While much of the video is focused on pop-culture influence, there was a quote in this video clip that I thought was particularly relevant to us:

“It’s not about one individual.  It’s about a brand embracing a culture.”

As an organization, we embrace your influence. You, the individual as a part of this community, is empowering and driving the Affero movement forward. You are the change maker. We embrace the culture we are all creating together as part of this organization. So speak up. Speak out. Make an impact on your peers. Share what you’re learning. And together we can all help end global poverty and injustice worldwide!

What better way could there be to use your influence?

For example, of course you know that people are hungry, children need schooling and people need houses to live in. These are not grandiose theorems that are hotly debated amongst the nation’s leading scholars; rather, they are realities that you know to exist via your own experiences in life. Maybe you have an inkling of what it feels like when your stomach grumbles or you have a headache and find it difficult to think straight because you missed lunch. There’s a probability that you have felt the wind’s sting on a blustery day when a bus was missed or a car broke down. At some point you may even have experienced what it’s like to feel as if you could not advance further beyond in your career field due to a lack of education. These things seem like common sense because the experiences are just that; common.

When it comes to the importance of clean water, I think that we tend to brush it off as “someone else’s problem.” A struggle that is neither relevant to your current state in life, nor small enough that you can personally give clean water to someone in need.

Sure we can spend our time tutoring a student at a local school, or buy a sandwich for the person standing by the side of the highway with a beat up cardboard sign that’s been scrawled upon with a sharpie impeding you to help out any way you can. These are tangible things you can do in order to alleviate someone else’s pain.

You can’t exactly fly to Sub-Sahara Africa with a few gallons of water to help ensure that people are drinking from a water source that is separate from the water source that hundreds of others are using as a source to clean themselves.

Even helping get clean water to areas that are nearby doesn’t always lead to a solution as to why there isn’t access to clean water in the first place. Rare is the opportunity that one has to build a new waterworks system in a city that’s been devastated by a hurricane, tsunami, or just plain lack of maintenance.

I think these are the reasons that clean water tends to be pushed to the back of our minds when it comes to issues to tackle, we can’t fix it easily and therefore it lacks a tangible solution.

However starting in the 1960s, the William Ashe and his family took outings into Baja, Mexico, to help orphanages, camps, and churches install new water systems. These outings, the relationships that were build and the need that was discovered became the foundations of what we know today as Lifewater International.

Lifewater International is an organization which seeks to provide tangible solutions to an issue that is beyond the grasp of many of us. That is why Affero has proudly partnered with them to support their vision of reducing and eventually eliminating the desperate need for clean water to the parts and people of the world that lack the resources to provide clean water for themselves.

Check them out and consider what you can do for to help provide clean water for those in need.

-Steve

In the same way, our definition of success greatly influences our perception of the end goal of that solution.  This in turn effects the way we measure it, when we decide exit a community, and how.  Traditional success definitions focus heavily on outputs – i.e. quantitative results – such as number of wells drilled, people impacted, communities reached, goats distributed, loan repayment rates, etc.  While these effectively measure what we’ve been doing in communities it says nothing about how the community is impacted.

Let me give an example that’s a little closer to home.  Suppose I have a friend who’s struggling to be healthy.  I respond with buying him a book on nutrition along with a 12-set DVD workout program, lecturing him on the benefits of diet and exercise.  By many NGO standards I just “empowered” my friend with valuable knowledge and resources.  Maybe I distributed the same materials and gave the same lecture to a weekend stream of people exiting the drive-through at McDonalds.   Many NGOs would report that as having “impacted hundreds of people.”  Have I?  How do we know whether any of the recipients of my project were interested?  If they were, how many went home and actually did the program?  And for those that finished, how many managed to sustain that new lifestyle? Research has shown that of people who try weight loss programs, 80% or more are unable to sustain a 10% loss of  for more than 1 year.  Most of us wouldn’t consider that a particularly acceptable success rate.

Does that translate into the non-profit world?  Lets look at water – UNICEF conducted a survey of 22 countries in sub-saharan Africa and discovered that on average 25% – 50% of wells were non-functioning.  If we were to define success as the number of wells successfully drilled we could pat ourselves on the back and move on.  But we’d be overlooking that fact literally millions of people are walking past failed wells and drinking from the original, contaminated water sources.  Not only is that poor stewardship of donor funding, but even more important, it fails to meet the needs of Africans and further reinforces powerlessness and fatalism.

So how should we define success?  It may not surprise you, but there many good ways to define success.   I will give you my favorite one – the one I hold up as the ultimate standard.  Success is about enabling people to solve their own problems.  This goes way beyond “teach a man to fish” which is simply a one-time transfer of a basic skill.  Instead, it positions people to define their own problems, discover possible solutions, and achieve lasting change for themselves.  If you can achieve that kind of success, then the road to eradicating poverty will have gotten a lot shorter.

Another month has passed and we’re excited to announce the winner for October! Blood:Water Mission has taken the month by storm and we’ll be sending them $762 to help towards supporting 3 HIV/AIDS clinics. Last year 17,580 people were tested for HIV and treated with over 22,000 people served through the clinics, impacting families, communities and changing lives. This year will see even more people helped and treated!

So a HUGE thank you goes out to YOU for contributing and helping us change the lives of over 20,000 people this month. Visit Blood:Water Mission’s page on our website http://afferoproject.com/organizations/bloodwater-mission/ to learn more about the clinics were supporting.

Remember, its not one person doing something great that will change the world. Its many people doing small things with great love.

Changing lives together!

Lucas Parry

We’ve come to the end of September and we’re excited to announce that ECHO has taken first place. We’ll be sending them $770 this week!

ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization) works in 180 countries fighting world hunger through agricultural training finding sustainable farming solutions for families growing food under difficult conditions.

Malnutrition is the largest single contributor to disease and over 1 billion people were undernourished in 2009. Our donation this month will provide scholarships to development workers from Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, Uganda and other countries who otherwise could not afford to attend the ECHO national symposium to be held in Tanzania, 2011. These national workers would not otherwise have access to the life-saving information and networking that can help them better serve the poor that they are working among.

Entire communities benefit when health, nutrition and agriculture are improved, therefore it’s hard to measure the scope of impact our donations will bring through this one opportunity to ‘train the trainers’. THANK YOU for your gifts this month and another HUGE THANK YOU for voting for ECHO. We’re proud to support such a wonderful organization!

For more information on Echo visit their website at www.echonet.org.

Together we’re impacting the world!

Lucas Parry

There are a ton of great organizations out there to raise money for, but I’ve never come across anything that I care deeply about in order to rally behind with all of my heart, soul and mind.  That is, until now…

Today, I’m extremely excited to announce a venture we’re calling “Race The Trace“, an attempt to be the first person(s) in recorded history to run the entire 444 miles of the Natchez Trace Parkway to raise support and awareness for the Affero Project.

About The Natchez Trace Parkway

Stretching from the Mississippi River in Natchez through the Shoals area in Alabama and across the Tennessee Valley to Nashville, this timeworn path has felt the tread of travelers for over 8,000 years. Buffalo and other wildlife were first to wind their way through the wilderness. Later, American Indians, traders, trappers and missionaries joined their fellow creatures on the rough track. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, boatmen floated merchandise downriver to New Orleans where they sold their flatboats and their goods and returned home on foot or horseback, using the well-worn Natchez Trace. Back then the Old Trace went through rough territory dominated by many hazards, such as bandits, American Indians and wild animals. All these hazards earned the route the ominous nickname, “Devil’s Backbone.”

Next Steps

As I mentioned in the video, one of the reasons we’re announcing this venture long before the event is that we hope to include you, the community, in the process along the way. Everything is still in the works… the website, our planning, sponsors, my training (both understanding and execution), the equipment/tools we’ll use, the crew, etc. We think this is going to be a fun ride in putting it all together and we hope you enjoy watching and participating in the process!

Christine and her husband Taban live in the Waji village in Southern Sudan. They have five children. They used to get their drinking water from a stream. Christine says, ““This water was so dirty; animals drinking from the same source and the water smells [like] cattle urine. I got a lot of problems as I continued drinking from this stream. My children were suffering from worms. Not only my children, I started suffering from body rashes followed by stomach ache and today as I talk, my first-born child who is twelve is having typhoid.”” Christine’’s community recently received a new well. ““[T]his borehole is giving us hope for better future,”” she says. ““The money used for treatment is going to be used for raising our children and getting [a] better education”.”

Nearly 1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and 2.5 billion do not have improved sanitation. The healthy and economic impacts are staggering. Around the world, dirty and diseased water leads to a cycle of sickness and poverty. Without safe water, communities struggle to teach their children, grow food, and earn a living. They can’’t develop. Hope remains elusive. You can help change that by supporting programs run by organizations like Lifewater International or The Water Project. When a materially poor community or school receives a new water project, women no longer spend hours searching for a source of water. Children, especially girls, return to school. Water-borne illnesses are reduced. Hope is restored.

As our very own Barak recently posted, the United Nations declares water to be essential for full enjoyment of of life and all human rights. Yet governments struggle around the world to provide clean water and basic sanitation. There is a growing crisis. Who will help the majority world develop solutions these challenges?

This week I was talking with Mike Schneider, of GiveToWater.org. He was recapping these stats:

880 million people lack access to Clean Water. 5,000 children die every day from water related illness. 5.5 billion adult productive days are lost every year due to diarrheal diseases. 40 billion hours are lost every year due to time spent fetching water in sub-Saharan Africa. $15 – $20 can provide clean water for one person for at least 20 years.

More than 50,000 rural water points in Africa (36% of the total) are non-functional. In Sierra Leone the figure is 65% (UNICEF). A safe water source alone typically reduces water born disease by only about 25% or less (WHO). Even a short period of breakdown for a well can eliminate annual health benefits. The estimated cost of universal access to clean water is $42 billion – the estimated cost of repairing existing infrastructure is $350 billion. So the problem isn’t going to go away (WHO). In some countries 40% or more of government water and sanitation budgets are not spent – there are local resources lying unused (Wateraid).

Barak points us to pioneering work that creatively addresses the need to move beyond welfare and charity and towards true community development that fosters fully functional and enduring work. Water for People utilizes the power of the free market to address the world’s sanitation crisis. The key to sanitation as a business is to make ongoing sanitation services the goal, rather than the installation of the latrine. When sanitation services are profitable and businesses see everyone without a latrine as a potential customer, businesses—rather than development organizations—will expand latrine coverage to increase their profit margin. Thus many more people will have access to toilets than they would with typical programming.

Digging wells is the easy part. We know that solutions must last to make a long-term difference. We at The Affero Project celebrate the courageous organizations working with the enterprising poor and empowering local capacity to extend access to safe water, improved sanitation, hygiene education and the skills needed to pass these resources to future generations.

We’re calling it the 12×12 Campaign

Over 12 Days, Tell 12 People, To Help Us Give Away $1200 A Month

The Affero project (being the coolest non-profit in the world), is giving away  TWO pairs of custom Affero Toms Shoes! One of a kind…. you can’t get anywhere else in the world.

At the end of this month we have a goal to be giving away $1200 a month. As of today we’re currently giving $770 to the categories YOU vote on. We have over 100 people giving every month, our largest donor gives $100 and our smallest $1. It’s something we ALL can do… and we don’t just support one organization, but 12!! :)

So we need you help to increase our monthly giving to $1200 :)

To enter the running to win these shoes you can do one, two or all three of these:

1) Sign up for and become a donor/voting member of Affero – HERE

2) Update your facebook/twitter status and link back to the Affero website or include the “@afferoproject” in the message or by using the hashtag “#12×12″ in your message

3) Forward this email with a personal message to 12 of your friends http://bit.ly/Affero12x12 (click here)

Thanks for helping is spread the word. Together we’re bringing change to communities all around the world!

As I shared in a previous post, human trafficking is one form of modern day slavery. Affero aims to be a part of the modern day abolishment movement. Human trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal industry in the world. We can stop it. We are working to bring it to an end.

But what about the child soldier? After 9/11 I remember reading an article in TIME about Mukhtar, an infrantryman in Afghanistan’s rebel army. He could shoot a man in a beard from a standing position at 200 meters or point out camouflaged Taliban bunkers through miles of dust. His platoon leader said the green-eyed soldier was perhaps the finest he commanded. Mukhtar took the compliment with a shrug of his skinny shoulders. “I have been in the army a long time,” he said. “So I should be good at my job.” At the time, Muktar was a four-year veteran of Afghanistan’s desert war. But he was only 15 years old.

The military use of children is widespread. There are international laws and dedicated organizations like Project: AK-47 committed to liberate child soldiers. The truth is many of the world’s youth have never known peace. Some kids are taken from their homes and forced to fight. Others join the war because there is little else to do and to keep their bellies filled. In countries with limited electricity or running water and few roads, many boys must forgo school to make money any way they can, even following cows with upturned palms to catch excrement to sell as fuel. Joining the army guarantees free food, clothes and cigarettes plus the chance to swagger. “When you fight for your people, you become a man,” says Shukrullah, 12, who strolls the mountainous streets of his country with a loaded, unlocked Kalashnikov. For these youngsters, it doesn’t matter that most soldiers have not received their $25 monthly salary for three months. “This is a very good life,” says baby-faced teenager Safaullah, sitting in a trench awaiting battle. “I can eat good rice, play chess with my friends and fire many interesting weapons.”

Children in war-torn regions of the world need our help. As I shared in a previous post, Affero is committed raise friends and funding to provide education and food for the orphans. Now consider a place like Uganda. Where 20 years of civil war has decimated it’s population to a litte more than 30 million and a median age of 14.9 years. Who will go and serve this young nation? Who will serve these children, provide day care, schooling, medicine and food? Meet Irene Gleeson.

An Aussie like our very own Lucas, she visited Africa and was moved by what she found. In 1988 she founded Childcare Kitgum Servants and left her beachside home, her four grown children and her grandchildren. This mighty grandmum courageously towed her caravan to the war zone of Kitgum and gathered her first 50  war-traumitized children under a mango tree and began to teach and feed them.

Today, Irene and her team give full day care, schooling and much love to over 10,000 children in five schools. They have established medical and malnourished feeding clinics and a AIDS hospice and infant orphanage.

Around the world, children are singled out for recruitment by both armed forces and armed opposition groups, and exploited as combatants. Easily manipulated, children are sometimes coerced to commit grave atrocities, including rape and murder of civilians using assault rifles such as AK-47s and G4s. Some are forced to injure or kill members of their own families or other child soldiers. Others serve as porters, cooks, guards, messengers, spies, and sex slaves.

But by sharing this post and joining the movement, you are changing all this. You are partnering with Irene and other champions working day in and day out as teachers, nurses, builders, drivers, counselors and cooks.

Approximately 250,000 children under the age of 18 are thought to be fighting in conflicts around the world, and hundreds of thousands more are members of armed forces who could be sent into combat at any time.

Ordinary people can stop this. Your support is life changing for these kids. Thank you.

You may be surprised by these findings from The Happy Planet Index 2.o, I know I certainly was!

Click the map below to see how your country compares with others.

The countries I thought would have the highest HPI, were actually among the lowest.

“It is interesting to note that many of the countries that do well are composed of small islands (including the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Cuba and the Philippines). Half of the ten small island nations included in the latest global HPI are in the top 20 per cent of the HPI rankings. Only one of the remaining five is not in the top-half of the rankings.”

As we digest this, a few questions come to mind. 1) What does this mean for us? 2) What can we learn? Share your thoughts.

Try this. Count to six: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Another child just died from hunger-related causes. That’s right. Every six seconds a little boy or girl somewhere in the world dies because they are under-nourished.

We know that our bodies need food to remain strong and fight off illness. Outright starvation is real. More common, however, are illnesses that move in on vulnerable children whose bodies have been weakened by hunger. What can be done to help these children?

Heroic organizations like Freedom from Hunger concentrate services on the world’s poorest nations where an overwhelming 32% are moderately to severely stunted — seriously below normal height for one’s age.

As I’ve shared in a previous post, we can fight poverty with education and sustainable economic development strategies. Freedom from Hunger brings innovative and sustainable self-help solutions to the fight against chronic hunger and poverty. Their able staff have already trained and supported 72 partner organizations in 16 countries to deliver microfinance, education and health-protection services to more than two million women and families in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Doing development successfully is not easy. Microfinance is a powerful self-help support service, providing credit and saving services that are affordable, flexible and reliable. This assists the poor in reducing the uncertainties of cash management and allows them to borrow for needs and opportunities such as starting or growing a small business. Organizations like the Chalmers Center are doing pioneering work, training those with material resources how to help in ways that truly empower, rather than create dependency.

To add further value to microfinance, new approaches to offer women access to healthcare services and medicines are being developed. Practical health education prepares women in their community microfinance meetings to implement better health, nutrition, business and money management in their daily life. Efforts that invest in mothers and their determination to feed their children and protect their health are working. They are saving lives. Affero researches and supports those with proven programs offering training and collaborating with local partners who expand the reach of these life-saving initiatives and ensure that services are delivered effectively and sustainably.

One in every six African children dies before their fifth birthday. Among the causes are diarrhea, malaria, neonatal infection and pneumonia. HIV/AIDS and malnutrition contribute to one-half of children’s deaths – and most of these deaths could be prevented. Rigorous studies have documented that those who participate in programs like these shared in this post benefit from value-added microfinance programs and have more money and assets available in the household, a greater sense of personal empowerment to take action in the family and community, better business practices, better health practices, and better-nourished, healthier children.

All mothers want their children to live happy and healthy lives. How will you help them today?

