Sustainable Good

What do words mean?

As an advocate for Native Americans, I was glad to see that Sen. Brownback from Kansas introduced a joint resolution to "acknowledge a long history of official depredations and ill-conceived policies by the United States Government regarding Indian tribes and offer an apology to all Native Peoples on behalf of the United States." 

Finally -- SOMEONE representing the U.S. government will simply acknowledge the fact that our European ancestors committed awful crimes against humanity:  genocide against a people who have lived on this land for thousands of years before white settlers stepped foot on it.

SOMEONE will apologize for the forced removal of Native Americans from their homes and their sacred and spiritual spaces.  Someone will apologize for stealing lands and treasures and never returning them. 

SOMEONE will apologize for the forced assimilation techniques white people used to "kill the Indian, save the man."  This included separating children from their families and forcing them into boarding schools where they were punished if they spoke their own language or practiced their tribal customs.  This also included sterilizing many women and some men so that they could not bear children.

Now It's Getting Personal

I truly believe Karyn's post the other day that relationships are the main factor in giving, because through relationships we truly understand the depth of a problem. This has happened to me just in the last few days. I have been sympathetic to those that have been affected by the global financial crisis since the beginning (except for the giant corporate CEO's and Madoff's of the crisis). I hate to hear on the news the stories about people being laid off, companies going bankrupt, towns in financial meltdown.

However, the depth of the pain of this crisis didn't hit me until the other day when my mom told me that she had been laid off. After 28 years working at the same company, she doesn't have a job, and won't for the next 4-6 months.

What Motivates You to Give?

Non-profit organizations (like Outreach International) are constantly wondering how to motivate people to donate money to good causes.  In last week's Newsweek,  Professor Peter Singer writes this intriguing (and possibly motivating?)  scenario:

Imagine that you are walking near a shallow ornamental pond when you notice that a small child has fallen in, and is apparently in danger of drowning. You look around for the child's caregiver, but there is no one in sight. Without pausing even to pull off the expensive pair of shoes you are wearing, you rush into the water to save the child."

"You don't have to be a hero to do that. We expect it of you. You'd have to be a monster to put the cost of your shoes ahead of saving the child's life."

"Or would you? "

Women Making a Difference for Women in Extreme Poverty

Sue McLaughlin guest blogs about her experience as the founder of her own Dining for Women chapter.   What a wonderful way to gather people together in community, learn about the devestaing effects of poverty, and pitch in to make a difference.  Thanks Sue!

As a woman of privilege by world standards related to income, education, and race, how can I make a difference for other women around the world who through no fault of their own live in extreme poverty? This is something that I've asked myself. There's so much need that it feels like filling an ocean with one drop of water at a time to try to do something about it. Then I heard about Dining for Women.

Dining for Women is an international giving circle dedicated to empowering women in the two-thirds world by funding programs that foster the physical, emotional, and economic self-sufficiency of women living in extreme poverty. Through the collective, focused giving of Dining for Women chapters all over the world, women can join with other women to make a difference in the world.

I started a chapter of Dining for Women in Independence, Missouri this month. We had our first meeting last night. Eleven like-minded women met to learn of the situation of women and children in Uganda and the work of Bead for Life in promoting economic self-sufficiency for women in that war torn country.

At our meeting we shared food and friendship, concern for our sisters in Uganda, listened to Ugandan music, and experienced the beauty of beads and jewelry handmade by the Ugandan women of Bead for Life. We learned of the devastation of AIDS that has left many of these women widows and HIV positive and raising their own and orphaned children. Through our donations (of what we would have spent on a nice dinner out) and our purchases of Bead for Life jewelry, we raised over $700 in our chapter alone. The money we raised will be combined with the other chapters of Dining for Women to provide a significant collective contribution to the developing self-sufficiency of the women of Uganda. Women linking with other women is what it’s all about!!

Rocky Mountain Mission Center Hunger Challenge

I just attended a Hunger Challenge in Ft. Collins, CO, USA.  There were over 60 kids, teens, and adults who fasted for 24 hours, learned about poverty, raised awareness in the community, collected cans, donated money, and brainstormed their own solutions to hunger.  It was an inspiring weekend and I am thankful to Dezi Rae Astle and her crew for raising so much money for Outreach International.  Thanks to all of you!

"Well, Did it Change Your Life?"

I am inspired to know that more people keep realizing the value of the development process that Outreach International uses. This is Chelsea Carter's reflection after she returned from a site visit to Nicaragua with Outreach International:

Just over one year ago, I began to think about taking the Nicaragua Winter Term. The first time I heard about the trip was in a Sunday night service at Graceland University. The speaker shared her testimony about the trip, and described how the experience radically changed her life in profound ways. This is the sort of story that seemed to come from everyone who talked about his or her visit to Nicaragua. The stories stayed consistent from student to student in terms of how the trip so greatly impacted their lives. It almost became a sort of joke between my circle of friends and I. Every semester when we heard that someone had just got back from Nicaragua, our first question to them was always, “Well did it change your life!?”

After hearing this same testimony over and over from a broad spectrum of personalities across campus, I began to consider the possibility that maybe I should check out this potentially life changing experience too.

Summer Reading

Because I’ve had the whole summer off, I’ve been reading incessantly. My mother just sent me a book called Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace…One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. It’s about a man (Mortenson) who decides to build much needed schools for remote villages in the mountainous regions of Pakistan. Mortenson raises the funds, buys the materials, and gets the village to commit to building the small school. But the project moves at a snail’s pace and Mortenson gets more and more anxious about reaching his self-determined deadlines and line iteming the budget – accounting for every rupee. The leader of the village finally takes him aside and gives Mortenson the most important lesson of his life: