There Are Ways To Get There If You Care Enough For The Living

Environmentalists vs Anti-hunger activists — who wins?

The British charity warns that biofuels have in fact become a major cause of the food shortage and hunger crisis is likely to get worse. Industrial biofuels are currently made from maize, wheat, sugar cane and oil seeds such as palm oil, soy and rapeseed.

“The rapidly rising demand for crops for fuel has put them into competition with those grown for food, driving food prices higher and affecting what and how much people eat in developing countries,” ActionAid noted.

This is a significant issue in a world where a billion people are already going hungry. But despite such threats, in 2008 European Union member states committed themselves to obtaining 10 per cent of transport fuels from renewable sources by 2020.

Member states will fill almost all of this commitment through industrial biofuels, meaning the 10 per cent target is, in effect, a biofuels target. Consumption of industrial biofuels in the EU will jump four-fold, ActionAid forecasts. As much as two-thirds are likely to be imported, the majority from developing countries.

Seems a shame that two good and worthy causes have to be at loggerheads … surely there’s a way to keep people from starving and also take care of the planet. In fact, many anti-poverty and anti-hunger folks argue that global warming disproportionately affects the poor because they depend more heavily on the land and now once prime agricultural land is becoming useless as the climate changes. But this solution from the EU to slow down global warming maybe perhaps have some unforeseen consequences — and it seems more than a bit contradictory that the demand for biofuels (which is supposed to counteract climate change) allows for the re-appropriation of  grasslands, forests, etc for cultivation, a process which in itself is a driver of global warming.

Feel free to send your suggestions, ideas, comments to the EU. Or write them here.

Full story at: ActionAid Accuses EU of Fuelling Hunger With Biofuels.

Read the ActionAid Report

 

Sin of Sodom

Please read Kristof’s latest NYT column, if you haven’t already.

A growing number of conservative Christians are explicitly and self-critically acknowledging that to be “pro-life” must mean more than opposing abortion. The head of World Vision in the United States, Richard Stearns, begins his fascinating book, “The Hole in Our Gospel,” with an account of a visit a decade ago to Uganda, where he met a 13-year-old AIDS orphan who was raising his younger brothers by himself.

“What sickened me most was this question: where was the Church?” he writes. “Where were the followers of Jesus Christ in the midst of perhaps the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time? Surely the Church should have been caring for these ‘orphans and widows in their distress.’ (James 1:27). Shouldn’t the pulpits across America have flamed with exhortations to rush to the front lines of compassion?

“How have we missed it so tragically, when even rock stars and Hollywood actors seem to understand?”

Full Story at: Op-Ed Columnist – Learning From the Sin of Sodom – NYTimes.com.

Also, a few additional notes from Kristof and comments from readers are here.

 

Everybody Wants to Rule the World

Not sure that this letter would apply to young people who are not liberal/progressive but it’s an entertaining and somewhat thought-provoking piece:

Dear Old People Who Run the World,

My generation would like to break up with you.

Every day, I see a widening gap in how you and we understand the world—and what we want from it. I think we have irreconcilable differences.

You wanted big, fat, lazy “business.” We want small, responsive, micro-scale commerce.

You turned “politics” into a dirty word. We want authentic, deep democracy—everywhere.

You wanted financial fundamentalism. We want an economics that makes sense for people—not just banks.

You wanted shareholder value—built by tough-guy CEOs. We want real value, built by people with character, dignity, and courage.

Full story at: The GOOD 100: Umair Haque | GOOD.

 

It’s been a hard day’s night

It’s been a tough week for me, as I’ve come face to face with the harsh realities of life in resource-limited settings. It started last week when I learned a whole lot about how governments figure out what quantities of HIV/AIDS drugs to procure for their children. So many of the tools that developed country government use — things like patient data, consumption data, health information management systems, national ID numbers — don’t exist in many African countries. And while this doesn’t sound like such a big deal, look at it this way: if an HIV-positive baby isn’t able to access the medicines she needs because her government couldn’t forecast its national medicine requirements properly, then that baby is probably going to die.

Now, part of my job is to help increase the number of local health clinics that offer pediatric HIV/AIDS services to its clients. At the moment, many people here need to walk for hours to get to a hospital that can care for their HIV positive children because the much closer health clinic isn’t equipped to do so. But, lemme ask you this — how can I in good conscience do my job, if there’s a pretty darn good chance that these clinics will run out of children’s HIV/AIDS drugs? How can my work be ethical? You cannot start a child on a cocktail of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs), only to switch them to another cocktail because the original regimen stocked out. That child also cannot just stop taking her drugs and start up again when the drugs are back in stock. There are so many consequences to these actions, including the risk that the child develops a resistance to the drugs and has to start on her “last resort” drugs, which means she probably doesn’t have much longer to live. And the more individuals who develop drug resistance, the more society as a whole becomes resistant. In America, you have a bajillion different drug cocktails to choose from, so building up resistance just means you can switch to another then another then another drug regimen.  In Lesotho, you essentially have a “first line” and a “second line” regimen. That’s it. So if your nation’s population of 1.8 million is developing resistance to your first line regimen, you’re screwed. Lesotho has to take it so seriously that if any doctor wants to move a patient to the second line regimen, the request needs the approval of a national committee.