Global poverty is discussed everywhere today, newspapers, magazines, online, blogs, courtrooms, schools, marketplaces, homes and by governments. Many people have written great books with ideas and potential solutions to ending extreme poverty. But, is it simply a utopian idea that poverty can be eliminated worldwide? Can poverty truly be dealt with in our lifetime, and if so… how?

Poverty is a very real issue facing billions round the world. Poverty is material, emotional, personal and some could argue even spiritual, as it affects the whole person, community and even nation. So what role does government play in helping to eradicate poverty?

Jeffrey Sachs has one viewpoint -

One the other end of the spectrum would be

William Easterly

What do you think? Is it possible? How? What role does government play? Lets discuss…

As I’ve shared in a previous post, Gary and his team at International Justice Mission are champions of justice and hope. They serve as a human rights agency rescuing victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals perform rescue missions and provide aftercare to victims. They courageously prosecute perpetrators and promote functioning public justice systems around the world.

What do you know about human trafficking? Did you know that every day a young woman is being tricked, a young child is lured, and a poor man is coerced from from their home or country and compelled to work with little or now payment. These people are being exploited. This trade is a modern day form of slavery. Some are forced into prostitution, others forced labor. Human trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal industry in the world. And it is big business with the total annual revenue for trafficking in persons estimated to be between $5 billion and $9 billion.

Our friends at The Home Foundation are dedicated to the ending human trafficking both domestically and abroad. Through advocacy, education and relief efforts, they work courageously to end the suffering of women and children sold into sexual slavery.

There are as many as 27 million slaves world-wide. 85% of those victims are women and children. The devastation from this evil is tremendous in far-off places like India and Eastern Europe – but also a growing problem in the United States. Organizations frequently offer rescue and restoration to victims internationally because the need is so tremendous in these high-risk areas. However, little is being done to address the need for shelters here in the U.S. In fact, in some instances exploited girls are being kept in jail until they can speak out against their perpetrator because there was no other safe place to keep them.

To learn more about the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, you can read this Trafficking in Persons Report from the U.S. Department of State. At The Home Foundation’s website, you can learn about their collaborative effort with other shelters dedicated to the restoration of survivors of sex trafficking. This association helps set forth guidelines to ensure that victims receive quality care to heal and re-integrate into them into their communities as wholly functioning individuals engaged in life. Restored and free from their past.

Take a minute and think about this. Can you imagine the suffering and long term effects from the trauma and abuse you would experience as a woman or child trafficked? Funding through Affero helps The Home Foundation with their vision to establish an educational conference to assist those serving this unique population – giving them tools to further develop their programs in the cities and homes where they serve and give them opportunities to network with other professionals serving in this field. This work aims to bring together experts in the field to equip and develop workers dealing with human trafficking here in the U.S.

The issues victims of trafficking face are huge, including; post traumatic stress disorder, disassociative identity disorder, night terrors, detachment, eating disorders, cutting, sexual trauma and much more. This conference deals with these issues while offering practical help and advice on running shelters in the U.S.

Established shelters dedicated to the total restoration of an individual rescued from sexual slavery will have a huge impact on the face of modern day slavery and the abolitionist movement of the 21st Century. When victims become re-integrated into society they can speak out against perpetrators and affect change for other victims. This will help move us closer to achieving our ultimate goal: a day when slavery is truly eradicated.

With your help, we are developing this association and quality shelters across the U.S. Each home is dedicated to HOPE, OPPORTUNITY, MENTORING, EMPOWERMENT, & SPIRITUAL SUPPORT. Thank you for your prayers, for giving and sharing this great work with your friends.

What an exciting 5 months it has been since we launched!

First let me announce this months winner…. CURE INTERNATIONAL.

Earlier this year Marc Krejci, Peter Rees and I had the opportunity to spend time at CURE Internationals hospital in Uganda.  You can read about that trip HERE. It was one of the most moving experiences of my life! This hospital sees over 2,500 patients a year and treats them for hydrocephalus and spina bifida. Literally saving thousands of lives. Together we have helped to fund some of these operations.

We sat and talked with the mothers of the children at the hospital, and with eyes of tears expressing the deepest gratitude, they send a heartfelt “thank you” to all of our members who have given and contributed to this cause. Affero helped to save their children’s lives!

WHAT WE’VE DONE THIS YEAR

It has given me great energy and joy to be a part of our small but growing community these past 5 months. I want to take a moment and share our success’s and marvel at what we’ve been able to achieve.

• We’ve given over $3,500 to 5 different organizations engaged in combating poverty and injustice
• 141+ registered monthly donors to date
• Donors in three countries: USA, Australia and New Zealand
• 14 Artist and Celebrity Endorsements
• Launch of the “I’M IN” Campaign
• Sponsored the Alive Festival in OH, Branding to over 20,000 people, 16+ volunteers, 400+ people signed up for the “IM IN” Campaign.
• Average of 20% growth each month in number of donors and funds released.
• Launch of the Affero blog, now with 6 guest weekly bloggers.
• 7 volunteer staff
• Completed our first international scout trip to Uganda
• 5 categories filled with partner organizations; Lifewater International, Lifesong For Orphans, CURE International, The Home Foundation and Doulos Discovery School for our first round of funding.

WOW! We’ve come a long way and we have much more ahead.

Over the coming months we’ll be in contact about many new initiatives we’re launching including; Affero website 2.0, The Pepsi Refresh Project, upcoming Affero Adventure trips for 2011, tours, events and much more. We’ll be asking you to ‘dive in’ and help us grow our community so we’re able to give away more money and impact the world in greater ways.

September 1st brings all 12 Categories up for voting… so be sure to check out every one of our partner organizations and the amazing work they are doing around the world that we get to be a part of.

Thanks for joining together in community to change the world.

Together we’re changing lives,
Lucas Parry

I first learned of ODW through their work after the floods in Pakistan. There are amazing people and organizations doing amazing work to end extreme global poverty. This is very good news. ODW asks supporters to consider the impact of your one day’s wages, which they calculate to be equal to about 0.4% of your annual salary. At ODW, 100% of your donations go directly to organizations and projects.

As I’ve shared in a previous post, Affero is a movement of people, stories, and actions to alleviate extreme global poverty. Whether you intend to give a day’s wages or a little as $1 a month, we invite you to join the movement.

Consider this: 75 million children are out of school around the world. This would be like every primary school-aged child in Europe and North America being out of school.

Receiving an education is vital to the eradication of poverty worldwide and crucial in rebuilding devastated countries and economies. Much work has been done in this area in the past 10 years but more needs to be done. In South-Asia the adult literacy rate is 63 percent, nearly 20 percent lower than the global rate, while only 43 percent of females are likely to attend secondary school. In some African countries like Burkina Faso, the adult literacy rate is only 23.6%. Access to primary education and schools for all children is a vital need to combat this major global problem. With your help, organizations like Doulos Discovery School are making a difference.

Did you know that 900 million people to do not have access to clean water and lack basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease? Our friends at Lifewater International envision is a world where every person has safe water, improved sanitation, hygiene education, and the skills they need to pass on these resources to future generations. For three decades, Lifewater has worked to provide safe water to communities around the world by working with in-country partner organizations. Lifewater has seen thousands of communities and almost two million lives transformed by clean, safe water and improved health.

Thank you for joining the movement and for sharing the good news. Together, we share the stories and raise awareness. Together, we are doing a world of good.

Orphan Care.

In July, Affero members selected Lifesong for Orphans to receive the month’s giving. Lifesong helps to “bring joy & purpose to orphans” …helping to replace ashes with beauty, give joy where there is mourning, and instill hope where there is despair.  I thank God for Lifesong and how they turn adversity and struggle into strength and victory!  That’s really what they are about – helping to turn despair into strength, joy and victorious living!  A “Lifesong” for the children, if you will…

Lifesong for Orphans works to break cycles of hopelessness in orphans lives by creating in-country solutions for approximately 2000+ orphans in Ukraine, Zambia, Ethiopia, Liberia, India, and Honduras through in-country adoption/foster care, transition homes, job-skill training, and mentors.

Now is the time to bring joy and purpose to the orphans in our world. In Zambia the orphan crisis is great, with an estimate of over 1,000,000 orphans (8-10% of the population).  Some other stunning realities:

1 out of every 5 individuals is HIV+
The average life expectancy is 30.5 yrs
Only 10% of all children attend school regularly
25,000 children worldwide die everyday of malnutrition
A hungry orphan or vulnerable child is not able to concentrate in the classroom and has a difficult time learning.

Lifesong began school and feeding programs in Zambia for 175 orphans & vulnerable children to help solve this problem. They provide an education –adding one grade each year, and providing 2 meals each day (breakfast & lunch) For breakfast each receives fafa, a porridge-like food that provides the nutrients that each growing child needs. The lunch menu rotates through a cycle of fish soup, beans, eggs, nshima, vegetables, etc.

In Kitwe, Zambia the Lifesong school is the only school in the community providing 2 meals a day. Your votes in July helped Affero towards it’s goal to support 150 orphans, ages 3 – 17, for 1 year.

As I shared in a previous post, there are 3 billion people living on less than $2 a day. 840 million people do not have enough to eat. That’s a lot of hungry people. As a member of The Affero Project, you are a member of a global tribe working against poverty and injustice. We each give a little and and mobilize these resources to worthwhile causes like Lifesong feeding the orphan and raising up leaders with love and a basic education. Thank you for giving and for sharing posts like this one. Remember to invite your friends to join the movement. Together, we are the change we want to see in the world. We are making a very real difference in the lives of orphans in Zambia and around the world.

Jack’s facebook status update was: – “I might not be able to give billions away, but I can give something! A little goes a very long way. You don’t need to be a billionaire to make a difference. Sign The 1% Giving Pledge and commit to give at least 1% of your annual income to philanthropic causes. Together we can change the world!”

Well done Jack! You’re the Man! You can choose from one of these three books:

If you haven’t read one of these books, why not purchase one? They are all fantastic books!

Peace,
Pete Rees (The Aussie Affangelist)

Rachel Llyod

Rachel Lloyd is a champion. She is also a survivor of human sex trafficking. As a child she was exploited commercially in the industry, first as a nude model at age 14 and then as a prostitute three years later. After a few years, Rachel left the sex industry and immigrated to the United States to work with incarcerated adult women, and later working to end domestic human trafficking. She began working with adult women who were coming out of prostitution, as well as women incarcerated at Rikers Island and county correctional facilities. She also reached out to women working the streets on Hunts Point in the Bronx. She now runs Girls Educational & Mentoring Services which empowers young women, ages 12-21, exit the sex industry.

Very Young Girls is an exposé of the commercial sexual exploitation of girls in New York City as they are sold on the streets by pimps, and treated as adult criminals by police. The film follows barely-adolescent girls in real time, using vérité and intimate interviews with them, documenting their struggles and triumphs as they seek to exit the commercial sex industry. The film also uses startling footage shot by pimps themselves, giving a rare glimpse into how the cycle of exploitation begins for many women. Very Young Girls will change the way law enforcement, the media, and society as a whole look at sexual exploitation, street prostitution and human trafficking that is happening right in our own backyard.

CraigsList Prostitution Sting Shows Illegal Sex Trade Still Rampant. A year after investigating prostitution via Craigslist, MSNBC has gone undercover to once again probe the illegal sex trade on Craigslist and see what the site has done to “clean up its act” since last May. The report found that prostitution on Craigslist was still prominent, even after the site had promised to crack down.

MSNBC’s Jeff Rossen rented a hotel room in New York City, then contacted individuals who had posted ads on Craigslist’s “Adult Services” section. Once the escort arrived at the hotel, “within seconds, it was clear this was all about sex,” Rossen reports. Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal compares the sex trade on Craigslist to “an online red light district” that’s “as obvious and plain to you as Times Square was in the 70s or 80s.”

The New York Times has a story estimating Craigslist’s sex-related revenue to be around $36 million dollars, or something close to a third of its estimated $100+ million in revenues. Many ads are are related to prostitution, and some to underage prostitution. So obviously Craigslist is being investigated yet again over this revenue. The fact that the company is fiercely private about its revenues and organization doesn’t make the picture any easier.

We believe the end of modern day slavery will come from individuals who gather together to push on businesses, media, and governments to support their existing values for human rights. We believe that this is a bottom-up movement that needs dynamic information, sustained inspiration, and most importantly, tactile activation. Will you join the movement?

CALL+RESPONSE produced documentary film that reveals the world’s 27 million dirtiest secrets: there are more slaves today than ever before in human history. CALL+RESPONSE goes deep undercover where slavery is thriving from the child brothels of Cambodia to the slave brick kilns of rural India to reveal that in 2009, Slave Traders made more money than Google, Nike and Starbucks combined.

There is a sea of change happening in human rights activism. The world’s issues cannot be solved alone by governments and non-profits, but require community-based participation. As a feature film, CALL+RESPONSE serves as a deft tool in the hands of 21st Century Abolitionists.  We believe this is a fight that must that is won with passion, innovation, and commitment. What’s your response going to be?

While I was there I learned an overwhelming amount of information about agriculture, ecology, Mexican culture, and the Spanish language. Turns out the language of a culture is something that is incredibly beneficial to have a firm grasp on before diving into said culture

Looking back now I can see how my whole experience would have been much smoother if I had known the language. For instance we had the opportunity on one of the days I was there to drive to a city up north to partake in a celebration and feast. Eventually we needed to stop for gas, my friend got out to pump as the others we were travelling with stayed in the van while I volunteered to go inside and purchase some water. It wasn’t until I got to the counter that I realized “oh yeah, I don’t speak any Spanish” I offered several forms of payment, none of which seemed to satisfy the increasingly irritated woman behind the counter. Eventually I gave up and left on the counter a guess at what I thought would equal the amount of money I owed, hoping that it would satisfy the attendant and hoping I could put this embarrassing experience behind me. When we got on the road again the guys asked for change from the money they had given me, of which I had none. Turned out I had put the equivalent of around 18 bucks on the counter for 2 bottles of water. I was not allowed to go into gas stations for the duration of the trip.

Another thing I learned about while I was there was the story of Dr. Paul Farmer. By the time I had gotten there I think my friend had read and re-read Tracy Kidder’s book “Mountains Beyond Mountains” a few dozen times. If you haven’t had the chance to read this book I highly suggest going to the library or dropping the deserved 12 dollars on it on Amazon. If you have read it you know just how much the ideas in the book get under your skin.

Paul Farmer is an inspiration to many in his research and innovations in getting medicine to the sick. The book itself traces how Paul Farmer became the infamous Dr. Paul Farmer, but the overlying story of how difficult it is to get medicine to the sick in many areas of the world is what really shocked me.

In Haiti, for example (where Farmer’s work is anchored) behind HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis is the country’s greatest infectious cause of mortality in both youth and adults. While we’ve managed to control TB and to some extent AIDS/HIV in the States through rigorous hospital standards, testing, media campaigns encouraging proactive solutions and advances in medications, these diseases still rip through a nation that is about 1600 miles away. That’s just less than 1000 more miles away from where I currently am to Los Angeles. So the big question is why can we not help rid this nation (as well as assist other nations) of these diseases if we have managed to control them in some manner here.

Of course there are a hundred different reasons why, most of them involving governments and bureaucratic red tape, but I think another reason is that many have either become jaded to the idea of illnesses ravishing whole nations or we have become so secluded and naïve that we have forgotten that we have the ability to help our neighbors around the world out.

When I think back to the van ride we took in Mexico, the one where we all spoke English which lead to me forgetting where I was in the world and forgetting the thick language barrier that stood between myself and a couple bottles of water, I can’t help but be embarrassed at how naïve I was. My hope is that I don’t look back years from now with the same degree of guilt and embarrassment when it comes to knowing more about HIV/AIDS, TB and other illnesses in this world. I hope we can all look back and remember when we got together, were bold and empowered, and decided to do something about it.

Peace,

Steve

It’s easy to enter the global action comp. All you have to do is click the share button on the right side and optionally share a thought, quote, or anything else about global action, extreme poverty etc.

This is an opportunity to let your voice be heard! Then click above and enter your name and status update and you could be the winner of one of these books.

Need some ideas? We have had some awesome status updates today. Here are a few :-

• Changing the world is easy! Read books…. Affero is giving them away
• This guy is my new hero!
• Ed Stafford walks length of Amazon river
• A new comic tells seven stories about human trafficking based on real testimonies from survivors.
• Are you a true world changer? Check out the link to see …
• Bill Gates Convinces 40 Billionaires to Give Away Half Their Fortunes Our favorite charity-worker Bill Gates has successfully signed up 38 billionaires to give away half of their wealth to those less fortunate, in what could be the largest-scale philanthropic work ever.

Be as simple or creative as you want.

Cheers,

Pete Rees

In  essay to the donor/NGO community Breslin talks frankly about the challenges that face NGO’s in the field, the dynamics of donor-implementer relationships, and the practices that have to change if we are to ever solve the global water and sanitation crisis.  I will let the essay speak for itself and I highly recommend taking the time to read it b/c it’s brilliant.  Key points from the essay are bulleted below and you can Download the Essay here.

Essay Excerpt:

Currently, the overriding approach in the sector is of welfare and charity rather than development. This approach leads to poor project implementation which leads to high rates of failure.

Key points:

• •  NGOs must develop the time, patience and understanding of community development to establish the foundation for success.
• •  Until now, “sweat equity” has been considered sufficient contribution from communities. But it is not enough to create a sense of ownership to ensure long term success of projects.
• •  New philanthropic giving strategies could play a significant role in eliminating water and sanitation poverty by basing themselves on a robust set of sustainability metrics.
• •  A new partnership between philanthropists and development agencies needs to focus on leveraging creative philanthropic giving to instill financial responsibilities on communities and governments in developing countries.
• •  A new culture of accountability and transparency that transcends what currently masquerades as “reporting” in the sector must emerge
• •  Investors, who employ stringent due diligence when selecting for-profit ventures, should use those same requirements when considering their philanthropic donations.
• •  New measurements should go beyond counting number of people served in a given year to include the % of projects that are fully functional and self-sufficient at 3,6 and 10 years.

