For two bicycle tour companies, biking in Bangkok is more than a tour. These two extraordinary companies not only give excellent guided tours of the hidden gems of this city, but also have significant impacts on the poverty in and around Bangkok.
Bangkok, the coastal capital of Thailand has two seasons, covers 606 sq miles, and 18 million residents, and approximately 1.5 million slum dwellers. There are over 400 Buddhist temples and thousands of other tourist attractions including the Royal Palace and the famous Khaosan Road. One could spend a lifetime discovering new parts of Bangkok. As a tourist with limited time, the best way to see the real Bangkok is to pound the pavement with locals.
The first bicycle tour company is Co van Kessel. Mr. van Kessel, a Dutch ex-patriot, started the tour company over 30 years ago. Frustrated with the image of Bangkok as a city of uninhibited urban sprawl, grid-lock traffic and suffocating pollution, Mr. van Kessel started a bicycle tour company to change this image. His was the first bicycle tour company in Bangkok and has been working towards making Bangkok a cyclist-friendly city ever since.
In addition to being an entrepreneur, Co van Kessel bike tour company is also generous with their time and money. They often donate money to local charity organizations. Additionally, every year they donate bicycles that are unfit for tours but still in good working condition to villages in the north of Thailand. The bicycles serve the villagers as their primary form of transportation thereby allowing them to pursue livelihoods otherwise unavailable.
The second, Recreational Bangkok Biking (RBB), is also run by a Dutch ex-patriot, Andre Breuer. RBB offers several different tours each with their own extraordinary sights. They offer a variety of walking, biking, rickshaw, boat and combination tours throughout the city. Their goal is to give tourists a chance to see what Thai life is really all about—colorful markets full of sounds and smells that make your whole body tingle, daily life along the canals that wind through the city, and stretches of green space one could hardly imagine existed when limited to main tourist areas.
What makes this company stand out is not only the high quality of the tours but also the social commitment Mr. Breuer insists on. His employees are local, mostly low-class Thais. The employees start out as bicycle mechanics and learn English through interacting with foreigners—two skills that are extremely valuable to enhancing their living standards. The restaurants, food stands, boat drivers, and bicycle repair establishments are locals, mostly slum dwellers. Mr. Breuer also uses his influence and business network to help fund a local orphanage, the Mercy Center, and a kindergarten. (Mercy Center is located in the largest slum in Bangkok, Khlong Toey and serves as an orphanage and rehabilitation center for those with AIDS.) Tourists have the option of stopping at the school and talking to the children, who learn English from their frequent interactions.
It is easy to get sucked into the tourist traps in Bangkok. Everyone wants to take you for a ride. Let yourself be taken by Recreational Bangkok Biking or Co van Kessel and you will not regret it!
– Katherine Zobre
Sources: Co Van Kessel , The Mercy Center
Photo: Google Plus
Progress Is Being Made Towards MDGs
Twenty nations have made huge strides in just a few years towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Millennium Development Goals are a series of international development goals set by the United Nations in 2000 that aim to eradicate poverty, hunger, and disease and improve the quality of life for the world’s poorest by the year 2015. Nations, that were described as troubled and conflict-hit, had not met any of the MDGs in 2010 have now at least met one. The World Bank cites better data collection and monitoring that have made progress more discernible.
The World Bank noted that countries Afghanistan, Nepal and Timor-Leste have decreased the number of people in extreme poverty by fifty percent or increased the number of girls enrolled in schools.
The World Bank aims to find ways to help countries that have relapsed such as Yemen which until the Arab Spring in 2011 was on course to reduce maternal mortality. It also aims to help conflict-hit countries transition from receiving humanitarian aid that ends once the cameras leave to building foundations for long-term development. To do so, the World Bank is working with the UN which has historically assisted with peace-keeping and humanitarian assistance.
World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, called the results a wake-up call to “the global community [to] not dismiss these countries as lost causes. Development can and is being achieved, even amid fragility and violence.”
The World Bank plans to focus on aid effectiveness by studying how aid money is used and if it actually impacts the poor, particularly with the reduction of aid from the U.S. and Europe.
