BP: Very helpful list
Jun. 10th, 2010 10:29 pmA very helpful list from Cherie Priest, Things You Can Do About the Oil Spill.
Global Soap Project
Apr. 22nd, 2010 10:08 amHere's a breathtakingly simple yet powerful Decrease Worldsuck idea I heard about on Betty Londergan's excellent What Gives blog: The Global Soap Project. (On Twitter at @GlobalSoap and Facebook here.) (Betty really has a knack for finding cool organizations to support.)
Every day, in millions of hotel rooms in America, something weird happens. The housekeeping staff makes the bed, cleans the room, and replaces the soap, removing the used bar and leaving a fresh bar in its place. This simple American habit of throwing away 800 million bars of hotel soap a year completely befuddled Derreck Kayongo when he first experienced it fifteen years ago, in a hotel in Philadelphia.
As a child, Kayongo’s family had fled Uganda for Kenya during the Idi Amin regime, and he was all too familiar with the desperation of refugees who have little or no access to clean water and soap. Kayongo was educated in Kenya, came to America to earn his Bachelors and Masters degrees, and continued to rise to his position as a senior level humanitarian relief expert working for CARE in Atlanta– but he never forgot the extravagant waste of hotel soap that first struck him. “I kept thinking, what if we took some of this soap back home, recycled it and made brand new soap to give to people who don’t have any?”
Not having soap is a clear and present danger in refugee camps all across Africa. Hand-washing is the first line of defense in the prevention of acute respiratory and diarrhea diseases that ravage camps, particularly afflicting children under the age of 5. In Uganda alone, 200,000 children a year die from preventable diseases. Studies indicate that hand-washing with soap can reduce the risk of these diseases by 42-65% — which makes every bar of soap we throw away a tragic missed opportunity.
So last year, Kayongo and his wife Sarah started the The Global Soap Project to recover and recycle soap from American hotels: sanitizing, melting and remodeling it into new bars that can be distributed to refugee camps in Africa. To the Kayongos’ great amazement, hotels like the InterContinental, the Ritz, and hundreds of others enthusiastically embraced his idea. Volunteers lined up to help. And today, just months later, he has tons of soap accumulated in warehouses and a brand new machine to recycle the old into fresh new bars of soap that will be shipped as extra cargo on ships already making the trip to Africa.
Every day, in millions of hotel rooms in America, something weird happens. The housekeeping staff makes the bed, cleans the room, and replaces the soap, removing the used bar and leaving a fresh bar in its place. This simple American habit of throwing away 800 million bars of hotel soap a year completely befuddled Derreck Kayongo when he first experienced it fifteen years ago, in a hotel in Philadelphia.
As a child, Kayongo’s family had fled Uganda for Kenya during the Idi Amin regime, and he was all too familiar with the desperation of refugees who have little or no access to clean water and soap. Kayongo was educated in Kenya, came to America to earn his Bachelors and Masters degrees, and continued to rise to his position as a senior level humanitarian relief expert working for CARE in Atlanta– but he never forgot the extravagant waste of hotel soap that first struck him. “I kept thinking, what if we took some of this soap back home, recycled it and made brand new soap to give to people who don’t have any?”
Not having soap is a clear and present danger in refugee camps all across Africa. Hand-washing is the first line of defense in the prevention of acute respiratory and diarrhea diseases that ravage camps, particularly afflicting children under the age of 5. In Uganda alone, 200,000 children a year die from preventable diseases. Studies indicate that hand-washing with soap can reduce the risk of these diseases by 42-65% — which makes every bar of soap we throw away a tragic missed opportunity.
So last year, Kayongo and his wife Sarah started the The Global Soap Project to recover and recycle soap from American hotels: sanitizing, melting and remodeling it into new bars that can be distributed to refugee camps in Africa. To the Kayongos’ great amazement, hotels like the InterContinental, the Ritz, and hundreds of others enthusiastically embraced his idea. Volunteers lined up to help. And today, just months later, he has tons of soap accumulated in warehouses and a brand new machine to recycle the old into fresh new bars of soap that will be shipped as extra cargo on ships already making the trip to Africa.
The Uniform Project again
Apr. 22nd, 2010 08:58 amThe Uniform Project is shortly going to be coming to a close (last day is April 30). Take a look at this extremely cute video she's produced showing the looks she's put together over the past year. It does a good job of showing the fun and whimsicality of the project.
