Blog Action Day 2008: Poverty - Let's cure it with a girl!

Today is Blog Action Day 2008. Our subject is poverty. I only found out about this Day and this topic late last night, and therefor have not had time to create an in-depth and educational look at this problem for you to read (as if I'm ever in-depth).
You don't have to know the daunting and horrific statistics about poverty across the globe. We all know it is there, we all know it is unfathomably sickening.
The World Bank describes it simply:
"Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time. Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom."

We knew that. We already know that it has the most devastating of affects on children.

• According to UNICEF, 26,500-30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”


• Based on enrolment data, about 72 million children of primary school age in the developing world were not in school in 2005; 57 per cent of them were girls. And these are regarded as optimistic numbers.


• Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.


• These facts and more can be found on GlobalIssues.org, along with their original sources.

Nothing is nearer and dearer to my heart than education... and that is exactly what it takes:

"The role of education in this process is particularly one of achieving universal primary education and adult literacy. The report made by the Secretary-General of the United Nations within the context of the Decade for the Eradication of Poverty confirms that universal primary education is central to the fight against poverty. Understandably so, because this is the level of education through which most poor children pass and within which their achievements should assist them to break the cycle of poverty. In fact, education is the social institution that reaches the largest segment of the population with the goal of guiding it through a systematic learning process." (unesco.org)

OK, so education is important... but where do we start... well, we know that it HAS to start with girls. Educating, investing in, and supporting the girls of our planet is going to be the CURE for poverty in our lifetime. We can do it. Can you believe that? We can eradicate poverty before our own children are grown? If you were the one in poverty and you were looking at your young daughter... going without food, clean water, health care, education, sanitation, etc... and someone said... here is what you have to do to ensure that your daughter and all of the children who come after her will NEVER have to experience this Hell - you'd do it. We all would. How do I start, where do I sign, what limb can I rip off to make this happen as soon as possible?

The information and the organizations are out there... get the word out, give what you can, learn, and be proactive. OK, ok, wait a minute... it really isn't my kid who is in need... in fact I don't even know any kids in need... and the economy is bad and my family is tightening our purse strings right now... we have to look out for ourselves... I mean we could be in a soup kitchen line if we're not careful! Oh... umm, I guess we could be wearing the "P" on our sleeve too.... Oh crap... OK... go on, tell me more.

Are you ok? Is the picture getting a little clearer? A little foggier? Let's move on. Watch this real quick: The Girl Effect:


The Girl Effect is about girls. And boys. And moms and dads and villages and towns and countries.
If you want to help end poverty and help the developing world, the best thingyou can do is invest time, energy, and funding into adolescent girls. It'scalled The Girl Effect because girls are uniquely capable of investing in theircommunities and making the world better.

Are you on board yet? Wanna see more? Go here.

Well what can I do? You can go to their website and learn more.

You can make a difference in a girl's life with Goods for Girls. You keep those girls in school during their time of month. They can't be missing 5 days a month of school now can they?

What else, what else?

Why not try supporting the End Poverty 2015 Millenium Campaign?

"In 2000, leaders of 189 countries signed the Millennium Declaration agreeing to do everything in their power to end poverty. They pledged to do this by achieving the Millennium Development Goals, a roadmap to end extreme poverty by 2015.
Still, every day, 50,000 people die as a result of extreme poverty and the gap between rich and poor people is increasing. Nearly half the world’s population live in poverty, 70% are women. We have the power to change this.
Campaigners worldwide will STAND UP and TAKE ACTION to push their governments for more and better aid, debt cancellation, education for all boys and girls, healthcare, trade justice, gender equality and public accountability."


This Millenium Campaign definitely has girls on the front burner too. We all know what needs to be done, let's Stand Up for girls everywhere.

Check out: Stop Child Poverty and Justice for Girls, two more organizations looking to make a difference.

We are all talking about girls and education as the key to eradicating poverty. Even our kids are talking about it through Net Aid/ Global Citizen Corps.


We're talking about it in the United States, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, Rwanda, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Cambodia... and today we are talking about poverty all over the globe. Everyone has an idea, a thought, a theory... let's band together and make a difference! What a lesson to us all... can you imagine?

So, what are you going to do?

