There are an estimated 852 million hungry people in the world – an astounding number. However, with some simple ideas, the number of hungry people in the world can easily be reduced.
1. Education
Even if hunger was eradicated right now, it would only be temporarily so if education is not a priority. Educated children are prepared children. A good education equips children to provide for themselves, as well as their communities, in the future. Education ensures that the steps taken in the fight against hunger are sustainable.
2. School meals
School meal programs are one of the easiest ways to feed lots of children, since the children are all gathered in one place. It is also very cost-effective. For 25 cents per meal, the World Food Program feeds 24 million school children annually.
3. Food security programs
The World Food Program defines food security as “when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” Food security programs aim to meet these needs by training farmers in developing nations through agricultural methods that will provide their communities with food – both now and long-term. The World Food Program reports that it has provided 200,000 farmers with agricultural training since the beginning of its food security programs.
4. Focus on women
It is estimated that women account for 60 percent of the hungry worldwide. If a mother is not able to provide for herself, she will most likely not be able to provide for her children either. This means that hunger is continuously being inherited by children. When women are helped, entire communities are helped.
5. Raise awareness
The simple act of bringing attention to the problem of hunger goes a long way in fighting it. People can’t contribute to a cause they aren’t informed of, and as more people become aware of how hunger affects the poor around the world, more people will engage in the fight against it. It’s that simple.
6. Donate
This is one that tends to be taken for granted. Many people talk about the importance of monetary donations, but relatively few actually donate. This is unfortunate, because donations of any amount can go a long way. There are billions of people in the world that do not suffer from chronic hunger. If all of these people contribute even the tiniest amount that they can afford, hunger will be exponentially closer to being eradicated.
7. Live simply
People in developed nations put so much money towards things they don’t need, while people in the developing world struggle just to get by on a daily basis. Practicing some restraint in spending would free up money that could then be used towards eradicating hunger. This could be as simple as forgoing a cup of coffee each day.
8. Reduce food waste
Excess waste ties up resources that could be used elsewhere in the fight against hunger. It is important for people in developed countries to be mindful of those in developing nations by doing their best to consume only what they need.
9. Be involved in government
Exercise the privileges that come with living in a democratic society in the fight against hunger. Elected officials are in place to represent the voice of the people. If enough people express their concern about global hunger to elected officials, the collective voice cannot be ignored, and action must be taken.
10. Fight for livable wages
It is not enough to simply provide the world’s hungry with food. They must be equipped to provide for themselves. Otherwise, the problem of hunger is not actually solved. Many workers in developing nations are exploited by employers and are not paid nearly enough to provide food for themselves, much less their families. If global hunger is to be defeated, all people must be provided with opportunity to earn livable wages.
– Matt Berg
Sources: YSA, WFPUSA, Huffington Post, World Hunger
Photo: World Food Programme
Simplified Global Trend Statistics: Gapminder
A web service that specializes in providing time series of development activity statistics for all the world’s countries, Gapminder is a modern museum which allows for a simple overview of overall progress among nations.
It was first formulated in Sweden in 2006 to complement the Trendalyzer software, which is the platform that puts statistics to animated images. In 2007, Google bought Trendalyzer from the Gapminder development team; they soon followed suit and joined Google in California.
Gapminder is free to use and easy to navigate. The Gapminder World section provides not only data for comparing countries; there are sections for U.S. interstate and provinces of China and India versus the rest of the world analyses. Some of the data available goes back as far as the year 1800. Data providers which supplied the information at hand are only a click away; all statistics are verified and official.
A total of 260 countries and territories are covered by Gapminder. Although they all have varying degrees of completion (based upon available data), the minds behind the website have pledged to have no less than two indicators (or categories, one of the two being population) filled in for each separate entity.
The graphs feature anything from birth/death, unemployment, aid provided rates (all conveniently categorized by age), new and fatal cases of cancer among male and female subgroups, number of people living in extreme poverty, amount of women taking birth control, and hundreds more. On the front page, a handful of links for the most important trends are conveniently placed.
The creative, minimalistic design of the charts instills a sense of clarity and order; this is especially beneficial for simplifying numerical stats. Rather than going through official records and having to fumble with digits and percentages, one can easily open it all in one place.
