Sustainable Good

Appreciating the Land of Immigrants

Yesterday I had the privilege of going to Ellis Island in New York City, the entry point for over 12 million immigrants to the US from 1892 to 1954. It was an awesome experience for me to stand in the Registry Room where every newcomer packed in with nervous excitement and fear. They waited to be questioned, examined and deemed worthy or unworthy of entrance to a new life in the US. From the displays in the museum, the process seemed rough. My great grandparents stood in line to be check to make sure they were fit to come into the US. Thankfully, they passed the tests, along with 98% of the immigrants that entered Ellis Island during those times.

The trip here would have been the worst part, but after that, the process took days in normal circumstances and weeks if the person was sick or otherwise questionable. The policies were tough and unfair at times (people with disabilities weren't allowed entrance). However, this is nothing compared to what immigrants to the US face now. I can't even begin to understand the sacrifice that people go through to taste the opportunity for a better life here in the US. Even the brothers and sisters of US citizens are waiting up to 10 years for a visa!

Hope for Malawi

Malawi is one of the poorest countries of the world.  It's GNI per capita (average annual income per person) is $230 -- that's just 63 cents a day.  It also has an HIV prevalance rate of over 13%. 

And yet, along with eight other people from around the US, I was able to see the glimmerings of hope for Malawi as I visited Outreach International's program areas.  I saw people taking charge of their lives, organizing in their communities to create long-lasting solutions to the myriad problems they face.

Help influence our media

May I summarize the last posts by Jeff, Stephen and Matt?

I remember reading quite awhile ago (hence no source, sorry) about media attitudes toward people in different parts of the world and it went something like this: If one American is killed, it's newsworthy.  After that the journalistic worth of other people around the world looks much like this math equation: 1 American = 10 Europeans = 100 Asians =1,000 Central/South Americans = 10,000 Africans.  This is now the unspoken rule when it comes to those "Breaking News" headlines.  Africans just don't qualify as important unless tens of thousands are massacred or killed -- and even then, the story has a quick shelf life. 

HIV and Poverty

As a new hospice physician in the Washington D.C. area, I’ve begun having more exposure to patients with endstage AIDS. The other night I attended a lecture that made my mouth drop. The topic was HIV and the impact it had on citizens of D.C. The lecturing began with a sobering statistic: Five percent of adults (that’s 1 in 20 adults) in D.C. have HIV and 1 in 50 have AIDS. This is more than double the national average.

Why is the prevalence so high? The answer is complicated, but poverty plays a major role. I’m learning US Congress makes many of DC’s decisions since the city does not belong to a state. Thus the school system is in shambles, the social programs are under-funded and under-prioritized, and sexual education and the prevention of HIV is victim to political wrangling.

$700 Billion Crisis????

I know very little about economics, Wall Street, the housing market, investment banking...so I am not qualified enough to know what the answers to the current economic crisis is. And I don't even know if we are in a crisis right now.

What I do know is that it is absolutely ridiculous the crises that we are are happily ignoring. I was shocked to read today that on Sept 18th, the Food and Agriculture Organization reported that the number of undernourished people in 2007 was 923 million! This is 73 million people (mothers, fathers, chidren) higher than the estimate of 850 million in 2005. Why? Because there is a food crisis: the price of food rose 52% in the last year!

So I did some calculating. If we thought that 923 million hungry people was a crisis and decided that these people were just as worthy of bailing out as the banks we are bailing out now, we could: invest that $700 billion in sustainable global development. This would equal an investment of exactly $758.40 per person. What that money could do!!

UN Millennieum Development Goals -- can we reach them?

I recently went to a UN information session for faith based organizations.  The UN, while not perfect, seems to at least try and bring power to those who need it most.  Personally, it was just nice to sit in a room surrounded by other people who find their religious and human calling to be for social justice.  We were discussing the 60th anniversary for the UN Declaration of Human Rights this year.  It's a remarkable document (translated in more languages than any other publication) and the director of the UN in Washington DC admitted that this declaration probably would not have passed if it were in the making today. 

We then got on the topic of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).  There will be high-level meeting next week in New York where many heads of state will come together to discuss specifically how they can take these goals a reality by the year 2015.  Frankly, it's been off to a slow start but it is still possible to reach them if governments start to honor the promises they made in 2000.  For example the US promised to donate .7% of GDP to the cause and as of now they are donating .22% (the smallest of any other developed nation) and most of that money is going toward the reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Africa is Not a Country

Perhaps it shouldn't get to me so much, but it does.  Why is it that so many people from the US and Europe, when talking about Africa, speak of it as if it were single country?

"So... What's it like living in Africa?" people ask me.  I want to respond with "What's it like living in the Americas?" or "What is life like upon the Eurasian Continent?"  But I recognize that would be a bit cruel. People are often genuinely interested, starved for information about an enormous continent (over twice the size of the USA and Western Europe put together) that is scarcely mentioned in the daily news. For instance, in 2007 the New York Times published 144 articles about Uganda, a country of 26 million people, where I now live. They published 185 articles about Britney Spears and 204 about Paris Hilton.

An Inspiring Call to Interfaith Unity and ACTION!