THE PRIZES:

• One book for the coolest facebook status update.
• A second book for whoever scores the most points in the comp.

WINNERS CHOOSE FROM THESE THREE BOOKS

The status updates need to be about seeking  justice, global action, etc.  Keep them positive, inspiring, challenging or fun. Link to a website, share a quote or anything else you can think of.

HOW DO YOU SCORE POINTS?

• Each unique facebook or twitter update earns you ten points.
• 2 points for linking back to this post in your status.

WHAT DO I DO?

• Fill in form linked below with each status update

Lets see if we can start a global action tidal wave of awareness.  How cool would it be if we had thousands of people thinking about global issues and deciding to act this week because of our status updates?

WINNERS ANNOUNCED IN ONE WEEK ON  SUNDAY 22ND AUGUST
CONTEST OPEN INTERNATIONALLY

• To enter comp click here

Remember, you can just do one status update if you want. Coolest update will be judged by the Affero team and posted on our blog.

Lets make this huge!

Peace,

Pete

Lastly, take a moment to watch this video… I guarantee you’ll be moved.

Do you remember the major earthquake has devastated China, leaving millions without food, adequate clothing, or shelter? Have you followed the trend of the growing number of homeless men in our cities? Men who are also without food, adequate clothing, or shelter. At first glance the appropriate responses to each of these crises would seem to be very similar. After all, the people in both situations all need food, clothing, and housing, and providing these things to both groups seems to be the obvious solution.

The material needs of these people may be similar. Yet these people face different crises in very different situations. As is explained in with in one webinar I recently watched, applying the same remedy to each situation might very well do harm. As in all situations, truly loving the poor requires careful analysis in order to design the appropriate response.

A helpful first step in thinking about working with the poor in any context is to discern whether the appropriate approach is to use relief, development, or some combination of the two. “Relief” can be defined as the urgent and temporary provision of resources to reduce immediate suffering from natural or man-made disasters. Relief is the first response that comes to most people’s minds when they see the suffering of others. “Development” can be defined as a process of ongoing change in which people are moved closer towards being in right relationship with God, with themselves, with others, and with creation. As people develop, amongst other things, they are better able to support themselves through their own work.

Both relief and development can be appropriate interventions. But if we do relief when we should do development, we can actually hurt the very people we are trying to help. For example, giving food to an able-bodied person who persistently refuses to take advantage of opportunities to work will simply enable them to continue to live irresponsibly, thereby hindering their “development” of better relationships with God, with themselves, with others, and with creation. In such a situation, not providing this person with relief would be the loving thing to do. But that doesn’t mean that our responsibilities towards them end. On the contrary, our neighbor in this instance needs “development,” which will be far more time-consuming for us, as we seek to walk alongside of this person and help them to develop better work habits.

Diagnosing the Situation. How can you discern whether relief or development is the appropriate approach? Unfortunately, there is no magic formula, but there are some principles you can use.

A good rule of thumb outlined in the When Helping Hurts self study course is that you should not habitually do for somebody what they can do for themselves, for if you do so you will undermine their development as stewards of their own gifts and abilities. Many well-meaning ministries routinely violate this principle, thereby doing serious harm to the development of the very people they are trying to help. For example, years ago one of the authors of this article helped to mobilize his church to volunteer at a homeless shelter. The church members graciously bought food, prepared a meal, served it to the residents of the shelter, and cleaned up afterwards. The homeless men were never asked to lift a finger in the entire process, thereby confirming their perspective that they were incapable of taking charge of their lives. A more developmental approach—and a more time-consuming one—would have involved the homeless men in every stage of the process, from planning the meal, to shopping for the food, to helping with serving and clean-up.

Providing Relief Effectively. If you determine that relief is the appropriate response, there are some principles that can help to make your efforts more effective.

First, relief needs to be immediate. If a person is in the midst of suffering from a crisis and cannot help themselves, a timely response is crucial. For example, when a large-scale, natural disaster hits, the victims cannot wait weeks while churches or organizations try to think of what they should do. Neither can they wait while organizations and churches try to secure funding. What is true for large-scale disasters is true for the battered woman who has bravely come to the church office seeking safe shelter. Sending her back home to wait while the church tries to find her some alternative shelter is not a good relief response.

In order to provide timely relief it is important to engage in disaster preparedness.  This means simply looking ahead and forecasting the types of relief situations that the church or organization may encounter. Financial, material, and human resources can be identified and secured to be ready to be put into play at the right time. We can obtain or create a directory of services that are available in the community to address relief needs. We can organize ourselves by identifying who would be ready to give of themselves to help someone who is in the midst of a crisis. Such help could include opening their home for a few nights, providing transportation to an agency or taking a person out to eat.

Relief is temporary, provided only during the time that people are unable to help themselves. Determining when to stop relief is never easy. On the one hand, we can make the mistake of ending our assistance too early. An uninsured family facing ongoing medical bills due to an unforeseen health emergency may need more than a single gift of $100. On the other hand, if relief is given for too long, it can do harm. Because the primary relationship in relief work is that of provider and receiver, prolonged help can move beyond appropriate alleviation of suffering to the creation of unhealthy dependency. Again, do not habitually do for people what they can do for themselves.

Doing Development Successfully. The majority of poverty in the world does not stem from some temporary crisis such as an earthquake in China. Hence, providing temporary relief is unlikely to solve most of global poverty. A longer approach that gets at deeper issues will be needed.

What are those deeper issues?  What is the cause of poverty?

Engaging in development work must understand its long-term nature. Development is a slow, ongoing process of change. It involves addressing large, foundational problems that are not quickly or easily fixed. Often we are addressing decades or even centuries of brokenness on both the personal and structural levels. Bringing reversal or renewal can also take such lengths of time.

Second, everyone is living in poverty at some level, and thus everyone is in need of development. While many of us are not economically poor, we are all poor in the sense that we are all suffering from the effects of the fall. Embracing this truth is crucial if we are to have the humility of heart and mind that is necessary in order to help the economically poor. Such an attitude helps combat feelings of superiority as well as the god-complex that leads us to believe that we need to “save” the poor. Both of these mindsets can create paternalistic actions and programs that communicate to the economically poor that they are inferior to us. What is needed are people who are broken and ready to have their own lives changed even as they seek to be agents of change in the lives of others.

Third, development needs to be done at the individual as well as at the societal level. Thus, housing development can be the rehab of a single home of someone in your community, or it can be a major housing renewal throughout the neighborhood. Development can be tutoring a child after school, or it can be the creation of a quality school in the community.

Fourth, it can also be said that development is a process carried out through the vehicle of “products.” For example, wells for clean drinking water, improved crops, rehabilitated housing, more small businesses, and new schools are all products. They are easy to photograph and document. But the process used to create these products is at the heart of development. Did the low-income people participate in the process in such a way as to increase their knowledge, attitudes, skills, and power so as to better provide for their families and to create stronger, safer, and healthier communities? Did the well-to-do enter into the development process with the economically poor, or did they try to do development to the poor? If it was toinstead of with, then it is unlikely that real development occurred.

Indeed, one of the central factors in the quality and thus impact of the development process is the type and degree of participation of the poor in their own development. The more the poor are at the planning table, the more they are fully engaged in implementation of these plans, and the more they have a voice in the evaluation process (i.e. measuring success), the more effective the development process will be. The role of the worker in such participatory development is to be an encourager, a catalyst, a facilitator, and a networker.

For the last two weeks I have struggled to put pen to paper (or to tap out my thoughts on a keyboard) regarding how I would wrap up my two-part piece on child soldiers. There seems to be so much information on this subject alone that I felt there was no way I am going to do it any justice.

On top of this I recently started a new job at work that has been eating up my free time like the Dilophosaurus chewed up Wayne Knight in Jurassic Park. That isn’t to say I don’t love my new job, on the contrary I do, however my writing has suffered in the past two weeks and been pushed to the back burner, and for that I apologize.

The third reason that I have struggled to finish this piece is that as a writer I tend to lean heavily towards being a comedy writer, and the fact of the matter is, the more I read and researched the dilemma of child soldiers, the less and less I found ways to make any sort of light hearted remarks regarding the issue. Face it; even the Dilophosaurus joke in the last paragraph was a bit of a stretch.

For these reasons among others I decided that I could not finish this piece on my own. Fortunately my friend (and co-affangelist) Mr. Rob Harvey pointed me in the direction of one Mr. Marcus Young. Marcus Young not only came to my rescue in helping me finish this piece, but he taught me more about the experiences of a child soldier than any book or article possibly could. Marcus and I had a great at length conversation regarding a group he has worked with for several years called Project AK-47.

Before I spout off about what Project Ak-47 is doing I have to precede it by saying that at the center of Marcus’ story of how he came to be involved with rescuing children from places such as Mexico, Burma and the Philippines is a man who very much so leans on Jesus in his life.

In short Project AK47 reaches into the depths of poverty and pulls out kids who weren’t given a fair first shot at having a childhood. Sure we could go back and forth and debate what it means to have a childhood, we could discuss how my Western idea of childhood differs from a world view of childhood, or even argue that there’s no such thing as a world view of child hood. We could do all that until we’re blue in the face, but the fact will still remain that kids as young as 3 and 4 are conscripted by their governments into militias. They start out as “go fers” running menial errands here and there, during this time they sometimes have food, clothing and shelter provided for them. Around the ages of 9 and 10 they start training the children in basic combat, and then at about 12 years old they join the ranks of other soldiers. At 12 they are physically large enough to carry the light, deadly and relatively cheap weapon that is an AK-47. The average time these children spend in some sort of paramilitary role on average is 7 years.

So yes, we could argue about what it means to “have” a childhood, but I’m willing to bet there are very few people that would wish the above paragraph on any child. What project Ak-47 does is to step in when given the chance and provide these kids with the food, clothing and shelter they need, but with the relationships they as children yearn for as well. The over arching idea behind Project AK-47 is that the children in these situations have two chances in life; to be a kid for 7 years or to be a killer for 7 years. A(a) kid (k)for (4) 7 or a(a) killer(k) for (4) 7. AK-47.

I think that if I were a sensationalistic writer I would reprint the parts of mine and Marcus’ conversation that shocked me the most, the parts that broke my heart and the parts that spurred me on. But that’s not my writing style and I don’t want to scare anyone into finding out more about this mission of Project AK-47. So here are my suggestions if you want to find out more or get involved with alleviating this darkness from our world.

1)    Sign up for Affero (yeah, I went there.) Seriously though, sign up and vote for child soldiers to get your gift for the month. It can be that easy.

2)    Go to Project AK 47′s website and get involved there. Read about their dog tag campaign. Their goal is to get 100,000 dog tags of child soldiers out to people to raise awareness of just how many children are in the bondage of armies, militias and other various groups. While you’re there look around and learn more about Project AK-47

3)    Go to a library and type child soldiers into a search bar on the computer. The vast array of books and articles on the subject can lead to some great conversations and breakthroughs on this subject if you take the time to read them.

That’s it for me for the week. Thanks for your recent patience and I promise more regularity in the future when it comes to this column.

Peace,

Steve

So what does it all mean? What does it mean for us as a community? What can we do NOW? Let the discussion begin…

What an exciting month! We broke the $700 mark in funds being given away, and now have 122 Affero members from 3 different countries! We’re growing and fast approaching the $1000 mark.

Our $704 dollars this month went to our WINNER – “Lifesong for Orphans”, helping Lifesong feed and educate 150 orphan children in Zambia for a whole year. Take a moment to visit Lifesong’s website www.lifesongfororphans.org, they do much more than just feed and educate orphan children. You’ll find a wealth of information on adoption including grants and loans they offer to people in the process of adoption.

August is out last month of voting on this cycle (we operate on a yearly cycle)- so we only have one category left! SEPTEMBER will see us reset with all 12 categories up for voting with new projects and organizations doing the most amazing work all around the world. Voting will be fun and competitive, but we all know that eventually throughout the year EVERY category will get funded… that’s the beautiful thing about Affero. TOGETHER we are able to do more, GIVE more and CHANGE the world in ways never possible by ourselves.

I want to thank you for joining us as one of the very first members of Affero. We dream of the day when WE’RE giving away $1 million dollars a month, but not everyone will be able to say “remember when we were small?”. We have some huge and exciting website developments on the way this next year that will make the Affero Experience like no other. More details to come in a few days, but needless to say we have a very clear plan to get to to the point where we’re giving away $1 million dollars a month.

Thanks for joining us in this dream. Together we’re changing the world!

Lucas Parry

To many women in Burundi, Malwai and Sudan, not having basic reading skills can make social inclusion, empowerment and improved quality of life a seemingly unachievable goal.

For almost ten years, Mothers’ Union Literacy and Development Programme has been working diligently to address this. Their trainers provide life-changing education – not only offering training in reading, writing and arithmetic – but support for marriage and family life, often ending cycles of violence and abuse within the home. These programs are rolled out by more than 1,400 volunteer facilitators which makes for an extremely cost-effective way to train the more than 73,000 people they’ve reached so far.

Much remains to be done. And with your help much more will be done. These established programs are now being extended in partnership with Five Talents and World Concern, which have funded an innovative microcredit program in the village of Lietnhom in southern Sudan. This area is transitioning from the ravages of more than 20 years of war. Almost three years after a peace agreement, hundreds of thousands are still internally displaced and others who have found a home are looking to rebuild their shattered lives.

Many have faced great personal upheaval. Imagine militias burning your home and raping or killing your loved ones. Then you and your surviving family flee your village looking for help. As a refugee, you end up in a large camp. And this camp offers little hope to provide for itself, so even if you where used to subsistence farming, you must now rely on food distribution and are dependent on relief aid.

Innovative “Cash for Work” program provides jobs. World Concern’s ground-breaking program pays refugees in Africa for community service. It gives dignity to displaced and hungry people who work to receive payment. The projects these laborers complete help their communities to become more sustainable. One group of workers dug large ponds for catching water to be used for irrigation and animals. Another built low rock walls, called bunds, to reduce erosion on the hillsides and raise the water table which makes the land more suitable for planting crops.

In the foreword of In the River They Swim: Essays from Around the World on Enterprise Solutions to Poverty, Rick Warren writes “The tired and discredited government approaches of simply handing out money to the poor do not work. Charity robs people of their dignity, creates dependency, and stifles initiative. We must not do for others what they can do for themselves. Instead, we must provide what we have been blessed with – knowledge, training and opportunities.” I thank God for leaders spending themselves to offer empowering training initiatives on the front lines in the hard places like Sudan alleviating poverty of community and poverty of stewardship.

Education and job creation are transforming lives. Adult education is providing foundational support to local savings mobilization and business development training. Accredited learners are establishing productive businesses and greater income using their newfound skills. Learners are becoming mentors and transferring crucial financial knowledge and business skills so desperately needed at the community level.

As I shared in a previous post, the aim of The Affero Project is to engage a global tribe working against poverty and injustice. We seek to bring about change by aggregating small donations and mobilizing these resources to worthwhile causes like these empowering people to help each other out of poverty through education and job creation. Together, we can join in and give in ways that make a BIG difference to others and us. In fact, it’s life-changing for the givers who embrace their own relational poverty with the materially poor around the world.

About five days into the trip we arrived in the Northern area of Uganda known as Kitgum. Right in the midst of this war torn area,  we met an amazing Aussie lady who is an absolute inspiration.  Her name is Irene. Almost a modern day mother Theresa with a bit of attitude….

Irene’s Story

In 1989, Irene heard about orphans in Uganda needing help so she sold her beach-side home and all her possessions. She towed her caravan 500 kilometres from Kampala to the Sudan border. When she arrived, the district had been ravaged by 37 years of war. It was a community of aged widows and orphaned children. First, she gathered the destitute children who sat sick and listless all day and taught  them songs.

Irene and "CHILDCARE Kitgum Servants"

Fast forward twenty years to
today…

We saw over 9000 kids receiving schooling, meals and medicine.  It was huge!  Thousands of kids with hope in their eyes! Wow! A dynamically stark contrast to many other places in Northern Uganda.  Hope! What a moving sight.  These kids also learn building, carpentry, agriculture, etc.  They also have an aids hospice for the terminally ill and lots of other projects. I was shocked to find out that 80% of these 9000 had been abducted by rebels at some stage. Irene wasn’t one to sensationalise the war or tell sensational stories about child soldiers.  I think because she had seen the devastating things of war herself, but she did tell us she had been held by gunpoint many times and how her faith in God had saved her.  Here was this incredible woman who had given up everything to serve those who had lost so much.  Serving, helping, inspiring, empowering and so much more to the next generation. Some of the remarks by students were “childcare servants changed my life!”
and  “I am free!”

My Reaction

It was so fantastic seeing thousands of kids feed and being schooled. It was sad thinking that if Irene had not been there most likely all these kids would have no hope. There are moments in your life that give you a sharp reminder of what’s important.  Here’s a woman not striving for success but significance.  Not only living in one of the most remote places of Uganda joyfully serving people but living there by her own choice
through a terrible war.

The amazing thing that we can do as Affero is support people and organizations like this who spend their money on projects and empowering people.

Peace,

Pete Rees

However, the implications of declaring something a basic human right reach far beyond just an idealistic notion. Officially recognizing water and sanitation as a fundamental human right is a legal act with strong ramifications.