In an attempt to “fight devastating ignorance with fact-based worldviews everyone can understand,” Gapminder is a comprehensive website, accessible to and widely used by teachers and corporations alike. Statistics gain shape for making up a unique overview of the past two centuries. The platform leaves room for free exploration – browsing the website, one feels invited, even compelled, to look up data at random.
Focusing on a specific topic? Gapminder has a whole section of videos, some of which present curious statistical shifts while others are case studies from outside sources explaining certain phenomena.
The website itself is no longer updated on a regular basis; the blog has but a couple scarce posts since 2011, the news section is outdated, and no major changes to the platform itself have been made recently. But the innovative system is not forgotten. Gapminder has released an offline version of its web-based library; a program is available for swift download which puts Gapminder World right on the user’s desktop.
Visualization is the main strategy of Gapminder – trends that don’t seem out of the ordinary on paper will ‘pop out’ in the graphs, saving the user time while providing a fresh perspective on worldwide occurrences. An intelligent take on unifying data, Gapminder is an invaluable tool for studying causal relationships between global factors and understanding social trends.
– Natalia Isaeva
Sources: Gap Minder, Singularity Hub
Photo: Ann Michaelson
Forum on Sustainable Development, UN Seeks Scientific Input
Following the termination of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), the UN announced recently the formation of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. The new organization seeks to supercede the original, which operated from 1992 to 2012, by incorporating more input from the scientific community and providing a centralized, direct interface between data and policy makers.
The CSD was ahead of its time when it was first created, but had major flaws. Representatives from and experts on topics under discussion were not included in key talks, and as such, solutions ranged from impractical to irrelevant.
Members of governing bodies with the power to enact the solutions that were feasible were not always in communication with the CSD, and the measures were not carried through with the necessary vigor. As these problems compounded, the CSD came to be little more than a subsidiary of ECOSOC.
Aware of the numerous faults, the UN commissioned a special report on the CSD’s failures and addressed each of them with the new Forum. Annual meetings will be structured to ensure constant attention, and every four years, an additional meeting will be convened with the aim of attracting the highest level policy makers to streamline the legislative process and make appeals for particular actions directly to those with the power to do so.
In the same vein, the Forum on Sustainable Development will seek greater integration between UN agencies, to give it the greatest possible reach and resources in tackling the broad problems that are its concern.
Most importantly is the UN’s commitment to seek out and utilize the expertise and knowledge of the scientific community. Environmental, biological, and social scientists will be looked to to identify and address the most pressing problems facing the globe; economists will be sought to consider the financial feasibility of all solutions and, indeed, the Forum itself, which will have its own independent budget to operate from.
As a central aegis under which the many (and incontrovertibly convoluted) disciplines can dialogue to tackle issues in the most efficient way, the Forum on Sustainable Development is itself addressing a major issue: the disconnect between information and policy.
Socially segregated from the much of the rest of the world, the work done by scientists remains stuck in academic journals and treatises, unless it contains enough flash and style to appeal to major media outlets. There is an argument to be made that if the general public was aware of the relentless pace of scientific progress in every field, and the severe constraints put on it by a scarcity of funding, favorable sentiment would increase dramatically.
None of this is set to happen until 2016, pending the announcement of post-2015 Development Goals, but the UN appears committed to making the Forum fully equipped to hit the ground running when its objectives are officially announced.
This swift action is a promising sign in an institution which has been known for sluggishness and irrelevance, and is one sign among many recently that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is aware of the UN’s singular place in the contemporary world and the necessity for it to aim for the greatest possible goals.
If the bureaucratic cogs continue to churn at the same rate, the world will have a beacon of hope come 2016, and the coming years may vindicate the often-criticized Mr. Ban.
– Alex Pusateri
Sources: Sci Dev Net: UN Launches New Sustainable Development, All Africa, Sci Dev Net
Photo: UN News Centre
Adolescent Girls, Bearing the Brunt of the Burden
“I am 17 years old. In the relief camp, when I was sleeping in the night, I was raped. I did not know what had happened to me. I do not know the face of the man. I had heavy bleeding…now I see some disturbances in my body and when my mother took me to the hospital, I was told I am pregnant”.
This is what a young girl from Tamul Nadu in India experienced after a tsunami devastated her hometown. Like her, millions of other girls in developing countries are the hardest hit by disasters in comparison with other segments of the population. Not only do women receive non-preferential treatment during emergency rescues, but they are also at a greater risk of sexual exploitation, child marriage, and being deprived of an education.
