Helping Children Whose Rights Have Been Violated

"Friends-International believes that together we can protect marginalized children and youth and give them exciting opportunities to build their futures." Friends-International's key principles include:

"-Breaking the stereotypic images of pity and charity and promote empowerment, hope and transformation

-Making sure everything we do has a direct, positive impact on children

-Creating innovative, responsive and flexible initiatives to respond to issues facing marginalized children and youth

-Encouraging the participation of children and communities in all projects

-Creating international standards for the quality of services for children

-Being financially transparent and accountable

-Working with communities and families to help them to provide a safe, secure environment for children

-Supporting children and communities to become sustainable and reduce dependency"

This Cambodian child welfare organization began helping street children in 1994. It is a social enterprise that aims to "build their futures by:

-Protecting urban children and youth from all forms of abuse within the scope of the International Convention of the Rights of the Child

-Reintegrating marginalized urban children and youth so they become actively involved in the development of their society

-Preventing marginalized urban children and youth from engaging in risky behavior and/or dangerous situations that compromise their futures

-Improving the way organizations work by promoting innovative and effective approaches with the active participation of the children and youth

-Influencing all tiers of society to provide supportive environments and adopt positive behavior changes"

For more information on this important effort to help vulnerable youth through projects in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, Honduras, Mexico, Egypt and Myanmar go to Friends-International's website.

Every Little Bit Helps!

We've all heard the news about the worst drought in decades in the Horn of Africa and the ensuing famine. According to Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières), "The impact of the drought has been exacerbated by high local cereal prices, excess livestock mortality, conflict and restricted humanitarian access in some areas."

Rather than passively hearing about the catastrophe, each and every one of us can act to offer a little bit of relief to the victims of this crisis. Please consider making a difference by making a donation to Médecins Sans Frontières. The organization states it relies on public support for 2 important reasons:

-"To ensure the freedom to provide humanitarian assistance whenever and wherever it is needed.

- To remain independent from political, religious and economic interests."

80% of funds received by Doctors Without Borders go to program activities, 16% to fundraising and 4% for administration.

Another effort, run by Swiss Solidarity partner-organizations, is carrying out emergency relief aid on the ground. Yet Swiss Solidarity states on its website that, "The needs of the famine victims are overwhelming." Click here to donate online. Every little bit helps.

Safeguarding Biodiversity and Quality Foods

Slow Food is an international non-profit, member-supported association that originated in Italy in 1989. It aims to combine good eating with sustainable food production. According to the organization, Slow Food was founded "to counter the rise of fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world."

Currently, Slow Food has over 100,000 members in 153 countries and 1,300 local chapters, and a network of 2,000 food communities that practise small-scale and sustainable production of quality foods.

The association's vision is: "a world in which all people can access and enjoy food that is good for them, good for those who grow it and good for the planet." Its mission is: "promoting good, clean and fair food for all."

Indeed, Slow Food's "approach to agriculture, food production and gastronomy is based on a concept of food quality defined by three interconnected principles: Good - Clean - Fair

GOOD a fresh and flavorsome seasonal diet that satisfies the senses and is part of our local culture;
CLEAN food production and consumption that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health;

FAIR accessible prices for consumers and fair conditions and pay for small-scale producers."

"Slow Food unites the pleasure of food with responsibility, sustainability and harmony with nature."
Carlo Petrini, Slow Food Founder and President

The Olevolos Project: Developing Young Leaders in Tanzania

Dory Gannes is director of the Olevolos Project, which helps orphans and disadvantaged children in Tanzania. The Project's website states that, founded in 2007, it seeks "to create educational opportunities for disadvantaged children from the Olevolos Village in Tanzania, Africa. Our mission is to develop young leaders through formal schooling, tutoring programs, and extra-curricular activities. Because we aim to improve access and equality to education, we pay for all the expenses for students who are unable. Given that many of these kids lack proper nutritional meals, we have developed a school-feeding program. ...

"Engagement with the local community is a defining part of our project. Understanding the importance of this engagement, we work closely with the District Commissioner, Village Council, and village people to leverage goals and maximize impact in the community. Because of this, they are incorporated into every aspect of our programming. Villagers volunteer at the site, join us in parent meetings, and sit on our advisory board. We believe the ultimate success of the project lies in the hands of the Olevolos people."

Go to the Olevolos Project's website to glimpse the novel ways others have contributed and to get good ideas on how you can help this non-profit achieve its mission.

Basic Sanitation for All

Jack Sim is a visionary. He founded the non-profit World Toilet Organization (WTO) in 2001, "dedicated to improving the conditions of toilets and sanitation worldwide." It aims to do something about the 2.6 billion people without access to proper sanitation (40% of global population!) and the 1.5 million children who die of diarrhea each year.

