For my birthday, my Texan sister-in-law sent me Half the Sky: Turning oppression into opportunity for women worldwide by Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. For us in the United States who are not (yet) world travelers to Africa and Asia, this book is one that has a chance to broaden your worldview and move you to action.
The real-world content includes graphic & disturbing examples of how girls and women are treated in some cultures and it also shares stories of heroism and the commitment of individual aid workers in remote villages. As you read this text, you are likely to gasp with horror and then cry with hope and inspiration - I did.
After completing the book, I know that many of you will want to make a difference and the authors make it easy by providing you with a list of aid organizations to support. Since the authors also challenge us to visit villages of the world so that we can understand and serve more effectively, now is an ideal time to get a passport. In May prices go up by $35 per person.
My family is currently focused on serving members of our local community but I believe that globalization has already made us part of a global community; isolationism is no longer an option. As members of that larger community, we ought to do something.
I am only one, but I am one.
I can’t do everything, but I can do something.
What I can do, I ought to do.
And, by the grace of God, I will do.
- author unknown
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
Make a Difference Locally
http://www.trendsettersthrougheducation.org/
support service learning and leadership in an after-school program (my mom and I are part of this)
http://www.affcf.org/
support foster children by providing them grants for things that the government cannot provide/show them that caring adults really are thinking of them (Raoul is part of this)
Make a Difference Internationally
http://www.ijm.org/ support International Justice Mission ~ this Christian-based organization fights sex trafficking
http://www.kiva.org/ support an entrepreneur in a developing country through Kiva ~ you can even give someone a gift certificate as a gift!
http://www.penniesforpeace.org/ Greg Mortenson's group that provides education in Pakistan and Afghanistan - some of the Trendsetters (Trendsetters through Education above) are collecting pennies to help build schools and purchase school supplies
To return to Studio22:
http://www.studio22azwa.com/
To return to Fun Moms:
http://www.funmoms.biz/