According to a report released by Plan International, a child rights NGO, girls fare far worse during disasters than the rest of the population. Given their gender, age, and humanitarian status, girls and women experience a triple disadvantage during crises since pre-existing inequalities and vulnerabilities are exacerbated.
In this way, a 14-year-old girl in a slum will experience a flood or an earthquake differently from a 14-year-old boy in the same situation. Such is the case of a son and a daughter who were swept away by a tidal surge in a cyclone that hit Bangladesh in 1991. The father of these children is cited as saying that he could not hold on to both and had to release his daughter because “his son had to carry on the family line.”
In other cases, adolescent girls and women are driven to sell sex because they have no alternative to feed themselves and their children. “I don’t work. I don’t have parents to help. So, for around a dollar, you have sex just for that…it’s not good to do prostitution, but what can you do?” said Gheslaine, who lives in a camp in Croix-de-Bouquets in Haiti.
Disasters also lead to an increase in child marriages. Research in Somaliland, Bangladesh and Niger found that child marriage is often used as a community response to crises in which girls are sold for income and food. In Niger, girls are taken out of school, wed and impregnated at the age of 13. Many of them suffer from fistula (a rupture between the birth canal and bladder caused by prolonged obstructed labor) and die.
One of the least prioritized issues during disasters is facilitating education for girls. Although most families would rather continue education for boys rather than girls, girls who receive an education are more likely to be healthy, marry later in life, and survive into adulthood. In fact, it is one of the most important determinants of practically all desired outcomes related to the Millennium Development Goals, from poverty reduction, to reduced infant mortality rates, and to enhanced democratization.
Despite the evidence that confirms that the empowerment of women has a transformative power in all types of societies, this study reveals that the rights to protection, education, and participation are still not granted to most women and girls, especially during crises.
– Nayomi Chibani
Feature Writer
Sources: IRIN, Plan International
Photo: UNHCR
Female Literacy: The Importance and Reason
October 17 is celebrated throughout the world as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Extreme poverty has many causes and benefactors that have allowed it to become the expansive global issue it is today. Lack of food supply, insufficient amount of suitable water sources and deadly viruses all contribute to the extreme poverty epidemic. However, lack of education is often overlooked, yet it holds as much stock in healing poverty as any other way. Making education a major target is crucial, especially for the female children in these areas.
Children in impoverished areas are not receiving proper education. However, the children that are receiving any sort of education are predominately males, and females are simply left out of the education process. Only 43 percent of secondary-age girls are in school, and 1 in every 5 girls in the developing world do not complete any education beyond sixth grade.
There are several reasons why girls in developing countries do not make it past middle school education. These issues range from having to work to help support the family to being married off at a young age. More than 10,000 girls under the age of 15 are to be married each day in developing countries. However, girls that receive secondary education are six times less likely to marry before the age of eighteen. Additionally, girls who receive at least seven years of quality education tend to make better lifestyle decisions. They average a marriage age of at least four years later than girls who do not receive the same number of years in education, and average two fewer children.
In these impoverished areas, girls have also shown a better tendency to conserve their money and use it primarily or their family. A woman in a developing country who earns an income invests 90 percent of it into her family, a substantially higher percentage than the men boast. However, the money cannot be made without receiving an education. While girls have more obstacles to pass to obtain theirs, even one year of schooling can improve a girl’s individual earnings by 10-20 percent.
The value of an education can change several aspects of life. Studies show that youths in general who receive at least a primary education have as much as a 50 percent reduced rate to contract HIV and AIDS. If a child is taught at an early age ways to avoid these diseases and to treat them, the results could be staggering. Predictions show that up to 700,000 HIV cases could be potentially prevented if more children received a primary education.
Girls have several odds stacked against them. However, receiving an education can obviously impact the lives of young girls in developing countries. By obtaining this education, girls have a much better chance of improving their poverty situation. Programs such as Compassion (found here) allow people to sponsor a child, and through outside aid these children are able to obtain their education. The mission to institute education worldwide is a crucial one; without increased learning, the world will always have the lingering effects of extreme poverty. Fixing the education issue is a fine way to make a difference.
