Origins of Child Sponsorship: Save the Children Fund in the 1920s

Brad Watson argues that the origins of individual child sponsorship are poorly understood to the point that that at least three large organizations have been incorrectly credited with founding the international sponsorship of children in the 1930s or 1940s. Those interested in early child sponsorship are invariably left with important questions. When and where did it begin? How did it function? What challenges and achievements are evident in early child sponsorship programs? Based on extensive archival research the author concludes that child sponsorship was pioneered in 1919 or the early 1920s by the Save the Children Fund in the UK, and the Society of Friends. In its early years the sponsorship of individuals provided for short-term food-aid to children in Post WWI Europe with subsequent adoption of Child Sponsorship as a fundraising model by other organizations through the 1940s

Just Short Term?: Justice and Short-term Mission

This chapter provides an entry level discussion to the emerging phenomenon of short term missionary endeavour from a perspective of justice seeking rather than charitable gift giving and paternalism

Potential Plus: Why Orphans Matter to Teachers and Their Students

What can Australian and New Zealand school students and teachers learn from a relationship with a small orphanage in rural Cambodia? Would it be inspiring and fascinating or tragic and depressing? Would students be interested and engaged or would it make extra work for busy educators already overwhelmed with the realities of classroom management, curriculum and extra-curricular activities? These are questions I recently asked staff in fi ve schools and the answers were surprising. Unanimously, without hesitation, they indicated that their schools had already adopted an orphanage, were considering doing so or would welcome the opportunity

Frequency-Dependent Conduction Block In Demyelinating Focal Neuropathies

It is the objective of this thesis to demonstrate conduction block across regions of focal demyelination by utilizing a conventional electrophysiological technique used frequently in the diagnosis of peripheral nerve disease. Specifically, patients with moderate to severe carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), but, with no evidence of conduction block via conventional motor nerve conduction study techniques, were assessed in the initial studies of this thesis for evidence of frequency-dependent conduction block (FDB) by way of high-frequency nerve stimulation (HFNS) applied across the region of entrapment. The final studies examined whether FDB could be demonstrated along the median motor fibers in mild cases of CTS, despite the presence of normal motor nerve conduction studies and lastly, whether other focal entrapment or compressive neuropathies behaved similar to the results obtained from CTS patients. The application of HFNS (30-Hz, 20 stimuli) was successful in demonstrating FDB in the median motor fibers across the region of the carpal tunnel (CT), in moderate to severe CTS patients (experiment 1). FDB was shown to be rate dependent and was more demonstrable using higher stimulus frequencies in cases with greater prolonged distal motor latencies. Unlike previous studies, these results suggest that demyelination plays a role in the pathophysiology and focal conduction slowing in CTS patients and that FDB may be responsible for the grip weakness and fatigue often described by these patients, particularly in the absence of conduction block. FDB was successfully demonstrated again across the region of the CT, similar to experiment 1, but was also observed more distally across the distal margins of the palmar aponeurosis and motor terminal axon (experiment 2). These results suggest that demyelination may occur distal to the lesion in CTS, supporting previous morphological and histological observations. Further, this data also suggests that the safety margin for impulse transmission can be impaired distal to the presumed site of injury in CTS and that this region should be considered as a potential site of injury, particularly in patients who fail to respond to more proximal steroid injection or surgical treatment. Mild cases of CTS with complaints of hand weakness, but, with normal motor nerve conduction studies were then examined to determine if FDB could be demonstrated using physiological rates of HFNS (experiment 3). The results indeed demonstrated evidence of FDB (albeit mild) in patients with mild CTS that were significantly different than what was observed in controls, despite having similar conventional motor nerve conduction study results. This suggests that the FDB (also referred as activity-dependent block) may be partially responsible for the hand weakness or the difficulties with normal everyday tasks often described by patients with mild CTS. Further, this provides evidence that conventional motor nerve conduction studies, which use stimulation rates well below physiological rates of motor unit activation, fail at times to demonstrate the extent of the underlying pathophysiology affecting the motor fibers. Lastly, the relationship between focal entrapment neuropathies with respect to the degree of FDB was examined in patients with relatively acute ulnar neuropathy localized to the elbow (UNE) and compared to previous results obtained in CTS patients from experiments 1 and 2 (experiment 4). Surprisingly, the results failed to demonstrate FDB in the remaining ulnar motor fibers across the elbow, despite evidence of severe demyelination as demonstrated by the significant conduction slowing and conduction block observed through conventional motor nerve testing. This suggests that the margin of safety for ulnar nerve transmission is intact at physiological rates of 30-Hz in the remaining ulnar motor fibers, despite the evidence of significant conduction slowing, and that there may be a separate mechanism involved in acute focal UNE that differs from the more chronic entrapment of CTS

Pathways to Development Through Local Faith Communities

Conceding that religious and other forms of fundamentalism can be very destructive, and recognising that the role of religion within development theory and practice remains marginalised, this paper considers the positive changes that are possible at the nexus between ‘religion’ and what can loosely be described as ‘development.’ In this paper original research on gender programming in the Papua New Guinea Church Partnership Program is presented to illustrate the potential for poverty reduction and human development when development processes engage with, rather than avoid, religion. We argue that in PNG attempts to separate ‘religion’ and ‘development’ result in an uncomfortable dichotomy that may impede development goals

Harding College Spring Sing Program 1978

Program for the 1978 Spring Sing performance at Harding College. Hosts and Hostesses: Karla Renee Adams, Mary Carolyn Campbell, Tim Smith, James Timothy Woodroofhttps://scholarworks.harding.edu/spring-sing/1004/thumbnail.jp

Best Practice in International Service Learning (ISL): Aspects of Risk and Impact

This article outlines the difference between international service learning and short term mission trips. It then proposes six features of effective international service learning that are likely to minimise risk while resulting in demonstrable impact

Child Sponsorship: A Path to its Future

This chapter provides a concise summary of the positive historic features of child sponsorship and notes the emergence of various codes of conduct arising from historic scandals and prior negative publicity. However it calls for continued change and improvement in the sector by suggesting 13 principles including better education for sponsors, greater transparency around the model of sponsorship used, alignment with best practice, promotion of the dignity and agency of the chid and improved public dissemination of program evaluation

Introduction to Key Issues in Child Sponsorship

Chapter 1 introduces child sponsorship as a phenomenon characterised by controversy within the aid industry, broad popularity with the general public and specific appeal for non-governmental organisations due to its prodigious ability to mobilize funds. Despite emergent critique in the 1970s and 1980s, the authors note that the prominence of child sponsorship as a fundraising tool has continued with the first decade of the twentieth century witnessing sustained growth such that between eight and twelve million children are sponsored globally with the subsequent flow of funds exceeding US$3.1 billion. By such accounts it is possible that over two decades the sponsorship of children has generated international transfers in excess of US$50 billion. Exploring both positive features and causes for concern, this chapter argues that a book on child sponsorship is long overdue. The majority of large child sponsorship organisations are positioned as ethical organizations, committed to poverty reduction and positive outcomes for children