“Human rights are protected by internationally guaranteed standards that ensure the fundamental freedoms and dignity of individuals and communities.They include civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. Human rights principally concern the relationship between the individual and the State. Governmental obligations with regard to human rights can broadly be categorized in obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill” (WHO, 2002).

And therein lies the problem. With the acknowledgement that it is a right comes the obligation to act – and in this arena, the principle actors are governments. By guaranteeing safe water to a population, there are overwhelming challenges that are expensive, time consuming, and more often than not, political.  To often, governments are unwilling to shoulder this responsibility.

Ultimately, the question is – “how important is this?”.  Personally, I tend to put very little reliance on governments and large agencies with large-scale initiatives. All too often they create dependence through top-down, paternalistic programs. And yet if we take an honest assessment of our own lives we come to the inevitable conclusion that we ourselves are highly dependent upon the infrastructure implemented and maintained by our governments. In development work, cooperation and collaboration with local government is an essential component – even at a grassroots level. By gaining buy-in and and long-term commitments from government for supporting essential services, the quality and sustainability of programs like safe water and sanitation are greatly enhanced. The greatest challenge, however has been gaining this buy-in.  Though it won’t happen overnight, this resolution combined with ongoing efforts, will help governments to begin to take the necessary steps towards providing for their own people.

There is, however, one overarching attitude in the resolution that is regrettable – it is one that places primary responsibility on rich countries to bring change. This is one of the central themes that plagues international development. The trillions of dollars that have been poured into the developing world over the last three decades attests that money is not the primary barrier to poverty alleviation. Responsible use is. The West can only do so much – ultimately national governments must be willing to take responsibility for their own populations. Water and Sanitation provision is a great start.

Over and over you’ll hear me talk about our part in driving positive solutions. The expectations and demands you place on implementing organizations has a profound effect on how they execute programs. Ask the organizations you support how they garner buy-in and participation from local government and if their strategies incorporate handing off programs to local government or local organizations. Though not always done well, it is among the indicators used to judge the viability of a program.

Further reading:
Reuters: UN Assembly Asserts Water Rights
WHO: The Right to Water
Stanford: Human Rights

Today I came across The website CommitinSeptember.com. The goal is to get 10,000 people to ask the United Nations to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and take the tangible steps towards reducing global poverty? While a lot of progress has been made, it’s imperative that bigger steps be taken to eradicate hunger, improve maternal health, ensure environmental sustainability, and reduce child mortality. Consider adding your voice to this campaign.

Learn more about the goals set for 2015 by clicking the images below:

I never worried about where my next meal was coming from, clean water, sickness or disease, whether my parents could afford school  or, God forbid, that I would be abducted to fight in a war.   What a mad-crazy thought that is!

Those worries were the furthest thing from my mind at 12 ,13 and 14 years of age.  It’s insane to think that these thoughts have been genuine worries of young people in Northern Uganda for 20 plus years.

Leading up to my trip in Uganda I watched a documentary called “Invisible children”   what a film! I was absolutely blown away and ripped apart.

It tells the story of three young guys who went on a trip to Africa in 2003, looking for a story.  They stumbled upon Africa’s longest running war. Rebel

armies, known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), had been abducting children and using them as troops to wage war against the Ugandan government.

The danger of being snatched was so high that children would walk miles at night in an effort to avoid these troops. It is estimated that 90% of the LRA were abducted children. Joseph Kony, the leader of the LRA, a former witch doctor, aimed to start a new government in Uganda based on the bible and the ten commandments.

Over twenty five years, the LRA abducted more than 30,000 boys and girls as soldiers, some estimate up to 65,000. Attacks against Uganda’s Acholi people have resulted in severe trauma to civilians from extreme violence and abduction. Girls are often forced to be sex slaves.  Many of the kids were forced to kill, abuse dead bodies and many never returned.
This stuff is profoundly freaky and intense, a sickening nightmare that corrupts and imprisons. How would I be effected living there?  What would my life be like?   Would I be able to live knowing what I had done if I were abducted for the rebel army?  Would I have killed people?   These questions are too hard for me because, to be honest, I just can’t comprehend this horror as a reality.

The only difference between me and these now young men is that I was born to a different mother.

Peace has now come to Northern Uganda through a cease fire between Joseph Kony and the Ugandan Government.  The people are rebuilding their lives and trying to live a normal existence.  The poverty that we saw was extreme and the hardships they now face is like being given a reprieve and moving into a different new kind of nightmare.

Kony has now moved into the Congo and is trying to move towards the corridors of Southern Sudan and Central African Republic.  Peace may have come to Uganda but the carnage has moved.

About five days into the trip we arrived in this Northern area of Uganda known as Kitgum.   Right in the midst of this war torn area,  we met an amazing Aussie lady…

Related articles

• Uganda to compensate LRA victims ahead of vote (reuters.com)
• You: Obama signs law aimed against Lord’s Resistance Army (earthtimes.org)
• Time to End the Use of Child Soldiers in Northern Uganda (humantrafficking.change.org)

Peace,

Pete Rees

What is the need? The world has deep poverty amid plenty. 50% of the world’s population of 6 billion people survives on less than $2 a day. 20% of the world’s population survives on less than $1 a day. 20% of the world’s children never reach their fifth birthday. 50% of the world’s children suffer from some form of malnourishment.

When Helping Hurts. I posted “Not all poverty is created equal.” this weekend as my status on facebook. An interesting conversation followed. It seems that many folks recognize that many times in our attempts to alleviate poverty, we hurt the poor and ourselves.

One friend commented on my post pointing to a resource written in part by Brian Fikkert.

Good Intentions Are Not Enough. We need to address faulty assumptions about the causes of poverty. Many times our assumptions lead to strategies that do considerable harm to poor people as well as to themselves. “When Helping Hurts“ addresses these assumptions and offers several principles and strategies for poverty alleviation. It unpacks the distinctions between relief, rehabilitation, and development. The authors explain the difference between asset-based and needs-based strategies. Effective development is not done to people or for people but with people.

Is microenterprise development a proven solution? Microenterprise development is a very efficient way to help the poor in developing countries. Watch this quick video to catch a glimpse of this great work being done by organizations like Five Talents. With just a small amount of money, enterprising individuals can begin to break out of poverty. Providing poor entrepreneurs with capital and training to start and expand small businesses creates income for healthcare, education and food on the table.

77 participants trained in Ghana, West Africa

What type of jobs are we talking about? The majority of businesses are in food production and sales, street vending, brick manufacturing, shoe making, carpentry, auto repair, beauty salons, office services and tailoring. These businesses provide a lifeline for families overcoming poverty.

With your help more enterprising poor will receive funding, consulting, or training. Will you join us and share with others how we can partner with people in the some of the poorest countries in the world?  With your monthly giving, we can support great organizations financing thousands of $50 to $300 loans to poor entrepreneurs in countries like Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

How many lives do you see being impacted in this third world market?

The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) was created by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at Oxford University in southern England, and the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The MPI will be used in the forthcoming 20^th anniversary edition of the UNDP Human Development Report. It replaces the Human Poverty Index, which has been used since 1997.

MPI looks beyond income at a wider range of household-level deprivation, including services, which could then be used to help target development resources. Its findings throw up stark statistics compared to regular poverty measures, for instance: The study found that half of the world’s MPI poor people live in South Asia, and just over a quarter in Africa.

Visit the WEBSITE HERE and browse the world maps and find out the very latest on global poverty.

There is this thing called the internet. Last week I spent a day with our very own Marc Krejci as he outlined the next level of AfferoProject.com. You’re gonna love it. Marc really gets it. He’s all about the democratization of discovery, learning and participation. Our new site will match members with meaningful opportunities to connect and make it easy to share with others. He is wire-framing our future site to include verticals like adventure travel or athletics where your passions will overlap with purpose and provide space for us all to collaborate with each other. I can’t wait for you to see it!

For instance, maybe you’d like to go with us to Uganda next time and trek through the terrain on a four-wheeler, then go white water rafting before checking out a local orphanage or hospital. This adventure learning allows you to experience first hand the life-changing work going on there. Perhaps you will dig Team Affero because you would like to run a marathon like Josh Mitchell and get sponsors to cover each mile you run, raising awareness and funds for a specific charity or cause. The future site that we’re planning will foster many more ways to engage missions of mercy, compassion, justice and empowerment. How cool is that?

Mr. Digital, Marc

Josh and Christy

The word of mouse. Many people born before the 1980‘s are still catching on to how much social media has transformed the way we live and how organizations doing great work need to communicate with their target audience. The savvy ones in the business world have certainly caught on and are navigating the marketplace of ideas with their message and competing effectively for mindshare of those surfing on the web. Erik Qualman and others have documented how platforms like facebook, YouTube and twitter are fundamentally changing the way business and people behave. These social utilities connect hundreds of millions of people to each other via instant communication. But to what end? Why not harness the power of this connectivity to help provide clean water to those in need? Or address extreme poverty and hunger?

New technology enables new kinds of social action. As Clay Shirky and others have noted, when we change the way ideas spread, we change society. Think about how revolutionary the printing press was! Fact is, online word of mouth is powerful for influencing peer groups. Everyone is a media outlet. Will you use this exchange to help the orphan? To help bring clean water to where it is desperately needed?

Steve

Power to the people. At Affero, “You Give. You Vote. You Decide.” We operate essentially like donor-advised fund where you decide how much you want to give each month and vote which category or cause gets funded. To some degree we are structural minimalists like Steve Moore describes in one of his insightful vlogs at The Mission Exchange. This is especially true here in our beta launch. Our categories aren’t unpacked with organizations, yet. We deliberately resisted the development of systems and policies because we want to empower grassroots activity. We don’t want to control the process but provide our influence by empowering members, serving them and resourcing them. We aim to accelerate positive change through continuous cross pollination of ideas and opportunities beyond the organizational boundaries often associated with agencies doing the great field work themselves.

We understand that cool website design and videos with slick graphics or celebrity endorsements are good but the real power comes from fanning the flame of existing motivations our members already have. We are simply creating a path towards mutually beneficial cooperation. Where will the movement go? What causes will be highlighted under each category? In a very real way, members are leading this process. Affero is just a platform. The members are the movement. Will you join us?

A generosity movement. Recently I was on the phone with Jonathan Mitchell who is doing some creative and impactful work with a similar process, spotlighting great works worthy of support. Through Ministry Spotlight, he aims to facilitate discussion, debate and partnership. His goal is similar to Affero’s in that he desires is to work alongside causes and help them enter the conversation going on every day online. We recognize that many times the most effective organizations doing great work in the field are small and lack the resources or inclination to market themselves. We know that too often donations are given in reactive, short term and harmful ways. We aim to change that.

Jonathan

What impressed me about Jonathan’s work is that he and his team are eager to collaborate without reinventing any wheel. And they are specifically seeking out economic development organizations that emphasize dignity over dependency. They are committed to empowering indigenous leadership and perpetuating indigenous funding for sustainability. This is hard work. Because, as noted by Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert, relief is easier than development.

I am encouraged by a growing community, committed to bringing hope and empowering people all over the world. This movement  is positioned to be viral friendly, spending itself so that others become advocators and activators, givers and sharers. Will you run with these pacesetters? Will you decide today how much you can give to be a change driver ? Are you in?

Today I’ve had a shower, washed my hands, washed the dishes (I am a real man), been to the bathroom, washed my car, drank water from the tap and watered my (dying) oh-so-thriving plants.

The facts:

In this region of Uganda only 46% of people have access to clean drinking water.

Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease. (What the!? That’s insane!)

In the developing world, 24,000 children under the age of five die every day from preventable causes like diarrhea contracted from unclean water. 1.4 million children die as a result of diarrhea each year.

Ask most people how they would define poverty and the above definition in some form or another is probably what you would get.  Dig a little deeper and things like oppression, human rights, wellbeing, etc would no doubt surface.  If you were to look for a more official, quantitative definition of poverty, you might look to a global leader in poverty alleviation, in which case you’d ultimately find the definition below:

Absolute Poverty :: < $1.25 / day / person

Moderate Poverty :: < $2.50 / day / person
~ World Bank

This of course would tell us very definitively that there are 1.4 billion people living in absolute poverty and 3.1 billion people living in moderate poverty.  The problem with this definition is that it leads you to an inevitable conclusion about poverty – that it’s largely material in nature.

Every solution must begin with a correct diagnosis of the problem.  If the engine to your car won’t start up, it’s no good pumping the gas pedal harder when the problem is a flooded engine.  A correct diagnosis of the problem leads to the appropriate solution – i.e. lay off the gas.  We live in a highly consumeristic culture that largely defines wealth in material terms and poverty is therefore defined as the lack thereof.  The definition and diagnosis of the problem in this way ultimately leads us toward solutions that focus heavily on the provision of material goods and services.  But what if a lack of material things wasn’t actually what causes poverty?  What if that was just the symptom of a much deeper issue?

Surprisingly, if you ask impoverished people how they would describe their poverty, material deficits tend to be a backdrop to some more startling and powerful issues.

“For a poor person everything is terrible – illness, humiliation, shame.  We are cripples; we are afraid of everything; we depend on everyone.  No one needs us.  We are like garbage that everyone wants to get rid of.”
~ Moldova

“If you are hungry, you will always be hungry; if you are poor, you will always be poor.”
~ Vietnam

“What determines poverty or well-being?  The indigenous people’s destiny is to be poor.”
~ Ecuador

“When I was poor I was sick and thin and I only though of dying – I had no ideas and no energy, I just sat and waited.”
~ Cambodia

“When one is poor, she has no say in public, she feels inferior.  She has no food, so there is famine in her house; no clothing, and no progress in her family.”
~ Uganda*

While the material is very much intertwined in the issues of poverty, the poor almost always define their poverty in terms of shame, inferiority, humiliation, powerlessness and other emotional and psychological descriptives.  Hard as it is for us to understand, since our culture is so defined by the idea of “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” there can actually be a inverse effect where our charity can reinforce low self esteem and feelings of hopelessness and fatalism – just like pumping a gas pedal only floods an engine further.  No matter how generous the donations or fabulous the technology, if it is not implemented correctly it can create greater dependency and dehumanization of the very people it’s intended to serve.

If we diagnose the problem of poverty more fully in these terms, instead of just material deficit, we might just discover a solution that brings lasting change to people.

~ Peace

*quotes from “Learning for Transformation” and “When Helping Hurts”

Alive was The Affero Project’s first festival!  Throughout the week we got to hang out in the heat and rain with so many unbelievably cool people.  We had a booth in the vendor tent and had tons of passionate volunteers who were kind enough to help us share the Affero story with thousands of people.  I can’t tell you how great it was to connect with so many people with hearts for justice!  Person after person told us how excited they were about Affero and how eager they were to learn more about the movement.  Words cannot describe what all of the positive affirmation meant to us, and I just want to take this opportunity to thank each and every person who stopped by our booth and chatted with us.  I wish I could thank you all by name, but that would take a lifetime and even worse, many of you displayed some bad penmanship on the sign up sheet, haha.  At the risk of making some of you mad, I’d like to send out a special thank you to my friend Willy Cleary.  He’s an old classmate of mine, and is now the host of AlternaFISH Radio on 95.5 The Fish.  When Willy learned about what we were doing, he was gracious enough to invite me into the AlternaFISH van for an interview.  If you didn’t hear the interview on the radio, you can see the video here.  Thanks Willy, we really appreciate it!

John Cooper from Skillet.

And then there were the artists…Throughout the week we got the chance to see so many great musicians put on some killer shows.  Even cooler is the fact that many of them were generous enough to take some time and learn about what Affero is all about.  So, I’d like to give a special thanks to: Skillet, Abandon, TobyMac, B.Reith, Brandon Heath, Shine Bright Baby and Needtobreathe.  Not only do you make great music, but you’re great people too.  Thanks for walking the walk and listening to us rant about the revolutionary community that’s changing the world.  Sorry, but I just couldn’t resist the use of our shameless plug one more time.

Before I sign off I’d like to tell you two quick stories from Alive that mean a whole lot to me.  To give you a little context, I must start by telling you that we launched our “I’M IN” campaign at Alive.  At its core, the campaign is all about people standing united and declaring “I’M IN” in the fight against global injustice and extreme poverty.  We’ve made on video for the campaign already that stars tons of cool artists.  If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out here. In order to make the launch even more legit, our super talented visual graffangelist, Josh Mitchell, designed some sweet t-shirts, buttons and postcards for everyone at Alive.  With this being said, we had been hoping all week that one of the artists would wear one of our shirts on stage.  Well, the finalnight of the festival rolled around and we still hadn’t been able to get any of our shirts to artists before they played.  Fortunately for Affero, our friend Mike Coates is friends with Dave Wyatt – a Grammy award winning producer and TobyMac’s band leader.  Dave was kind enough to hang out with us before he took the stage, and I was happy to give him a shirt.  Well, as Dave was playing alongside Toby, we had to pack up our booth.  In order to get out before the masses, our van had to head out toward the very end of the killer TobyMac show.  If it wasn’t cool enough to just hang out with Dave, imagine how excited I was when I got a text from Mike telling me that when the band came back for an encore, Dave had changed into his “I’M IN” shirt.  That says a lot about Dave.  I don’t know too many people who would have had the presence of mind and taken the initiative to do that.  Thank you so much Dave (and Mike), you guys rock.