It could very well be argued that it is unethical to begin a child on AIDS treatment if you know that child won’t be able to access her drugs on a regular basis. So, if I’m supposed to be increasing the number of clinics that can initiate a child on treatment, and I know that most existing clinics are running out of children’s drugs, what do I do?

 

Aude Sapere: 25% of Men in South Africa Admit Rape

Yes, the results of this study are horrifying to many of us Westerners — and even the most adamant culturally relativist would probably raise her eyebrows at the fact that 25% of men in South Africa admit to raping a woman, that nearly half of those men have raped repeatedly, and that three-quarters of the men first attacked while in their teenage years.

But, my question is, how do you change this behavior? If, as one of the researchers suggests, that violence culturally defines what it is to be a man or to be masculine, then is this situation fixable? How do you instill a different value set for what demonstrates masculinity and, if you can accomplish that, whose value set do you use?

Read more at The Guardian: Quarter of men in South Africa admit rape, survey finds

 

Do Good

A new study just released by the Giving USA Foundation shows that charitable giving has declined by the largest percentage in the past five years, largely due to the economic recession. What’s most disturbing to me is the huge decline in gifts to organizations like food banks and homeless shelters whose services become even more important and higher in demand in times like these. Donations to religious, public-society benefit, and international affairs rose, though.

I wonder … do people give to faith organizations in times like these in the hopes that God might bless them with riches in return? Anyway, in the Gospel of the Lady V, it is the responsibility of religious organizations to either provide social services to people in need or to support organizations that provide those services. So hopefully they will use their increased donations accordingly.

On the plus side, Americans still gave a nice chunk of their income to charities – the bottom line total came to $307 billion. And that is equal to more than 2.2 percent of GDP (it was 2.3 percent last year). Not bad, America. How about you, best and brightest of readers? Did you find yourself giving less last year or this year because your wallet feels pinched? Did you change the type of donation, maybe switching from cash to volunteer time? Have you cut out other luxuries so that you could still give to your charities and causes?

From a personal point of view, I’ve noticed the belt-tightening of charities indirectly – I think I’ve received more fundraising emails and phone calls from friends and colleagues in the first half of this year than I received all last year. And I think it’s great! I love that people are finding causes that are important to them and they are actively doing something to support them. Here are some of the ones that I’ve given to this year — listed below not to boast but just in case your pathos, ethos or logos might be tickled by the same causes:

Boston Urban Youth Foundation – an amazing and effective model to improve improving school engagement, attendance, and performance of Boston Public’s truant middle school youth.

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society – an MBA friend of mine is running a half marathon and is supporting the LLS in memory of his best friend who died earlier this year from Myelodysplastic Syndrome.

Touching Tiny Lives Foundation – provides support and a home for children orphaned and affected by the HIV/AIDS plight in Lesotho. I’ve met the program director and a mutual friend of ours is running the Chicago marathon to raise funds.

One Home Many Hopes – my charity darling! I went to visit the girls’ home in Kenya and walked away forever changed. The vision of OHMH is to redeem girls who are forgotten in the streets of Kenya and through them, renew their country.

Our charities provide valuable services to the vulnerable and the forgotten that so many of us don’t make the time to think about and to serve. If you’re feeling the pinch of the recession, then imagine how that pinch is amplified down the line. Please give a second thought to the fundraising requests that come your way.

 

When Your Life Changes

Back home again from Kenya, a bit tired from the Mombasa-Nairobi-Johannesburg-Bloemfontein-Maseru return trip but those six days with the girls of Mudzini Kwetu was more than worth the journey. I have so much going through my head and haven’t had a moment to sort out my thoughts in a coherent manner. Here are a couple of the more outstanding memories from the trip:

• 30 orphaned girls who call themselves sisters, who can play and have their childhood restored after being forced to grow up too quickly, and who show such deep love for each other. I never once saw any of them fight with each other (unlike my sister and me when we were kids).
• Getting bit by a mosquito within 20 minutes of arriving in the Nairobi airport.
• 4-year-old Riziki “small” (not to be confused with Riziki “big”) attached to my hip/leg/ankle/hand for 5 of the 6 days.
• Three flat tires in the span of 6 days.
• The sound of mangoes falling on a tin roof in the middle of the night … and the taste of those mangoes for breakfast in the morning!
• More generosity, love, sacrifice and vision packed into a 3-acre plot of land than I’ve ever experienced.
• The realization that I will forever be attached to these girls, even if I never return to Kenya (I’m already looking up prices for a possible December trip).