The presidential debates

Only two questions about global poverty have been asked in the history of modern presidential debates. It's a shocking figure and in 2008, we need debate moderator Jim Lehrer to ask John McCain and Barack Obama "Just ONE question" on their plans to fight global poverty. I just took action with the ONE Campaign and you can too, here: http://www.one.org/debates/?rc=debatestaf

Charity: Water

Charity: water is a non-profit bringing safe, clean drinking water to people in developing nations. Right now, 1.1 Billion people on the planet don’t have access to safe water.

The story is definitely incredible about how one man has used his birthday to make an incredible change in the world. The September project is in it's second year and we have the unique experience of watching our donations be put to use, drilling wells for communities in Ethiopia. Take the time to watch the video, learn about the project and... be inspired.


The September Campaign Trailer from charity: water on Vimeo.

ONE: Fighting Poverty

Hi,
Senator McCain finally announced his vice-president choice - and I just took action with ONE.org to make this national political moment a meaningful poverty-fighting moment.
Click the link below to send Governor Sarah Palin a digital postcard letting her know that you want leadership as committed to ending extreme poverty and global disease as we are.
http://www.one.org/mccainvp/index.html
It's important we contact her now, before she gets swept-up in an inevitable blur of coast-to-coast campaigning and crushing national media attention.

A little bit political, a lot 'saving the world'

Hi,
Senators Tom Daschle and Bill Frist are about to meet with the committees that write the governing agendas for the Democratic and Republican party.
They are going to ask the political leaders who make up these committees to add anti-poverty planks to their platforms, making ending global poverty official party policy. And they need our help.I just took action with the ONE Campaign and signed their petition to the platform committees.
Senators Frist and Daschle will deliver our signatures and send the message that Americans want a strong commitment to ending the suffering caused by extreme poverty and global disease.
You can take action too, here:http://www.one.org/platforms/?rc=platformstaf

Shot through the heart at Costco

As I walked into Costco today, I could hear the singing and drumming coming from the breezeway in front of the building. As I came closer I could see a large group of children singing and dancing, They were the Singing Children of Africa and they were singing to benefit the Samson Chivatsi African Appeal, an organization that is feeding, educating, and housing many children in their village called Utange in Kenya. I listened, I donated a few dollars for their brochure and then I walked in to Costco with my giant cart to begin my shopping. As I walked in and saw all of the TVs and electronics, I had a fleeting thought about what those kids might think if they were to come in the building. Then a few moments later, I saw them! They were taking a tour of Costco, an employee was pointing out the meat department and telling them of the cleanliness of the kitchen and the butcher equipment. Then he started talking about catering, then he was pointing out the mountains of water bottles stacked to the ceiling, and saying how people here love bottled water and buy a lot of it....

I suddenly felt very sick, very embarrassed, very ashamed... very sad. I rushed to another aisle to get away from them, and had to keep moving till they were out of my sight and out of my earshot. I couldn't take it. I stood there next to the sky scraping stacks of toilet paper, and burst into tears. I just couldn't imagine what they could be thinking. How do you go from extreme poverty, no food, no clean water, no sanitation, never having been in a car, going for years just praying for an education, watching your family and neighbors die from diseases that they cannot get treatment for... to the other side of the world... to Costco! I was so embarrassed as I stood there with piles of meat and fruit and giant what-nots in my cart. I wanted to leave my cart and leave the building and go home. I just cried.

These children sing of hope and the future and they praise God every chance they get for their many blessing... what?

How can a child live in a mud hut that washes away in the rainy season, watch their parents die because of insufficient medical care, go many days starving and thirsty and dirty and sit outside a school and beg to be let in to learn... think that God loves them?

I don't get it. I believe that God loves all of his children, but I don't understand how entire countries can be in such need. How do they know God loves them? I can understand faith and hope and prayer... but how could it not be shattered after walking into a Costco in the US and seeing everyone trotting around with enormous carts full of enormous food? Someone please help me understand how God can let this happen, for so long?

Nothing against Costco, I shop there and I find that it helps me spend less and stay closer to my budget, I'm just saying that I couldn't handle being seen by these kids. I don't even know what they were thinking, or if they were comparing at all, or if they were happy or sad or in disbelief, or if they were just plain angry (I think I would be). These children are on tour for about 17 days, then they go back to their orphanages, back to their very poor village, back to porridge.

Now, I know that these particular children are quite lucky to be sponsored by the charity, and probably have very bright futures ahead of them, and like we've talked about before... they're education effects the entire community. It was just such a huge eye-opener, I didn't quite know what to do or how to react.