Tomorrow is going to be another Little Black Dress Day: wear your black dress, accessorize it, and post the pictures to the Uniform Project's Facebook page (here's the link to the last time I did so. One of the dress pictures isn't displaying properly, so try this link.)
I managed to snag one of the limited edition Little Black dresses she sold (there are only going to be 365 produced) as a birthday present to myself, for the day April 27. I wanted to get April 28, my actual 50th birthday, but that day was sold already. But hey, April 27 is the anniversary of my Livejournal, so it's all cool.
Tomorrow is going to be another Little Black Dress Day: wear your black dress, accessorize it, and post the pictures to the Uniform Project's Facebook page (here's the link to the last time I did so. One of the dress pictures isn't displaying properly, so try this link.)
I managed to snag one of the limited edition Little Black dresses she sold (there are only going to be 365 produced) as a birthday present to myself, for the day April 27. I wanted to get April 28, my actual 50th birthday, but that day was sold already. But hey, April 27 is the anniversary of my Livejournal, so it's all cool.
Uniform Project Picture Book from The Uniform Project on Vimeo.
Man with the golden arm
Apr. 14th, 2010 02:50 pmHere's an amazing story about a man who has a rare blood type that has saved over 2 million babies.
An Australian man who has been donating his extremely rare kind of blood for 56 years has saved the lives of more than two million babies.Wow. Talk about decreasing worldsuck. Not many people can look back at making such a vast contribution to humankind. Bravo, James Harrison.
James Harrison, 74, has an antibody in his plasma that stops babies dying from Rhesus disease, a form of severe anaemia.
He has enabled countless mothers to give birth to healthy babies, including his own daughter, Tracey, who had a healthy son thanks to her father's blood.
Mr Harrison has been giving blood every few weeks since he was 18 years old and has now racked up a total of 984 donations.
When he started donating, his blood was deemed so special his life was insured for one million Australian dollars.
He was also nicknamed the 'man with the golden arm' or the 'man in two million'.
His blood has since led to the development of a vaccine called Anti-D.
He said: 'I've never thought about stopping. Never.' He made a pledge to be a donor aged 14 after undergoing major chest surgery in which he needed 13 litres of blood.
'I was in hospital for three months,' he said. 'The blood I received saved my life so I made a pledge to give blood when I was 18.'
Just after he started donating he was found to have the rare and life-saving antibody in his blood.
At the time, thousands of babies in Australia were dying each year of Rhesus disease. Other newborns suffered permanent brain damage because of the condition.
The disease creates an incompatibility between the mother's blood and her unborn baby's blood. It stems from one having Rh-positive blood and the other Rh-negative.
After his blood type was discovered, Mr Harrison volunteered to undergo a series of tests to help develop the Anti-D vaccine.
'They insured me for a million dollars so I knew my wife Barbara would be taken care of,' he said.
'I wasn't scared. I was glad to help. I had to sign every form going and basically sign my life away.'
Read more.
Another inspiring giving project
Apr. 12th, 2010 09:13 amI've found another blog rather like Betty Londergan's project that I mentioned previously, What Gives 365. This one's called Year of Giving, by Reed Sandridge (@ReedSandridge on Twitter.) Reed Sandridge was laid off last year as a director of a nonprofit group in Washington, D.C. The 36-year-old came up with a pet project to keep him busy while he looked for work. He calls it the "Year of Giving."
Every day, Sandridge walks up to a stranger and gives away $10. So far, he's handed out close to $1,200. He also interviews the recipients about their lives and posts their stories on his blog. Think of it as Studs Terkel meets Santa Claus. Listen to an NPR story about this project here.
Reed recently included a link to this study:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lavendersleeves, who reads my blog and she told me that she and her sister, who have birthdays in May, have decided to devote their birthdays to my MyCharity:Water campaign. They're going to hold a fundraiser in Japan, where they live, and send me the money to help meet my goal for the well. Isn't that great? Thank you so much to lavendersleeves and her sister!
MyCharityWater Campaign Report:
$5,000 CAMPAIGN GOAL
$766 RAISED SO FAR
38 people served
22 donations
72 days left
( What I did today to make the world a better place )
Every day, Sandridge walks up to a stranger and gives away $10. So far, he's handed out close to $1,200. He also interviews the recipients about their lives and posts their stories on his blog. Think of it as Studs Terkel meets Santa Claus. Listen to an NPR story about this project here.
