Child Soldiers and Ways You Can Help!

A child soldier in Liberia

Thanks for all of you who were listening tonight on my episode about child soldiers.
I have put a bit of info on them below and some organizations dedicated to making a difference.

- reyn

"any person under the age 18 years of age who forms part of an armed force in any capacity and those accompanying such groups, other than purely as family members.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in 2000 when addressing the UN Security Council

But you can also add to the definition children who are:
Cooks and cleaners
Porters
Sexual slaves and forced wives
Spies and reconnaissance agents
Human shields
Slaves related to supporting combat in indirect ways

There are no perfect estimates on the amount of child soldiers worldwide, but the number is between 200,000 and 300,000.


If want to help, there a number of great organizations you can work with or donate to:
UNICEF - http://www.unicef.org
Warchild International - http://www.warchild.org
Invisible Children - http://www.invisibilechildren.com
Peace For All International - http://www.peaceforallinternational.org

For more information on child soldiers, please visit:
http://www.child-soldiers.org - The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers

This is an excellent example of how children are brainwashed into being soldiers from the movie Blood Diamond

Nepal Broadcast - February 8, 2009

Thank you all for listening to my show this evening! I have linked the Lotus Children's Home for you here. I would love to have you each donate something to the cause because every little bit helps. If you are interested in going to the Lotus Children's Home to volunteer, please contact me.
I will post photos of the experience soon.
Thanks again for listening to No Clouds, Only Reyn.

The Free World Traveller

When I was a young boy, my family moved from Southern Ontario to Nova Scotia. It would be the start of my life of movement. I love to go to new parts of the world, and outside of my current North American home, I've been to Asia, the Middle East and Europe as well as living in the Caribbean for a short period of time as a child. The travel bug hit my sister too. She has picked the other continents where I have not been, having gone to Kenya to volunteer and most recently Guatemala for three months. I can remember when we were first driving to Nova Scotia in 1994, we developed a family moniker: The Free World Travelers. I have let the name stick as I feel it suits me today.
I have always been one to want to travel the world and I consider myself exceptionally lucky that I have these opportunities, which is why I am now deciding to travel with a purpose. My travels have helped shape who I am as a person and have formed the international values that I live my local life by. That being said, I would like to share some of my travels for you as a prologue to my future posts regarding the volunteer work I will be doing in Nepal, Uganda and Rwanda coming this summer. I have posted some of my favourite traveling shots here for you!

The Red Light District in Amsterdam
The celestial presence of a nighttime Swayambuth Stupa (aka Monkey Temple) in Kathmandu, Nepal

The touristy Lake Pokhara, at the base of the Annapurna Himalayans

The opulent (and hazy) skyline of man-made Abu Dhabi harbour
The nighttime reflections in elegant Hamburg

And daytime in the city with the most bridges in the worldThe quaint town of Osnabruck, in northern Germany

But it is always nice to be home in Nova Scotia

January 25th, 2009

Join me tonight on No Clouds, Only Reyn at http://www.live365.com/stations/wlurtv at 10pm EST where my guest will be Kory Preston. We will be discussing how to make social changes using the Canadian political system. We will also be talking about student lobby groups and the tactics they use to lobby the government for education funding. Kory has worked in an Ontario provincial constituency office and with the Ontario Undergratuate Student Alliance, with whom he has been lobbying with for the past two years. Join us tonight for an engaging dialogue about working against bureaucracy to make things happen. Don't miss it!

For other links to OUSA and their Blue Chair Campaign, please follow:
http://www.ousa.ca
http://www.ousa.ca/bluechair/

No Clouds, Only Reyn - January 18th, 2009

Tonight my guest will be Nick Lachance. A Nova Scotian boy who is also a mature student. We will discuss the difficulties and experiences of going to school thousands of miles away from home as well as the merits of being a mature student. Tune in at 10pm EST at http://www.live365.com/stations/wlurtv

No Clouds, Only Reyn: The Blog

Welcome to the Blog of Reyn O'Born, host of radio show 'No Clouds, Only Reyn'
For those of you who listen to my show, much appreciated, but I am more than that.
I am a student, an entrepreneur, an ardent environmentalist but most notably a humanist. I want to use this blog as a place to further my own efforts volunteering abroad and to add to the content of my radio show.
For every visitor who comes, I want to show you the way I live my life and hopefully introduce some new perspective into your lives. That being said, I am always excited to hear about your perspective too. So please, let this be an active place of discussion and an active place of expression.
With that being said, thank you for visiting 'No Clouds, Only Reyn'