Creating hope

I just learned about World Challenge this morning and I've just spent quite some time reading through almost their entire website. If you are despairing of the world, your government or your circumstances, then I suggest you spend some time there too. The stories are uplifting but I also found them personally challenging. There are so many ways to make a difference—and what am I doing?

While you're there, and if you read about all the projects, please vote for the one you like best. This is a competition and the winner will receive US$20,000 to plow back into the project. That's a lot. Voting will end on Sunday, November 22. I've summarized the twelve finalists below—a teaser to encourage you to go to the site.

All images and information are from the World Challenge website.

World Challenge 2008
A global competition aimed at finding projects or small businesses from around the world that have shown enterprise and innovation at a grass roots level.


Keystone Foundation
India
Keeping the ancient and sustainable tradition of the Adivasi people of Southern India, who collect honey from wild bee colonies on cliffs, alive by creating markets for wild honey


The Leakey Collection
Kenya
Gives Maasai women a sustainable income, making jewelry from an abundant native grass, without interrupting their traditional way of life


Hashoo Foundation
Pakistan
Processes, packages and sells the honey of women beekeepers in Gilgit, one of the poorest and most isolated regions in Pakistan, to high-end shops and hotels of Islamabad


UniquEco Designs Ltd.
Kenya
Cleaning the coast of East Africa from the thousands of flip-flops which wash up on shore and providing an alternative source of income for coastal communities


Oro Verde
Colombia
Producing gold without harming the rainforests of Chocó, a treasure house of biodiversity, and paying the miners fairly


Yurt Kindergartens
Kyrgyzstan
Carrying classrooms on horses and donkeys to follow the children of Kyrgyz herders and give them the chance of education


Heiveld Co-operative
South Africa
Banding together to give the small-scale farmers of Koysan a fair price for their organic, caffeine-free Roobios tea


Shanti Sewa Griha
Nepal
Building self-sufficient communities with workshops, a school and a free health clinic for leprosy victims and other social outcasts


She Hope Society
India
Bringing dignity and independence to the disabled in war-torn Kashmir through physiotherapy, corrective surgery, basic education and micro-loans


Escuela Agricola
Paraguay
Educating the smallholder-farmers of Paraguay, one of the poorest countries in Latin America where two-thirds of the land belongs to two percent of the population, about the latest organic techniques and general life skills such as literacy, numeracy, sexual health and saving money


Hawkers Market Girl Centre
Kenya
Providing education and income-generating skills to girls from Nairobi's slums


Oficinas Querô
Brazil
A film academy which gives the young people in the slums of Santos have a shot at a better future

Earth Hour 2008

It started with a question: How can we inspire people to take action on climate change?

The answer: Ask the people of Sydney to turn off their lights for one hour.

On 31 March 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour – Earth Hour. If the greenhouse reduction achieved in the Sydney CBD during Earth Hour was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year.

With Sydney icons like the Harbour Bridge and Opera House turning their lights off, and unique events such as weddings by candlelight, the world took notice. Inspired by the collective effort of millions of Sydneysiders, many major global cities are joining Earth Hour in 2008, turning a symbolic event into a global movement.

Created to take a stand against the greatest threat our planet has ever faced, Earth Hour uses the simple action of turning off the lights for one hour to deliver a powerful message about the need for action on global warming.

This simple act has captured the hearts and minds of people all over the world. As a result, at 8pm on Saturday, March 29, 2008 millions of people in some of the world’s major capital cities will unite and switch off for Earth Hour.

As of March 14, cities involved include Aalborg, Aarhus, Adelaide, Atlanta, Bangkok, Brisbane, Canberra, Chicago, Christchurch, Copenhagen, Dublin, Manila, Melbourne, Montreal, Odense, Ottawa, Perth, Phoenix, San Francisco, Suva and Lautoka, Sydney, Tel Aviv, Toronto and Vancouver.

All text, images and video from the Earth Hour 2008 website. Visit http://www.earthhour.org and get involved.