If that isn’t enough for you, get a load of this.  Alive is held at a park out in the boonies.  After driving about 15 minutes from the festival, you’ll reach a gas station.  Pretty much the last stop where you’d see anyone from Alive, before the almost 90 minute drive to my house.  So, I actually got Mike’s text about Dave when I was getting some gas.  When I went inside to buy a Mountain Dew for the road I was greeted with what seemed to be 1000 people from Alive.  The line was so long that I decided to call Lucas (who was on his way home from Uganda) to tell him the news.  I called and he didn’t answer, so I left a voice mail about how Dave wore our shirt on stage.  After that, I told him that I was also able to get some “I’M IN” shirts to the guys from Needtobreathe, but was unable to share our story because everything was so hectic.  Alive went perfectly for Affero, but I was really bummed because I knew that we missed our opportunity to connect with Needtobreathe.  We all love their music, and I really thought they’d love Affero…

But here’s the cool part…When I hung up with Lucas there was a nice young guy next to me in line that asked what my shirt was all about.  Because the line was so long I got to tell him the complete Affero story – start to finish.  We had a cool conversation and he was really receptive.  I ended the conversation by asking if he’d been at Alive, and if so, how did he like it.  He said, “yeah, I was there.  We played.  It was a great time.”  Of course you know my next question – “oh cool, what band do you play in?”  His response: “Needtobreathe.  I’m Toby, the new keyboard player.  Just joined the band a few months ago.”  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  The keyboardist from the one band I was bummed we didn’t get to share with was standing next to me in the gas station – the last possible place we could have connected before I was on my way home for good!  This is why I don’t believe in coincidences.  This was clearly orchestrated by God.  So that’s the story.  Toby said he’d check out Affero and even found an “I’M IN” shirt for himself on the tour bus.  We’re hoping that after he gets to dive deeper and share our story with the band, we’ll be able to do the next “I’M IN” video with the one and only Needtobreathe!  I feel so blessed to have connected with him, Dave and all of the other extraordinary people at Alive.  What a perfect name for the festival.  Those four days of rain and heat were no match for all the living we were doing.  Affero is Alive and well, and this excites me.  Until next time…
Peace,

Beau

In the last 200 years the world population has exploded causing panic for some and joy for others. Take a visit at the official WORLD POPULATION CLOCK and you’ll notice that we are now pushing the 7 BILLION mark. Just to put this rapid growth into perspective, in 1987 the world population was 5 BILLION. In just over 20 years we’ve populated like rabbits! In the 1800′s the would population was under 1 BILLION.

The most populous country? CHINA with 1,338,610,000 people

The Least? Pitcairn Islands. Only 67 people inhabit those islands

Here is a link to some interesting information from the UN on the facts and statistics of population growth around the world. www.unfpa.org/public/world-population-day

We began our journey at Kampala, travelled to Jinja and further North to Mbale. There had been a land slide two weeks previously and a one road was slow going as they were repairing the bridge.

The roads are crazy! Pot holes everywhere. and if the road is too smooth they add speed humps to slow you down, seriously. There were people selling stuff on the side of the roads like fruit salad kebabs, meat kebabs, that looked like they were cooked many hours ago and plantain which is a raw banana cooked. They are mad crazy about plantain.

We visited an organisation called “Cure International“, which treat children mostly with Hydrocephalus.It impacted me hugely. We saw many kids who would be dead unless they were treated here.

I was so thankful to God that my children are so healthy and I was a little overwhelmed by seeing kids who looked really sick.

These kids with Hydrocephalus grow really large heads because fluid has built up in their heads.Hydrocephalus is caused by an over-accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).Commonly referred to as “water on the brain,” this condition is caused by a blockage of the brain’s ventricles, leading to a disruption in the outflow of CSF. If left untreated, this condition can lead to significant physical and developmental problems and, more than half of the time, death.

Hydrocephalus is an enormous problem among infants in the developing world. Due to high birth rates, the lack of quality health care and tremendous poverty leading to issues such as malnutrition, the incidence of neonatal infection is higher in poor countries, which in turn leads to higher rates of hydrocephalus. In Uganda alone, over 2,000 new cases of hydrocephalus are reported each year.

Traditionally, children suffering from hydrocephalus are treated using a shunt system to drain the accumulated fluid off the brain and out of the body. The shunt procedure has been in use for well over 60 years; however, even in a developed setting, there is a 50 percent chance that the shunt will fail at some point in the life of the patient. Combined with their propensity for infection, shunts are not the best option for children living in the developing world.

CURE Children’s Hospital of Uganda utilises an alternative noninvasive procedure for the treatment of this condition. Developed by the hospital’s former medical director, Dr. Benjamin Warf, this procedure combines an endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) with a choroid plexus cauterization (CPC), to provide a safer, more sustainable solution than the use of a shunt.
More than 3,000 infants have been treated at the hospital using this procedure.
They think it may be caused from babies being in contact with cow manure. The doctors here treat more children with Hydrocephalus than anywhere else in the world.

The operation costs the family $1000. $1000 is out of the reach of most Ugandans. This is where “Cure International” donors come in.

$1000 will provide life-changing surgery for a child

$100 provides medical care to help cure a child for life

$60 provides nursing care for a recovering child for one month

$35 will provide pre-surgery testing for a child

$15 provides casts to help 3 disabled children
Cure International also treat Clubfoot, Cleft Lip and Palate, Burn Contractures, Brain tumors, Tuberculosis of the Spine and Spina Bifida

Most of these are once off operations which will save a child’s life! These guys are awesome. Many of them highly qualified professional who take a considerable pay cut to work here.
You can give straight to “Cure International”. But I believe the best way to give is through the “Affero project”. “The Affero Project” is a grassroots online community of global justice advocates who join together to give small change every month and Vote to Decide where the money goes. It’s simple… You Give, You Vote, You Decide.”

For the person like myself who is passionate about lots of causes, give to Affero. I’m changing the way we are giving and shortly all my kids will be involved in giving to the Affero project. What better way to educate my kids by giving them an opportunity each month to vote what cause they are going to support.

Peace,
Pete Rees

(Note: Peter is our Australian Affangelist, co-member of the Uganda team and our newest member of our blogging team – you’ll be seeing a LOT more of him around here. Welcome Pete.)

Daria Wilson is serving as a marketing intern with International Justice Mission. She served as point person for a 5 Weeks of Freedom event here in Nashville. A small army of volunteers showed up to help set up and work the event which was awesome to see. Musical guests Christa Wells and Derek Webb performed and freedom riders like Andrew Nelson shared why they are on the tour, cycling 1800 miles of historic underground railroad – from Mobile, Alabama to Buffalo, New York. To fight modern-day slavery and human trafficking.

The efforts of individuals like Daria, Christa, Derek and Andrew are heroic and significant. They bring awareness to a horrific reality. Did you know that more than two million children are currently exploited in the sex trade worldwide? Trafficking is a global sin against humanity fueled by coercion, deception and force. And you can help end it.

The sex traffickers prey on the vulnerable—victims of poverty, young women and children, and those searching for a better life. These innocents are often promised a job in another city by a trafficker who gains their trust only to sell them as sex slaves. Some are locked up in brothels and others do not have the resources or are too traumatized to find their way home.

The women and children who survive trafficking and commercial sex exploitation face many challenges. Psychological and emotional damage from years of cruelty and neglect can be paralyzing. Survivors also face health issues such as HIV/AIDS and damage to their bodies through abuse. Furthermore, in the developing countries, the social stigma attached to sex work means that many victims are not welcomed home. Thus, those who are trafficked at a young age find themselves without skills or education, are unable to re-integrate into society. Many victims of trafficking remain in the trade not because they are kept by force but because they have no other means of earning a living and imagine no other life. Lack of choice can enslave a child or woman as effectively as a locked door.

You can learn more about the scope of global trafficking by reading the U.S. State Department’s 2008 Trafficking In Persons (TIP) report. This is arguably the most comprehensive worldwide report on the efforts of governments to combat trafficking.

There are organizations like International Justice Mission confronting the brutal reality of human trafficking. In the past 10 years, IJM has helped rescue thousands of victims of trafficking, slavery and violent oppression. You can make a difference by raising awareness of this important work. I recently heard IJM’s founder, Gary Haugen, say that where people of good will provide political will and capacity building, trafficking will end.

Trafficking is real. Solutions exist. Join the fight. And tell others to do the same.

Charles London’s “One Day the Soldiers Came” is an in depth view into the world of refugee children that I have thoroughly enjoyed. There have been times where I felt I just could not read any further, didn’t want to read any further, or was embarrassed at my own ignorance to the subject as a whole. Overall it’s been a great resource to finding out more about how refugee children end up as mass murdering soldiers.

One quote in particular from the beginning of the book has stood out to me, London says, “They’ve fought in different armies and come from different parts of the country. Fate has thrown them into this center together, turned them into a group, labeled child soldiers or ex-combatants or in some documents “youth who participate in conflict.” The labels tell you little. In the language of humanitarian aid, there are many categories for children; Street children, Internally Displaced children, Child Soldiers, Child Heads of Household, Unaccompanied Minors, Children in Conflict with the Law, Children Affected by HIV, Children Accused of Sorcery. Categorization is a way of processing children for targeted assistance in crisis situations.” I think this stuck in my head for so long because it communicates how wide and varied the experiences of child soldiers are and how different societies view them in different contexts.

One of the most difficult aspects for me to understand as I was researching this is that the idea of childhood is significantly relative to different cultures. It seems the more a culture values education, the more that society develops a set of rules to protect children. While the correlation of childhood and education may seem to be obvious to some, I think it only feels that way because of an ingrained western cultural standard. When I think collectively about every child I’ve ever known personally, from my own childhood on, I met almost all of them through an education system of some sort, whether it was through my own school or school’s I volunteered at or taught at. In our society education and childhood go hand in hand like facebook and birthday wishes.

My guess is that many of you reading this know a child. I know it’s a stretch to make that assumption, but I’m going to go ahead and exercise my creative judgment here and go with that assumption. Being a teacher I have gotten to know quite a few kids in the short time I have been in the education system, and I have to say that I can’t imagine any of them are ready to face war. I don’t know that anyone ever really is adequately prepared to give their life for some idea of patriotism or what is right versus what is wrong in some political argument that largely doesn’t concern their best interests. But this is what happens every day throughout the world in countries and territories that may take more than one attempt for you to pronounce the name of the land correctly. Our hope at Affero is that we can help out in some way by giving our combined efforts and resources to some people who are already on the front lines of this subject. I hate to end this with a cheesy quote, but Helen Keller once said “the highest result of education is tolerance.” And I couldn’t agree with that more than I do right now.

That about wraps it up for me for this week, next week I’ll be back with more on this subject.

Steve

Needless to say, I was very excited! For me, it was the perfect gift. www.toms.com = Cool shoes with a would-changing mission, “With every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need.”

So now, when I walk around in my stylish kicks, I’ll know that there is a child somewhere around the world wearing a pair of shoes my wife and kids got them through my gift! Hard to top that :)

Next time you want to buy shoes for a loved one… buy some that ‘give back’ – Toms

Josias on the road.

Meet Josias Hansen. I just friended him on facebook. Josias is currently biking across the U.S. with Venture Expeditions from Seattle to NYC in order to prevent human trafficking. After completing this tour, Josias plans to go work in Thailand to help start a youth center which will provide a safe refuge for at-risk orphans, youth and needy persons. Pretty cool stuff.

More and more riders like Josias are using cycling to raise awareness and financial support for worthy causes at home and around the world. Another rider is Henry Kaestner. Last week I spoke with Henry, who helped found DurhamCares in North Carolina. They engage all Durham residents in crossing boundaries with both time and money in ways that show relationship and ongoing commitment. For instance, 8 Durham leaders are racing their bicycles 24 hours a day for 8 days across America. They are riding as ambassadors for Durham, and to call attention to their city and its great charities for volunteering and investing.

Yet another example is Stop Injustice: 5 Weeks for Freedom. This major awareness and advocacy campaign is organized to support International Justice Mission’s work and give a voice to victims of modern-day slavery and other forms of injustice. A team of ordinary people is giving up 5 weeks to cycle 1800 miles of the Underground Railroad – a route that reminds us that change happens when ordinary people do what they can to stop injustice, that the evil of slavery has been defeated once, and that, together, we can do it again. Would you like to get involved? Learn how here.

Marc recently in Uganda

Affero’s very own Marc and Josh are planning to participate in events like these under the name Team Affero. So stay tuned! We envision hosting entertaining and informative events to broaden our reach as a movement committed to fighting injustice. These events will feature music, celebrities, tour riders and more. I thank God for freedom riders like Josias and Henry who are taking action and mobilizing support for worthy causes and effectively loving their neighbors, whether they be in our hometowns or far-off places like Thailand. You can make a difference too. Will you join us?

Venture Expeditions on a more demanding climb to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, the roof of Africa, and to one of the largest the slums of Nairobi with Kenya Children's Fund.

That said, technology plays a critical role in addressing the aspects of poverty that are physical. Unfortunately the latest-greatest technology is not always the best. In fact, it’s often the worst. More times than I count I’ve watched universities, companies, and other entities pour millions into research to develop a fancy widget that works fabulously in a laboratory surrounded by techno-geeks, knowing with deep sadness that it’s a terrible solution to the problem they are trying to solve because it has been completely divorced from the context in which it will be used.

Though the term is kicked around in many circles, NGO’s refer to “appropriate technology” as technology that is contextualized for a given situation, offering an optimum balance in service delivery and sustainability. Very often, these two are in tension with one another and selecting the right technology is not always easy. However, there are five basic criterial that can be used to judge the appropriateness of any technology for use in a community development project.

These simple criteria are critical in technology selection. A reverse osmosis system may offer fantastic water quality but the cost and technical requirements are high, making sustainability in a rural community extremely low. A ceramic water filter may be a low-cost, simple solution but if it’s longevity only extends 2-3 years and is not easily replaced locally, it is only a bandaid solution. Chlorine is inexpensive and locally available but many cultures resist chemical treatment or greatly dislike the taste and therefore reject it’s use.

What’s brilliant is that it doesn’t take a PhD to ask these questions or evaluate the answers. What technologies and solutions do you see on the news, on websites, or out in the field that meet or don’t meet these criteria? Play Pumps is a technology recently in the news for it’s reported ongoing failure in the field. It’s a sexy and techie solution to water access but how well does it meet the criteria above as an appropriate technology? Are there situations where it would be more or less appropriate? Though our role is small, we play an integral part in the poverty equations and we have a joint responsibility with implementing organizations to evaluate and ensure that the solutions used are effective. The answers aren’t easy and compromise is a necessary staple of most projects, but best practices in development have strong principles that have to be applied if we are to achieve any measure of long-term success.

A quick note before I sign off: in humanitarian relief, these criteria overlap, but with some very key differences. Humanitarian relief is not about solving poverty, but about responding to life-threatening emergencies. Considerations for sustainability, cultural sensitivity, cost etc, tend to take a back-seat role in the face of saving lives. Effectiveness and rapid deployment in high volumes with consideration for short-term usability tend to be the primary determinants in technology selection. Later, we’ll be talking more about the differences between relief and development but know that technologies that are perfect for relief are often poor choices for development and vice versa.

~ Peace

Human trafficking is the illegal trade in human beings for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor: a modern-day form of slavery. It is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world, tied with the illegal arms industry as the second largest, after the drug-trade. Our partner organization, The Home Foundation deals domestically with the issue here in the USA where some estimates state that between 100,000 and 300,000 people are trafficked within our own borders every year. This is staggering and a very vocal reminder that much needs to be done to combat human trafficking both locally and internationally.

Our funds this month will go towards helping four shelters across the USA, housing and restoring trafficked victims who have been brutalized by this industry. Your gift allows us to support these shelters, giving new life to the rescued women and children.

Another way you can support this cause right away is to SIGN UP for the 31 days of freedom with The Home Foundation. Visit www.thehomefoundation.net/31days and join now.

In the last 3 months we’ve seen many people declare “IM IN” and we’ve even attracted some celebrities. The entire Affero community gets excited when we grow in number because it means were able to give away more money to phenomenal organizations changing the world! Here’s a list of some of the celebs who are joining us declaring “I’M IN” – If you haven’t yet, join us today for as little as $1 a month!

Actors:

David Hasselhoff

Verne Troyer

Musicians:

10th Ave North

Brandon Heath

Natalie Grant

Skillet

Need To Breathe

Dave Wyatt from Toby Mac

Britt Nicole

The Glorious Unseen

Audrey Assad

Phillip LaRue

The Ember Days

B. Reith

And These Awesome orgs:

Come And Live

Marc on the road in Uganda

Marc and Lucas weathered flight delays, missed departures, lost baggage, and a serious car accident, but finally connected with our friends at Cure International, offering specialty surgeries to thousands of children in Mbali, Uganda. They witnessed young mothers perched everywhere, cradling frail babies with painfully swollen heads. They saw firsthand the expert care being given to these children and the caring counseling for their mothers. What amazing work! Watch for more unpacking to come from Marc and Lucas on this tremendous trip!

Children near hospital in Mbali, Uganda

Meanwhile, Christian and I made our way to Mineral City to the Alive10 festival in Ohio. There we joined up with our tremendous Affangelists who demonstrated their hearts for justice as they volunteered to share about our community committed to bringing hope to communities all over the world. We made hundreds of new friends who are now extending our community to include their circle of friends.

Our Chief Affangelist, Beau, scored some nice pics with the likes of Brandon Heath and John Cooper of Skillet, who showed their support for our movement by sporting our cool “I’m In” t-shirt printed by our friends at JAKPRINT.

Brandon Heath and affangelists.

John Cooper of Skillet.

We had a signup sheet to learn more about The Affero Project at our booth and more than 400 new friends registered to win a free “I’m In” shirt. BTW, you can still order your own shirt for $10 plus shipping while supplies last. And the winners of the free t-shirt contest are…..

Darin Clune, Leah Brady, Bob Carpenter and Amy Slyvester. Congratulations to these winners!