I know that guilt is the wrong emotion, and that it is not my fault that I can get groceries easily and have clean water to drink and ... and that they do not have these same opportunities... however I sort of felt like them seeing me with my cart was a little too 'in your face". Am I making any sense?

I need to do more. I need to do something. I realize that the people of Africa have been on my mind all week, with the Matsiko Children's Choir on Monday, the letter from Renee's friend about Mother's Without Borders on Wednesday and now the Singing Children of Africa on Friday. I have to do something. I'll start with prayer for understanding of how this can be, and hope that you all can help me to understand also. I'm going to do something. Please do something.

Matsiko means Hope

Yesterday I had the opportunity to see the Matsiko Children's Choir. These children hail from Uganda and have come from devastating circumstances. They are at risk and orphaned children who have been scooped up by the International Children's Network (ICN). The children are given all that they need and a chance to join this choir and travel the world as ambassadors for their country. They sing in churches, schools and other venues to relay their message to the world. They are raising money for the children of Uganda to get clean food and water, medicine, shelter, safety and an education. Their stories are unimaginable, yet they sing of hope and thanksgiving and a future for themselves and their communities. They have a large responsibility to get an education and help their villages and their country. The ICN provides an opportunity for people to sponsor a child for $30 a month. The sponsor "parent" is providing the supplies, education, and health care with their money. The children are sponsored through ICN until they have completed their course of study (university or vocational school). Sponsors not only donate, write and receive letters, they also have the opportunity to actual meet their child in their home! The ICN appears to be currently sponsoring children in Guatemala. Peru and the Philippines. You can go to their site and actually see pictures of and read profiles on children who are waiting for sponsorship right now.

This is Eric, he is one of the children who sang with the choir last night.

ICN educates children all
the way through the university level and allows sponsors to meet their children face to face. In addition to these two unique qualities, International Children’s Network has one of the highest financial giving ratios at over 95% to the intended purpose!!! These three attributes define ICN as a sponsorship organization and are the main reasons why ICN is so significant in sponsoring a child and trusted with every penny and pound. International Children’s Network wants its sponsors, and anyone else who may be interested, to personally see how ICN operates behind the scenes. ICN is committed to meeting the needs of deserving children around the world in order to allow them to be a helping hand for their nation, instead of another hand out.

As we've read before, education is the key to saving a child, his or her family, their village/community, their county... the world.

Obviously we do not always have the means to do exactly what we'd like to help, but there is always something... some small way that we can do our part. Check out the Matsiko Cd's.

Save the world by investing in girls

The Girl Effect is about girls. And boys. And moms and dads and villages and towns and countries.

If you want to help end poverty and help the developing world, the best thing
you can do is invest time, energy, and funding into adolescent girls. It's
called The Girl Effect because girls are uniquely capable of investing in their
communities and making the world better.

Find out more.

To invest in adolescent girls is to save the future of our world. 70% of the worlds out-of-school children are girls. If we can help to educate a girl, we can change her life and the life of her brothers, her family, her community, her country, the world. How is that for saving the world with a little bit of effort?! This is an incredible opportunity to make a difference in the world.

Start making a difference. Start The Girl Effect.

Save the world by emailing as usual

Here is another free and easy way to make a difference. I just made the switch and am now supporting ninemillion.org with every email I write! It seriously took less than a minute!

The i'm Initiative from Microsoft makes helping social causes easy. Every time you use Windows Live(TM) Hotmail(R) or Windows Live Messenger, Microsoft shares a portion of its advertising revenue with organization you choose from a list of some of the world's most effective social cause organizations. Exactly how much will Microsoft share with its partner causes? Well, that's up to us and the growing masses of registered i'm Initiative users. The more messages we send, the more they give. It's an incredibly easy way to address an issue you feel passionate about including poverty, child protection, disease, and environmental degradation. All you have to do is join and then send IM and e-mail messages as usual. Visit http://im.live.com to join.

Tip-toe through the sidebar

UPDATE: All of the following links can still be found in my sidebar, however they are now text links and on the right hand side of the page (a bit re-organized). All wonderful and worth checking out.