– Zachary Wright
Sources: Compassion Blog, Education Graphic, Compassion Website
Photo: World Literacy Initiative, Inc.
November 20 Marks Universal Children’s Day
Universal Children’s Day, celebrated on November 20, promotes the well-being of children everywhere. Nations worldwide celebrate the day to support children’s rights and interests. Universal Children’s Day is celebrated upon principles put forth by the General Assembly on December 14, 1954, by Resolution 836(IX). Since then, the day is used to promote objectives the General Assembly puts in place to enhance the welfare of children around the world.
November 20 was chosen as the day because of two other historical adoptions the General Assembly declared on this day. First, in 1959, the Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. Secondly, the Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of a Child in 1989.
In more recent times, world leaders drew out the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the year 2000, designed to reduce poverty dramatically. These goals are directly related to children in multiple ways. In 2012, The Secretary General launched a new program called Education First, which will raise awareness about education, as well as produce additional funds through advocacy work.
Several officials commend Universal Children’s Day and its purpose. According to David Anthony, co-author of UNICEF’s study, Generation 2025 and beyond: The critical importance of understanding demographic trends for children of the 21st century, “ the world needs to be prepared for the post-2015 agenda and take account of this fundamental and unprecedented shift.” He also states, “we must do everything possible, so these children get an equal chance to survive, develop and reach their full potential.”
Overall, by spreading awareness and boosting advocacy efforts regarding children’s well-being in the world and by incorporating the UN standard into national legal frameworks, we can ensure the rights of the world’s children. Wrapping up the vision of Universal Children’s day is this statement by the Report of the Secretary General in 2001, “We were all children once. And we all share the desire for the well-being of our children, which has always been and will continue to be the most universally cherished aspiration of humankind.”
– Laura Reinacher
Sources: United Nations, UNICEF
10 Ways to End Hunger
There are an estimated 852 million hungry people in the world – an astounding number. However, with some simple ideas, the number of hungry people in the world can easily be reduced.
1. Education
Even if hunger was eradicated right now, it would only be temporarily so if education is not a priority. Educated children are prepared children. A good education equips children to provide for themselves, as well as their communities, in the future. Education ensures that the steps taken in the fight against hunger are sustainable.
2. School meals
School meal programs are one of the easiest ways to feed lots of children, since the children are all gathered in one place. It is also very cost-effective. For 25 cents per meal, the World Food Program feeds 24 million school children annually.
3. Food security programs
The World Food Program defines food security as “when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” Food security programs aim to meet these needs by training farmers in developing nations through agricultural methods that will provide their communities with food – both now and long-term. The World Food Program reports that it has provided 200,000 farmers with agricultural training since the beginning of its food security programs.
4. Focus on women
It is estimated that women account for 60 percent of the hungry worldwide. If a mother is not able to provide for herself, she will most likely not be able to provide for her children either. This means that hunger is continuously being inherited by children. When women are helped, entire communities are helped.
5. Raise awareness
The simple act of bringing attention to the problem of hunger goes a long way in fighting it. People can’t contribute to a cause they aren’t informed of, and as more people become aware of how hunger affects the poor around the world, more people will engage in the fight against it. It’s that simple.
6. Donate
This is one that tends to be taken for granted. Many people talk about the importance of monetary donations, but relatively few actually donate. This is unfortunate, because donations of any amount can go a long way. There are billions of people in the world that do not suffer from chronic hunger. If all of these people contribute even the tiniest amount that they can afford, hunger will be exponentially closer to being eradicated.
7. Live simply
People in developed nations put so much money towards things they don’t need, while people in the developing world struggle just to get by on a daily basis. Practicing some restraint in spending would free up money that could then be used towards eradicating hunger. This could be as simple as forgoing a cup of coffee each day.
8. Reduce food waste
Excess waste ties up resources that could be used elsewhere in the fight against hunger. It is important for people in developed countries to be mindful of those in developing nations by doing their best to consume only what they need.
9. Be involved in government
Exercise the privileges that come with living in a democratic society in the fight against hunger. Elected officials are in place to represent the voice of the people. If enough people express their concern about global hunger to elected officials, the collective voice cannot be ignored, and action must be taken.