Each night before the headliners played at Alive10, they showed our “I’m In” or “Intro to Affero” video. I was telling Lucas this morning that it was pretty wild to watch our video playing at the main stage before tens of thousands of people. BTW, you can now text your name to 41411 to learn more and enter to win a t-shirt as well. Text now and win!

There is no doubt that The Affero Project is on the move. So don’t forget to share Affero with your friends via facebook or twitter and let us know how we’re doing. With your help, we can raise more money and awareness for great works around the world like Cure International. We know that $1/month can change the world and with your help we will someday give more than a million dollars away every month. Will you join the movement? If you haven’t already, join today and say “I’m In!”

These are the devastating realities of poverty today.

Dr. Michael Miller

This week at Acton Institute, I met with thought leaders and proven practitioners from over 50 countries, all looking to bridge the gap between good intentions and sound economic practices. These are amazing people doing great things. During one session, I had a conversation with Dr. Michael Miller, who shared many crushing statistics and pointed out that the bulk of foreign aid has been largely ineffective in alleviating poverty. Michael reported that not only is there no correlation between aid given and economic growth achieved, many times foreign aid ends up subsiding oppressive regimes and harmfully politicizing attempts to foster development.

How can we change this? We need to have a heart and a mind for the poor.

In their book, When Helping Hurts, Steve Corbett and Brian Kikkert write that expensive and well-intended programs often penalize work, undermine families and create dependence – perpetuating the cycle of poverty. Trillions of dollars have been spent attempting to address world wide poverty. Yet these programs are failing miserably. What can be done?

The enterprising Pendu Luisi at her cafe.

This week I was encouraged by many examples of enterprising leaders developing new models of business succeeding in the poorest of countries, raising the worker’s wages and creating new jobs for others. For instance, you may have heard of micro-lending institutions like Kiva which connect micro-leanders and budding entrepreneurs online. With a few clicks, you can find an enterprising person from across the globe like Pendu Luisi, a 27 year old who borrowed $175 to open a cafe in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Pendu is highly motivated and simply needed to be given an opportunity to engage the powerfully productive free market. With the partnership of a micro-lender, Pendu is a successful entrepreneur with great hope for the future. I keep hearing stories like these and I am encouraged. This is good news and it is spreading. I recently heard the president of Rwanda say that entrepreneurism is the backbone of a new Rwanda. Innovative development efforts are focusing on the individual and are empowering micro-businesses owned and run by the poor like Pendu. This is working. New wealth is being unleashed through new businesses. Through exciting efforts like these, the poor are being given a hand up, instead of being dependent on a hand out. And as Pendu can atttest, business is good. She earns up to $5 a day and has even hired a shop assistant.

View from the Stage at Alive '09

The Affero Project is on the move! We are a growing community working against poverty and injustice, committed to bringing hope and empowering people all over the world. While Marc and Lucas are in Africa this week, Christian and I are headed to Alive ’10, a music festival at Atwood Lake Park in Mineral City Park. We’ll be hanging out with some of our favorite affangelists, showing our “I’m In” promo in between performances and making loads new friends. So watch for my post next week and I’ll plan to share some highlights from this event.

A sign of the times

When I was in downtown Grand Rapids this week walking to a meeting, I saw a bus with one of those “Rent this ad space” signs on it. It read, “MOVE YOUR MESSAGE” and it made me think of you. You’ve hear me say that you are the vehicle for spreading the word about Affero. It’s true. The way we share information on the internet now makes it possible for us to get together and get things done like never before. Thank you for sharing this post on via facebook, twitter and the rest. And if you haven’t already, get on the bus and don’t forget to spread the word. Peace.

For some, summer is more about tradition and ritual than it is an actual calendar event, I know for myself it is. The cookouts, the fireworks, the small town festivals celebrating some random claim to fame (The town next to mine growing up had an Onion Festival every year, many of us still have yet to figure out what the correlation between the onion and that town ever was.)

As I’m winding down my first year teaching I have numerous friends asking me what I’m planning on doing with my time off over the summer. My response is usually an icy glare that is cold enough to commit to not needing the A/C for the next several days. This is due to the fact that my school is year round, and while we do get several vacations throughout the year, for the most part we teach through the summer.

While I am envious of my friends that get a couple months off in a row for summer vacation, there is a student population that I find myself not envying throughout the summer. I recently came upon this article which explains in depth the food shortage that a group of students in America face throughout the summer. To briefly summarize the article, it basically points out that throughout the school year; many families in lower income neighborhoods come to depend on federally subsidized lunches that the children get at school to give their children a substantial meal.

In 2010 alone 20.5 million students depended on these lunches throughout the day, up from 19.4 million in 2009. Estimates suggest that over the summer months when school is out, around 16 million of these kids aren’t going to be able to receive lunches. Reasons for this seem to extend beyond my comprehension; everything from shortages at food pantries throughout the country due to the sour economy to bureaucratic red tape mandating when and where food can be given to children seems to be mucking up kids chances at a decent meal.

I don’t think I have ever in my life thought about school lunches being a significant source of nutrition. From all the time I have spent working in, volunteering at or attending public schools, all I have ever heard is how awful the food is. How messed up is it that I’ve spent years only hearing about how terrible food is, and there are kids that have stomachs that are aching for this food?

I heard a friend teach one time on how hunger is not an issue that stems from a downturned economy, but that stems from people not willing to reach out and help their neighbors in need.

I hope that this summer we can figure out how to feed more students than ever before, whether it’s donating food to a local pantry or finding out what it takes to volunteer at a lunch program in a nearby city, I know that I don’t want this to just be another few warm months that I drift through carefree and unaware of my hungry neighbors’ struggles.

Ziggy’s dad, Joshua is one of my closest friends, and his mom, Stacy, is like the older sister I never had.  This is code for “she beats me up, makes fun of me, then tells me she loves me and buys me French bread pizzas.”  The point is, I love Josh and Stacy a ton and they are family to me.  Along with Zig and his beautifully brilliant sister Hannah.  But you’ll have to wait for another day to hear about them.  This post is about Zig and his awesome, Affero-themed birthday party!  Last Saturday a bunch of our friends got together at the park to celebrate Zig’s first birthday.  Unfortunately, I was gone shooting a TV commercial, but I heard all about it.  All of my friends told me it was epic, and that was expected because, well…  Ziggy is epic.  There were tons of families hanging out, having a blast and enjoying community.  And of course there was prince Ziggy, the master of ceremonies and the guest of honor.  And this is where Affero comes in…

When it comes to little kids’ birthday parties, what the heck are you supposed to get them?  I mean, come on, how many copies of “The Giving Tree” can a kid possibly need?  And if that’s not enough, let’s face it, by age one, a super cool dude like Ziggy probably has every article of clothing in Gymboree’s last ten collections.  So, Josh and Stacy, being the revolutionaries they are, decided that instead of getting more stuff for Ziggy, maybe Ziggy could be a catalyst for Affero.  Totally awesome!  Their invites simply stated that instead of bringing gifts, they’d love it if their guests would take the time to check out Affero and join the movement.  It was that simple.  They believe in Affero, and knew that Zig’s party would be a great opportunity to share the joy of community giving.  And it worked out beautifully.  People got the invite and joined Affero, and others left the party committed to going home and doing the same.  Others asked questions, some put money for Affero in cards, and Josh even did an interpretive dance with Ziggy about what Affero means to them.  This is a lie, but it would have been super funny.

So, that’s the story of Ziggy’s amazing first birthday.  Even though he’s just a year old, I will always remember the stories of his party and how a world-changing Affero event centered around a little boy who still spits milk down his shirt and shrieks like a Terradactyl.  There is no doubt in my mind that Ziggy is going to be a revolutionary someday, and I am so thankful for Joshua, Stacy and Hannah for the roles they are playing now, and the roles they will continue to play as his life goes on.  Let’s face it, Ziggy did the majority of planning and work on the Affero birthday bash, but to his parents and sister, he wanted me to tell you, “thanks for the assist!”  Ziggy, you are the man.  I love you so much and I am so excited to see how you are going to change the world.  As proof of my appreciation, please accept the autographed copy of “The Giving Tree” and the brown and orange Gymboree onsie with puppy dogs on it, that will be delivered to your house sometime today.  Until next week my friends, keep on living…

Peace,
Beau

Today we met most of the staff from Empower A Child, An amazing organization doing some great work in Kampla and Rakai. In our conversations we discovered that half of the management team grew up in child sponsorship programs. The founder and Executive Director of the organization Wilson Kabeera has a tremendous story that will move you to tears (we will post his video interview soon). His story along with the others reminded me of this simple truth. There are families in the US (that’s where the sponsors came from) who have had such a profound impact on one Ugandan life, who have now grown up and are leading an organization that is impacting 1000′s of children’s lives across the country. I don’t think the sponsor families ever could have guessed the impact they we’re having as they faithfully gave to the education and well being of these little children in Uganda. If it wasn’t for them, these leaders would never be changing the world and helping to build a nation through education and training young leaders. Every one of them still has all of the letters from their sponsors!

So, first let me say. If you already sponsor a child – write them letters of encouragement. It may seem small, but your encouragement will last a lifetime and have more impact than you could ever imagine. And secondly, if you don’t sponsor, do so. Check out our partners LifeSong for Orphans – www.lifesongfororphans.org or visit their project page here on Affero www.afferoproject.com/organizations/lifesong-for-orphans/

Consider the poverty of pre-earthquake Haiti. Before the earthquake that shook Haiti, 75% of the people already lived on less than $2/day and over 50% lived on less than $1/day. Half of the people had no access to potable water and over 50% were illiterate. They had the highest HIV/AIDS rate in the world outside sub-saharan Africa. 1/3 of women have been violently sexually abused and there are high rates of child abuse and trafficking. Clearly, relationships in Haiti need help.

Last week I met a courageous young missionary raising support so that she can serve full time as coordinator for Ten Days Mission Experience. When Kerren Barker was in high school, a friend invited her to join him on a missions trip to Haiti. This trip changed her life and set the stage for serving others through short term mission trips.

A local doctor, Dave Vanderpool, owns lave md, a practice that offers laser and vein esthetics. Dave uses his business to fund mobile medical disaster relief, meeting the medical needs of the vulnerable and underserved people in the United States and throughout the world. Every month, this doctor works three weeks stateside and one week serving in Haiti. He’s fostering relationships that work.

Next week, Marc and Lucas are taking The Affero Project to Africa. Watch for their posts to track with them and the good they are up to. Perhaps you’d like to go on a short term trip with us sometime? Kerren and Dave will tell you it’s life-changing.

I was reading a First Fruits report this week that made me think of you. Together, we are  pioneering new ways to do philanthropy. We are a community vetting and evaluating partnerships that alleviate poverty and fight injustices. The Affero Project is a community educating and empowering one another, building relationships that work. In some ways we serve as an aggregator for good news. In other ways we act as a micro-donor advised fund where you bring your creative energy and circle of friends to the table so that we can do more good.

Don’t forget to share this post with your friends and tell them “I’m In.” If you haven’t already, join now. $1 can actually change the world. With your help, more people will give and more people will serve. More relationships around the globe will work. And it will make all the difference in the world.

Peace.

I say these things matter-of-factly.  As in all things, there are many positives mixed with many negatives in our culture.  Rather, I paint this very brief picture of ‘us’ to open a conversation on the reality that our culture – our worldview – has an incredible impact on how we interact and relate to other cultures, the way we define problems, and the solutions we determine are needed.  As a minority culture on this planet (>5% of the world’s population), but one with a disproportionately large impact, it’s critical that we are deeply sensitive to the way we engage other cultures.  Our sense of ‘right’ and our values in life are not inherently shared by all, and the problems faced by the majority world, particularly the materially poor, are so intensely complex that simple solutions are nearly impossible.  Often, our very act of helping entrenches people deeper in the systems responsible for their poverty.

I’m excited and honored to be a voice in the Affero journey. We want to be a voice for responsible engagement – transformative engagement with those in other cultures.  It’s a hard thing and it’s never perfect, but it’s a journey that we are taking together.  Over the next few weeks and months I’m going to be posting topics that explore some of the fundamental attitudes, values, and ideals that drive how we engage the majority world, especially the materially poor.  I’m rather well known for tangents so there may be some rabbit trails that explore technologies, current issues, cutting edge methods, and the work of some of our different partners and why we chose them…  Make sure you leave comments and ask questions – ultimately this is a dialogue and an exploration we want you to be a part of.  Peace.

We’ll be visiting some of our partner organizations whom we’re helping to fund, Cure International, Lifewater International as well as other organizations we’re exploring partnerships with. Stay tuned… we’ll be posting videos, pictures and more as often as possible. You’ll be able to see your $ at work on the field changing communities and individuals in powerful ways. If you follow our tweets http://twitter.com/afferoproject/ we’ll be using this hash tag #iminuganda.

Now off for 24 hours of flying, on Saturday night we’ll be in Kampala :) See you all then!

I spent this past weekend on Lake Erie with my family. We had a great time – laughing, lounging and catching up with old friends. I even got a chance to get some important work done while sitting on the porch and listening to the waves crash less than ten feet away from me. The porch made for a sweet office until the tornado sirens went off, but that’s a whole different story. Anyway, I’m working on my computer when all of the sudden I see that I’ve got a new Facebook message. As someone who got about two pieces of mail throughout my entire childhood, a new Facebook message is like Christmas morning to me. Pathetic? Maybe. The truth? You bet. So I open it up and see that it’s from a really cool looking girl with funky red hair and sweet, artsy glasses named Taryn. Even cooler than her hair and glasses was the message she sent. Here it is:

“Hi Beau,
I don’t mean to randomly add you, though that’s what I’m totally doing. Ha! But, I saw the Affero Project [I’M IN] video you posted on Aaron’s page. Watched it, loved it, and now I’m a donor! I am so passionate about social justice and it’s so nice to see that other people are too! Anyway, I hope you’re having the best day ever!”

What an awesome message! I knew right then and there that I had to call Taryn and write something about her for the blog this week. So I did. We talked and then we ended up talking more, and it was cool, and it got even cooler, and she was sweet and got even sweeter, and she told some stories, and then they got funnier and more awesome. And this, my friends, is why I am dreading this post. I’ve got so much cool stuff to share, and I’ve only got about 1000 words to do it. Taryn has so much life to squeeze into a thousand words, but I’m going to do my best. Here’s the highlight reel from our conversation…

• Beau: So Taryn, tell me about yourself…
• Taryn: I don’t know what to say.
• Beau: Anything. Let’s hear the whole Taryn story. I’ve got time.
• Taryn: Well, I’m 22-years-old, I live in Phoenix and I work for Feed My Starving Children. Best job in the world!
• Beau: Sweet, tell me about it. What do you do?
• Taryn: Feed My Starving Children was started in 1987 when our founder went to Honduras and experienced all of the wonderful people who desperately needed food and water. He came back, called General Mills and Cargill and started collecting food. Today, we package fortified rice meals with volunteers that cost 19 cents each, and we send them out across the globe. We packaged 3 million meals in 2003 and we are estimating that we’ll do 127 million meals this year!
• Beau: Wow! That’s incredible. What a blessing you are to others. Tell me some more about yourself…
• Taryn: I’m studying nursing. Really love it. I think I might want to go back to Africa someday and help sick people there.
• Beau: Back to Africa?!?! Let’s hear about the first time.
• Taryn: I traveled with a music ministry called Youth Encounter for two years playing drums. The first year we traveled the east coast of the U.S., the second we went to Uganda and Tanzania. It was the best time! I miss it. I miss the amazing kids.
• Beau: This is so cool. So you’ve been to Africa with a music ministry, you’re serving the hungry right now and your heart is in medical missions. No wonder you joined The Affero Project! Tell me how it all comes together. You obviously find lots of joy in serving others.
• Taryn: Yes! I do. It bums me out when people think that there have to be specified times and places for serving and being charitable. I think that 24 hours a day, 7 days a week is a good time to be charitable.
• Beau: Haha, me too! Will you share a little about your dreams for the future?
• Taryn: Dreams… Well, if God says to stay in the U.S. I’d love to work in the ER with trauma patients, but I’d really love to live in Africa too. One of my biggest passions is working with women. I’ve met so many wonderful women living in oppressive cultures who don’t feel beautiful or significant. I want tell all of them how beautiful and precious they are. Just because God made them and loves them!
• Beau: This is beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing. How about your church?
• Taryn: I go to a non-denominational Christian churched in Tempe called Praxis. I love it there. They preach the gospel and live it out. That’s what matters…and 92% of our members are under 26, so that’s cool too.
• Beau: Sounds like a great place. Hopefully I can visit someday. Do you like music?
• Taryn: Yes, I love it. Listening to The Civil Wars a lot lately. You’ve got to check them out. They rock.
• Beau: I certainly will. I feel like I could talk to you forever, but it’s getting late and I have family members screaming at me about how much time I spend on the phone and how they want me to play cards, so I’m going to have to wrap this exploration into awesomeness up. (Note – “exploration into awesomeness” is even lamer when you type it out!) But before we go, tell me something crazy about yourself…
• Taryn: Well, I don’t know about crazy. A lot of stuff I do is crazy!
• Beau: How about something embarrassing?
• Taryn: OK. Here’s one for you. I’m a life-long Phoenix Suns fan, and when I was like 6 years old I would lie in bed every night and sing the national anthem before I went to sleep. My dream was to sing it at a Suns game. Long story short, I never thought anyone heard me, until I grew up and my mom let me know how funny and cute it was to hear me sing every night!
• Beau: That’s funny. Did you ever sing at a Suns game?
• Taryn: Nope.
• Beau: There’s still time. I’ll be calling the Phoenix Suns and we’ll see what we can do…
• Taryn: Don’t! Haha.
• Beau: OK, I won’t. But I am going to share it in my blog.
• Taryn: It’s cool.
• Beau: This has been great. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with me. I’m filled with joy and really inspired.
• Taryn: Me too. Have a great night Beau. I’m so glad we’re friends.
• Beau: Me too. Talk to you later Taryn.

