Art Replacing the Media

Using various forms of art and expression, artists are addressing today's atrocities. Helen Doyle's film, Les Messagers (The Messengers), is one movie with a mission: it is a 2003 documentary that follows six artists whose work denounces war and barbarity. Produced by InformAction, the film is about the Muslim experience in the siege of Sarajevo.

Founded in 1971, InformAction is a Canadian company that produces documentaries on such powerful and disturbing subjects as rape, madness and war. It thus promotes art that carries strong social or political messages. Film in particular is an influential art form that can replace the media by communicating factual information or new perspectives on current events.

For a glimpse of the varied social and other issues skillfully addressed in film, see InformAction's website here.

Helping Fight Malnutrition Among Children in Mexico

The aim of Un Kilo de Ayuda (One Kilo of Help) is to eradicate child undernourishment in Mexico. Founded in 1984 by entrepreneur Jose Ignacio Avalos Hernandez, Un Kilo de Ayuda is helping to cut the rate of malnutrition in hundreds of communities throughout Mexico. The non-profit social business provides nutritional surveillance, anaemia detection, nutritional education, nutritional package distribution, neurodevelopment and early stimulation evaluation as well as safe water to 50,000 children under the age of 5 in rural Mexico every two weeks. For them, the program has achieved annual weight increases of 5-8% and decreases of 1.5-3% in moderate and severe malnutrition.

Un Kilo de Ayuda also tracks progress and makes recommendations for interventions via a digital database developed with Microsoft. It has accomplished strong community support with personnel that is mainly comprised of volunteers.

Check out the Un Kilo de Ayuda website here.

From Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs 2011, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship

Free Education For All - "The First Grader"

"The First Grader" is a film infused with inspirational messages, advocating tolerance, tenacity and determination. It forcefully argues that education is a right and shows one fight for the right to a free education. "The First Grader" also communicates messages about the possibility of changing and growing at any age, and about the healing power of children. In a world where baby boomers are retiring and where many countries have huge populations of young people, this film also inspires us to think about the opportunities afforded by combining nurseries with old-folks homes or giving grandparents and seniors greater opportunity to care for grandchildren and youth. Here's a glimpse of this movie, based on a true story:



GoldcrestFilms
Writer: Anne Peacock (The Chronicles of Narnia)
Director: Justin Chadwick (The Other Boleyn Girl, Bleak House)
Producers: David M. Thompson, Sam Feuer, Richard Harding
Cast: Naomie Harris, Oliver Litondo

Global Changemakers

Since the community was founded in 2007, the British Council Global Changemakers have grown into a group of over 600 teenagers from 110 countries whose stated mission is "to empower youth to catalyse positive social change." They call themselves activists, volunteers and social entrepreneurs, and run their program around three pillars: learning, doing and advocacy.

Take changemaker Dan Cullum from New Zealand, for example. His goal is to prompt young people to make a difference simply by wearing a certain tee-shirt for a year. His says, "I am Dan." Interested in the plight of the underprivileged near his home, Dan has been working with Maori and Pacific Island minors in South Auckland who have become involved in drugs, alcohol abuse and violence, engaging them in local camps and sports activities.

Trevor Dougherty from the US is an "online activist" who uses social media such as YouTube and Facebook to effect social change. He is already one of CNN's top citizen journalists. His goal is to promote Internet access as a right for all youth everywhere, rather than a privilege for some, and to turn the "me" online community attitude to the "we" online spirit.

Mai Shbeta from Israel has a Palestinian Muslim father and a Jewish mother and lives in the only village in Israel where Palestinians and Jews reside together. As her background and experience have proved to her that peace between the two peoples is possible, her goal is to foster peace in the Middle East by bringing Palestinian and Israeli youth together through peace camps.

If you wish to join the network of Global Changemakers, register here.

Sustainable Steel Production

China produces nearly half a billion tons of steel annually. The resulting steel slag production, the partially vitreous by-product of smelting ore to separate the metal from the rest, amounts to some 40 million tons. Decreasing iron ore resources, coupled with increasing energy costs, have led Shanghai-based Baosteel to find ways to process the steel very efficiently while protecting the environment.