Pictures and reflections coming soon!

P.S. Sorry about hyping up the Facebook page and the blogging … turns out, internet connectivity in Mtwapa is even worse than in Maseru. We couldn’t even connect once while I was there!

 

A Reminder

Don’t forget!! I’m only posting to the One Home Many Hopes page on Facebook for the next week.

Good-bye for now, Lesotho. Helloooo Kenya!

 

Me, Kenya, and Six American Boys

Okay okay, I’m leaving with six American men not boys, but that doesn’t make for a catchy enough headline. As the departure date draws nearer, my excitement level grows higher and higher – not only will this be my first trip to Kenya, but I’ll be meeting up with some old friends who I’ve known for eight years but haven’t seen in three or four, AND we’ll all be out there to work our hearts out for 30 little girls who need our help.

I haven’t yet met these girls, but they already mean a lot to me. So, I want you, best and brightest of readers, to share in this experience as much as possible. To give you a multi-faceted idea of how things are going for us in Kenya, our group has committed to blog our trip on the One Home Many Hopes page on Facebook. Please, please take 30 seconds to join the group – I’ll posting on Facebook instead of here at The Lady V Prophecy during the trip. As extra incentive, most of the guys I’m traveling with are a whole lot funnier and wittier than I.

So, join in our discussion, laugh a lot, and be generous with your comments, feedback, and bits of encouragement. This will be the first trip to Africa for some of our volunteers and, well … let’s just say that I’m sure an encouraging word will be appreciated.

 

MIA: The Heart of American Airlines

Is there such a thing as compassionate capitalism? Or benevolent businesses? Maybe. I hope so. But stories like this encounter with American Airlines cause me to doubt …

As many of you know, I’ve been working with a small nonprofit called One Home Many Hopes, which supports 30 orphaned girls in Kenya. About six months ago, many of you helped us in a campaign we called “Race to 20K” where we attempted to raise $20,000 in 30 days. Surpassing even my craziest expectations, nearly 1,000 people all over the world gave our girls in Kenya a whopping $46,000 and OHMH will be the featured nonprofit in an upcoming documentary.

Since then, our girls in Kenya have continued to well in school and the orphanage has been able to afford medical treatment for some of those who needed it. OHMH has received official US federal approval as a tax-deductible charity. And the OHMH team has pulled together a band of volunteers (including me!) that will be heading to Kenya at the end of this week to meet the girls and dedicate our brains and brawn to the orphanage. Thanks to generous members of the One Home Many Hopes family, the team will be arriving with much needed clothes, shoes and other basic items for the girls — little girls who used to pick through trash on the street for survival but who now attend school, have a loving home of sisters, and hope to go to college and make a difference in their home country.

As you can imagine, we volunteers are busy with preparations and are eager to bring all these items to the girls. Sadly, the compassion of our OHMH family and the dedication of our volunteers aren’t shared by American Airlines. Check out this account from one of my fellow volunteers:

I called American Airlines yesterday.  I asked them if they ever waive the additional baggage charge when individuals are carrying clothes/supplies for the poor.  She said, ‘Absolutely not.’  I then asked her if she thought it was, at a minimum, a really good idea for AA to consider.  She replied, ‘Is there anything else I can help with you with today?’

Wow.

I mean, really? Not even an acknowledgment that maybe this policy seems a little harsh? Not even a hint of regret that there really just wasn’t anything she could do about the corporate policy? Not cool, American Airlines. Maybe she was just having a bad day. Still, I’m disappointed that any employee of a company with such an austere name would exhibit behavior so dreadfully unbecoming to any American.

But I guess leadership sets the tone. Just last week, American Airlines’ parent company announced it lost $375 million in the first quarter of 2009 and yet, its executives will receive $6.5 million in stock-based bonuses. I know that’s $6.5M isn’t such a big number, but remember that in 2003, American Airlines’ groundworkers, flight attendants and pilots unions saved the company from bankruptcy by agreeing to $1.62 billion in annual concessions. I’m sure the CEO and CFO can give me plenty of good reasons why these decisions make sense. I’m an MBA girl, so I’m sure those reasons are justified to an extent. But I’d also bet that those reasons can shed light on the kind of working environment that allows (or even encourages?) an American Airlines representative to callously brush aside a small customer request for compassion.

***

If you, unlike American Airlines, would like to lend support to these girls in Kenya, I ask that you consider making a small monthly contribution of $18 (average monthly local income), or $20 or even $10. The girls have school, medical and food bills every month, so knowing we can depend on monthly donations is really important in properly planning for the girls’ wellbeing. Please help us solidify and grow what we started six month ago!

I’d love for you to meet the girls and/or read more about One Home Many Hopes and my work with the organization.