Reed recently included a link to this study:
In findings sure to gladden the heart of anyone who’s ever wondered whether tiny acts of kindness have larger consequences, researchers have shown that generosity is contagious.Read more at the link. I had striking proof of that yesterday that sure made my day! I received an email from
Goodness spurs goodness, they found: A single act can influence dozens more.
lavendersleeves, who reads my blog and she told me that she and her sister, who have birthdays in May, have decided to devote their birthdays to my MyCharity:Water campaign. They're going to hold a fundraiser in Japan, where they live, and send me the money to help meet my goal for the well. Isn't that great? Thank you so much to lavendersleeves and her sister!MyCharityWater Campaign Report:
$5,000 CAMPAIGN GOAL
$766 RAISED SO FAR
38 people served
22 donations
72 days left
( What I did today to make the world a better place )
Pink Shirt Day coming up April 14
Apr. 10th, 2010 10:20 pmI'd never heard of Pink Shirt Day (@pinkshirtday on Twitter and here on Facebook) until today. Hat tip to Here Construction Company (@theherocc on Twitter) for this.
This is a great story. From a news service that picked the story up in 2007:
David and Travis, good on you for your part in decreasing worldsuck. As someone who suffered badly from bullying in elementary school, I really admire this idea. I just might dig a pink shirt out of my closet to wear on April 14. Thanks.
This is a great story. From a news service that picked the story up in 2007:
Two Nova Scotia students are being praised across North America for the way they turned the tide against the bullies who picked on a fellow student for wearing pink.Apparently, their idea has picked up steam, and people around the world are joining in, wearing pink on World Pink Shirt day, to spread the word that bullying can be stopped if bystanders speak up and refuse to participate.
The victim — a Grade 9 boy at Central Kings Rural High School in the small community of Cambridge — wore a pink polo shirt on his first day of school.
Bullies harassed the boy, called him a homosexual for wearing pink and threatened to beat him up, students said.
Two Grade 12 students — David Shepherd and Travis Price — heard the news and decided to take action.
"I just figured enough was enough," said Shepherd.
They went to a nearby discount store and bought 50 pink shirts, including tank tops, to wear to school the next day. Then the two went online to e-mail classmates to get them on board with their anti-bullying cause that they dubbed a "sea of pink."
But a tsunami of support poured in the next day.
Not only were dozens of students outfitted with the discount tees, but hundreds of students showed up wearing their own pink clothes, some head-to-toe.
When the bullied student, who has never been identified, walked into school to see his fellow students decked out in pink, some of his classmates said it was a powerful moment. He may have even blushed a little.
"Definitely it looked like there was a big weight lifted off his shoulders. He went from looking right depressed to being as happy as can be," said Shepherd.
And there's been nary a peep from the bullies since, which Shepherd says just goes to show what a little activism will do.
"If you can get more people against them … to show that we're not going to put up with it and support each other, then they're not as big as a group as they think are," he says.
David and Travis, good on you for your part in decreasing worldsuck. As someone who suffered badly from bullying in elementary school, I really admire this idea. I just might dig a pink shirt out of my closet to wear on April 14. Thanks.
Another Kiva loan
Apr. 6th, 2010 09:59 amI like reading the blog and following the Twitter feed for Afrigadget (The Twitter feed is @Afrigadget). It has great stories of scrappy people using their ingenuity to make their lives better. Today's story was about a woman named Jane who dreamed of being a surgeon, but she was too poor. But using a sewing machine she obtained through microcredit lending, she's managed to provide a decent life for herself and her children. Read Jane's story here.
It made me think about checking my Kiva portfolio to see whether I had enough money accumulated to make another loan. Sure enough, with just a few dollars added, I could make another loan. So, in honor of Jane from Nairobi, I made a loan to another woman, Elizabeth James, this time in Nigeria, who has a business selling fruits and vegetables in her local market.
What have you done today to make the world a better place?
Thanks so much to those of you who responded to my appeal and donated to my MyCharityWater campaign yesterday! I've reached 10% of my goal. I'm running a little behind, though, as we're 16% through the length of the fundraising campaign.
MyCharityWater Campaign Report:
$5,000 CAMPAIGN GOAL
$560 RAISED SO FAR
28 people served
17 donations
78 days left
( What I did today to make the world a better place )
It made me think about checking my Kiva portfolio to see whether I had enough money accumulated to make another loan. Sure enough, with just a few dollars added, I could make another loan. So, in honor of Jane from Nairobi, I made a loan to another woman, Elizabeth James, this time in Nigeria, who has a business selling fruits and vegetables in her local market.
What have you done today to make the world a better place?