– Essee Oruma
Source: Reuters
Photo: A Celebration of Women
5 African Nations Poised For Economic Growth
Africa promises a bright new future. Population projections show that in the next 25 years Africa will more than recover its population losses from the ’80s and ’90s. At the same time, investment companies see Africa as having some of the world’s most promising opportunities for sharp economic growth.
1. South Africa is the leading economy in the continent. South Africa plays the role of the continent’s economic powerhouse, by providing the continent’s other countries with goods and services, as well as investments. South Africa has a stake in seeing the standard of living rise in its potential trading partners and that this will continue to stimulate economic growth in the continent.
2. Nigeria has a large population base and a thriving petroleum export business. Nigeria is consolidating political reform, as exemplified by two peaceful transfers of power within the past decade. Nigeria also has demonstrated its prowess in mobile telecommunications technology.
3. Angola is growing rapidly due to oil exports. Angola’s economy is vulnerable because it lacks diversity but for the time being it is rapidly expanding its infrastructure as part of a controversial “infrastructure for oil” trade agreement with China, which critics believe benefits the Chinese more than the Angolans.
4. Ghana is “one of the fastest growing economies in the world.” Ghana’s economic growth is based primarily on its oil production, but political and economic reforms that were in place nearly two decades before oil was discovered in 2007, play a major role in the country’s long-term economic prospects and sustainability, even though Ghana’s rate of growth will not remain at its current astronomical levels.
5. Ethiopia represents a huge market that can drive economic growth and integration in the Horn of Africa region. Ethiopia’s economic growth has been fueled by hydroelectric power, which enables it to export electricity to neighboring countries. Ethiopia has also benefited from large-scale government investment in agriculture, industrialization, and infrastructure.
-Essee Oruma
Source: Christian Science Monitor
Aid and Innovation Through the Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is a unique arm of the US government first started in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy when he tried to inspire younger generations to serve their country “in the cause of peace, living and working in developing countries.” Since then, the agency has continued with bi-partisan support, expanding its reach and impact by sending American volunteers around the world to help developing communities.
The Peace Corps has three underlying goals:
Currently, there are 8,073 volunteers in the field, in 76 countries around the world, primarily working on education based programs. In the past, many Senators and representatives from both parties have served as Peace Corps volunteers. It is the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and House Committee on Foreign Affairs that provides the oversight of all activities and programs. Its annual budget is determined by the congressional budget – generally amounting to about 1 percent of the foreign operations budget.
The video above talks of the tremendous progress that has been made in preventing Malaria deaths through the Peace Corps’ work. They have found that no one “fix” works across the board, and each community is different. So Peace Corps workers have to adapt to each new situation and time. A great example of creative thinking is talked about in the video – in Senegal, where local villagers were not really utilizing their mosquito nets. A PC volunteer used rice bags to visually represent the total money spent on Malaria medications by the locals, and once they saw how much they were spending they realized how much they could save by simply preventing Malaria and using a net. This simple demonstration helped change behavior that can now save lives.
– Mary Purcell
Source: The Peace Corps
Video: You Tube
3 Ways That GMOs Encourage Global Food Security
Despite the obvious concerns that genetically modified crops (GMOs) generate in regards to water usage and biodiversity, GMOs are – at present – the only viable option for feeding a worldwide population of 9 billion people by 2050. Why embark upon a policy of greater investment in GMOs as opposed to organic farming? Considering both the land and climate constraints of many developing nations, the strengths of GMOs lie primarily in their ability to adapt to challenges that would otherwise be prohibitive to organically grown crops. The following are 3 ways that GMOs encourage global food security.
1. GMO’s production yields are higher – As the global population increases, greater pressure will be placed on the agricultural industry to produce yields large enough to meet both local and international demands. GMOs encourage global food security by maximizing the potential of long established independent farmers and agribusinesses, a tool considered invaluable for maintaining adequate food supplies in developing countries still lacking the requisite knowledge and infrastructure for conventional farming.
2. GMOs use less land – As land starved countries of the global south continue to experience the high birth rates and greater population density of economic development, the low land usage of GMOs encourage global food security by increasing the productivity of their farmers without stifling growth. GMOs offer emerging economies the distinct advantage of developing previously underutilized areas without the accompanying sacrifices of farmland.