Let's take a moment to play around in my sidebar and remind ourselves of a few simple ways to save the world. Once we scroll past the slideshow of my beautiful baby, the categories for my random postings, the blogrolls for my favorite reads and my familial reads we come to the first point of interest:


Visit 29-Day Giving Challenge
This is a fun way to save the world: give. Give of yourself or give a gift to be held. Make a difference in your own life as well as the lives of others.

Give one thing away each day for 29 days. Share your stories about how it
impacts your life to focus on giving. Join the 29-Day Giving Challenge community
today.
Why? Because to see the world change, we have to do something to
change the world. Plus, the best way to attract abundance into your life is to
be in a perpetual state of giving and gratitude. Be an important part of the
global giving movement that inspires more generosity on our planet.



The R word campaign is just a reminder of your responsibility to others when you open your mouth. Your words are powerful. What kind of power do you what them to have?

The “r” Word Some people have mental retardation. While mental retardation is
not a bad word, when used to describe someone or something you think is bad it
becomes another thoughtless hurtful word. People with mental retardation are not
bad, their condition is not bad, the prejudice and discrimination to people with
mental retardation is BAD…and WRONG! Please stop using the word ‘retard’, it
hurts people with disabilities.

Every Day you can click on this button , and sponsors will donate money toward free mammograms. That is all you do. You click, they donate, a life may be saved. It doesn't get easier than that! After clicking you'll notice at the very top of the page are tabs for other "click projects".

You can click to give food to those in need at the the Hunger Site.

You can click to to give free child health care at the Child Health Site.
You can click to give free books at the Literacy Site.
You can click to protect natural habitats at the Rainforest Site.
You can click to give free food and care at the Animal Rescue Site.

All of these are just a click, just a second of your time, no money, barely any effort... and you can make a big difference.

• 

Free rice is another FREE way to help end world hunger. Click on the button and you will be moved to a page where you can take a vocab quiz. For every word you get correct 20 grains of rice are donated to someone in need.

FreeRice is a sister site of the world poverty site, Poverty.com.
FreeRice has two goals:
Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

This is made possible by the sponsors who advertise on this site.
Whether you are CEO of a large corporation or a street child in a poor country, improving your vocabulary can improve your life. It is a great investment in yourself.
Perhaps even greater is the investment your donated rice makes in hungry human beings, enabling them to function and be productive. Somewhere in the world, a person is eating rice that you helped provide. Thank you.

Team In Training is a fun way to train for and complete an endurance event (marathon, half marathon, triathlon, etc.). All the while you are raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This is an incredible experience, and although it is much more of a commitment than the organizations above... it is well worth it. You'll make new friends, get in shape, accomplish a major goal and SAVE LIVES - not to be taken lightly. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and will definitely be doing It again sometime.

Remember when you all freaked out at the suggestion of making your own sanitary napkins? Well, bite your tongue and check out this terrific organization called Goods 4 Girls. This project is to get reusable sanitary napkins to girls in Africa so that they do not have to miss school every time Aunt Flo comes for a visit. What you can do is buy, make or donate money toward these reusable pads. There are lots of ways to do it and all of them would make a huge difference in another woman's life. (can you imagine having to use newspaper, camel skin... or nothing at all?) The cost is low, and the good is great!

Goods 4 Girls was started to seek out donors to sew or purchase new, reusable menstrual pads for donations to areas of Africa where these products are needed most. Providing reusable supplies not only provides a more environmentally friendly alternative for these young women (in areas of adequate water supply for washing), it reduces their dependence on outside aid organizations to continue providing for their monthly needs.

The Eat Well Guide is a free online directory of thousands of family farms,
restaurants, markets and other outlets that offer local, fresh and sustainable
food in the United States and Canada. Visitors simply enter a zip or postal code
to search for food that is free of antibiotics and added hormones, and produced
by healthy and humane methods that include organic, pasture-raised and heritage.

For those of us who are trying not to use all of those plastic bottles and instead have switched to filters.... what to do with the filter? You can't recycle it or reuse it... so what's a greenie to do? Sign the petition to get the Clorox company (who owns Brita) to make some changes. Also you can send your used filters to the address on this site and they will give them back to Brita for us (as a visual aid to the landfill clogging problem of the current filter design).