Christmas shopping's halfway done

It's been two years that my husband and I give Christmas gifts that benefit poor communities (read Gifts that give). This is going to be the third year, and I've started really early.

The Ateneo Center for Educational Development (ACED) is one of our favorite beneficiaries. They help the teachers, principals and other school officials of our public education system by providing continuing mastery of subjects (most of our teachers cannot afford further studies on their own) and management workshops for school officials (most of whom were not trained for their positions). And with the state the Philippine public school system is in, they need all the help they can get!

Anyway, last December, ACED was selling cakes, Christmas cards and planners to help raise funds for their programs. We bought cakes for some of our friends, but since I already had Christmas cards, we didn't buy those. But I told them that if they had any left over in January, to give me a call and I'd buy them. Last week, I got an email from them saying they had 25 boxes, so I went over to get them. They were offering me a discount, but I declined—what for, if part of our purpose is to help them. Later in the week, I got another email saying that more had been returned by groups which helped them sell the cards last Christmas. I'm thinking of getting them all, but I'll consult my husband first—it's as many as the first batch!

ACED's cards are based on artwork made by students in their partner public schools. They come eight to a box, and the boxes are green and red and pretty enough as gift boxes. And that's what we'll be using them for this year—as early gifts to our friends. Maybe one red and one green box, tied together with a gold ribbon, and a tag saying that it's an early Christmas gift so they can use it for their own Christmas gifts. We'll give them mid-November, before most finish their shopping.

My only problem now is to find a spot to store them well, a place that doesn't get hot or moist—very difficult, considering Manila's climate.

Christmas ornaments for education

There's a Christmas fund-raising project going on in our school right now. For every P200 (US$5) donation, you get a Christmas ball that you can have personalized with a name of your choice and it gets hung on a 10-foot Christmas tree in the lobby of the main administration building. The money goes to a fund which provides assistance to currently enrolled students who run into financial problems in the middle of their schooling, like a death in the family, a failed business and the like. Though the project itself won't raise much—definitely not enough for even one semester's tuition—it's really a marketing project to raise awareness about the fund. And the tree's pretty—it's providing a little Christmas cheer in a building that has never had Christmas decorations in the seven years that I've been here.


The staff of the office heading the project personalize the Christmas balls. Of course, when I got mine, I insisted on bringing them home and doing them myself. I named them for three of my nieces (they live in a different country) and I chose balls of the same color—I didn't want anyone complaining about why I chose that color for her! But I did use different colors of glitter glue for the names, hearts and snowflakes (there are snowflakes on the other hemisphere which you can't see from this angle). There's a slight difficulty with the glitter glue, however. When you apply it thickly, it can actually peel off when it's dry. I may have to re-do some letters before the season's over.

So now, my nieces' Christmas ornaments are on the tree and I get to take them home on January 7 when classes resume and the tree goes down. I'll just re-use them if the same project's done next year. That will give me enough time to embellish the ornaments some more.

Gifts that give

Two years ago, instead of giving Christmas gifts, my husband and I decided to donate the money we would have spent on gifts to a particular charity. Then, to our friends and family, we just gave Christmas cards explaining what we did and what the group we chose did.

But thinking about it a month later, we thought that that really wasn't fair—if we were going to donate to charity, we shouldn't have to deprive our loved ones of gifts—or ourselves of the joy of giving presents. We wanted both! So we compromised: we started looking around for items that directly benefited poor communities. And so last Christmas, our friends got gifts and we also helped others.

Wherever you may be, I'm sure you'll be able to find these kinds of gifts—gifts that your family and friends will enjoy, gifts that provide education, homes, livelihood to our less fortunate brothers and sisters. And the nice thing is, most of the items are not just for Christmas so we can help all year round!

AN EXAMPLE:
Pathways to Higher Education is a global initiative of the Ford Foundation to provide higher education opportunities to indigent students. Their approach is different in each member country because of cultural differences. The Philippines office offers this "Grains of Hope" gift pack this year—a bag of organic brown rice in a Christmas-themed cloth bag.