3. GMOs are more affordable – The inevitable cost increases that occur when demand outpaces supply will be an significant issue as the worldwide population increases; however, GMOs encourage global food security by keeping the price of food low enough to feed those with even the most meager of financial resources. GMOs are able to better withstand the climatic, pest, and blight challenges that would otherwise devastate organically grown crops, leading to the supply shortfalls and price increases that cripple poverty stricken communities.
– Brian Turner
Source Science Daily
Photo Chuck Haney Photography
Washing Machines: Look Ma, No Hands!
In rural communities, appliances such as dishwashers, toilets, and washing machines are almost nonexistent. The physical demands of managing a family and maintaining a decent lifestyle requires individuals to walk miles for fresh water in cities such as Lima, Peru. Yet, these facts are not meant to sadden but inspire. Students at the Art Center College of Design put their skills and creativity to the test and accepted the challenge of transforming the lives of families in Lima through simple innovations such as the foot-powered washing machine.
While a fairly stereotypical image of rural dwellers is that they are dirty, Mario Orellana Gomez of Un Techo Para Mi Pais stresses that the poor are not exempt from the desire to live clean and sanitary lives. Washing clothes in the hillsides of Lima proves to be a much more difficult task than one could imagine. People must walk 3.5 miles and carry their water everyday. They must go up and down flights of stairs multiple times, and only then can they begin the back breaking process of washing their clothes. With clothes taking a long time to dry, mold and bacteria gather on the clothes, creating health risks such as tenosynovitis and asthma.
What needed to be done was a customer tested and approved washing machine that would alleviate all those problems. Students in the design matters programs at the Art Center founded and invented GiraDora, a human-powered washing and drying machine. After multiple prototypes and field tests with community members who would actually be the ones using the product, they came up with a functional way to alleviate the constant walking and physical stress of completing this every day task.
The machine uses a foot pedal that powers an inner drum that works similarly to the idea of a salad spinner. Two extremely useful additions is a seat cushion (which comes in multiple designs, all taking into account Peruvian art and culture) to allow the person washing clothes to relax or multitask and let their foot do all the work. There is also a drain plug so that the leftover water can be recycled or drained. The design prevents water leakage and bacteria from forming both on the clothes and on the parts. Built from lightweight materials, users can even take the ‘machine’ itself to the water containers in their village instead of carrying water long distances.
It seems these sorts of innovations are endless, and that they should be. Made from simple materials, products such as the GiraDora create a bigger impact than meets the eye. They save water which not only saves families money but also allows them to use the water for other purposes. It frees up time which in turn lets them attend to other duties or even provide a much needed period to relax.
The cost of the set is $40 and the reason why such a simple, small sum is important is because it doesn’t leave room for questioning. For donors looking for a quick and easy, yet effective way to help those in need, equating and illustrating that $40 provides one machine is the best way to raise the funds.
Social entrepreneurs thus, are truly on the rise. While many are students or come from small college programs, the idea that change does not have to come from a political movement or a legislative bill is such an important thing to remember. As Gomez puts it in the documentary Hands in the Midst, “There’s no possibility that change can come from the top to the bottom…real human change comes from the bottom to the top”.
– Deena Dulgerian
Source: Co.EXIST
Photo: BeHance
Why We Should Fight Harder To End Global Poverty
Can we really end global poverty? Earlier this year, World Bank announced that we can virtually end extreme global poverty by 2030, meaning that the number of people in the world living on $1.25 per day or less would be reduced to 3%.
But while that would be a huge victory for the world, we should set our standards higher. Right now, extreme poverty is defined as living on $1.25 per day, and poverty is $2 per day. But even many of those with $2 to live each day don’t have access to other essentials such as drinking water and electricity. In rural areas of the poorest countries, 1 in 10 children die before their first birthday from easily preventable diseases, and $2 per day cannot afford these children the medication or vaccines they need.
Furthermore, the people who make more than $2 in poor countries (i.e. those not living in poverty) still have five times higher infant mortality rates than the poorest and most deprived areas of rich countries, which shows the gap between poverty in rich and poor nations.
