Published on September 21st
by Mary Hoffman
Natural disasters, whether caused by global warming or not, make an instant impact on our compassion. News images on television and in the newspapers bring them home to us and cause us to dig deep into our pockets to send relief to areas less fortunate than the ones we live in.
One only has to think of the coverage from New Orleans earlier this month to see how desperate survivors become and how quickly. Bodies are not only the remains of loved ones but disease hazards. Clean drinking water, sewage systems, electricity and other fuels all disappear at a stroke, as does the food supply ¨ something most of us would find unimaginable.
When the Asian tsunami struck on Boxing Day last year, most of us in the UK were waking up after a day of feasting and present-exchange. The timing brought this particular disaster more vividly into people's imaginations than many that have gone before.
The huge scale ¨ I remember the numbers of estimated dead going up in tens of thousands every few hours ¨ the fact that many British holidaymakers knew some of these beautiful places and the dreadful discordance with the season all combined to make Britons contribute huge sums in aid money.
Now, as of 6th October, there will be something else you can do. Chrysalis Children's Books are publishing Higher Ground to raise money for five children's charities: Unicef; Save the Children; Y Care International; SOS Children and Handicap International. The Anthology has new stories by fifteen top authors, including Bernard Ashley, Gillian Cross, Alan Gibbons and Eoin Colfer.
We hope to review Higher Ground in the next Armadillo but meanwhile please go to the website: www.highergroundproject.org.uk and if you have contact with a school, click to receive a sales kit so that the book can go on sale in Christmas Fairs and so on. Remember the first anniversary of the disaster will be next Boxing Day.
If not involved in a school, you can get the book in all good bookshops and the money you hand over (a modest £4.99) will go to the five charities.