Thanks so much to those of you who responded to my appeal and donated to my MyCharityWater campaign yesterday! I've reached 10% of my goal. I'm running a little behind, though, as we're 16% through the length of the fundraising campaign.
MyCharityWater Campaign Report:
$5,000 CAMPAIGN GOAL
$560 RAISED SO FAR
28 people served
17 donations
78 days left
( What I did today to make the world a better place )
The Zen Army
Apr. 1st, 2010 05:27 pmRead about this initiative, the Zen Army, at Betty Londergan's blog What Gives 365 here:
MyCharityWater Campaign Report:
$5,000 CAMPAIGN GOAL
$445 RAISED SO FAR
22 people served
13 donations
82 days left
When I come back in my next laid-back, enlightened life, I’m coming back as Indigo Cantor, Commander-in-Chief of the Zen Army. http://www.zenarmy.org and http://zenarmy.ning.com/ Like me, she’s on a 365-day mission to improve the world in whatever small way she can.Truly inspirational.
Here’s what I love about Indigo. Last year, she and her partner Paul both lost their homes in Nevada to foreclosure in the latest economic Armageddon (thanks, Goldman-Sachs, for all that you do). But since they’d been to South Africa the year before, Indigo had come back filled with a sense of gratitude, freedom & a desire to do something positive. So instead of freaking out (my preferred mode of crisis management) she simply said – hey, let’s just get out there and do some good.
Voila! The birth of the All Volunteer Zen Army … housed in a vintage 1970 Airstream trailer,(aka: The Shining Example) that Paul & Indigo bought with the last of their savings, and hit the road in January 2010. Their mission: to spend the year volunteering their time anywhere they felt they were needed: in disaster relief, animal welfare, senior care, health and nutrition, education, social justice, environmental issues –or just shoveling poop at Dreamchaser Animal Rescue http://www.dreamchaserpmu.org/ in New River, Arizona.
Indigo’s mantra is to find a need and fill it. They’re known for making surprise forays into towns, finding a senior center or food bank, and walking in declaring, “Hi! We’re the Zen Army and we’re here to help!” ... With 2500 people following them on Twitter http://twitter.com/zenarmy and over 600 fans on facebook http://www.facebook.com/thezenarmy the Zen Army is just hitting its stride.
MyCharityWater Campaign Report:
$5,000 CAMPAIGN GOAL
$445 RAISED SO FAR
22 people served
13 donations
82 days left
The Body Shop LemonAid Widget
Mar. 25th, 2010 04:19 pmI'm finding more and more ways to Decrease Worldsuck on Twitter. Check out this Lemons into LemonAid campaign, courtesy of The Body Shop.
( What I did today to make the world a better place )
( What I did today to make the world a better place )
Pictures for the MyCharity:Water campaign
Mar. 22nd, 2010 07:05 pmDelia took some rather nice pictures of me for my MyCharity:Water campaign page. Here's one:
See the rest here.
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See the rest here.
World Water Day and Mycharity:Water
Mar. 22nd, 2010 02:17 pmNext month is my fiftieth birthday.
I'm not quite sure exactly how I'm going to celebrate it, but one thing's for sure: I certainly don't need presents. I don't need more stuff. If there's anything the past couple years have taught me, it's to be grateful for what I already have.
As you know, I've also been thinking a lot in the past couple years about what I can do to make the world a better place. I've been following a lot of nonprofits on Twitter, and one of them particularly caught my attention: Charity:Water (@charitywater on Twitter).
Today is World Water Day. Did you know that a billion people don't have access to clean drinking water? That's about one out of eight. In three years, Charity:Water has sent $10 million dollars into the field to implement 2,321 water projects in 16 developing countries. That's over a million people served. Charity:Water makes it possible for people to set up their own fundraising pages, and they suggest that people donate their birthdays to the cause. I've been thinking about this idea for a number of months, and today's being World Water Day gave me the push to actually do it.
My own MyCharity:Water page is here. If I can raise $5,000, that will build a freshwater well in a village, which can provide 250+ people with clean drinking water. This campaign begins today, on World Water Day, and will last for three months, as individual MyCharity:Water campaigns do. 100% of the money that you donate at my MyCharity:Water page will go to actually fund the well (Charity:Water uses other funds to cover their administrative costs). The Mycharity:Water site Will track every dollar donated on my page to a specific water project. When the water project this campaign has helped fund is completed in 12 - 18 months from end of this campaign, Charity:Water will contact me and everyone who contributed to my campaign and send us pictures and the GPS coordinates of the new well this money raised. If we manage to raise the entire $5,000, there will be a plaque commemorating my campaign mounted at the well itself.