Some economists suggest that the “global middle class” earns approximately $10 per day. But if we were to change the definition of “poverty” to living on less than $10, rather than $1.25 or $2 per day, we would find that 98% of people in sub-Saharan Africa would be living in poverty.
But is it really feasible to get everyone in the world living on more than $10 per day?
Economists crunched the numbers and say yes. By 2050, the population will be around 9 billion and global GDP will quadruple. They predict that the GDP related to getting everyone to the $10 per day mark would take less than 1/5 of the $300+ trillion output. In other words, it’s entirely possible if we raise our goals and fight harder to end global poverty. $1.25 will get most people the bare necessities they need to survive, but $10 will give them a much better standard of living.
– Katie Brockman
Source Businessweek
Biking in Bangkok is More Than a Tour
For two bicycle tour companies, biking in Bangkok is more than a tour. These two extraordinary companies not only give excellent guided tours of the hidden gems of this city, but also have significant impacts on the poverty in and around Bangkok.
Bangkok, the coastal capital of Thailand has two seasons, covers 606 sq miles, and 18 million residents, and approximately 1.5 million slum dwellers. There are over 400 Buddhist temples and thousands of other tourist attractions including the Royal Palace and the famous Khaosan Road. One could spend a lifetime discovering new parts of Bangkok. As a tourist with limited time, the best way to see the real Bangkok is to pound the pavement with locals.
The first bicycle tour company is Co van Kessel. Mr. van Kessel, a Dutch ex-patriot, started the tour company over 30 years ago. Frustrated with the image of Bangkok as a city of uninhibited urban sprawl, grid-lock traffic and suffocating pollution, Mr. van Kessel started a bicycle tour company to change this image. His was the first bicycle tour company in Bangkok and has been working towards making Bangkok a cyclist-friendly city ever since.
In addition to being an entrepreneur, Co van Kessel bike tour company is also generous with their time and money. They often donate money to local charity organizations. Additionally, every year they donate bicycles that are unfit for tours but still in good working condition to villages in the north of Thailand. The bicycles serve the villagers as their primary form of transportation thereby allowing them to pursue livelihoods otherwise unavailable.
The second, Recreational Bangkok Biking (RBB), is also run by a Dutch ex-patriot, Andre Breuer. RBB offers several different tours each with their own extraordinary sights. They offer a variety of walking, biking, rickshaw, boat and combination tours throughout the city. Their goal is to give tourists a chance to see what Thai life is really all about—colorful markets full of sounds and smells that make your whole body tingle, daily life along the canals that wind through the city, and stretches of green space one could hardly imagine existed when limited to main tourist areas.
What makes this company stand out is not only the high quality of the tours but also the social commitment Mr. Breuer insists on. His employees are local, mostly low-class Thais. The employees start out as bicycle mechanics and learn English through interacting with foreigners—two skills that are extremely valuable to enhancing their living standards. The restaurants, food stands, boat drivers, and bicycle repair establishments are locals, mostly slum dwellers. Mr. Breuer also uses his influence and business network to help fund a local orphanage, the Mercy Center, and a kindergarten. (Mercy Center is located in the largest slum in Bangkok, Khlong Toey and serves as an orphanage and rehabilitation center for those with AIDS.) Tourists have the option of stopping at the school and talking to the children, who learn English from their frequent interactions.
It is easy to get sucked into the tourist traps in Bangkok. Everyone wants to take you for a ride. Let yourself be taken by Recreational Bangkok Biking or Co van Kessel and you will not regret it!
– Katherine Zobre
Sources: Co Van Kessel , The Mercy Center
Photo: Google Plus
Fawzia Koofi Running in 2014 Election to be Afghanistan’s First Female President
Whether you identify as a feminist or not, no one can deny the courage of Fawzia Koofi, as she is running for the presidency in Afghanistan during the 2014 elections. President Karzai is set to reach his limit of two five-year terms in office and if Koofi succeeds, she will be Afghanistan’s first female president. As of now, Koofi chairs parliament’s women and human rights committee.
