What Is World Week?

Although World Week is designed specifically for young people, especially students, anyone can participate, alone or with their school, friends, church or community group. Participants are encouraged to become advocates for the persecuted, broaden their understanding of issues that affect the poor, especially women and children, and help protect the environment.

Why Participate in World Week?

Do you ever feel helpless and discouraged as you watch news reports of suffering, pain and injustice in the world? When you hear that one in six people in the world are malnourished, 24,000 children die daily of preventable diseases and every day more than 14,000 people contract HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, do you wonder how these problems grew to such proportions? Do you wish you could make a difference? World Week helps you answer some of your questions and find practical ways to help. Watch the World Week video now.

World Week activities and educational materials take a fresh look at some of the toughest issues the world faces today. Participate in Wardrobe Cleansing and you will understand what it feels like to be subjected to the kind of ethnic cleansing that has torn apart families and countries. Or by walking six kilometers (about four miles) to collect water in the Water Walk, you learn how difficult it is - especially for women and girls in developing countries who have to do it several times a day to sustain their families' health.

"I felt the agony that women in the Third World countries feel," said Bridget, a middle school student, of her experience in the Water Walk. "I can't believe how much they have to do to get water for their families." Her class also participated in Women Know Best. They understood the injustice women and girls in some countries feel when they are denied education and viewed as less intelligent than the males.

When you participate in World Week, you choose educational materials and activities related to issues that interest you - hunger, education, disease, gender discrimination, AIDS, water, environment, war and other related topics. By combining activities from several categories, you explore the relationship between health, education, environment, justice and peace.

You help your community.

World Week helps you learn and communicate with others. You can share what you discover and raise community awareness of important global issues. Your activities can also raise awareness and motivate responses regionally and nationally through news coverage.

You help the environment.

World Week explores the causes of current environmental problems - the loss of one and a half acres of rain forest every second, for example, or recurring floods and droughts. You will see how poverty, war and injustice play roles in these crises. And you will explore ways to care for the earth and its inhabitants.

You help those who need help most.

If you raise funds through World Week, you can help people behind the statistics - children at risk and some of the world's poorest and most persecuted people. You can make a world of difference for someone in need of help.

You can use World Week educational materials or hold World Week activities at any time. Most groups schedule at least one event during the national World Week celebrations and consider ways they can follow up on a weekly basis.

You can make a world of difference. Please take the first step by contacting World Week today.

Copyright 1991-2005, Children In Need. All photos by Christopher Redner/Timeless Images, unless otherwise noted. You may download and distribute text. If you wish to use the images or photographs, please obtain permission by e-mail or call (253) 874-8400.



	World Week is an exciting program that encourages understanding and raises awareness of important global issues - health, education, environment, justice and peace - and helps people suffering from disease, hunger, human rights abuses, violence and environmental devastation. Although World Week is designed specifically for young people, especially students, anyone can participate, alone or with their school, friends, church or community group. Participants are encouraged to become advocates for the persecuted, broaden their understanding of issues that affect the poor, especially women and children, and help protect the environment. Why Participate in World Week? Do you ever feel helpless and discouraged as you watch news reports of suffering, pain and injustice in the world? When you hear that one in six people in the world are malnourished, 24,000 children die daily of preventable diseases and every day more than 14,000 people contract HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, do you wonder how these problems grew to such proportions? Do you wish you could make a difference? World Week helps you answer some of your questions and find practical ways to help. Watch the World Week video now. You help yourself understand. World Week activities and educational materials take a fresh look at some of the toughest issues the world faces today. Participate in Wardrobe Cleansing and you will understand what it feels like to be subjected to the kind of ethnic cleansing that has torn apart families and countries. Or by walking six kilometers (about four miles) to collect water in the Water Walk, you learn how difficult it is - especially for women and girls in developing countries who have to do it several times a day to sustain their families' health. "I felt the agony that women in the Third World countries feel," said Bridget, a middle school student, of her experience in the Water Walk. "I can't believe how much they have to do to get water for their families." Her class also participated in Women Know Best. They understood the injustice women and girls in some countries feel when they are denied education and viewed as less intelligent than the males. When you participate in World Week, you choose educational materials and activities related to issues that interest you - hunger, education, disease, gender discrimination, AIDS, water, environment, war and other related topics. By combining activities from several categories, you explore the relationship between health, education, environment, justice and peace. You help your community. World Week helps you learn and communicate with others. You can share what you discover and raise community awareness of important global issues. Your activities can also raise awareness and motivate responses regionally and nationally through news coverage. You help the environment. World Week explores the causes of current environmental problems - the loss of one and a half acres of rain forest every second, for example, or recurring floods and droughts. You will see how poverty, war and injustice play roles in these crises. And you will explore ways to care for the earth and its inhabitants. You help those who need help most. If you raise funds through World Week, you can help people behind the statistics - children at risk and some of the world's poorest and most persecuted people. You can make a world of difference for someone in need of help. You can use World Week educational materials or hold World Week activities at any time. Most groups schedule at least one event during the national World Week celebrations and consider ways they can follow up on a weekly basis. We make it easy for you to participate. Download our Organizing World Week guide and our Participant's guide, then e-mail us, and we will send you everything you need to participate in World Week - alone or with your school, your family or a group of friends. You can make a world of difference. Please take the first step by contacting World Week today. ( What Is It? ) ( How It Started ) ( When Is It? ) ( Activities ) ( Get Involved ) ( Photos ) Copyright 1991-2005, Children In Need. All photos by Christopher Redner/Timeless Images, unless otherwise noted. You may download and distribute text. If you wish to use the images or photographs, please obtain permission by e-mail or call (253) 874-8400.