So I hope you'll consider giving a donation, whether $5 or $10 or even $50 for my fiftieth birthday. I've kicked off the campaign with a $50 contribution of my own. Charity:Water is a 501(c)3 corporation, so if you are in the United States, your contribution is tax deductible.* If you have any ideas or suggestions of what I might do to raise money for this campaign, I would welcome them in comments to this post. Many thanks.
*While Charity:Water can accept Paypal donations if they're made to the organization in general, if you want to contribute specifically to my campaign for my fiftieth birthday, they are set up to take contributions via credit card or check only. Either way, as I said, your contribution would be tax deductible.
( Several nice pictures Delia took of me for my campaign page )
( What I did today to make the world a better place )
I'm not quite sure exactly how I'm going to celebrate it, but one thing's for sure: I certainly don't need presents. I don't need more stuff. If there's anything the past couple years have taught me, it's to be grateful for what I already have.
As you know, I've also been thinking a lot in the past couple years about what I can do to make the world a better place. I've been following a lot of nonprofits on Twitter, and one of them particularly caught my attention: Charity:Water (@charitywater on Twitter).
Today is World Water Day. Did you know that a billion people don't have access to clean drinking water? That's about one out of eight. In three years, Charity:Water has sent $10 million dollars into the field to implement 2,321 water projects in 16 developing countries. That's over a million people served. Charity:Water makes it possible for people to set up their own fundraising pages, and they suggest that people donate their birthdays to the cause. I've been thinking about this idea for a number of months, and today's being World Water Day gave me the push to actually do it.
My own MyCharity:Water page is here. If I can raise $5,000, that will build a freshwater well in a village, which can provide 250+ people with clean drinking water. This campaign begins today, on World Water Day, and will last for three months, as individual MyCharity:Water campaigns do. 100% of the money that you donate at my MyCharity:Water page will go to actually fund the well (Charity:Water uses other funds to cover their administrative costs). The Mycharity:Water site Will track every dollar donated on my page to a specific water project. When the water project this campaign has helped fund is completed in 12 - 18 months from end of this campaign, Charity:Water will contact me and everyone who contributed to my campaign and send us pictures and the GPS coordinates of the new well this money raised. If we manage to raise the entire $5,000, there will be a plaque commemorating my campaign mounted at the well itself.
So I hope you'll consider giving a donation, whether $5 or $10 or even $50 for my fiftieth birthday. I've kicked off the campaign with a $50 contribution of my own. Charity:Water is a 501(c)3 corporation, so if you are in the United States, your contribution is tax deductible.* If you have any ideas or suggestions of what I might do to raise money for this campaign, I would welcome them in comments to this post. Many thanks.
*While Charity:Water can accept Paypal donations if they're made to the organization in general, if you want to contribute specifically to my campaign for my fiftieth birthday, they are set up to take contributions via credit card or check only. Either way, as I said, your contribution would be tax deductible.
( Several nice pictures Delia took of me for my campaign page )
( What I did today to make the world a better place )
Check out http://act.ly for an interesting new approach for social and political activism. Anyone with a Twitter account can create a petition, urging anyone else with a Twitter account to do something. I'm following The Innocence Project on Twitter (@innocenceblog), and this tweet caught my eye:
The application was invented by @slowdive and @jgilliam, in order to, as they put it, shake up a political system that's broken.
( What I did today to make the world a better place )
TX execution set for 3/24 despite untested DNA. Petition @GovernorPerry to stop the execution http://act.ly/1trCurious, I clicked on the link, which took me to the http://act.ly site, where I found a page with information about a pending death penalty case. All I had to do was to re-tweet, and my tweet lands in Governor Perry's tweet in-basket. And the governor, if he likes, can reply via http://act.ly. Curious, I did a little poking around the site. I found, for example, a petition urging Rick Warren to speak out against the pending law in Uganda that would put homosexuals to death. Rick Warren responded to the tweet and posted a video message he sent out to Ugandan pastors, urging them against supporting the bill.
The application was invented by @slowdive and @jgilliam, in order to, as they put it, shake up a political system that's broken.