There is no doubt that Fawzia Koofi embodies the feminist movement and sends a clear message to the world; Afghanistan is progressing, despite the Taliban’s best efforts of terrifying women into suppression and out of politics. Seeing as Afghanistan was once known as the worst place in the world to be a woman, Koofi has managed to incite dramatic change in Afghanistan’s political climate.
After years of conflict, this potential change in leadership has restored faith in many of Afghanistan’s people. Afghanistan’s first female president would serve as a representation of endless opportunity and positive forward motion for the country’s youth. Koofi has said herself that there is a strong desire for change among young people and women throughout Afghanistan. Koofi emphasizes this in her new book, “Letters to my Daughters”.
“Being a woman in politics in Afghanistan and a woman who stands for what she believes in, there is always risk”, Koofi stated. Fawzia Koofi is well aware of the danger she is putting herself in, as her own father was a politician who was killed by assassination. However, she is determined, stating that “…change is possible; it’s just a matter of some political and moral support from our international friends.”
This leads to the question of how this political shift would impact the United States, particularly in the realm of national security. Koofi herself has asked that the United States continue its support for Afghan women’s rights, even after the withdrawal of troops in 2014. Her concern is that gains made for women’s rights in Afghanistan will be eradicated if the new president enters into reconciliation talks with conservatives, including Taliban insurgents. There is great concern among women in Afghanistan, as this settlement could lead to the Taliban sharing in power. Koofi sees this threat even now, stating that “Talibanisation is a process, people within government are already promoting Taliban ideology and Taliban thinking”.
Rebekah Russo
Source:Al Arabiya News
Can Genetically Modified Food End World Hunger?
Between smartphones, social media, electric cars, and other advances in electronics, technology is a rapidly growing industry. Usually, these advances are pretty well-accepted by the public as they can help increase efficiency, expand creativity, and even reduce our global footprint. What if there was a technology that could potentially end world hunger? Would it be readily embraced?
Genetically modified food has been available for decades and gives farmers the ability to produce more food in less time. Last year, over 17.3 million farmers opted to plant genetically modified food. Over 90% of those farmers were in developing nations that needed any extra food they could get. By 2050, the global population is expected to jump to a staggering 9 billion from the current 6 billion. Many people believe that standard food production methods aren’t enough to satisfy those 9 billion hungry mouths.
Genetically modified food is one area of technology that some people strongly oppose. Because so many people are against agriculture technology of this sort, the political and legal hoops that farmers must jump through to gain approval to plant and sell the products are intense and even hostile. And sometimes unnecessary. Alison Van Eenennaam, UC Davis animal genomics and biotechnology specialist, says “we and our livestock have consumed billions of meals and there hasn’t been one documented case of the [genetically modified] nature of the material consumed causing safety or health problems.” She also claims that in a world where the priority should be placed on feeding its ever growing population, the “absolutely precautionary, prohibitively expensive, time-consuming, uncertain regulatory approach to [genetically modified] plants and animals” is preventing the world from achieving that very goal.
– Katie Brockman
Source: Beef Magazine
Photo: Huffington Post
Room to Read: Helping Educate Children
Room to Read is a non-profit organization started by John J. Wood in 1999. He got the idea for the organization when he visited a school in Nepal one year during a vacation. There were 450 students at the school, yet there were no children’s books. The library only a had a few books that were inaccessible to the students. The following year, Wood quit his job at Microsoft and returned to Nepal with 3,000 books to build a functioning library for the children. This was how Room to Read began.
Wood believes that simply coming into a country, building a library or school, and then leaving does not completely fix the problem. Instead, he says that prolonged community involvement is key. Finding local librarians and teachers to encourage students to read and learn will create a ripple effect. It creates jobs for native citizens and gives kids an education. Everyone is more invested in the outcome that way because they are actively involved in the solution, and results will last longer than if they simply received a gift from someone in a foreign country.
He also encourages more affluent students and families to participate in raising money for Room to Read through ‘sponsored silence’ programs and Read-a-thons. So far, Room to Read is established in 10 countries and will have helped 10 million kids by 2015. Other accomplishments include building 15,000 libraries and 1,600 schools, publishing 850 original children’s books, and enrolling 20,000 girls in a special girl’s education program.
– Katie Brockman
Source New York Times
Photo: Room to Read