And that’s the condensed story of Taryn. An extraordinary young woman with a huge heart for Christ, justice, and a beautiful singing voice too. I did my best to keep it short, but we passed 1000 words a long time ago and I’m totally cool with that. Taryn, thanks for being who you were created to be. Every time I talk to people like you and all of our other unbelievable Affero members, I am inspired beyond compare. Keep on rocking and singing your song…you’re so darn interesting I’m sure we’d all love to hear you sing from the phone book. Until next week everybody…

Peace,
Beau

P.S. What made you smile today?

Feel free to add some of your favorite books on the topic in the comments below:

1) When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty Without Hurting the Poor… and Ourselves. By Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett.

2) The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time. By Jeffrey D. Sachs

3) Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty. By Muhammad Yunus

4) The Road of Lost Innocence: The True Story of a Cambodian Heroine. By Somaly Mam

5) The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. By Thomas L. Friedman

6) Too Small to Ignore: Why the Least of These Matters Most. By Dr. Wess Stafford

7) Another Man’s War: The True Story of One Man’s Battle to Save Children in the Sudan. By Sam Childers

8) The Hole in Our Gospel: What does God expect of Us? The Answer that Changed my Life and Might Just Change the World. By Richard Stearns

9) Terrify No More: Young Girls Held Captive and the Daring Undercover Operation to Win Their Freedom. By Gary A. Haugen

10) New Day Revolution: How to Save the World in 24 Hours. by Sam Davidson

You are getting the word out! We’ve had 1085 new friends join our group on facebook in the last 90 days. Way to go!

Thanks to your monthly support and sharing posts like this one, we are making new friends and making a real difference. Your help is vital if we are to be an effective in our mission, which includes looking after orphans and widows in their distress. Together, we are bringing hope to the orphan and rescue to the child soldier.

This week I was at Nine Fruits and met JT Olson, founder of Both Hands Foundation. JT knows that there are about 143 million orphans world-wide trapped in a vicious cycle of hopelessness, without anyone to love them, to protect them, or care for them.

Both Hands helps widows in practical ways while raising funds for families willing to adopt. Many couples willing to adopt find the financial costs of adopting to be quite a challenge. That’s where the great work of Lifesong for Orphans steps in, offering matching grants to help cover the cost.

I thank God for the good work of Lifesong for Orphans around the world and for their early support of The Affero Project. Let me just highlight one of their incredible efforts in Zambia where there is a great orphan crisis. Did you know that one out of ten people in Zambia is an orphan? That’s over 1 million orphans. Lifesong for Orphans builds schools and launches feeding programs for these vulnerable children.  They are taking a stand against poverty and bringing hope to those in need.

Many people don’t know the horrors of war up close or realize that children are used in armed conflict every day around the world. The use of children like is a great injustice. International agencies and grassroots organizations are courageously fighting the use of child soldiers. For instance, I know first hand the tremendous impact Project: AK-47 is having as they liberate child soldiers. Project: AK-47 has successfully and diplomatically negotiated the release of nearly 200 child soldiers in some very hard places around the world, like Myanmar, where they run four children’s homes and run three schools.

There is a world of poor and orphaned children who need our help. Thank you joining for saying “I’m in” and joining The Affero Project. Our collective action is making a difference!

Who do you know that would enjoy being a part of a community against poverty and injustice, committed to bring hope, sustainable change, and empowering communities all over the world? Remember to share this post with others so that your friends can learn more about great works around the globe and join in. Peace.

Our school is a therapeutic boarding school which is a fancy way of saying that the teachers here live alongside the special needs students we teach. It can be rather time consuming and exhausting but it’s absolutely the best job in the world for me. I end up spending almost every waking moment with students, around students, planning for students and talking about students, hence my resistance to writing about education at first.

Our very first winner at The Affero Project from April was Doulos Discovery School. If you haven’t heard of it yet, you need to check it out. It takes the idea of working and living among students to a whole new level. I’ve had the opportunity to know some of the people who work at Doulos personally throughout the years and I can say they are without a doubt some of the most passionate people I have ever met. Their zeal for life is uncanny, and that’s just what I know of them on a personal level As educators they are incredibly driven and creative people, hearing stories of how much they do with the little they have humbles me as a teacher.

At this point you may be wondering why Doulos Discovery School is our education cause. Well have I mentioned that it’s located in the Dominican Republic? A number of the people I mentioned above that have such a burning passion for education have given up comfy lifestyles in the United States in order to move to a place in the world that many have given up on. They not only live with the students they teach, but many times also get to know and come alongside the families of their students. They have made this move because they believe that everyone should have an equal chance at receiving a great education. Sometimes at work I get stressed out because my wife and I moved to New England from the Midwest and now we are constantly surrounded by kids that need our assistance, it can be slightly overwhelming. To move to a whole different country in order to follow the dream of helping kids, to give up part of their lives so that others can have better lives is astounding to me, but it is definitely something I want to help support.

To find out more about the Doulos Discovery school and the awesome people who live and work there go to http://www.doulosdiscovery.org/ .

If you haven’t already, go and visit http://afferoproject.com/organizations/lifewater-international/ and view their profile page, check out their video and learn more about where our funds will be going. Because of your generous support we’re able to contribute $396 to helping build 14 wells in communities surrounding the city of Lira in Uganda.

In mid-June, Marc and Lucas will be traveling to Lira Uganda to visit Lifewater and the projects we’re helping to fund. We’ll be shooting lots of video and photos of all the amazing work we’ve contributed to, and will be posting updates on the blog from June 13-28th (pending internet connectivity).

So a HUGE ‘thank you’ to everyone in our community! Together we are able to do remarkable things and truly change the world. If you’ve not yet joined us, visit http://afferoproject.com/ and decide how much you can give each month, then learn about our categories by clicking on the category images and cast your vote. Every month we’ll have a new winner and the combined funds for that month will be released.

Happy giving!

The Affero Team

When I was scrolling through Affero’s member list, I intended to pick someone at random, give them a call and hopefully convince them very quickly that I wasn’t a telemarketer. Well, the randomness of my selection went down the drain when the name Micah caught my eye. I gave him a call and he was kind enough to chat with me about his life, his heart and his involvement with Affero. He’s a cool dude, and I’m excited to share a little of his story with all of you. Here are a few pieces of our conversation from last night…

Beau: Hi Micah, this is Beau Miller calling from The Affero Project. I saw your name on our member list and thought you’d be a great person to interview for my weekly blog post. Do you have a few minutes to chat?
Micah: Are you a telemarketer…I’m trying to eat dinner! Bye. (Just kidding. He said he’d love to talk.)
Beau: Great, so where are you from? What are you up to these days?
Micah: Well, I am from western Kentucky. I’m 20-years-old and I’m a math education major at Murray State.
Beau: Math education. Cool. So you must be excited about the education category winning the first month of The Affero Project! All of the money in the pot got sent to the Doulos Discovery School in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic…
Micah: Yeah. That’s really cool! Glad I could be a part of it.
Beau: I too am glad that you were and are a part of what Affero is doing each month. By the way, how did you find out about The Affero Project?
Micah: Well, I met Lucas (Affero’s co-founder) at Beach Reach in Florida over spring break (http://threadsmedia.com/beachreach/). He was leading worship and then shared about Affero. Myself and a few of my friends from Murray State really liked it and decided to join.
Beau: Awesome. So tell me what it is that attracted you to Affero. What do you like best about it?
Micah: Well, as a young Christian man, I really love the idea that I can worship and serve alongside other people all across the world. In addition to friends, family and people at my church, I can join a global group united behind a common goal and purpose. And we can impact the world in great and different ways each month. I’ve been stuck on the bible verse about always giving…shirt…food…whatever is needed. So I knew this is something I wanted to do each month.
Beau: Wow! Perfect answer. I’m going to have to pay you for answers like that.
Micah: Wire transfer is fine. (Just kidding, I made this part up too.)
Beau: This is really cool Micah. I am really glad I got to connect with you.
Micah: Yeah, I’m glad you called. This has been fun.
Beau: Well, before we finish up, tell me a little more about yourself. Plans for the future, dreams, passions…anything crazy?
Micah: Like I said, I am studying math education. I’ve got a heart for working in inner city schools as a teacher or an administrator someday. We’ll see what happens. I’m working as a math tutor now. Oh, and I love sports. Huge Kentucky basketball fan. I love football as well. Played in high school.
Beau: I too love and played football. Glad we’ve got that in common. So, anything crazy about yourself that you don’t mind others knowing?
Micah: Speaking of football, I was the captain of our team my senior year, and also had the lead role in the school musical. A little Glee action. Crazy enough?
Beau: Very cool. You’re a talented guy. Any last thoughts? Want to give a shout out to any friends or family?
Micah: My brother just graduated from seminary and is starting his ministry. My sister is a missionary and journalist in a foreign country. So if you could pray for them, that’d be cool.
Beau: We certainly will. I can now see that you come from a family of people committed to serving others. Love it. I think this is a great place to finish Micah. Thanks so much for being a part of the Affero community. It means a lot to all of us, and your willingness to serve is helping people all across the globe.
Micah: You’re very welcome. It was great talking to you.
Beau: Oh, and before you go Micah…can I ask you one more question?
Micah: Sure.
Beau: Want to buy a set of steak knifes? I’ll give you a great deal. (I didn’t make this up. Hey, can’t blame a guy for trying to make a few bucks!)

So that’s it for today my friends. Micah, we are so glad to have you on board, and we look forward to running this race alongside you.

Peace,

Beau

Sam Davidson, our good friend from over at www.coolpeoplecare.com blogged this today – I thought it worthy of a share!

“Whether you rock a bob, an Afro, a perm or a Justin Bieber, your hair can be used to help clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Matter of Trust takes hair clippings both from humans and pets and turns them into super-absorbent mats that can help soak up stray oil. We didn’t believe it at first, but this story and video from the LA Times shows how it works. So, if you’re set for a trim in the next few days, ask your barber to bag those clippings and send them to Matter of Trust.”

Local churches rapidly organized an army of compassion, offering hope and encouragement to their neighbors – meeting immediate and practical needs such as evacuation, food, clothing and shelter. Many, many families are devastated by the flood and relief efforts are massive and ongoing.

I thank God for organizations like Samaritan’s Purse and Hands on Nashville on the scene highlighting needs and coordinating efforts of thousands of volunteers making a difference together as recovery work continues.

Gary Haugen wrote a book entitled Good News about Injustice. The book is basically a challenge to be a witness of courage in a hurting world. In it, he breaks down the word compassion into it’s root in Latin. It’s actually two words: passio, meaning “to suffer” and cum, meaning “with.”

Gary and his team at International Justice Mission are champions of justice and hope. They serve as a human rights agency rescuing victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals perform rescue missions and provide aftercare to victims. They courageously prosecute perpetrators and promote functioning public justice systems around the world.

You can make a difference. Join us as we seek justice. Together, will not ignore the cry of the afflicted. We will stand against injustice and recognize the inherent dignity of all people as proclaimed by The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

There is a world of evil and injustice to rise up against. There is a sea of humanity living in extreme poverty, hungry. We’ve said that many hands make work light. Today’s technology gives us new ways to carry the load together. Take action and join our movement for justice and hope. Consider sharing this post with your friends and ask them to do the same.

Before signing off, please allow me recognize Andy Reale, who directed and did most of the heavy lifting on the “I’M IN” video. I’m so proud of his work. Wow. And somehow I managed to miss him when thanking folks in last week’s post. Andy, you rock!

Thank you for all your help sharing The Affero Project with others. Affero means in part to carry, to bring about, to give, and to bring news. YOU are The Affero Project.

I wake up, start a pot of coffee and use the bathroom. I take a shower, I shave and I enjoy my coffee. The day moves on and I have yet to even think about water.

Most days my teaching team gets to teach outside. This season in particular we get to teach baseball. We have the opportunity to teach kids what running the bases looks like. We get to teach them what catching a pop fly looks like, as well as teaching them how to throw to the cut off to get an out at third and hopefully back to second to teach what a triple play is, if we’re lucky.

These kids stay pretty healthy throughout all of this. They have the ability to change into clean clothes if they need and take medicine if they need. I alone get the chance to take a break in an air-conditioned room and have a solid quart of water and get ready to do it all over again for the next class, never thinking about the fact that clean water gets us through all of this.

I have a friend who is a carpenter by trade. For some ignorant reason when I think of carpenters I think of old guys sitting in rocking chairs whittling away at fallen tree limbs, hoping to make picnic benches and rocking chairs in their free time. Unbeknownst to me, carpenters are a lot more than that and I have done them a lot of injustice in my predisposed thoughts of them.

I want to be the first to say that my ideas of clean water are warped, just misplaced and wrong. After looking into it I want to throw my hands up and say I am unable to be changed in my knowledge of clean water because I am so twisted in my non-knowledge of it.

My carpenter friend reminded me though that he LOVES to work with pieces that are warped. That it brings out this creativity in him that he cannot explain where it comes from. Warped wood is this adventure, out of seemingly nowhere, that keeps him going during the most tedious of jobs.

My idea on what clean water is may be intrinsically warped due to my life as a person coming from the Midwest of the States, and it is something I’ve never been without, but my point is this. There is hope in that I don’t think I’m too warped to not be malleable enough to understand, to be bent into a new thing, to get it, really comprehend what it’s like to be without clean water.

We have links on the site, go ahead, check them out, it only takes minutes to understand the problem of clean water. It takes hours and days and weeks to figure out how to help, but it only takes minutes to understand how warped you might be when it comes to clean water. It’s ok though if you’re warped, a lot of us are.

I had the pleasure of meeting Georgia Durante on one of my business trips to LA earlier this year. A few us were headed to the west coast to shoot a marketing video and when we were looking for homes to rent we stumbled across a really cool place called The Enchanted Manor. A place which I later learned was owned and operated by Georgia. While we ended up staying in a home closer to where we were shooting, fortunately for me, we still got to meet Georgia. And believe me when I tell you, I had no idea how fascinating our dinner together would be!

To say that Georgia has lived an wildly interesting life would be a total understatement. If I were to tell you that she became “the most photographed woman in the world” in the summer of ’69, as the beautiful “Kodak Girl” in the blue polka dot bikini would you believe me? Well, it’s true. That was her on the thousands of cardboard cut-outs in stores across the globe. And what if I told you that shortly after her very successful modeling career she became Hollywood’s leading female precision stunt driver, a status she held for decades? This is also true. And if this isn’t enough for you, how about the fact that she got her education in driving fast as a getaway driver for the Gambino crime family in New York. This may sound a bit outlandish, so before you call me a liar, let me tell you that you can go ahead and check out her best selling memoir “The Company She Keeps,” where all of this can be substantiated. Surprise, surprise, Georgia is an amazing author too. I don’t know about you, but I think that if this blog post ended right here it would definitely fulfill the criterion of profiling a member of The Affero Project community in an interesting way. But the truth is, this is just the tip of the iceberg with Georgia. I haven’t even got the chance to tell you about how loving, generous and brave she is, and that’s what matters most. Georgia’s heart is really what makes her, well…Georgia.

When I decided that I was going to start blogging about Affero members each week, I checked the member list and wasn’t surprised at all to see that Georgia had joined the movement. I didn’t even have a chance to call and tell her about it, and she had already taken the initiative to read about Affero on Facebook and join the community. No pitch necessary, no clarification needed. When I called her tonight she summed it up really quickly when she said, “Beau, I am always willing to help with a good cause, and this is really something special!” It meant a lot to me to hear her say that, and Georgia, I’d like to say this in return – you are something special. The hospitality and love that I experienced when Georgia invited us into her home for dinner was really beautiful. We felt like family and forged a friendship that will last for many, many years. Beyond that, we got to meet a very special 4-year-old girl named Angela, whom Georgia lovingly adopted as her daughter a few years ago. Knowing Georgia, and what a great mom she is, it came as no shock to learn that her experience with adopting Angela inspired her to take action and give back by serving on the board of Grandparents As Parents, an organization committed to providing programs and services to meet the urgent and ongoing needs of grandparents and other relative caregivers raising at-risk children. This is just who Georgia is. A loving and compassionate person with a real heart for others. As you can imagine, throughout her life Georgia has had multiple brushes with death, and has lived to share her story. And I, for one, am thankful that she did. The way her life has changed, the ways she serves those in need and the stories she’s been able to share have been a blessing to me. There is no question that Georgia has helped to make the world a better place, and I’m proud to call her a friend and a fellow member of The Affero Project.

Peace & Polka Dots,

Beau

P.S. Grandparents As Parents is putting on a cool event at the House of Blues in California this September, so if you are in the area be sure to check out their website for more info.

I later learned that because these kids had no shoes, the CDC and other Non-Government Organizations had to come through every 6 months with worm medicine to de-worm the kids (if the family had money), did you know?

• 400 million children are infected or at risk of being infected with “soil-transmitted helminths” – worms in the soil that can enter the body through the soles of bare feet.
• An additional 200 million people worldwide (adults and children) are infected with schistosomiasis, which comes from another type of worm – shoes can play a big prevention role with “schisto”, too.
• If a child has enough worms in her body, they will stunt her physical growth, make her more susceptible to other infections, and even cause permanent cognitive damage – that’s a lower IQ, just because of worms!
• Children with worms also suffer from lower school attendance.

So today’s challenge is to do something about this. I have listed 3 things you can do to help combat this epic problem. Lets commit to doing one of these this week and you just might save the life of a child.