( What I did today to make the world a better place )
A savings program of interest
Mar. 13th, 2010 08:15 pmI learned about this through my monthly AARP publication:
SaveTogether.org: (@SaveTogether on Twitter and SaveTogetherOrg on Facebook)
SaveTogether.org: (@SaveTogether on Twitter and SaveTogetherOrg on Facebook)
A new non-profit, Savetogether.org, makes it easy to spread the message of saving while helping others to reach their financial goals. Using an online philanthropy model, SaveTogether helps low wage individuals triple their savings through the power of matched savings accounts. Here's how it works: A saver puts aside $25, a donor makes a secure, tax-deductible $25 donation on the website, which is then matched by $25 from government and participating non-profits. Prescreened savers are profiled on the website and file reports on their progress saving for college, a new home, or a business start-up.( Here's some more information from the FAQ at the site ) Read more at the FAQ here. I thought this program might be of interest both to people who might like to apply themselves, or people who want to consider it as a charitable option, especially those who have gone through hard times themselves and might like to 'pay it forward' for a modest buy in price.
"These stories of people who are at the bottom of society's pyramid can inspire us all to be better savers," says Dylan Higgins, CEO and founder of SaveTogether.
SaveTogether.org will soon include a map of local programs that sponsor Individual Development Accounts, matched savings accounts for the working poor.
Empowering girls
Mar. 12th, 2010 11:19 amFound this link at Twitter today, a collection of photographs submitted to the New York Times that illustrate the importance of educating girls and empowering women. Accompanying article is here.
One of the photos led me to the website Wiser Girls, which tells the story of a remarkable international partnership which has just opened the first secondary education boarding school for girls in Muhuru Bay, Kenya.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
wisergirls at Livejournal and ![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
wisergirls_feed at Dreamwidth. You can donate to help send a girl to school here.
One of the photos led me to the website Wiser Girls, which tells the story of a remarkable international partnership which has just opened the first secondary education boarding school for girls in Muhuru Bay, Kenya.
In Muhuru Bay, only 5% of girls finish secondary school. WISER works to provide educational expertise and financial resources so more girls, particularly orphans, can realize their potential as individuals and live with respect and dignity without having to struggle alone.This inspirational video about the school's opening, after five years of planning, brought tears to my eyes. I've syndicated feeds for the school's blog,
WISER’s initial project is in Muhuru Bay on Lake Victoria in Nyanza Province. The 2007 Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey lists the HIV prevalence rate in Nyanza at 15%, the highest in the country. The National AIDS Control Council as well as local leaders report that the prevalence in Muhuru Bay is at least 38%, most likely due to its location on Lake Victoria. Coastal and fishing communities account for a significant part of the HIV cases in Kenya due to high rates of transactional sex associated with the fishing industry and culture. The majority of these transactional sex events involve adolescent or pre-adolescent girls who are in need of sugar daddies. The girls themselves talk openly about the need to ‘make friends’ with either fishermen or teachers to get by and are often encouraged to do so by their parents in order to receive funds, school books, or supplies. As one secondary school said about studying, “When you ask a girl to light the lamp, she tells you she is tired. If we cannot light the lamp, we just sit. (But) if you become friends, you can do so many things.”
In the last nineteen years, not a single girl who has attended high school in Muhuru Bay has qualified for college entrance exams, while boys meet the requirements every year. Primary school in Kenya is free as of 2003, but most families in Muhuru have trouble paying for secondary school. In the few instances where families can afford it, boys are usually given first priority. At the existing Rabwao Secondary school, only 40 out of 250 spots were filled by girls. Many girls seeking a secondary education are forced to have sex with teachers, fishermen from Lake Victoria and others in the community in order to get the money for school fees. Selesia, a fifteen year old at Rabwao told us, "If I stop having sex with my male teacher he will stop paying my school fees." Beatrice, a sixteen year old, complained, “Boys and men take my private parts as their toys." Because of the enormous risks girls take to get an education in Muhuru, a full generation of women has failed to graduate and go on to university.
Through multiple programs WISER is addressing the egregious social and emotional burdens on girls and women, while also working to involve male stakeholders in valuing gender parity.
wisergirls at Livejournal and wisergirls_feed at Dreamwidth. You can donate to help send a girl to school here.What Gives 365
Mar. 12th, 2010 08:54 amI feel like I've been off my stride on the Decrease Worldsuck Project (sorry for those of you who wince at that name, but I'm sticking with it for now). I haven't recorded anything for an embarrassingly long time. Now I've found another woman's project which raised my embarrassment level even higher. I feel like a real slacker in comparison.
Her name is Betty Londergan (@blondergan on Twitter--why on earth doesn't she have more followers??) and she's started a blog called What Gives (which I've syndicated at Livejournal aswhatgives365 and at Dreamwidth as whatgives365_feed where she blogs about the project she's doing this year: she's going to give away $100 a day for a year, choosing to promote projects that make the world a better place.
