Regional personal profiles: Some of the people taking part in Stand Up Speak Out

In Northern Bangladesh, youth leader Biozid Jessorey is doing something unprecedented. 40% of youth in the region live under the poverty line and are unemployed.   But he is not taking this sitting down.   Connected with 50,000 youth nationwide via chat rooms his network has been talking about one thing for the past months. - when and where they are going to stand up and speak out against poverty on October 17th.   While some organising rallies in public places to handover their demands to local politicians, others are gearing up for a massive youth concert in Dhaka and some have managed to mobilise their schools and communities to share the moment and speak out.   Biozid says his family taught him that if people dare to believe they can change something, they will achieve it, if not today then tomorrow.    

In Kenya, James Njoroge Gitau, 50, is a member of the Kaswesha Group, a Global Call to Against Poverty community leader in Kenya, where he is organizing a football match for women aged 40-60 in the Kariobangi South and Huruma Redeemed Slum Villages as part of Stand up and Speak Out.   James hopes for a solution to the devastating circumstances that has kept him living in make-shift housing since the early 1970's, "I urge them (the world leaders) to consider those living in extreme poverty and to be the first to take action in the fight against poverty.”   James dropped out of school in class 3 because his father could not afford the money (then Kshs. 100 – maybe equivalent in dollars).   He started to work as a turn-boy in a private owned truck. That is when he ended up in the slum village then called Makongo (Sisal) where he has spent his life. He hopes that actions like Stand Up will make a difference and slum dwellers like him can make a better place for themselves, if they receive the aid they were promised.

In Cameroon, Erica Nnah from Douala is a 25 year old designer working in the community of Mundemba. Orphaned at a young age she had to stop school to learn a trade, dressmaking and design, and now trains youth and women as well as sponsoring orphans for education.   On October 17th, she and the women she works with are putting on several national performances of the Poverty Requiem musical piece and sending letters to politicians with their demands for gender rights and especially access to education for girls.

In Ghana, Kenneth Amoateng is the youngest man ever promoted to Elder status in his church. He's currently serving as District Youth Leader, administering and counselling the leadership to over 12,000 children and youth, in all aspects of ministry and outreach for his denomination.   In 2004, he ran for Parliament losing by only a small margin.   He is organising an action on October 17th called the Raising up Banner Project; jointly standing up with thousands who have made a giant banner and holding a stand up moment which will count towards the global Guinness record challenge- he was involved last year and felt their voices and issues were heard by the government when they did this.

In Liberia, Jonathan Koffa of Monrovia is a 26 year old well known musician and singer on the national scene known as Takun J. His style is Hipco and is best known for his first single “We Will Spay Your” which followed “Police Man Coming”   and his   lyrics are advocacy driven.   On October 17 he is standing up and speaking out for the cancellation of his country and other country debts, the attainment of the MDGs and the provision/availability of quality basic social services including electricity, pipe borne water, education, health care etc.   He really believes that it is important to stand up and speak out because by doing this you will be able to express your own feeling for appropriate action on the.   He says: “My message to world leaders, the IMF and the World Bank is that they must do more in the shortest time to right out Liberia’s debt without conditions. Liberia has just emerged from over 14 years of war which left all sectors of our country destroyed including infrastructure economy, educational institutions, health facilities,   etc. these leaders must be practical in their pledge to meet the MDGs.”

In Germany, 25 year old student Katharina Weltecke from Berlin will be volunteering for the Stand Up and Speak Out activities on Oct 17th planned by Deine Stimme gegen Armut. She is speaking out to call for the fulfilment of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to halve extreme poverty and hunger. She believes that no time should be wasted reminding those responsible politically to fulfil the MDGs. “Governments have to make a greater effort than in the past to eliminate the structural causes of poverty.” She is motivated by the actions on October 17th as she believes that being one of millions of people calling for an end to poverty can present a very strong symbolic act. Katerina came face to face with the effect of poverty while studying in South Africa where she witnessed the devastating impact of HIV/Aids on everybody’s everyday-life. She believes the global Aids epidemic has to be stopped and its impact has to be stemmed. Health related MDGs have to be accomplished. “As a result to my experiences in southern African countries I am convinced that special efforts have to be made to further develop hospitals and health centres in this region.”

In Pakistan, Syeda Ghulam Fatima Gillani is a 41 year old women rights activist/Trade unionist and member of the Bonded labour liberation front, Citizen council of Pakistan and South Asian alliance for poverty eradication among other groups. She believes that neglecting women in developing countries ,especially in Pakistan, is a matter of urgentcy.   Their lack of education, poor health, unsecured social structure, discriminatory laws on a gender basis, pathetic working conditions, long working hours for lower wages   are causing massive injustice hunger and poverty. “Hunger and poverty are our main problem and cause of other evils so we have to address it.   We must stand and speak out, and this campaign is provides us that platform which was lacking internationally and nationally -   to make some one responsible for the eradication and elimination of suffering along with its root causes.” On October 17th she will be one of the people to hold up the world’s longest banner which she signed with her demands already. They will use this signed banner to remind the stster of their obligations to eradicate poverty and especially develop gender equality. “Please allocate 25 % of GDP to provide education, health and training to women, especially in rural areas, to up lift their standard of living. Reduce expenditure on the defence and spent it on the eradication of the poverty.”

In Brazil, Iara Pietricovsky is an anthropologist and political scientist.   She firmly believes it is up to her and her colleagues to play a role in Brazil in raising awareness about the nature and causes of poverty an inequality.   “If ordinary people can see how women are discrimminated against, if they are made aware of their rights and demand these rights are fulfilled then we are taking the first steps towards ending poverty. She is one of the people organising a big cultural and political event which Hill hapen in Fortaleza in the state of Ceara and follows on from a launch event in Brasilia in August. It comprises shows, a book launch, a photogrpahic exhibition and film screening all related to the challenges facing poor women in Cuba, Brazil, Israel and Palestine. They run alongside a series of seminars in the theme of women and inequality and see popular leaders, feminists, artists and public representatives debate the solutions. “We must show courage to go much further than the Millennium Development Goals, which Hill not be reached as we know them.   Effective commitment and popular mobilisaiton are the only locgical way that things will change. “

In Namibia, Veronica de Klerk is GCAP Ambassador and   the Executive Director of Women's Action for Development (WAD). With 12 years experience of working with the poor in the country, Veronika De Klerk says that while the causes of poverty in Namibia are diverse, there is a need for all Namibians to join hands to lift the human spirit out of the pit in which it has lost initiative and motivation. De Klerk acknowledged poverty as a problem that could be tackled. She however believes that the reduction of poverty is not a "quick fix".  "I see my role as GCAP ambassador as a powerful opportunity to intensify our efforts to eradicate extreme poverty and to strive towards the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals on a wider platform," she reveals.  “Working among the poor for so many years, I am truly perturbed by the signs that overwhelming poverty in many regions are eroding away all initiative and urge to be self-reliant in communities.  I have seen disturbing signs that our mothers and fathers, are slowly losing their grip on life - they have started to accept their poverty as the norm about which “nothing can be done. But poverty is a situation from which people can escape. It is a call to action  - not only for the poor, but for the wealthy as well! Therefore, she is convinced that the “Global Call to Action Against Poverty” is a call to justice and that Stand Up actions give us a unique opportunity for this call resound loudly around the world.