Use the Z Report. At the Store. With Text Messaging.
Posted by Jeremiah McNichols
Have you read and reread the Z Report on BPA, but have trouble remembering which brands are which when you get to the store?Have you been meaning to replace some bottles or a sippy cup, but have a hard time deciding when you're staring at all those products on the shelf?Now you can keep the Z Report at your fingertips, with information that doesn't go out-of-date, updated with new products at the same time they arrive on store shelves. Thanks to a partnership between ZRecs and Mobile Commons, our comprehensive directory of BPA in children's feeding products is now available via text message.

Well, now I think we are all acquainted with the sidebar, and maybe we can make a few easy changes or larger commitments to do our part in saving the world!

ONE

I've just signed the ONE Declaration committing myself to help fight the
emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. I'm asking you to make that
commitment, too, by adding your voice. I think your name belongs on that
declaration, too. You can put it there by visiting: http://www.one.org/declare/ ONE is a new
effort by Americans to rally Americans - one by one. So far, over two million
have signed the declaration in support of a historic pact for compassion and
justice to help the poorest people of the world. Together as ONE we can make a
difference!
Thanks!

I was inspired to make a difference after looking at James Nachtwey's piercing photos on famine. His photographs are very moving and upsetting, so keep that in mind before you click. (Click on the famine gallery, although all are worth seeing.)

"I have been a witness, and these pictures are
my
testimony. The events I have recorded should
not be forgotten and must not be
repeated."
-James Nachtwey-

Save the world one Small Change at a time

I just received an email from Cody about this really easy and wonderful way to give! Country Crock and America's Second Harvest have teamed up to give you and I a chance to donate a meal to a family in need. All you have to do is go to Your Family Table website and share one small change that you and your family have made to improve your health. That's it! My story made the 1,245,797th meal donated. Jump on board, it only takes a minute.

Your support can change lives.
Food provides the foundation for success and growth in life. America’s Second Harvest Network provides food assistance to 25 million people each year, including nearly nine million children. Through the power of our Network of emergency food providers, every dollar you donate provides 16 meals, and the hope of a brighter and more fulfilling tomorrow.

Thanks Cody, I really appreciate the information and I'm happy to be able to share your project!

Saving the world - please, take a minute and read on

I want to do my part where I can, but there is a lot I cannot do. I don't have an inordinate amount of time or money and that is why I am always looking for ways to contribute that are simple and very possible. I just figure that there are people out there who are in my same boat, so I share my finds. I like things like ripple and the breast cancer site, where all you have to do is click and you are giving someone clean water, food, money, education or a mammogram. I like freerice because just by playing a game for a minute or two I can give someone a full tummy to sleep with at night. I try to do my part by recycling, changing out my light bulbs, and by conserving water and electricity because I cannot afford to buy only green and organic products. I have Fischer in disposable diapers, so I have to do my part where I can to even out our impact on the planet.
I joined Team in Training to try to get myself healthier and help others at the same time. There is so much money needed to fund research for blood cancers, I can't give enough money, but I can help fund raise - and then together we can give more. It is incredible to hear that the gains they have made in research have had such an amazing affect on the survival rate for people with these cancers. So many of the people who lost the fight 20 years ago might be here today if we had had that research. I know many grateful people who thank God everyday for the people who have contributed to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It has meant their life or the life of a loved one.

Last night I was reading toddlerplanet, Whymommy is battling Inflammatory Breast Cancer and is hopefully going to be cancer free soon. She has endured months of chemotherapy, a double mastectomy, and now radiation. She often posts such honest and informative details about her fight. People periodically ask her what they can do to help a friend who has cancer and she has many ideas. Last night, however, she linked us all over to Kate who has an answer. Give blood. You don't know who you are helping and it may even be yourself, one day, you can do it. After reading her post, I was so ashamed that I have used all of the ridiculous excuses and have NEVER given blood. I immediately clicked over to the Red Cross and made an appointment for next Thursday. If Kate doesn't convince you, maybe the stories about the recipients will. I am going to make giving blood a regular part of my life. How odd that it never occurred to me that donations are the ONLY way people can get the lifesaving blood that they need. There is no substitute, no artificial blood, or pig blood or anything else. At the bottom of the homepage for the Red Cross there is a counter letting you know how many people have needed blood, just since you have been on their site. It took my breath away!
If you are still reading this very long post and you make an appointment to donate blood, let me know. Let's inspire each other. In fact, I will send you a little present after you give. Email me: fisforfischer at gmail dot com anyday anytime as long as this blog shall live and I will thank you for doing your part to inspire me and others to give of ourselves.