Looking for a novel Christmas gift? Maybe a pig farm in Bolivia? A grocery store in the Philippines? Doors for a house in El Salvador? This is how it works: you buy a gift certificate for as little as $25 from www.Kiva.org. The person you give it to goes to that site to choose a recipient for his microloan. That money, combined with other microloans, will start or expand a small business in a developing country, allowing people there to earn a living, educate their children, and generally improve their families’ lives. Kiva loans don’t earn interest, but 99% of the loans have been repaid (including all the ones I’ve made). Other poverty-targeted microloan organizations have differing investment amounts, pay-backs, and structures. I mention Kiva because of my personal experience with it. And they offer gift cards which you can give to, say, a grandchild. Then you can go online with him to set up the account in his name. Together you can watch a small investment change people’s lives in a big way, and the grandchild can boast, “I helped rebuild a house in Peru!”
Archive for December 11, 2019
A Twain Look at Family Trees
Good old Mark Twain. His humor has the bite of truth to it. This one struck my funny bone, considering all the political mud-slinging:
Done Eating? Don’t Wash that Bowl–Eat it
(CNN Business)–Food packaging is filling up landfills and polluting our oceans, where materials like plastic and polystyrene can take centuries to decompose.But one company might have a tasty solution to cut down our use of plastic dishware.South African startup Munch Bowls has created a biodegradable bowl made from wheat, which you can eat as part of your meal. The bowls are vegan, can hold hot soup for up to five hours and have a shelf life of 15 months, according to the company.
Wintertime Viewing Choices
DID YOU SEE THAT? The “good guy” is a murderer, the “heroine” can’t live without sex until the next commercial, and we’re supposed to cheer at the explosions and torture of the “bad guys.” Such is typical TV and movie fare. Violence, cruelty, and lust not only sell, they also demean life. And they feed our culture of violence/cruelty/life-is-cheap. Our refusing to watch these programs and movies is a personal step away from that negative, harmful culture. Going another step forward, we can explain to our kids why our family doesn’t watch them, thus raising a more caring, sensitive next-generation. One more step is to write letters to the theater, TV station, film-maker, and advertisers, reminding them that their profits depend on giving us what we want to see. If I do that, and so do you, and our friends, and their friends…. It’s the snowball-effect. What better time than now, during the cold of winter, to get that snowball rolling?
A Different Take on Giving Tuesday
Tomorrow is “Giving Tuesday,” a holiday designed to balance out the self-absorbed madness of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. On this day, business, charities, communities, and families enter into the spirit of giving. EVERYONE can participate. If not with our wallets, then with our excess food in our pantries or the second Buy-one/Get-One-Free item. With that like-new clothing we loved when we bought it but know we’ll never wear. With those toys our kids opened Christmases ago but sit in their boxes, unplayed with. With blankets and rain ponchos for the homeless who are about to be caught in what promises to be a harsh winter. Or simply with the gift of our time: to help at a shelter or soup kitchen; to visit a lonely elder in a nursing home; to comfort a grieving family; to be with a troubled child. I hope Giving Tuesday expands to Giving Everyday. During this month, though, it turns the madness into a loving anticipation of a Christmas season packed with all the meaning it’s supposed to have.