Campaigning through Painting

Frogs, white lions, sharks are going extinct, while the mining of Coltan in the Democratic Republic of Congo is destroying the mountain gorilla's natural habitat.

Activist and artist Anjali Chandrashekar is bringing these points to the public's attention, using painting for environmental conservation. Art is inspirational and can make people pay attention to certain issues. Visual art teaches people to look, with intensity. Thus Anjali, a 17-year old artist from India, is using her talent to highlight important environmental problems and health issues and to inspire action. One example, the painting above, is simply called "Gorilla."

Anjali writes that her life goal is, "to share my love for art and the world and spread a good message with my brush." She is doing this successfully, selling her artwork to raise awareness and funds for a number of national and international organizations. She writes: "Art is a very powerful form of expression and through this medium I seek to reach out to the masses both educated as well as illiterate. ... Some of the causes for which I have worked are -- anti-whaling, the conservation of endangered species of animals like Westland gorillas, tigers, Olive Ridleys [sea turtles] and many more. Conservation of marine bio-diversity is another issue that I have devoted my efforts on." Read more about Anjali Chandrashekar, her art and her accomplishments here.

Inspired by an Example

Nick Vujicic is an inspiration. He is Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Life Without Limbs, a non-profit faith-based organization. He also has Attitude Is Altitude, an organization that "aims to help people meet life's challenges with purpose, perspective, principles and perseverance." Plus he's a motivational speaker, evangelist, author, music and video producer and director, and an entrepreneur.

"Everyone has a story," Nick said recently during one of his many speaking engagements. His is that he was born without arms or legs, but has decided to make the best of it, and inspire by example. "Make every day count," he adds. "What if you only had one day left to live. You would set your priorities. Mine are: 1) Make sure your family knows you love them; 2) Phone someone you've been meaning to call to say 'thank you'; 3) Tell someone you love them." One of his inspirational messages is: "Even when you're at your lowest, you can still give -- you can give hope to someone else. You can always give."

Today Nick's mission as he travels the world is "to motivate people from all walks of life in every circumstance; to gain perspective; to find their purpose; to live the big dream." As stated on his website: "Nick Vujicic's life demonstrates that all things are possible."

Investing in Senior Care

Paul R. Hogan is Chairman and Founder of Home Instead Senior Care. Home Instead is the largest privately-held senior care business of its kind in the world with operations in 15 countries: the United States, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Finland and Puerto Rico. It operates more than 900 offices providing 40 million hours of care annually to 60,000 elderly citizens while employing 65,000 caregivers. It was the first company to apply a franchise model to home care, creating a new business segment.

Specifically, Home Instead Senior Care offers companionship, not just care. CAREGivers, paid individuals who are carefully trained and screened, provide mostly non-medical services such as helping with walking, reminding to take medication, monitoring diet and eating, stimulating mental awareness, playing cards and games, writing letters and correspondence, mailing bills, visiting friends, and many other activities. CAREGivers also help with home duties: helping with laundry, changing linens, dusting, assisting with pets, shopping for groceries, running errands or escorting for shopping, etc. They also provide assistance with personal services such as eating, grooming, dressing, bathing and mobility.

Home Instead Senior Care's mission is "to enable seniors to live happy, healthy and independent lives in their homes." Caregiving is tailored to the needs of the senior, whether it lasts a few hours or 24 hours per day. No experience or medical skills are needed to become a Home Instead CAREGiver, and the job is most fulfilling. Many CAREGivers are retirees! It's a win-win situation - people helping people.

For more information on this brilliant way of balancing the care of others with the satisfaction of giving and the pleasure of forming relationships, or to find home care for someone you love, contact: Home Instead Senior Care Office Contact Information: Omaha, 13323 California St., Omaha, NE 68154, Phone: 888 484 5759 http://www.homeinstead.com/