World Vision just released it’s own microfinance site. This is similar to Kiva which has made lots of good press for it’s wonderful microlending efforts.
From the site:
“Through microfinance you can support small-scale entrepreneurship, providing financial services to impoverished women and men and empowering them to work their own way out of poverty. Microfinance has proven to be an effective economic development strategy.”
This is a very tangible way to help others help their communities around the world. if teaching a man to fish is a good idea for his sustained economic independence, so is helping him buy a couple nets. What I like about this is that oftentimes ministries (as well as the people that support & run them) concentrate almost entirely on spiritual guidance/knowledge/instruction, but avoid the “realities” of life: work, providing for one’s family, living conditions, etc. Programs like microlending promote a view of the Gospel that is also concerned with the supposedly “less spiritual” pieces. God wants all of our being, not just the part that goes to church.
Excellent. I’m really excited this idea is catching on in the Third World. Simply throwing cash at Africa has done immense damage to the people there, and the approach needs to change. Capitalism and wealth creation (not redistribution, coerced or even altruistic) should be a foundation of a new beginning in Africa.
More from Dominic Nahr.
A sandstorm in a refugee camp near the border of Somalia. The Shabab have already penetrated refugee camps inside Kenya, according to camp elders, luring away dozens of young men with promises of paradise — and $300 each.
Using data from the U.S. State Departments Humanitarian Information Unit and working with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Google now shows more than 3,300 villages (yes, entire villages) that have been decimated during the genocide. Google notes that while the numbers have been known for some time, actually seeing the decimation in more detail than ever before provides a clearer understanding of the devastation.
For example, using the service’s newer historical data feature, you can see before and after pictures of the region. The results are pretty stunning. This feature is available on some 200 of these sites in the region.
![“A Maasai villager displays the traditional blade used to circumcise young girls August 12, 2007 in Kameli, Kenya. […] Though female circumcision and child marriage has been illegal for a number of years, these practices still occur in Maasai land where the act of dowry offering still holds ground.”
PhotoBetty: ‘Healing the Deepest Scars: Rescue and Rehabilitation of Maasai Girls Escaping Circumcision and Early Marriage’ by Marvi Lacar
buyhercandy:
An absolutely astounding photo essay.](http://6.media.tumblr.com/Qv2IqxfLqpnw2a65szeqwXNno1_500.jpg)
PhotoBetty: ‘Healing the Deepest Scars: Rescue and Rehabilitation of Maasai Girls Escaping Circumcision and Early Marriage’ by Marvi Lacar“A Maasai villager displays the traditional blade used to circumcise young girls August 12, 2007 in Kameli, Kenya. […] Though female circumcision and child marriage has been illegal for a number of years, these practices still occur in Maasai land where the act of dowry offering still holds ground.”
An absolutely astounding photo essay.
An absolutely astounding photo essay.
“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
~ Matthew 5:23-24
Marcos and Felicity (above) ride a bike from village to village in Rwanda telling their story of reconciliation. In the 1994 genocide, Marcos murdered eight people, including several members of Felicity’s family, while she hid in the nearby bushes.
When the genocide ended and Marcos ended up going to prison, Felicity says she wouldn’t have hesitated to kill him. When he was released several years ago, he faced a community “gacaca” court, where he confessed his crimes in detail and seemed truly repentant, but Felicity wasn’t ready to forgive.
Over the next couple of years, though, she became a Christian and began considering the possibility of forgiveness. Marcos came to her home, got down on his knees before her, folded his hands, and begged for forgiveness—which she granted while putting a hand on his shoulder. Marcos told CT it felt like a “holy shower,” that he felt clean on the inside for the first time in many years. And Felicity said it was like having a crippling burden released from her back. Today, they ride the bike around, telling their amazing story of reconciliation, and many others throughout Rwanda have similar stories to tell.2009 marks the 15 year anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide.
![hilker:
Zimbabwe:World’s First Trillion Dollar Ad Campaign
“To protest the hyperinflation that has rendered the Zimbabwe currency worthless and to raise awareness of the dire economic situation there, the Zimbabwean Newspaper created an ad campaign featuring huge posters, wall murals, flyers, and even billboards all made out of trillions of Zimbabwean dollars. Check out the photos from the newspaper’s Flickr photostream.”
[h/t devin]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_otfwl2zc6Qc/SdN7M7CosxI/AAAAAAAAJm0/4VrqdfR_aLE/s1600-h/zim.jpg)
Zimbabwe:World’s First Trillion Dollar Ad Campaign
“To protest the hyperinflation that has rendered the Zimbabwe currency worthless and to raise awareness of the dire economic situation there, the Zimbabwean Newspaper created an ad campaign featuring huge posters, wall murals, flyers, and even billboards all made out of trillions of Zimbabwean dollars. Check out the photos from the newspaper’s Flickr photostream.”
[h/t devin]
sds:
Whoa.for real? That’s nuts.
I love the verbatim from the Pope: “”I would say that this problem of AIDS cannot be overcome with advertising slogans. If the soul is lacking, if Africans do not help one another, the scourge cannot be resolved by distributing condoms; quite the contrary, we risk worsening the problem. The solution can only come through a twofold commitment: firstly, the humanization of sexuality, in other words a spiritual and human renewal bringing a new way of behaving towards one another; and secondly, true friendship, above all with those who are suffering, a readiness - even through personal sacrifice - to be present with those who suffer. And these are the factors that help and bring visible progress.”
The humanization of sexuality and true friendship— honestly, these are just warm words. I kind of took it for granted from Tumblr’s mild outrage that he basically said some racist shit and then threw Bibles at everybody. This has reminded me to keep looking things up for myself.
Whoa.
