Elephants in Uganda are starting to come close to villages near national parks. The big animals are a real danger to people.

    So, the Uganda Wildlife Authority has been giving people new tools to keep the elephants away: vuvuzelas. They are plastic instruments some fans use at sports events.

    The instruments make a loud sound elephants do not like. The animals leave, and no one is harmed. A spokesperson for the Uganda Wildlife Authority says vuvuzelas work because they do not threaten the elephants. That is important because an elephant that feels threatened is more likely to attack. So far, no one has reported an elephant attacking in answer to a vuvuzela.

    Officials and villagers have tried other ways to stop elephants from coming near farms and houses. They have built beehives – houses for flying insects that sting. They have hung ropes covered in spicy oil. They have dug long, deep holes. And they have used guns, called A-K47s.

    An official from the Uganda Wildlife Authority explains that people shoot the gun in the air to scare the elephant. But over time, the elephants have stopped being afraid of the sound of the gun. They only look at the shooter and wave their ears.

    Another official for the Uganda Wildlife Authority, Gessa Simblicious, says one elephant-prevention solution will not work everywhere in Uganda. And one day, elephants may accept the vuvuzela noise, just as they do the sound of the A-K47.

    But right now, vuvuzelas are an effective, non-violent and fun way to deal with a serious problem.

    Social media is one of the fastest growing industries in today's world. A study conducted by the US Pew Research Center showed that 92 percent of teenagers go online daily. The wide spread of social media has changed nearly all parts of teenagers' lives.

    Changing relationships

    High school student Elly Cooper from Illinois said social media often reduces face- to-face communication. “It makes in-person relationships harder because of people's attention given to their phones instead of their boyfriends or girlfriends,” Cooper said.

    Yet, some people believe social media has made it easier to start relationships with anyone from anywhere. Beth Kaplan from Illinois met her long-distance friend through social media. He currently lives in Scotland, but they're still able to frequently communicate with each other. “I can feel close to someone that I'm talking to via FaceTime,” Kaplan said.

    Wanting to be “liked”

    The rise of social media has changed the way teenagers see themselves. The 19- year-old Essena O'Neill announced on the social networking service Instagram that she was quitting social media because it made her unable to stop thinking about appearing perfect online. Negative comments also can do great damage to a teenager's self-esteem. Teenagers who get negative comments can't help but feel hurt.

    Opening new doors

    However, Armin Korsos, a student from Illinois, takes advantage of the comments he receives over social media to improve his videos on the social networking site YouTube. “Social media can help people show themselves and their talents to the world in a way that has never been possible before,” Korsos said.

    There was a boy and his family was very rich. One day his father took him on a trip to a place. He wanted to show his son how poor people were there. They spent several days on a farm. There were many poor families living on the farm.

    On their way home, the father asked the son, “How was the trip?” “It was great, Dad,” the son answered. “Did you notice how poor people were there?” asked his father. “Oh, yes.” said the son. “So, tell me,” said his father. The son said, “Well, we have one dog and they have four. We have a pool in our garden, while they have a river that has no end. We have expensive lanterns, but they have stars above their heads at night. We have only a small piece of land to live on, while they have the endless fields. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have high walls around our houses to protect us, but they don't need walls, because their friends will protect them.”

    The father had nothing to say. Then the boy added, “Thank you, Dad, for letting me see how poor we are.”

    Johnny Jennings is 86 years old, but he first visited the Georgia Baptist Children's Home when he was 18, and the visit changed his life forever.

    A child ran up to Jennings, begging to be adopted, and it was at that moment that Jennings realized his life's mission. From that day forward, Jennings did everything he could to help, and that turned out to be quite a lot. Since he wasn't ready to adopt a child of his own, he decided to contribute financially. Since he wasn't wealthy, he did so by collecting paper and aluminum (铝) products and cashing them in for money. That may not sound like it would amount to much, but Jennings has donated more than US$400,000 over the past 30 years. That's a lot of paper products.

    Over those 30 years Jennings has become a cornerstone of the children's home.

But how does he get all that paper? Now that people know about his efforts, the paper pretty much comes to him. People drop it off at his house after collecting it through churches, organizations or in their own lives. Jennings also collected pennies, and as they say: A penny saved is a penny earned. Well, he's saved 24 miles' worth of pennies. It's the truth. "84,480 is a mile of pennies," Jennings said. "We finished 24 miles. We had most people from church collecting pennies." Each and every mile was a donation to the church.

