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The Stephen Lewis Foundation is challenging people to dare to do something about AIDS in Africa. People are daring to do all kinds of stuff, from portaging a canoe through downtown T.O. to giving up coffee for a month to running a marathon or singing at an open mic. More ideas are here: http://www.adaretoremember.com/
So people make a dare (and can dare others to do it too) and their friends/family pledge to donate money if they complete the dare. I like this idea because it enables people to fundraise in a creative way.
So I’m willing to do a dare, but I have no idea what. I thought about giving up ice cream or walking from Oakville Go Station to Union Station (um, according to Google Maps it would take 7 hours) or something. That’s the thing, I don’t know. Because it needs to be something people would pay money to see me do.
So…. any ideas?
And will anyone else join me in this? I’ll give someone ten bucks to swallow a goldfish.
An article from the New York Times on how microfinance is helping the world by helping women:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/magazine/23Women-t.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&ref=magazine
An article from Yahoo Finance that points a finger at the boom in micro-financing as a problem in developing nations:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/A-Global-Surge-in-Tiny-Loans-wallstreet-1078217671.html?x=0&.v=1
Two articles that refute the Yahoo Finance article:
http://www.ujjivan.com/news_WallStreetJournal_article_on_Microfinance_in_Ramanagaram.htm
http://www.sksindia.com/streetjournal.htm
So I leave you with a question: do you think Micro-finance could potentially or will lead individuals in developing nations into the same cyclical habits of consumption and debt that currently plague North American spenders?
From Amnesty’s website:
Myanmar’s military junta extended Nobel Peace laureate and pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s imprisonment by 18 months today after finding her guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest.
Critics of Myanmar’s military regime condemned the outcome of the 3-month sham trial, calling it a pretext to keep Suu Kyi out of the running during next year’s presidential elections.
The junta commuted Suu Kyi’s sentence from three years hard labor in prison to an 18-month extension to her house arrest in the hopes that the international community will view the reduced sentence as an act of leniency.
But Suu Kyi should have never been imprisoned in the first place.
Suu Kyi’s deplorable imprisonment has been denounced by everyone from heads of state worldwide to nine of Suu Kyi’s fellow Nobel laureates. Join the court of world opinion in condemning Daw Ang San Suu Kyi’s sham trial. Tell the leader of Myanmar’s military junta that Suu Kyi shouldn’t serve another minute of her sentence.
We know that the odds of success may seem stacked against us any time we appeal to authoritarian rulers. But the recent release of two U.S. journalists from North Korea is proof that even totalitarian regimes cave to relentless international pressure.
The fact that Myanmar’s government reduced Suu Kyi’s sentence is also a sign that the military regime is susceptible to the world community’s criticisms.
We’ve proven time after time that even military dictatorships and other repressive regimes are no match for Amnesty’s millions-strong global movement. Just last year, Ma Khin Khin Leh, another prisoner of conscience in Myanmar, obtained her release after Amnesty activists sent tens of thousands of letters to Myanmar’s leaders on her behalf.
Join us today in calling for Daw Ang San Suu Kyi’s immediate release. Go to: http://bit.ly/16gzG9
My own words seem inadequate tonight.
This video, made by members of L’arche Cape Breton, says more about
the people I am learning to love than I could ever express:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYA6OjG_E4k&feature=channel_page
“Whatever their gifts and limitations, all people are bound together
in a common humanity.”
Obama’s first executive orders!
‘As for our common defence, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.’
President Barack Obama, 20 Janauary 2009
Gluttonous over-consumption is now synonymous with patriotism.
According to the Worldwatch Institute, we have used more good and services since 1950 than in all the rest of human history.
http://www.purewatergazette.net/hardlystie.htm
Your signature is more powerful than you think.