10. Fight for livable wages
It is not enough to simply provide the world’s hungry with food. They must be equipped to provide for themselves. Otherwise, the problem of hunger is not actually solved. Many workers in developing nations are exploited by employers and are not paid nearly enough to provide food for themselves, much less their families. If global hunger is to be defeated, all people must be provided with opportunity to earn livable wages.
– Matt Berg
Sources: YSA, WFPUSA, Huffington Post, World Hunger
Photo: World Food Programme
Global Health Scholarships Fund Solutions
In 1997, the U.S. Institute of Medicine identified global health as ‘health problems that are influenced by circumstances in certain countries, but have effects that could impact other nations.’ With globalization becoming such a prominent part of life economically, socially and politically, it is a clear progression that health problems will become “globalized” as well.
Global health scholarships are revolutionizing research that students can do for issues worldwide and helping to create new solutions and strategies for a variety of illnesses. There are many organizations that award global health scholarships, but three large groups are Johns Hopkins University, the American Medical Student Association, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Johns Hopkins University founded the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health in 2006; it is comprised of the Bloomberg School of Public Health, the School of Medicine, and the School of Nursing. This year, the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health awarded eight scholarships to students to give them the resources needed for them to pursue solutions to international health issues. Current scholarships winners are hoping to use their scholarships to monitor international health policies, achieve sustainable surgical care in developing countries, conduct infrastructure research in East Africa, facilitate community health programs, train people for public health interventions to prevent the spread of infectious diseases and increase global vision health care.
The American Medical Student Association (AMSA) has a six month long program that AMSA members, who are medical, pre-medical and public health students, can apply for. The program’s purpose is to create new solutions to help the global health outcome of developing countries. Topics covered by this program are how to meet Millennium Development Goals, what exactly global health is (epidemics, new diseases, communicable diseases), and the impact climate change and population growth have on global health.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also gives global health scholarships in the form of grants. The Gates Foundation gives billions of dollars to help fight global issues and within the last year they awarded $17,819 to The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine to support HIV research being done in Thailand. They also awarded $240,005 to the Center for Disease Control to work in India to create vaccines for enteric diseases and $356,650 to King George’s Medical University to help with pediatric pneumonia in India.
– Olivia Hadreas
Sources: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Johns Hopkins, AMSA
MRSA Needs to Be a Global Concern
On October 11th, a third player on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football team was diagnosed with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a deadly bacterial infection known as MRSA or staph. According to Buddy Creech, Assistant Professor of Pediatric Medicine at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, many people carry MRSA on their skin. It is easier for football players to contract it because of the skin to skin contact and open wounds endured by tackles and hits. It is also common to contract it in crowded environments, such as hospitals.
Two out of every one hundred people carry MRSA. The bacteria lives on people’s skin and the inside of their noses. People who have healthy immune systems can fight off the infection with the use of specific antibiotics given out at hospitals. However, for those with weak immune systems, this infection could lead to boils, toxic shock syndrome, septic problems, heart valve problems and even death.
The most important thing when dealing with this bacteria is to sterilize everything during the treatment process. It is not unusual for people staying in hospitals to contract MRSA if the equipment they are surrounded by were not properly sanitized.
The MRSA outbreak in the NFL is a problem for global health. If it is a problem in the U.S., there is no telling how much a concern it could become in developing countries. If this outbreak were to occur in a developing country, it is unlikely that they would have the sterilization equipment necessary to prevent it from spreading. The treatment also requires very specific antibiotics that not many countries have quick access to.
MRSA has already begun to grow as a global epidemic. In Asia, the prevalence of MRSA has grown from 17 percent in 1986 to 40 percent in 2000. In Africa, the presence of MRSA has ranged from 5 percent to 45 percent. MRSA has also been found in Europe, Australia and South America.
– Olivia Hadreas
Sources: UT Southwestern, CDC, Medical News Today, ABC News
Photo: ESPN
biNu Maximizes Cell Phone Abilities
Australian start-up biNu may be pioneering revolutionary cell phone technology. By minimizing the required bandwidth and memory capacity of the user’s phone, biNu brings smart-phone level applications to ‘dumb’ phone users for little to no cost, and emphasizes reliability in weak or spotty networks, which cover a majority not only of the developing world, but the planet as a whole.