Yesterday, for example, she highlighted a project call Global Cycle Solutions (on Twitter as @GlobalCycleSoln. The concept behind Global Cycle Solutions is to take the 1 billion bicycles in the world and put them to work for something besides pedaling around. Started in Cambridge, Massachusetts by a group of MIT engineers and brainiacs, GCS’s blinding flash of brilliance was to design a universal adaptor that allows bikes to do anything from processing agricultural food to running home appliances to charging batteries. (I found this iniative to be interesting, too, and syndicated their blog as well:globalcycle at Livejournal and globalcyclesolutions_feed at Dreamwidth.
Because Betty Londergan, like me, is apparently doing research to help her find ideas that make the world a better place, she ran across the contest put on by the Unreasonable Institute (follow them on Twitter at @beunreasonable. Global Cycle Solutions is one of the finalists of their contest; Betty is sponsoring ten of the finalists herself. See the video below. Here's something you can do to decrease worldsuck today: take a look at some of the finalists' entries and find one to help sponsor.
( What I did today to make the world a better place )
Her name is Betty Londergan (@blondergan on Twitter--why on earth doesn't she have more followers??) and she's started a blog called What Gives (which I've syndicated at Livejournal as
whatgives365 and at Dreamwidth as whatgives365_feed where she blogs about the project she's doing this year: she's going to give away $100 a day for a year, choosing to promote projects that make the world a better place. Yesterday, for example, she highlighted a project call Global Cycle Solutions (on Twitter as @GlobalCycleSoln. The concept behind Global Cycle Solutions is to take the 1 billion bicycles in the world and put them to work for something besides pedaling around. Started in Cambridge, Massachusetts by a group of MIT engineers and brainiacs, GCS’s blinding flash of brilliance was to design a universal adaptor that allows bikes to do anything from processing agricultural food to running home appliances to charging batteries. (I found this iniative to be interesting, too, and syndicated their blog as well:
globalcycle at Livejournal and globalcyclesolutions_feed at Dreamwidth.Because Betty Londergan, like me, is apparently doing research to help her find ideas that make the world a better place, she ran across the contest put on by the Unreasonable Institute (follow them on Twitter at @beunreasonable. Global Cycle Solutions is one of the finalists of their contest; Betty is sponsoring ten of the finalists herself. See the video below. Here's something you can do to decrease worldsuck today: take a look at some of the finalists' entries and find one to help sponsor.
( What I did today to make the world a better place )
My Uniform Project
Mar. 1st, 2010 06:33 amPer yesterday's entry, here's what I put on today as part of my participation in the Uniform Project:
Black dress by the Gap with black camisole underneath (the lace eyelet appears at the neckline to keep it from plunging too low, much to my coworkers' relief, no doubt), batik hibiscus coat which I got probably twenty-five years ago at Pier One, way way long ago when they actually sold clothing. Black leggings, ankle boots from, I think, Famous Footwear. Hibiscus-flowered necklace.
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Black dress by the Gap with black camisole underneath (the lace eyelet appears at the neckline to keep it from plunging too low, much to my coworkers' relief, no doubt), batik hibiscus coat which I got probably twenty-five years ago at Pier One, way way long ago when they actually sold clothing. Black leggings, ankle boots from, I think, Famous Footwear. Hibiscus-flowered necklace.
Uniform Project: LBD Monday March 1
Feb. 28th, 2010 03:52 pmI posted previously about the Uniform Project (syndicated at uniformproj and ![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
uniformproject). Remember, this is Sheena, the woman who is wearing the same (extremely versatile) little black dress every day for a year, with re-purposed and donated accessories, to raise money for the Akansha Project, a grassroots foundation that is revolutionizing education in India.
Anyway, Sheena posts a picture of the outfit she wears each day and invites comments. Someone this week suggested that people following the Uniform Project might have their own Little Black Dress day on March 1. Ladies, pull out your own little black dress, accessorize it with your own style, and post a picture on the Uniform Project Facebook page tomorrow, March 1 (they'll have instructions on how to post tomorrow) and spread the word. I've decided I'm going to do this. I'll post the picture here in my journal, too. Anyone else with me?
uniformproj and uniformproject). Remember, this is Sheena, the woman who is wearing the same (extremely versatile) little black dress every day for a year, with re-purposed and donated accessories, to raise money for the Akansha Project, a grassroots foundation that is revolutionizing education in India.Anyway, Sheena posts a picture of the outfit she wears each day and invites comments. Someone this week suggested that people following the Uniform Project might have their own Little Black Dress day on March 1. Ladies, pull out your own little black dress, accessorize it with your own style, and post a picture on the Uniform Project Facebook page tomorrow, March 1 (they'll have instructions on how to post tomorrow) and spread the word. I've decided I'm going to do this. I'll post the picture here in my journal, too. Anyone else with me?
