A few years ago, I received an e-mail that read, "If the World were a village of 100 people, the village would have 60 Asians, 14 Africans, 12 Europeans, 8 Latin Americans, 5 from the USA and Canada, and 1 from the South Pacific.51 would be male, 49 would be female
67 would be unable to read
50 would be malnourished and 1 dying of starvation
33 would be without access to a safe water supply
24 would not have any electricity
7 people would have access to the Internet, etc.
I was fascinated by the analogy. After reading the e-mail, I felt like I understood the world population more; and, most importanly, I realized how fortunate I was.
I knew little about the origin of the e-mail until I ran into this book in a bookstore a couple of years I read the e-mail. It is a well-illustrated book and the facts was based on the statistic prior to 2002 (year of publication). Though it is not a big book, but the meaning behind it is deep; I reflect upon it after I flipped through the whole book in the bookstore.
What inspired me to write this recommendation was a DVD purchase today. This title became so popular that a DVD version is made to suit young audience. It is a 24 minute long "movie" for recommended for children 6+. I hope I have a chance to share this with my students so that they realize that we are actually the fortunate fews who live today with clean water, electricity, internet access, etc.
I found a youtube clip, which I believe to be the opening of the DVD. Please take a look!
