Archives
August 2006
© 2002 Dan White/CARE
A Realty Times survey of U.S. home buyers underscored the importance of kitchens in the home buying process:
"The most popular kitchen features are walk-in pantries, island work space, solid surfaces, built-in microwaves, and special storage areas."
Other people just eat to live.
 CARE provides food for hungry people. Donate here.
7:01 AM - Aug. 31, 2006 - {0} -
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©2004 Frances Flynn Thorsen
 After high school, Lori Lewis enlisted in the United States Coast Guard at a small air station in northern California. From there she was transferred to Key West at a small boat station where she fell in madly in love with the island of Key West. While in the service Lori earned a Bachelors Degree in Business. After leaving the service she became involved in the restaurant business planning hundreds if not thousands of weddings and special events. She decided to put her business degree to work and in 1995 started a job as a loan officer at a small mortgage company in Philadelphia.
"Always 'wanting to help, but didn’t know how' Circle of Care gives us the opportunity to give back! I am honored to even be listed with these remarkable and talented women. Frances Flynn Thorsen, a woman who I not only have the utmost respect but admire very much brought this group to my attention. Needless to say, once I heard Fran was involved it didn’t take much for me to jump aboard! Bravo, ladies!"--Lori Lewis
An entrepreneur at heart, Lori started her own mortgage company in 2002 in Allentown, PA, and has been very successful ever since. She manages Allied Home Mortgage Capital Corp. Lori is in a committed relationship, has three daughters and one son and has resided in Bethlehem (PA) for 12 for years.
12:57 PM - Aug. 30, 2006 - {0} -
View more entries tagged with: Lori Lewis, Mortgage, Allied Home
© 2002 CARE/ A John Watston
Did You Know?
$50 can send an Afghan girl to school for a year
$125 can train a woman in Nepal to teach health in her community
$600 can keep 10 girls in Sudan in school and teach AIDS prevention
$1,000 can provide a day's supply of emergency rations to 330 families
How much can you spare? Donate here.
6:19 PM - Aug. 28, 2006 - {0} -
View more entries tagged with: Poverty, Aids, Children, Hunger
© 2002 CARE/Marco Longari
"We have an obligation to see these women as our sisters, as our mothers, as our daughters and help them as we would our own."--Senator Barack Obama, D-Ill.
Won't you help us help our little sisters? Donate here.
7:33 AM - Aug. 27, 2006 - {0} -
View more entries tagged with: Africa, Barack Obama
NAIROBI, Kenya (August 2006) - Major funding cuts by the international community over the last six months have dramatically increased tensions among the 140,000 refugees, the majority of whom are Somalis, living in the Dadaab camps in the North Eastern province of Kenya. As a result of the cuts, agencies like CARE have had to reduce a number of services, including shelter and water supply. In addition, programs designed to maintain basic sanitation standards and meet the educational needs of children and youths have also been scaled down.
© 2004 Stefan Pleger/CARE
 "These cuts have come at a critical time, with renewed conflict in Somalia between the interim government, warlords and the Islamic courts," says Mohammed Qazilbash, senior program manager for CARE in Kenya. "Since January of 2006, more than 20,000 new arrivals have come to the Dadaab refugee camps. U.N. agencies estimate that even under a best-case scenario, there could be up to 50,000 new arrivals by the end of 2006. This means that we may be planning for an additional 30,000 people to arrive in the camps by the end of the year, a situation that will make it extremely challenging for agencies to meet the basic needs of all those seeking refuge."
Over the last year, there has been a significant reduction in donor funding for Dadaab. For instance, UNHCR has announced that its 2006 budget would be cut by more than 20 percent compared to the approved budget for 2005. The World Food Program is seeking additional funding for the new wave of refugees, otherwise rations may have to be cut once again. At the same time, the Bureau for Population, Refugee and Migration at USAID cut its 2006 budget for Dadaab by 23 percent compared to 2005.
"Because our work puts us on the front line, we have experienced firsthand the growing anger within the refugee population due to inadequate food supplies and a halting of the distribution of essential non-food items such as blankets, sleeping mats and kitchen utensils," explains Bud Crandall, country director for CARE in Kenya.
A major concern for CARE is that youth, who now constitute 49 percent of the refugee population in Dadaab, have very limited opportunities in areas like vocational training, skill enhancement, higher education and employment. "A large number of idle youth are a time bomb, especially in a crowded situation like Dadaab," says Qazilbash. "In this context there is a high risk of anti-social behavior such as drug abuse, sexual violence, crime and the risk of spreading HIV and AIDS. There is also a chance that more youth will join militia groups in Somalia."
In the three Dadaab refugee camps, CARE works with the World Food Program to organize and oversee the twice-monthly food distributions to the registered refugee population. In addition to basic relief operations, CARE has been spearheading hygiene and health promotion campaigns, a much-needed awareness-raising exercise given the high concentration of people living in the camps.
However, due to funding cuts, the agency can no longer conduct these activities, and sanitation conditions in the camps are deteriorating at an alarming rate, especially in relation to solid waste management. CARE staff members at the camps say that the possibility of a disease outbreak is a real and growing danger. With the reduced levels of funding, CARE has had to prioritize food and water distributions, often at the cost of programming focused on community empowerment and development.
