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You get to improve your conversational skills whilst you help out the world. Can't be bad...

23 October 2007

The word is out

by Jacqueline Alexander

Occasionally, we are shocked to our core when an unexpected, perhaps unthinkable, event occurs and invades our consciousness like an arrow to the heart. The 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers in New York was one. The untimely death of Princess Diana, leaving two young children without a mother, was another. There are many others; the assassinations of President J F Kennedy and Martin Luther King spring to mind and I am sure you will have your own personal events that have proved pivotal, or at least impacted, on your life.

These shocking events are gratefully rare but the sad fact is that we hear about death and destruction on an all too regular basis. Some of us try to do our bit, some of us mean to but can't find the time and some of us hide from the ugly truth but it is impossible to deny that there are people dying needlessly; not everyday, not every hour but every three and a half seconds.

That's how frequently someone somewhere in the world dies of hunger; every three and a half seconds. That's 25,000 people every day. Unfortunately, these people do not enter our consciousness in quite the same way as the aforementioned headliners. How can they? We don't know who they are. Even if we did, with so many dying, if we thought about each individual, we would not have time to think about anything else. But, luckily for them, some people not only think about them, they do something for them too.

I am not about to start preaching. In fact, I am the last person who should preach as I don't do nearly enough myself but I have found a way for us all to do a little that will mean an awful lot to someone in the world. It doesn't cost a penny. It doesn't take much effort. It's interesting. It's educational and, most importantly, it saves lives.

Freerice.com is a novel idea. It is also a very simple idea - the best ones always are. You are invited to play a game and for each answer you get right, ten grains of rice are donated to the hungry of the world. Each grain is paid for by the sponsors of the site and the rice is distributed by the world's largest food agency, the United Nations World Food Program. Ten grains of rice may not sound a lot but just yesterday over 28 million grains were gathered by the people playing along.

The game is neither boring nor inane. Whilst you do your bit for the starving you also get to widen your vocabulary. You are presented with a word and four alternative definitions; just select the right definition and your ten grains are on their way to a hungry someone. And that's not all; the game is pretty intelligent; it will assess the level of your vocabulary and gently stretch you to another level. For example, if you are quite clear on the meaning of 'contentious' but would struggle with 'macropterous' the game will present you with examples somewhere in between. You get to improve your conversational skills whilst you help out the world. Can't be bad.

This is one game where cheating might be forgiven. If you are intent on gathering as many grains of rice as possible then a quick flick through a handy dictionary would be my recommendation. Even better would be a quick visit to either dictionary.com or, if you are in the midst of a love affair with words, wordie.org.

Wordie.org is designed for those people who just can't get enough additions to their vocabulary; from apogee to zenzizenzizenzic, this site allows you to access twelve other sites to read more information on your chosen word. It also encourages discussion, suggestion and research. And it just loves a new word to get its teeth into.

Once you have honed your word-stock it's back to freerice.com to bolster your rice-stock for the faceless hungry, at least, I thought they were faceless. Having read the back-story to freerice.com, I was invited to visit poverty.com, a web site that probably needs no explanation as the name gives you a huge clue. My preconceived notions told me to expect a charity site asking for money and telling me why I should dig deep for their cause. Apparently, this site knows that there are thousands of other charities doing that so they have dug deep into their imaginations and asked what would give the most impact and help us to understand exactly who they are trying to help. And, boy, have they done a great job.

Before you to take a look at poverty.com, be prepared. It is shocking. It is sad. It is real. And, it is phenomenally powerful.

You will be presented with a map of the world. It's a well-designed map that rests easy on the eye but that's where the pleasantries stop. Emerging from different locations all over the world are images of people; real people with real names and every single one of them has just died. As I mentioned before, someone, somewhere, is dying of hunger. It is difficult to relate to because we don't know them and we don't see them. This site puts that right. It's deeply uncomfortable viewing and comes highly recommended. Why? Because I have just returned to freerice.com and gathered as much rice as I can for the people that need it most and I have a sneaky suspicion that you will do the same.

Freerice.com

Jacqueline Alexander presents Web Watch every Tuesday at 5.45pm on BBC Radio Berkshire on 104.1FM, 104.4FM, 95.4FM, 94.6FM and DAB Digital Radio. To listen in, just visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire.

What is Web Watch?

Web Watch is broadcast on BBC Radio Berkshire, published in the Henley and South Oxon Standard and published online right here at web-watch.info.

As a cross-media project, Web Watch is designed to help you find the best sites here on the Internet.

You can catch Web Watch on air every Tuesday at 5.45pm when Jacqueline Alexander sits down with Phil Kennedy during the Drivetime show on BBC Radio Berkshire to chew the virtual fat.