Tags
Blog Action Day, Global Fund to Fight Aids, Heifer Project, Kiva, Literacy Volunteers, Poverty, TB and Malaria
This is not the blog I had planned to post today, the one about amusing scooter-riding styles, but my conscience has been stirred, and I’d like to try to stir yours as well.
This blog is nothing more than the musings of a highly advantaged woman on the difficulties and humorous aspects of living a bifurcated life. The USA and Italy… who wouldn’t want to live in either of them? How lucky can a girl be?
The financial crisis of the last months, if nothing else, has pointed out how much so many of us have to lose. We are so fortunate! And it places in even starker contrast the differences between the rich and the poor. If you’re reading this, you are in the ‘rich’ part of the equation – you have a computer, you have some time in which to noodle around, and you can read. And if you’re hungry it’s probably only because you’re on a diet (as I should be).
Over 3 billion people, more than half the world’s population, live on less than $2.50 a day. 1.4 billion live below the World Bank’s poverty line of $1.25 a day. No one I know has tried to do that since Frommer’s Europe on $5 a day was outdated. Would we care to try to do it now? I don’t think so.
As a retired librarian (at the prettiest small library in the world) the fact that over 1 billion of the world’s population is absolutely illiterate (that doesn’t count the functionally illiterate) is every bit as disturbing. In the U.S., 20% of the adult population reads at or below 5th grade level, which is below the level needed to earn a living wage. Basic reading and writing skills are closely connected to leaving poverty behind.
I don’t want to be all preachy in this post (oh all right, I want to be a little preachy). The fact is that you and I are rich, and we are rich because of the pure accident of where and when we were born. With luck we’ve taken the good cards we were dealt and are making something of our hands. But we started from a point so far above the truly poor that we probably can’t even imagine what their lives might be like.
I once took a psychology class where I was introduced to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The billion or so people living in poverty cannot think about anything above the lowest level, or perhaps the second lowest level of the pyramid, while we rich people get to think about love and self-actualization and what to read next and which fabulous pasta dish we want for dinner tonight. What a world! How did it get so out of whack?
I haven’t the skill to discuss the underlying economic and political theories of poverty intelligently. But I’ve got eyes and I know what poverty looks like when I see it, as do you: it’s not an idea or an issue. It’s a small person with huge eyes and a swollen belly. Thanks to Blog Action Day I can give you a several links to sites where you can do something that will make a very big difference in the lives of the world’s poor, one person at a time. I can’t think of anything else that can make us feel so good for such a small investment of time and money. So won’t you join me?
The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria is the official charity of this year’s Blog Action Day. The name says it all.
Kiva makes very small loans ($25, for instance) to help poor people start very small businesses.
Heifer Project (which commenters below reminded me of) helps feed people by giving them food-producing animals, such as goats, sheep and chickens. They tackle hunger on the very front line.
If you live in the United States, please think about supporting your local Literacy Volunteers, either with a donation or as a volunteer. If you live in the UK, check out what you can do here. Share the joy of reading and give someone a leg up to a better life!
And stay tuned for that post on scooter-riding; it’ll be along soon.
An Ex-Expatriate 
Thanks, but only if said swan lays many edible eggs or provides a whole flock of swans to feed the hungry…!
PS I think maybe there should be a swan out there with your plaque on it…
You could out-pun me any day, so thanks for the restraint. It’s odd – here in Italy the only mail solicitation we receive is from the Church. I’m not sure that secular charity is as advanced as in the States – or – and this is more likely – it could just be that we’re way out of the loop. One likes to think that in a socialist state there are fewer in great need, but I’m not sure about that (think Gypsies). I think the charities there are already suffering – Pidge told me the food banks are running out of food half way through each month. That’s not good.
Oh lord – the bad puns in this department could go on but I restrain myself. I’m with Sherri – Heifer has been one of our favorite Christmas gifts to people who have so much more than the necessities of life. I don’t have to preach to the choir, but we have started giving Heifer gifts in the names of my boys and their families, and because they are my boys and have married wonderful women, they think it’s a great idea. It is a great satisfaction to know that somwhere in the world there are two water buffaloes (and perhaps their progeny!) wearing a plaque that says “gift of Jeff and Hilary”…they do that, right?
There are so many local and worldwide worthies when it comes to donations – we feel good about supporting many of them, and most of them have to do with food, shelter, health, ecology issues and human rights. The one need that hasn’t seem to have found our plea-stuffed mailbox yet involves literacy. Thanks for the link!
I hate to think what the global economic crisis is going to do to those who rely on the donations of others.
Thanks for the reminder about Heifer project – I’m going to go back to the original post and put in a link for it – it is a terrific program, and a great way to give someone a little goose. ha. Just trying to get your goat. Oh I know, I’m making an ass of myself. What a dumb cluck.
Pidge, strangely enough our donations to HEIFER began when our gifts to others went unacknowledged, unthanked. After a couple of years of this, I decided that the $$$ and effort ought to go to someone who would appreciate it. I’m not a good sport about being ignored and decided to make lemonade out of my sour grapes (sorry). Enter HEIFER on a large scale. Now, the “no-thank-you-note-writers” are givers instead of takers — everyone benefits. Wish that I had started this program years ago; we’d have a lot more goats in the world!
I adore Heifer International! I give away goats every Christmas. Also as poverty in the US escalates with the current financial crisis, consider a donation to your local Food Bank.
FYI: the literacy organization I work with uses US government data that states that 40% of the American population reads at or below the 4th grade level.
Brava, Louise! You have stirred our lazy and rich American fannies into action. I would like to put in a pitch for HEIFER INTERNATIONAL which provides plants & animals, along with instruction, worldwide to promote self-sufficiency and eliminating hunger.
Instead of buying yet another tie for Uncle Harry, a sweater for Aunt Millie or more toys for the kids, we make a donation to HEIFER INTERNATIONAL for birthdays and Christmas. A small flock of ducks or chickens, a lamb, goat or pigs can make a huge difference to someone struggling to feed themselves and their family. We feel our money is better spent than in simple accumulation of “stuff”. HEIFER has wonderful gift cards and lets us make the choice of what we give and how much we give. HEIFER has been around for more than sixty years and does a great job — no, they’re not part of my family! I just believe in – and support – their mission.