    One of Jennings' favorite events is the church's annual meeting, which is when he presents his check each year. During this time, the kids who live in the children's home are also in attendance and he loves the opportunity to spend time with them. Jennings has served on the board for 45-year terms. "I've been a trustee for 20 years," Jennings said. "I'm just part of the family." And what a special family it is, thanks in large part to Johnny Jennings.

    For over 70 years, UNICEF has been putting children first, working to protect their rights and provide the assistance and services they need to survive and develop all over the world.

    It's the end-of-year giving season, and UNICEF has lots of good news to share about the influence its supporters have had on the lives of children. Thanks to its generous donors, UNICEF has helped save more lives than any other humanitarian organization.

    Monthly donors are a major reason why UNICEF can make that claim, according to Karla Coello, UNICEF USA Senior Director for Monthly Giving. “Last year, UNICEF responded to 377 humanitarian emergencies, from conflicts to natural disasters,” says Coello. “Emergency appeals bring in important revenue - but after the emergency, there are still a lot of things children need to make life bearable. That's what our monthly donors provide.”

    When drought destroys crops, conflict forces families from their homes, an epidemic breaks out or a disaster strikes, children suffer most. And in some countries, even the best of times are dangerous for its youngest citizens. Every day more than 15,000 children under 5 die from preventable causes.

    Protecting children before, during and after a crisis requires a reliable source of funding. The constant stream of revenue provided by monthly donations enables UNICEF to reach children with what they need most when they need it, prepositioning emergency supplies before a disaster strikes and continuing to build sustainable solutions after an immediate crisis has subsided.

    Monthly giving is also important to funding large-scale interventions(介入). Thanks to UNICEF's global immune campaigns, the world is now nearly free of polio(小儿麻痹症)and there are only 14 countries where mothers and children still face maternal and neonatal tetanus(破伤风)deadly threat. And UNICEF programs in 120 countries are helping to prevent and treat malnutrition, which is linked to nearly half of all deaths of children under 5.

    “UNICEF USA monthly donors are our most engaged, most dedicated supporters,” says Rebecca Volpe, UNICEF USA Manager, Monthly Giving. “So we do our best to make them feel appreciated by keeping them thoroughly updated about the powerful impact they are having and showing them how much they matter to us.” In turn, monthly donors tend to be dedicated supporters. “Protecting children - giving them opportunities to play, learn, feel safer, heal - is critical to us,” explained a survey respondent, expressing a commitment to children that UNICEF USA's Monthly Giving team sees every day.

    Supporters who sign up with UNICEF USA to give monthly automatically become members of the Guardian Circle, which affords them benefits, including:

    Annual statements to make tax time easier

    An easy-to-use donor access that simplifies modifying gift amounts, updating payment methods and making other changes, including the timing of donations with the option to cancel at any point

    Targeted communications in the form of monthly statements and a quarterly 8-page newsletter with stories from the field.

    A team available to answer questions via email or phone.

    “We have some donors who are on fixed income, others who can afford to make considerable monthly donations," says Coello. “Whether you give $5 or $700 a month, you are super important to us. What's important is that they all really want to give and help children. And that's amazing.”

    It can be time-consuming and difficult to track charitable donations. At end of year, Guardian Circle monthly supporters receive one statement that makes filing tax returns easier - and it's always delightful to see how much good has been done for the world's most vulnerable(受伤害的)children.

The last time you got angry, did you stop and listen to what your mind was telling you?

Ryan Martin, psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, has spent his career doing just that. It turns out, the thoughts that we have in response to the first flare (爆发) of anger are what can send us over the edge—or help us control the emotion for good, Martin says.

Despite the trouble that it can cause, anger is not actually bad for us. From an evolutionary perspective, it plays an important role in our survival, Martin says: "It helps alert us to the fact that we've been wronged." When your heart starts to pound and your face gets hot, that's anger increasing your blood flow in preparation for a showdown (决战). "It's our fight or flight response, used to energize us to deal with injustice," he explains.  

Anger only becomes a problem when we can't manage it. Managing your anger, it turns out, is all about managing your thoughts. While anger may inform us of a threat—even if it's just to our reputation—it's the thoughts that determine how we respond. That's why strategies like cognitive behavioral therapy, which teach people healthier thought patterns, can be so successful.

Rather than ignore our anger, Martin wants us to see what our anger is telling us. If anger alerts us to possible injustice, for example, it's not helpful to simply dismiss it. "What I really want is for people to have accurate thoughts, thoughts that accurately reflect what's going on in the world around them," Martin says.