World On My Feet

A LETTER FROM SAMOA

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:07:00 +0000

Ladies & Gentlemen,

We recently received a letter from a 21 year-old Samoan student (above) whose family has been directly affected by the recent Tsunami in Samoa. Our friend from the United States managed to get the letter to us and we hope that the readers will do something to help these victims, not only Samoa but also the Indonesian earthquake victims. For us, there is no such thing as "There is nothing I can do", spread the word, volunteer in your community to gather donations or clothings...ANYTHING WILL HELP =)

Here is the letter from Samoa:

Living in California until my eighth birthday, my siblings and I knew God, but we did not have a relationship with him. We tried our best to be good and always refrained from saying the Lord’s name in vain, but something was missing. It is funny thinking about how we would react to other children when they would say “Jesus” or “God”. We took it like it was the worst sin and if you did not say sorry, you would go to hell. I do not know about other children, but my siblings and I feared the devil very much. I cannot recall where such a fear came from; perhaps scary movies at the time reminded us of the evil one. I am thankful my life journey continued in Samoa for most of my childhood. It gave me the opportunity not only to experience and learn about my culture, but it also brought me closer to God.

The national motto in Samoa is “Fa’avae i le Atua Samoa”, which translates to Samoa is founded upon God. Unlike the United States of America, religion is included in government in Samoa. Samoans are very religious people. In addition to that, we are very family oriented. Family is by far the most important after our faith. When the tsunami hit Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga, my heart broke. Through the pictures and videos posted online as the days past since the tsunami on September 29^th, I felt so useless being so far away from home and not being able to help. Many of my friends and fellow Samoans far from home felt the same way as we posted our feelings openly on community websites such as Myspace and Facebook. Hearing islanders refer to prayer and faith reminded me why Samoans are so strong. Our faith is what keeps us together and what binds families together.

Prayer is involved in a Samoan’s every day life. A typical Samoan family would wake up early in the morning and have family prayer before breakfast. When the school and work day ends, villages would have what is called the “sa” where no one is allowed to roam or drive through the village because families are having evening prayer. “Au talavou” is the youth group, which meets at the pastor’s house or church usually after family prayer and dinner time. Children, teenagers and young adults from around the village would get together during au talavou to have choir practice, liturgical dance practice or have bible study.

Like many who have stated their disbelief, I still cannot believe that my homeland was affected by such a disaster. I cannot even imagine what it is like to be displaced from your own home. I knew a few who perished in the tsunami and I am familiar with the villages that were completely destroyed. I will be returning home soon and I know that when I drive out to help the outer villages with clean up and rebuilding, I will be able to accept everything and probably even find some kind of closure. I am lost in my emotions for the time being and only God can comfort me and those who lost everything. With God, all things are made possible and I truly believe that my people will find happiness again. Only time will tell as so many families try to work together to rebuild what was lost in just a few seconds. I ask for prayers for those who lost their lives, homes and all they owned in the tsunami in the South Pacific as well as those who were affected by the earthquake and typhoon in Asia.

Ashley Galusina Nauer

God Bless all of you!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"How wonderful it is that nobody need to wait a single moment before starting to improve the world"

SOMOA TSUNAMI 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 02:53:00 +0000

Mourning in Samoa. Hundreds of people gather here at the sports stadium in the city of Apia to attend a national memorial service for the tsunami victims on Thursday the 8th.

The tsunami killed some 143 people in Samoa, and more in neighboring American Samoa. The tsunami wave crashed into Samoa following a 7.9 magnitude earthquake which struck off the coast of American Samoa last Tuesday.

Mourners sang and prayed followed by school children laying wreaths as the names of the dead were called out.

After the memorial service, eleven bodies were buried in a cemetery overlooking the ocean. Police officers carried the coffins to their final resting place, a common grave waiting to be draped in the red and blue Samoan flag.

It’s the community spirit and close community ties in Samoa, that brought all Samoans grieving together, regardless of whether the dead are family or not.

Reach out and Help out!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"There is no such thing as too much when it comes to helping the needy...because it is never enough"

CHAPTER 3: A GIANT OF A MAN

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:08:00 +0000

Imagine being born without arms. No arms to wrap around someone, no hands to experience touch, or to hold another hand with. Or what about being born without legs? Having no ability to dance, walk, run, or even stand on two feet. Now put both of those scenarios together… no arms and no legs. What would you do? How would that effect your everyday life?

