president. BBC News Cairo, 07 July.

Editorial Board. 2013. Why Egypt now deserves world's help. The Christian Science Monitor, 05 July.

EFE. 2013. Nobel Prize winner chosen as Egypt's prime minister. Global Post, 06 July.

Emam, A. 2012. Egypt: Rising poverty threatens gains in fight against TB. IRIN Humanitarian News

And Analysis, 10 April.

Fox, R. 2013. Grinding poverty is underlying cause of Egypt crisis. London Evening Standard, 03 July.

Gamal El-Deen, K. 2013. Egypt grappling with economic crisis. Press TV Cairo, 06 July.

Green, D. 2013. Poverty Matters: What Caused The Revolution In Egypt.

The Guardian, 18 February.

Gubash, C. 2013. 'There is no food': Post -revolutionary economic turmoil dashes hopes in Egypt. NBC News, 05 May. Helm, T. and Chulov, M. 2013. Egyptian army had no choice over move to topple Morsi, says Tony Blair. The Guardian, 07 July.

IFAD. 2013. Rural poverty in Egypt.

International Fund for Agricultural Development, 10 July.

Jensen, J. 2013. Egypt: The price of rev-

Aug 2013

olution. Global Post, 27 May. Kingsley, P. 2013. Egypt 'suffering worst economic crisis since 1930s'. The Guardian, 16 May. Lambers, W. 2013. Egypt: Hunger Escalates in Egypt. Think Africa Press, 02 July.

Malsin, J. 2013. 'No Glimmer of Hope': Two Years After Egypt's Revolution, An Economic Crisis Looms.

TIME World, 23 Jan. Shenker, J. 2011. Egypt's poorest — the revolution's real challenge. The Hindu, 26 June.

United Nations. 2013. Hunger, poverty rates in Egypt up sharply over past three years. UN News Centre, 21 May. WDB. 2013. Egypt Overview. The World Databank, 01 April.

Melbourne

Aug 2013

e In Pictures

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Bendigo In Pictures

Aug 2013

Botanical Gardens and Urbanathlon

Aug 2013

Aug 2013