According to the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship in Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs 2011, the World Toilet Organization "envisages itself as a de facto global body that champions better toilet environments. It is one of the few organizations to focus on toilets instead of water issues, which often receive more attention on the international development agenda.

"WTO was created as a global network and service platform to address the world sanitation crisis. WTO currently has 235 member oganizations in 58 countries working towards eliminating the toilet taboo and delivering sustainable sanitation. Its SaniShop franchise trains the poor to become entrepreneurs and sales agents, creating sustainable and scalable solutions to distribute proper sanitation.

"WTO is the organizer of the World Toilet Summits and World Toilet Expo and Forums. Each summit addresses critical issues of toilet and sanitation, including technologies, development, funding, maintenance, social entrepreneurship, capacity building and research."

According to the WTO, its SaniShop concept is "a social franchise model where WTO provides a quality brand free of charge to entrepreneurial thinking people on the ground.
"The SaniShop model has two primary objectives:
1.to alleviate the poverty cycle by providing business opportunities and employment for locals. Whole communities benefit from increased household income; and
2.to drive down the cost of toilets to an affordable price – less than US$33, giving households access to proper sanitation which improves their health and quality of life.

"WTO engages suppliers to supply materials for our toilet units and we also source manufacturers to make the moulds and deliver free of charge to customers.

"We provide training to sales agents, suppliers and manufacturers to assist them to become franchisees. Our Cambodian team has programs in place to support, develop and enhance their professional skill sets and improve their business.

"We collaborate with product designers and sanitation technology experts around the world to ensure modern and efficient products and proper installation is available through SaniShop."

A Milestone in the Fight Against Polio!

July 12, 2011 is an incredible date in the fight against polio. July 12 marks the first time ever that 6 months have gone by without one single case of polio being reported in India. With 172 million children under the age of 5 in India, this means as close to 100% of children as possible were vaccinated. Every kid was found and immunized!

This great news is a result of a massive immunization campaign in India over the past 10 years. Eight campaigns per year were organized, each utilizing 1 million vaccinators! This huge effort was led by the government of India with the World Health Organization. Rotary and UNICEF have also been instrumental in achieving this tremendous goal.

For more on the eradication of polio, listen to Bruce Aylward, Assistant Director-General for Polio at the WHO, who heads the polio eradication programme there, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).

Good News: A Genuine Anti-Aging Cream?

Let's hope this is not just another scam! An anti-aging serum is being sold in France as a new skin treatment that effectively reduces the depth of wrinkles and combats shriveling. At the very least, what's good about this new cream is that profits from its sale go to help research on what causes aging. In fact, the researchers in Marseilles, France who developed this product devised it from the active ingredients used in medication to alleviate the rare condition Progeria that causes children to become prematurely old.

In any case, NeoSTEM, as the cream is called, is perfume free, and it does not contain any paraben, phenoxyethanol, silicone or phthalates.

Time affects our skin, but as far as this cream's efficacy goes, only time will tell!

A World Champion Shows What Elders Can Do

Olga Kotelko is 91 years old. At the age of 77 she decided to start track and field sports. Today Olga is a gold medal winner in several disciplines, including sprinting, jumping and hammar throwing, having won 600 gold medals in her age category since she started competing internationally. She's also a multi world record breaker. 

Other athletes are defying age. Check out this video called "Images of positive aging". It's amazing!

Belu Water = Clean Water

Founded in the United Kingdom in 2002, the mission of bottled water company Belu is: "With the Earth running out of many of its natural resources, the great challenge of our generation is to create a sustainable balance between the needs of people and the resources of the planet. Belu Water was launched as a social enterprise to demonstrate the potential for businesses to take a leading role in developing such a sustainable future.

Belu has done this by creating the UK’s most eco-friendly brand of bottled water and thereby setting a new benchmark for the performance of the entire drinks industry.

Belu’s environmental and charitable efforts include:
- Creating the world’s first carbon neutral bottled water
- Using caps that are "PVC free," for safety we want to avoid phthalates getting into our water
- Committing all our profits to clean water projects through The Belu Foundation (Registered Charity: 1136687)
- Choosing not to import or export our water, this way we further reduce our environmental impact
- Developing a 500ml bottle made from 50% recycled plastic that is 100% recyclable, a new UK first !"
 
Indeed, Belu uses "bio-bottles" made from corn, which look like ordinary plastic bottles but are compostable. What's more, the company minimizes its environmental footprint by using clean electricity and locally sourced water, reducing waste and promoting PVC-free packaging. A non-profit organization, Belu donates every penny of its profits to fund clean water projects. For instance, it built a 12-meter long waste collector that removes one tonne of waste from the River Thames each week.
 
According to Belu, every bottle of Belu bought in the UK provides clean water for one person for one month.