$7.5 million in funding from Eric Schmidt and others, and a UN ‘My World Innovation’ Award later, it seems the technology is working.
biNu dramatically widens two data streams currently existing in stunted forms. One of these is headed into the developing world. At least 4 million users in the developing world access the biNu cloud every month, utilizing hundreds of millions of webpages. Phones that were previously only usable to make calls are now empowered with the apps of corporations, governments, NGOs, and more, bringing an unprecedented level of information and communication to poor regions.
This stream is also significant for its profitability – for both biNu and others. Gary Lentell and Dave Turner, biNu’s founders, know first-hand how volatile the tech start-up world can be, having already lost all $75 million they made with their previous business, Sabela Media; biNu’s ability to bring new markets into touch with marketers means it stands to make a profit as the middle man.
But the companies who can present ads to these new markets may be the ones who profit most dramatically – if they can capitalize on the face-time as efficiently as Google has. In this way, biNu is for software what the cell phone was for hardware: a lead forward in terms of inter-connectedness.
The second data stream is headed out of the developing world, to NGOs and research institutions who now have direct access to the people they are trying to help. This second stream has already been dramatically influential, enabling over 100,000 responses to a UN survey which utilized the software.
As more NGOs become aware of biNu’s potential, its ability to make direction connections between aid givers and aid receivers will proliferate and create a more seamless development community – a community which currently suffers greatly from a major divide between those who have the resources and desire to help, and those who require help.
Lentell has repeatedly stated his interests lie dominantly in creating a solid, profitable business – not in helping people, which is only a perk. While many CEOs who express such sentiment earn derision for not being in touch with economic reality, NGOs and the developing world should be grateful to have such a practical mentality heading biNu.
Too many start-ups with the revolutionary potential of biNu sputter and die because of overly idealistic leadership. BiNu’s best chance to bridge the Digital Divide is to focus on itself and its profitability, continue to pursue the best technology and the most reliable investments, and allow its users to dictate how biNu is applied to the developing world.
– Alex Pusateri
Sources: Venture Beat, The Next Web, BINU, BINU: How It Works, INC
3 Easy Ways to Improve Your Life
Sometime the desire to help others is smothered by the strain of life. Work, bills and other obligations can quickly pile up until any offer of assistance is impossible to carry out. But what if you could help others just by living? Here are three super ways to give something back and get some chores done at the same time.
1. Update Your Wardrobe
Cleaning out your closet can be tedious work, but it can also be therapeutic. Experts say that organization can improve a person’s mental and emotional state. Will Edwards, founder of White Dove Books, explains that organization has been proven to lower stress, boost motivation and save someone valuable time and energy. De-cluttering your wardrobe can help de-clutter your mind. Anything that hasn’t been worn in the last six months should be pulled. “Placeholder items” waste valuable closet space. Put unused clothes to use by donating to a local shelter or donating funds from a yard sale to your favorite cause.
For those needing to add to their wardrobe, online retailers offer weekly sales. Some sites, like Amazon, allow shoppers to donate a percentage of their purchase amount to their favorite charity. Beginning at their favorite charity website, donors locate the Amazon link and shop to their hearts’ delight. After checkout, a certain percentage is sent to the selected organization.
Need to compare different retailers? Some search engines donate change for each internet search generated.
2. Clean Out Your Pantry
Have a pantry full of staples that never seem to get used? Clean it out and donate non-perishables to the nearest food bank or volunteer your time. Fall and winter are the busiest times for charities and any assistance is appreciated. For those lacking the time, there are other ways to help others.
Non-governmental organizations worldwide have committed to providing food relief to developing nations. They recognize that people cannot focus on stimulating the economy if they go to bed hungry. Groups like Food for Life provide food relief for millions of impoverished people on a daily basis and donations are readily accepted.
3. Put On Some Music
When the stress of cleaning gets to be too much, turn on some music. It has been reported that music can greatly reduce stress and even reduce pain. Be sure to take a break and buy a new cd or check out a concert. But taking a break from chores does not mean that you can’t give back.
In recent years, musicians have redirected global focus to the plight of the world’s poor. Every genre has at least one song about poverty and recent collaborations have generated an explosion of music relief efforts. Organizations such as Music For Relief have raised over $5 million since 2004 and music providers like iTunes have designed a variety of apps to assist non-profits in fundraising.
– Jasmine D. Smith
Sources: Amazon, Ezine, Food for Life, Huffington Post, iTunes
Photo: All Posters