Meet Nick Vujicic. 26 years old guy born without arms or legs given no medical reason for this condition. Faced with countless challenges and obstacles. Others might call living life this way is hopeless and impossible. But not for this guy, imagine going through your childhood life and college life like this. You cried because you did not get new shoes and school bags like other kids' did...you yelled at your parents for not letting you go out with your friends during the weekend...you complained how far your class is from the school cafe. Be thankful that you have arms to carry your old bag and books, be thankful you have legs to walk to your class with your old shoes. Next time you think life is unfair to you, remember him....His name is Nick Vujicic. A man with no arms and legs...THANKFUL for what he HAS, not bitter for what he does NOT have. =)

Keep helping our SocialVibe for Ugandan kids people! Spread the word to others!

Cheers people!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"I love living life. I am happy"

- Nick Vajicic

you can visit him at http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/

10,000 AND COUNTING...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:05:00 +0000

Rescue them from the what you see in these pictures

We are truly amazed and humbled that the WORLD ON MY FEET BLOG has traveled across the globe. In less that a week this blog has transformed into a global movement. We have accumulated 10,000 minutes of free education scholarships for the kids! It’s exciting to know the movement has spread so far and is now gaining much needed international interest. At this time, we are currently working on expanding internationally. We have accomplished quite a bit in parts of Asia,Europe and USA but we want to include more youths from different countries in our efforts.

We realize that we need all the help we can get; there is so much to do in

Uganda

and surrounding areas- INVISIBLE CHILDREN INC cannot do it alone. As world leaders are failing to make the necessary commitment to end the crisis in northern

Uganda

, this blog is dedicated to revealing the truth to a generation of young people across the world, who can, in turn, advocate for changed policies and action from their government.

As blog writers, we have no nationality. This is not our story. It is the responsibility of the global community to fight social injustice...Here we are doing our part, now it is YOUR turn. Click the SocialVibe box on the right, spread the word, make a difference! The child soldier desires the same as the child who you see playing outside your window…they are merely boys and girls who desire to laugh and play, they dream of nothing more than a childhood!

Cheers people!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, "Mother, what was war?""

- Eve Merriam

WE KEEP ON MARCHING!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:35:00 +0000

Ladies & Gentlemen,

For those of us who are trying to make a difference, the 'good fight' can become overwhelming. There are so many problems out there and "WORLD ON MY FEET" group is trying to play a part in tackling these problems. We may play a small tiny part in this movement but it should not be ignored at all cost.

We may not be able to give a $1,000,000 to this INVISIBLE CHILDREN but when you read this blog, clicking on the SOCIALVIBE box (the box with the picture of a kid on the right side of this page) and spreading the word, we just achieved something....EDUCATING YOU about this tragedy which is happening at this very moment in Uganda.

"WORLD ON MY FEET" group believes that we do not have to be rich to make an impact in this world...we believe that you can play a part in stopping Joseph Kony (Leader of the brutal Lord's Resistance Army of Uganda) from exploiting more children as his weapons of war...for those who have artistic talent, you can even write a song about child soldier (A band called 'Strike anywhere' did this...and now they are on tour =) )....Start something, be the voice of these kids!

Do not underestimate the power of writings...the next story here, might just be YOURS.

P/S: Keep telling your friends to click on the SocialVibe box on the right side of the page...give these children a gift of life they never had....Rescue them from this war!

Cheers people!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"Act as if what you do make a difference. It does."

Photo courtesy of Freshx5 & Tiffany (Thank you)

WHAT IS INVINSIBLE CHILDREN?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:08:00 +0000

In less than a week, words have spread across the world regarding this blog and support has been positive so far. Despite all that, we got some people who are quite skeptical about what we do here. Some people have never even heard the non-profit organization we are trying to support. To be honest, we never heard of this organization before until a few weeks ago...through some social networking sites.

We checked out the website www.invisiblechildren.com and what we found was shocking! This is the reason why we are trying to help out the best way we can....through a blog. It may sound small but the impact might be HUGE! We may not be able to raise money with this blog, but we will definitely raise awareness regarding whats going on in Uganda. So far we managed to get 3000 minutes of education for these war-torn kids. Thank you to all those people who spent a minute to help out with Socialvibe! This is really exciting stuff. Keep it coming =)

Some facts about INVISIBLE CHILDREN:

1. Started off by 3 young filmmakers who went to Uganda to film some adventure documentaries but they saw tragedies where CHILDREN were used as weapons of war!