1) Visit www.soles4souls.org and donate a pair of your shoes – easy!

2) Go buy a pair of shoes from Toms Shoes. For every pair bought, Toms gives a pair away to children in need around the world.

3) Visit www.donateyouroldshoes.org – these guys will take your old shoes and make great use of them.

Anyone who knows Lucas knows he has a heart for justice. He goes into schools and churches sharing how young people can make a tremendous difference in our world. He offers engaging mult-media presentations that challenge us to tackle problems facing humanity such as poverty, human trafficking, child soldiers, famine, disease, clean water and more. How can you not love this guy?

As I type this post, I’m reminded of an African proverb that says “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, take someone with you.” The Affero Project is a team effort. Already, a community of talented and inspired people are lending a hand and leading the way forward. If you are reading this post, you are a part of the team.

Welcome aboard! And don’t forget to share with others what you’ve found. Tell your friends about The Affero Project. We are community against poverty and injustice, committed to bring hope, sustainable change, and empowering communities all over the world.

Thank you for joining the movement. We are going far together. You have already lifted a hand in significant ways. God bless you!

David and Amanda Rodriguez, owners of Guaranteed Gutter & Siding in Nashville, approached me about a year ago and plopped down the initial seed money to develop afferoproject.com. Without their early vision and generous gift, where would we be?

Ben, Josh and Shannon at Mellowtown navigated Lucas and I through the various twists and turns of taking our ideas and putting them into a well developed and functioning website. It’s beautiful, don’t you think?

Have you seen our introductory video donated by StoneKap? Or the “I’M IN” campaign video? Incredible. My wife caught me watching it over and over yesterday. It’s phenomenal. It captures so well the heart of what we’re doing. I LOVE IT!

When in Ohio making a presentation, Lucas met Joe. Then Beau, our very own Chief Affangelist, reinforced the tie with the StoneKap team. Soon after, the entire crew of this full service production company jumped in with both feet! I’m blown away by their inventive and creative direction. Thank you Chad, Tom, Shelvia, Dave, Joe, John, Derek, Kevin, Beau, Kevin D., and Robert for your creative work and for your generosity.

This is a blog post and not War and Peace. So I’ll sign off now. Thanks for checking in and watch for more posts to come. Don’t forget to share Affero with your friends and don’t forget to sign up and say “I’M IN!”.

Peace.

I hear this question repeatedly when I attempt to explain what the Affero Project is doing. I often get so wrapped up in what we’re doing that I gloss right over what the name actually means.

I think we forget sometimes how important names can be. I’m sure if you ask your parents there is some story that explains why you were named what you were named. Maybe it connects you back to a family member or friend of the family, rooting you in tradition or hoping that the individual’s noblest of traits become a part of your character.

Perhaps you hate your name and the whole idea of being connected back to your heritage makes your skin crawl and because of this, you make up a story. Perhaps you like to imagine that in traffic riddled drive to the hospital your future parents were struggling against the wave of cars to bring you into this world in a delivery room and not a taxi cab. Perhaps two cars over, former astronaut Randall Freewater* sees your perilous plight and decides to use his engineering skills and charming personality to direct traffic in order for your parents to clearly navigate towards their destination. Because of this scenario your parents have named you Randall. This story makes you feel much more at peace with your name than the story where they named you after your dad’s cousin Randy whom he had recently been on a fishing trip with and caught the largest bass of his life.

This is all to say that a name carries a lot of weight to it, whether you are naming your intramural softball team or your car, you want a name that means something and connects you to an idea that is bigger than yourself. Affero is no different in this respect; the name was not chosen just because it sounded cool or would look good on a bumper sticker or t-shirt. (Although all of those things happen to be true)

In a nutshell Affero means; to contribute, to bring about change, to proclaim, to empower. That seems like a lot of work for such a little word, but that’s exactly why it fits the projects ideas. Too many times I think we feel as if we are too small to overcome injustice in our world, that we are essentially powerless and tiny.

When we join together though, we can leave behind our inferiority and sense of smallness. We can bring about real change and empower people who need our help. When you contribute whatever you can, and that’s added to your dad’s cousin Randy contributing whatever he can, and that’s added to former astronaut Randall Freewater contributing whatever he can, it starts to add up. And that’s what the word Affero means.

To be honest I had no clue what the word affero meant until I did a little research. However, once I found out I knew I needed to share it. Words exploded out of me and onto my laptop screen. That’s just kind of how my brain works, I love to dive into things I don’t know about, find out everything I can about them and share it all with others. I’m hoping that future posts find me exploring ideas, people, places and the world that I don’t know, and coming back here to share it with all of you. I look forward to getting to know all of you.

*Former astronaut Randall Freewater may or may not exist solely for the purpose of this post.

Ashley and Steve are really fascinating people. They grew up in Ohio and recently journeyed on to Connecticut, where they work/serve at a school for children with social and/or emotional difficulties. Ashley is a very gifted art teacher and photographer who is brimming with patience and compassion, and Steve is currently serving as the world’s greatest, and possibly most surprising physical education teacher. Most surprising? Yes. Steve isn’t exactly what you’d call a “sports guy.” He ‘s an extremely talented creative writer who loves comic books (he insists they’re called graphic novels, but I don’t get it), Zombie movies and social media. But, when he got to Connecticut to finish his degree, he learned that the school needed a physical education teacher and he jumped on board. This is just the kind of people they are. Ready to spring into action and serve others, no matter how crazy the call. I am pleased to tell you that things are going great for them, as they truly feel like they’re fulfilling their purpose in life right now. And Steve, don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about the time you asked me to send you schematics on how to actually hold a football. Your secret is safe with me; the students will never know.

To bring the message home, I must tell you that when I started working with Affero, Steve and Ashley were two of the first people I called. I was so filled with enthusiasm, as I still am now, that as soon as they answered I started rambling about how cool Affero was, what a revolution it would be, and how many lives could be impacted through the community. Before I even got to the end, or gave them the pitch as to why they should sign up, Steve cut me off and said, “We’re in. Signing up now!” Again, that’s just the kind of people they are. They believe in what Affero is doing, and felt led to pour themselves into the project. Just thinking about that call fills me joy and makes me proud to call them my friends. And that’s not all. Steve and Ashley have also offered to share their tremendous creative gifts with us, and all of you, in the form of blogging and photography for Affero! So, be on the lookout for some sweet blog posts from Steve each week, and some killer photos from Ashley in the future! And there you have it. An artist and a writer, or as I like to call them, a super hero duo for serving others. That’s all for this week. Thanks Asher & Steve-O…Keep living the revolution.

I hope that this inspires you to:

1) Be grateful for you you have.

2) To use that wealth to change the life of someone else.

If you haven’t already, join us at www.afferoproject.com

Shawn Ahmed was an ordinary Canadian student.. and in his words – “In 2005, I got a scholarship to pursue a Masters & PhD in Sociology at Notre Dame University. One day, in September of 2006, Notre Dame closed all of its classes so that students could learn more about the important issue of global health and global poverty. Among the scholars Notre Dame invited to speak to us was Dr. Jeffrey Sachs (author of the book “The End of Poverty”).

Note – Reading any of Dr. Jeffrey Sachs books or hearing him speak is a good way to begin your journey of truly understanding the world of poverty and how we can change it. He iterates that It doesn’t require us to have a dramatic revolution or for all become like Mother Theresa. Simple and small changes in our global, political, and personal priorities can make a huge difference in the world”. This is true and part of the reason we started Affero.

Shawn started blogging and encouraging the conversation about global poverty and moved himself to Bangladesh to immerse himself with life on the ground and finding out the good, the bad and the ugly of development work first hand. Take some time and check out his blog and website. Also if you know of others doing similar things, let us know by commenting below.

“We can end extreme poverty – but I have to tell the students the bad news: it’s your homework” - Dr. Jeffrey Sachs

The Dominican Republic has the lowest investment in education in Latin America and the Caribbean with only 1.9 percent of its GDP invested in public education. Only 50 percent of children that enroll in primary education complete the first four years; 22 percent finish the full eight-year primary education program, and just 10 percent finish high school.

Thanks to you, we’re able to help combat this devastating cycle of poverty by empowering and growing student leaders through the Dominican’s most remarkable education program. Be sure to visit www.doulosdiscovery.org and learn more about the school and other ways you can help.

Education Facts

Receiving an education is vital to the eradication of poverty worldwide and crucial in rebuilding devastated countries and economies. Much work has been done in this area in the past 10 years but more needs to be done. In South-Asia the adult literacy rate is 63 percent, nearly 20 percent lower than the global rate, while only 43 percent of females are likely to attend secondary school. In some African countries like Burkina Faso, the adult literacy rate is only 23.6%. Access to primary education and schools for all children is a vital need to combat this major global problem.

So, not surprisingly, right after I told Larry about Affero he was on board 100%, and said he’d sign up.  Like the noble, handsome (you’re welcome Larry) and generous man he is, he did sign up – with a total of three separate accounts!  Three accounts!?!?  Yeah, this is the cool part.  Larry decided that it would be one thing for he and his beautiful wife Buffy (in this case I actually mean it) to set up an account and give, but it would be even cooler if they could involve their young kids, Benjamin and Savannah.  So, Larry and Buffy (who are in the running for Affero’s Parents of the Year award), sat down with the kids at the computer and told them all about The Affero Project and what they could do to be a part of changing the world.  They read over the categories, let the kids see what each org needed, and then, after they set up accounts in Benjamin and Savannah’s names, they got to vote for where they wanted their money to go.  They were so excited, and were practically begging Larry to go out in the cool Affero t-shirts I promised them (and have yet to deliver), and tell the world the good news.  How cool is this?  Seriously, what a beautiful vision for connecting with your kids, and in turn, connecting them to their global neighbors in need!  Encouraging a life of giving and compassion from a very young age – sweet!

Often times kids grow up thinking that giving to charity is something for their parents to do.  Their parents will worry about the orphans, widows and the poor for now – and then someday in the future, it will be their turn to learn what social justice is all about and start giving.  But much applause to Larry and Buffy for using their God-given creativity to give their amazing kids a voice in the fight right now.  Just imagine what Benjamin and Savannah will be doing ten years from now.  I can tell you this much, I know they’ll be doing something extraordinary.  So, parents out there, this is a time that it might be good to tear out a page from Larry and Buffy’s parenting playbook.  Affero is all about empowering people, and no matter how young your kids may be, they want to be a part of something bigger.  They want to help.  So consider setting up Affero accounts for them, and just wait to see the joy in their eyes and on their hearts when they get to decide if their dollar is going to be the dollar that is used to dig a well in Africa or for schooling for Dominican kids.  It’s a powerful thing, and we are excited to hear the stories of your little kids, doing big things in our world.

Peace & Love,

Beau

In a few months we officially launch the “I’m In Campaign”. Already, we have Christian Recording artists like, Brandon Heath, Natalie Grant, 10th Ave North, Britt Nicole, The Glorious Unseen, The Ember Days, Audrey Assad and Philip LaRue joining together to give voice to the community. The campaign is a simple, a united declaration that WE, (you and I) stand for and join the fight against global poverty and injustice. Its a declaration that we aren’t afraid to tackle some of the greatest humanitarian issues in the world and that we are willing to do something about it.

We’ll be releasing a series of videos with music artists, celebrities, film stars, sports figures and more who join with us in this declaration… and even more importantly, you’ll have the opportunity to submit your own video’s declaring that you’re in.  We’ll have t-shirts, hats, stickers and heaps more for you to wear with pride as you declare loud that ‘Your In’.  More on this to come… stay tuned.

We will be giving over $500 away in April! Not bad for being just over 2 weeks old! If you follow us on Twitter or are a fan on Facebook, you heard that last week David Hasselhoff wrote a blog post and Tweeted about us being the “Next Big Thing”. We were greatly honored and quite frankly stoked that The Hoff himself would give props to us! We have over 800 facebook fans and our site www.afferoproject.com went international with donors from Australia and New Zealand! Wow!

For now though, help us reach our goal of giving away $1000 a month by telling your friends and family about The Affero Project and get them to join us. Remember, the power is in community – “its not one person doing something GREAT, its ALL of us doing small things with great love.” (Mother Theresa)

You Give + You Vote + You Decide

The Affero Team

Beau Miller

This is pretty darn exciting! I am getting so much joy out of this community. 32 members and $168 already – pretty darn good. Can’t imagine what it will look like when Affero really catches fire with all of the people in our world who want to do good for others.

Mike Coates

After I voted for Human Trafficking, I was reading how they need $100,000 to build restoration houses in the US. I realized how sweet it was to think that we could be giving $100,000 a month to them. That’s insane!

Steven McLaughlin

I can be a bit cynical when it comes to giving, but this is definitely something I can get behind. Let’s keep it going!

Thomas Kruse

Let’s do this. Activate.

Its official, Afferoproject.com has gone live and people are beginning to sign up, we’re close to reaching our first milestone of giving away $100 a month – I know its not much, but its a start and we’re growing. The more people who join us, the more we are able to give away!

We’ve had 4 organization submissions already… this is wonderful! Your suggestions will help us fill each category. We want to hear your thoughts on the site, ideas, suggestions, tell us about other non-profits doing amazing work around the world.

We want to continue spreading the word about The Affero Project, so feel free to post links and our video on your facebook, blog etc, if you want to make a presentation at your church or ministry contact us and we’ll help you and give you all the tools you’ll need.

Thanks for joining us… now lets change the world!

I hope you enjoy the site, the entire team has worked tirelessly to make this dream become a reality… now lets together, change the world!

TE-PING CHEN who’s article was published here has some interesting facts on the global fight against Polio.

Today, polio eradication efforts are among the most successful global health initiatives out there. Over the past 20 years, the World Health Organization has spent $5 billion to immunize two billion children against the disease, relegating the condition in most places to the dustbin of cultural history. Incredibly, the global number of polio cases has fallen to fewer than 2,000 new cases a year. Polio these days is still endemic in just four countries: Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan.

But while momentum to stop polio has been largely successful, global health advocates say that without complete eradication, over 10 million children will be paralyzed in the next 40 years. To read more click here.

Polio still affects the lives of many… lets unite and help those affected by this crippling disease!

CAN WE FIX IT? YES WE CAN!!
We are creating mini-philanthropists out of regular people.  People join The Affero Project for as little as $1 a month and their donation is combined with thousands of others, creating a very large pool of funds.  Each year we have 12 categories of funding representing numerous non-profit organizations and NGO’s with projects around the world in each category. Every month community members join online to cast their vote on which category they would like to receive funding that month, weighted according to their monthly commitment.  Once a category is funded, it will be grayed out until next year, allowing every category to receive funding.

1. Aids and Disease
2. Clean Water
3. Education
4. Child Soldiers
5. Food and Agriculture
6. Gender Equality
7. Homelessness
8. Human Trafficking
9. Medical Relief
10. Orphan Care
11. Poverty and Hunger
12. Refugees

Have you ever thought to yourself, “gee I’d love to able to give away a million dollars one day?” Or after you heard a major need with an organization you support and pondered, “I wish I could write that $500,000 check right now and give it away?”… but the only problem is, you don’t have the money…. and probably never will! Well, you’re not alone!

About a year ago, a number of young and passionate global justice freaks dreamed together an idea that could revolutionize the way people give and increase the effectiveness of ones gift, by multiples of thousands! We said… what if we could create the worlds-first online giving platform and community that allows people to give small change every month, joining with thousands of others, and together they vote monthly, where and to what organization that money is given? What if we could make a program that could be accessible for those who could only afford to give $1 a month and also appeal to those who could give $1000 a month? What if we could create a way that people could spread their gifts out across many pressing global justice causes and needs, and assist the work of hundreds of amazing aid organizations, NGO’s and ministries out there changing lives? What if…

We got excited! We told others, who got excited and now its has grown and the platform is almost built and ready to launch!

The Affero Project is quite simple…. You Give, You Vote, You Decide.

The word ‘Affero’ is a ancient Latin word meaning ‘to contribute, to bring, to empower’. We have the ability to contribute small monthly commitments, whatever you can afford, to bring about sustainable change in communities and lives all around the world, and to empower individuals to break the cycle of poverty and oppression and succeed in life. We can actually do this!

You see its the law of co-operative giving. One person cannot give enough money, or shout loud enough to impact the whole world, but together, we can each do ‘what we can’, joining with thousands of others and do just that. A rising tide, lifts all boats, two voices are louder than one.

And its way more than just giving! As Affero grows we will have regular articles from people around the world sharing stories and insights into real situations on the ground. We will have teams of people going out all around the world engaging in ‘hands-on’ work in justice hot-spots, where you will have the opportunity to see first-hand, to help with some of these issues (human trafficking, child soldiers, poverty, famine, AIDS, and much more) and come back changed person. We’ll have film crews and photographers creating compelling presentations that you can use back in your schools, universities, churches and community gatherings to empower others to ‘be the change’. Plus much, much more.

Like the old Chinese proverb says “One generation plants the trees; another gets the shade.” We are a generation who will gladly plant the trees, who will tear up the seeds of injustice, scream for those with no voice, bring good news and hope to the hurting, give food, medicine and clothing to the poor, so that others in future generations can enjoy the shade. We are the Affero generation! And together… we can change the world!

Would you consider joining us today by signing up to the newsletter on the side of the page. In the next few months as we prep to launch the project into ‘beta’ phase, we’ll have many announcements and ways you can get involved on a grassroots level to help us build and grow Affero. There will be a number of ‘town hall’ type meetings in and around the Nashville area where we will gather input and ideas from you and the community.

It will be an exciting few months for sure and we’re looking forward to your input.

Here’s to changing the world!

The Affero Team