A simple yet great idea
Feb. 17th, 2010 02:42 pmOne of the organizations providing aid in Haiti: Shelterbox. Each box is shipped to people in a disaster area, to provide supplies to up to ten people for up to a year:
( Here's what's in each box )
( Here's how the boxes can make a lifesaving difference )
It's an impressive organization. Follow on Twitter at @ShelterBox and on Facebook here.
Each box costs an average of $1000 (£490) including all materials, packing, storage and distribution to individual recipients worldwide. Based on six months use only this equates to 27 pence per person per day. All ShelterBoxes are individually numbered. When an individual or group makes a donation to ShelterBox they will be given a specific box number that their donation has gone towards funding. Donors can then track their box and find out where in the world it has been sent. USA donation page is here, UK donation page is here.
( Here's what's in each box )
( Here's how the boxes can make a lifesaving difference )
It's an impressive organization. Follow on Twitter at @ShelterBox and on Facebook here.
Each box costs an average of $1000 (£490) including all materials, packing, storage and distribution to individual recipients worldwide. Based on six months use only this equates to 27 pence per person per day. All ShelterBoxes are individually numbered. When an individual or group makes a donation to ShelterBox they will be given a specific box number that their donation has gone towards funding. Donors can then track their box and find out where in the world it has been sent. USA donation page is here, UK donation page is here.
When kids are empowered
Feb. 16th, 2010 04:05 pmHere are two great stories I found through Twitter today about kids making a difference. The first is Evan Ducker, who founded an organization to educate kids about vascular birthmarks:
Read more about Evan's project at Do Something here.
The second tweet told me about a project looks like it's just getting started. The website Students Rebuild just went live today to challenge schools to start fundraising to rebuild Haitian schools:
Tell me about something that your kids have gotten involved in to make the world a better place. Did your child lead the way on his or her own, or was it a school, synogogue, church, etc., that got the child interested? In what ways has your child been a role model for you?
Read more about Evan's project at Do Something here.
The second tweet told me about a project looks like it's just getting started. The website Students Rebuild just went live today to challenge schools to start fundraising to rebuild Haitian schools:
Join Architecture for Humanity, the Bezos Family Foundation and Global Nomads Group as we rebuild schools in Haiti.My girls have been involved in many similar projects, such as participating in Feed My Starving Children and various mission trips, the biggest one, of course, being the annual trip to Mexico to Casa Hogar Elim. Community service is a strong emphasis and part of the requirement of the program in the International Baccalaureate program that Fiona attends.
Your challenge: Create a team at your school to raise money – which will be matched dollar for dollar – to rebuild schools in Haiti.
Your opportunity: Help us rebuild better, safer schools in Haiti now. Stay connected through interactive video, conversations with building professionals and conversations with Haitian students. Learn first-hand how people can work together in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake to rebuild communities and lives.
Tell me about something that your kids have gotten involved in to make the world a better place. Did your child lead the way on his or her own, or was it a school, synogogue, church, etc., that got the child interested? In what ways has your child been a role model for you?
Helping Haiti Heal
Feb. 3rd, 2010 02:01 pmHelping Haiti Heal is a collaboration among The HP Alliance, The Leaky Cauldron, MuggleNet, HPANA, and Fiction Alley. They had a live fundraising webcast on January 23, but they're extending the opportunity to donate (and win cool prizes) until February 6. All funds go to benefit Partners in Health (PIH) which has been working on the ground in Haiti for over 20 years. If you donate to Partners in Health via the telethon or through the evening of February 6, you'll be eligible for one of the thank-you gifts donated by amazing people like Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, the cast of The Guild and even J.K. Rowling, who donated a signed set of the Harry Potter books. ( See an explanation of the rules and the Thank You Gift Distribution Process here )
I put in a donation, choosing to enter the prize drawing for a pair of radish earrings made by actress Evanna Lynch (Luna in the movies). Hey, fun for a good cause.
I put in a donation, choosing to enter the prize drawing for a pair of radish earrings made by actress Evanna Lynch (Luna in the movies). Hey, fun for a good cause.