2. They released the raw film called "Invisible Children: Rough Cut" and it has been watched by millions! (They were in Oprah Winfrey Show this year)

3. The children are paid $3 PER WEEK to go to war!

3. They are now trying to get 250,000 petitions to persuade President Obama to arrest Joseph Kony by the 25th December 2009. (They got 78,125 signatures since April 2009)

Now you know some stuff about Invisible Children. Go to www.invisiblechildren.com for more info about the unseen war in Uganda and the child soldiers. We bought 6 T-shirts from the website and they have really cool stuff there and all the revenues will go straight to helping the kids.

Cheers people!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"I didn't raise my son to be a soldier, I brought him up to be my pride and joy. Who dares to put a rifle in his hands to kill some other mother's boy..."

SPREAD THE CHAIN

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:07:00 +0000

Hello ladies & gentlemen,

Thank you for spreading the words regarding this blog. We would like to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts. As you all know, this is a new blog and we need everybody's help in making this blog a big thing. With all the networking technology available, we should be able to reach out target of 100,000 MINUTES OF EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIP FOR THE INVINCIBLE CHILDREN CHARITY.

HOW YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

1. Go to the SOCIALVIBE box on your right and convert 1 minute of your life into education scholarship for unfortunate children (1 minute of your time will be converted into 200+ minutes of education.)

2. Place this blog in your facebook, twitter, blog, MSN...anything or anywhere your friends can see it.

3.Spread the word. Keep the chain going.

3 simple steps which will change somebody's life. Thank you =)

Cheers people!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"Help others achieve their dreams and you will achieve yours."

CHAPTER 2: FAILURE - YOUR KEY TO SUCCESS.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:09:00 +0000

FAILURE: One of the most frightening things a human being can experience. Most people will try to avoid this at all cost. Why wouldn't they? Failures can cost you your grades, jobs, dignity, respect from others and it will definitely bring your confidence down. The rest of the world will push you to the ground and look down on you from then on.

Most people will give up and quit...and only some will keep on going. Next thing you know, these few people will be the ones who are going to be on top of the world, while the rest of the world will watch them rise. How? These few people are the ones who are not afraid to make mistakes and they stare failure right in the eyes.

IN SCHOOL: School only teach you how to succeed by avoiding failures. What happens if you fail? From where we came from, you will be labeled as a hopeless student with no talent. From then on, you will be the joke of the class and no one will take you seriously. Your colleagues will not even put an effort to help you when you need help with your assignments. Just because you failed your exams.

THIS IS WHAT WE SAY: if you fail...we say Congratulations! you just made your first step to become successful. Failure is the result of pushing the limits of things and having the drive to make things better and perfecting it every single time. You can fail 1,000 times, people will think you are the biggest failure on earth...but in reality, you just found 1,000 ways how to become successful.

Cheers people!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"All my successes have been built from my failures"

CHAPTER 1

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 23:08:00 +0000

A lot of people have great ideas, but statistics have shown only a few will become successful making these ideas into reality. What makes these few people different from the rest? Some may say "His/her parents are rich, thats why she is successful now" or "He/she is just lucky"

Yes, it might be true to an extent..some people are just born rich and some are just born lucky...but what happened to Bill Gates, Carlos Slim, Warren Buffet, Mark Zuckerberg? Like other millionaires and billionaires, these guys started from nothing but IDEAS...most millionaires have failed several times before becoming successful, these guys have heard it all from "This will never work", "You must be crazy to invest in this idea" or even "You call this an idea?? how can you make money out of this?". All these guys have one thing in common: CHARACTER.

Execute your ideas. Don't be scared of failing, after all failures are just another lesson in your journey.

Cheers people!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"Action speaks louder than words"

WORLD ON MY FEET

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 05:16:00 +0000

Hey Ladies & Gentlemen,

I would like to welcome you to 'WORLD-ON-MY-FEET'. This blog will be the good, the bad, the joy and the struggle in my journey towards achieving my goals and dreams. My journey so far has been very interesting...I have had many ups and downs in my life. During those time, I have learnt a lot of things which have shaped me to be who I am today

And listen to this....I am a lazy fella, I was a slacker in school, I was a failure in my 7 years of high-school....but those attributes have made me a survivor, those attributes have opened my eyes to how shallow the world can be, those attributes have taught me the meaning of "do not judge a book by its cover"....and trust me, you do not need to be academically smart to survive and excel in life. So what do you need to do? JUST LIVE YOUR LIFE THE WAY YOU WANT IT TO BE!

Cheers people!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"If there is no wind,

row!"