This video consists of clips from some of the most inspiring statements I have heard. They were given at the 9/11 Unity Walk in Washington DC on September 13th. The walk joined about 1,000 people from many different faith traditions. Listen to Christian, Islamic and Hindu leaders encourage us to move toward unity and ACTION!

Gandhi, Tutu, and a 2 Mile Walk

What an incredible experience! Yesterday, I got to walk 2 miles with the daughter of Desmond Tutu (the Archbishop of South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize winner), Arun Gandhi (the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi) and 1,000 other people from a wide range of faiths. We walked in the 9/11 Unity Walk in Washington DC.

We started at a beautiful Jewish synagogue, walked to an equally beautiful Muslim center, and ended at Gandhi Memorial. It was an amazing experience of appreciating our differences for the unique gifts we bring, and realizing our similarities. It was a time of joining together in the smoldering heat, with amazing speakers and all-around inspiration. Tomorrow I will post a video that has clips from the best parts of the day. Until then, enjoy a couple pictures of me, Angie, and Karyn's husband Jeff walking in the crowd sporting our Outreach International shirts, and Arun Gandhi speaking in the shadow of the statue of his grandfather. (PS. I even had a great conversation with one of the other walkers about Outreach International and the difference that we make in communities. As an economics person, he was skeptical about how we planned to really make a large difference, but through some deep conversation seemed to come around...We will see if he replies to this post. :) )

The Game of Disarmament: The Arms Trade Treaty

Back during the Cold War, a Swedish government minister talked of the ‘game of disarmament’ played by the US and USSR.  But Control Arms, a coalition campaigning for a new Arms Trade Treaty, have created a very different kind of disarmament game — an interactive online game to raise awareness of conventional arms proliferation.

“We need a global, effective, Arms Trade Treaty,” says British Foreign Minister David Miliband yesterday, urging support of the proposed convention.  ”It is bizarre that while treaties and conventions have existed for several decades to control the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, there is no equivalent global arrangement to stop weapons flooding into conflict zones.”

Urgent Appeal from Haiti!

The people of Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, need our help. This is a way for us to respond in a way that can be trusted. Many times we worry that emergency aid will be wasted by corrupt politicians. However, any donations we make will be go from Outreach International to affected Haitians in responsible ways that promote their dignity.

-Stephen Donahoe

Remember Haiti!

Just a reminder:

While the US has been relatively spared from hurricane season, Haiti has not!  Please don't forget our not-so-far-away neighbors.  Outreach-International makes it easy to donate and you can be rest assured that the money will not be wasted.

This picture is from the NY times and they've written an article about the victims in Haiti.

-Karyn Wingard-Manuel

We have a voice!

Stephen and I are immersing ourselves in the business of politics as we begin our jobs in Washington DC.  We soon found out that even social conversations require sufficient knowledge of the election, the inevitable lame duck session, and the "stuff" of our 5th grade civics class.  (How does a bill become a law again?) :-) 

Last Friday we met with a current staffer (as they are so endearingly called,) Ann Vaughn, to get a brief summary of day to day life on the hill.  She told us in not so uncertain terms that congress really does pay attention to our letters!

Hope despite the hurricanes

Seeing all the news about more and more hurricanes reminds of when I went to Mississippi with a group from college to help rebuild a house devastated by Katrina. The damage to the area was absolutely overwhelming. Every day we would see remnant foundations of once beautiful homes, cars that looked they had just been smashed by a junk yard car crusher. We visited a school that was meeting in a church because their school had been completely destroyed. What I found more amazing than the destruction was the sense of hope that we saw in the people.

Kenya Revisited

I first visited Kenya as a summer WorldService Corps volunteer in 2000.  It is a bit of a cliche to say so, but the experience really did change my life.  Ever since high school I had wanted to be a foreign correspondent or a humanitarian aid worker and had glamorous fantasies of me trekking through 'exotic' countries and spinning tales for the people back home.  However, I was completely unprepared for the sobering reality of living and working in a country wracked by political tension and trapped in oppressive conditions of poverty.

Hurricane Gustav

Having grown up close to the gulf coast all of my life, I have seen my share of hurricanes. There are pictures of me on the sand of Gulf Shores, AL, forcing all of my weight forward in the wind –gripping smile, flapping hair – I was always one for a thrill. I loved hurricanes namely because of my innocence. I’d never experienced a hurricane strong enough to do much damage (other than ruin my beach vacation) and I always had a strong, stable shelter where I felt nothing but safe. Unfortunately, that's not the case for thousands if not millions of people on the Gulf Coast and in many other countries that experienced the devastating effects of Gustav.

Sustaining our Earth!

As I have been visiting the amazing sites of Washington DC, I have been absolutely thoroughly impressed by the amount of human ingenuity that it has taken to build everything--the National Cathedral, the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument are spectacular. And while I realize the value of buildings, I became a little disheartened, because I wished that the ingenuity used on these structures could have been used to help solve the problems of poverty, war, environmental destruction. And then I stumbled upon these globes outside of the US Botanic Gardens.

Each globe represents one thing that we could do to make our world more sustainable. One covered with windmills encourages us to push for more wind power. Another covered with all kinds of colorful trash asks that we simply consume less. And one lined with bottle caps encourages us to buy recycled products.