In addition, gains made over the past decade on increasing school enrollment are now eroding. Successful educational campaigns in the past years have led to an increase in the enrollment levels of pupils in the 17 primary schools and three secondary schools in the Dadaab refugee camps. This increase, however, has outpaced the existing educational infrastructure, leading to a glaring gap between the number of pupils in school and the number of teachers, classes and latrines. The schools text books and other teaching aids are also insufficient.
As a coping strategy, all 17 CARE-managed primary schools are now running double shifts. "This response, however, is highly inadequate," says Qazilbash. "If we stand by the U.N. Charter on Human Rights, which declares education as a fundamental right for all, including refugees, we are shortchanging everyone by cutting corners. If the Dadaab time bomb explodes, lack of funding will be a lame excuse for the international community to fall back on."
Won't you help us help them? Donate here.
7:28 AM - Aug. 27, 2006 - {0} -
View more entries tagged with: Kenya, Dadaab, Refugee Camp, Africa
© 2005 Evelyn Hockstein Polaris, shot for LA Times shared with CARE
We will help them
...or we will not.
Help us make a better life for these kids. Donate here.
9:46 AM - Aug. 24, 2006 - {0} -
View more entries tagged with: Poverty, Aids, Children
© 2005 Evelyn Hockstein Polaris
These moms take their kids to work EVERY day!
"A day at work will help your child discover the link between what they do now in school and what they can become in the future. They will have an opportunity to witness first-hand the vital public services that you and your co-workers provide each day."--National Institutes of Health, Take Your Child to Work.
"Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work® Day is designed to expand opportunities for girls and boys, expose them to what adults in their lives do during the work day, show them the value of their education, and give them an opportunity to share how they envision their future. It is intended to be more than a career day."--Sara Gould, Ms. Foundation for Women
Help us make a better life for these kids. Donate here.
© 2004 Evelyn Hockstein Polaris
These children in Darfur never heard of back to school shopping.
Won't you help us help them? Donate here.
10:03 AM - Aug. 22, 2006 - {0} -
View more entries tagged with: Darfur, Poverty
Madagascar Photo by Birte Thorsen
"Simple, inexpensive measures, both individual and collective, are available that will provide clean water for millions and millions of people in developing countries - now, not in 10 or 20 years. It makes no sense, and it is not acceptable, to ignore the immediate priorities of the most needy. "-- Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Director-General of the World Health Organization
We invite you to help supply safe, affordable, and sustainable supplies of drinking water in impoverished countries. Donate here.
©2006 Daemon Baizan
 TORONTO (August 18, 2006) - "As the 16th international AIDS conference closes in Toronto today, we must commit ourselves to addressing the underlying causes of vulnerability to HIV," said Helene D. Gayle, president and CEO of CARE, the international poverty-fighting organization, and co-chair of the conference. "We must change the existing social paradigm if we are going to keep pace with the virus. Otherwise, all the scientific advances in the world will not be enough. Looking to the 2008 international AIDS conference in Mexico City, we have a clear responsibility to do the hard work ahead and fulfill our responsibilities to the 40 million people living with HIV and AIDS and the millions more who risk acquiring HIV every year."
Every year 4 million people contract HIV. It is projected that 60 million new infections will occur over the next decade. Prevention strategies already exist that could cut the number of new infections by at least 50 percent. However, less than one in five people currently at risk for HIV have access to those strategies. In addition to scaling up proven existing prevention techniques, it is critical to expand prevention options with new tools such as microbicides, diaphragms, oral preventive therapy, circumcision, herpes treatment and ultimately a vaccine. These measures are central to reducing the spread of HIV. However, neither these technologies nor anti-retroviral treatment can stop the spread of HIV and AIDS on their own. It is clear that we must go further and address the factors that increase risk to HIV, such as gender inequality and economic insecurity.
This means developing more HIV programs that address underlying social factors. In Zimbabwe, for instance, CARE uses savings-based microfinance and basic business management skills to reduce the economic insecurity of vulnerable groups, including orphans, youth, widows, sex workers and people living with HIV and AIDS. This program, called SIMBA, has shown that community-managed financial systems can facilitate credit for highly vulnerable people. This access to credit (on favorable and flexible terms) can protect assets, send children to school, and pay for medical expenses. These small loans bring a certain financial stability to the household, decrease the chances that family members will be forced to migrate to find work or engage in transactional sex, which places family members at higher risk for HIV.
SIMBA has also shown that peer groups can provide a much-needed social support system for marginalized people — and help instill the self-confidence to earn a living with dignity. In addition, women who are more economically independent can better negotiate when, how and with whom they have sex. These kinds of efforts are critical to prevent the spread of HIV.
"Prevention must be at the forefront of the battle against HIV and AIDS like never before. We must offer prevention methods that are relevant to the real needs of people at risk for HIV, especially women, who are increasingly the face of HIV and AIDS. We must strive for concrete solutions to social inequities and unequal power relationships. These solutions, together with new tools, will help empower communities to make a difference in the pandemic."
CARE fights poverty in more than 70 countries. The organization's first HIV and AIDS program began in 1987. CARE now has more than 150 programs in approximately 40 countries that address the causes and consequences of HIV and AIDS. These programs reach over seven million people. The CARE delegation at the conference includes nearly 70 staff from Africa, Asia, Canada, Europe and the United States with expertise in HIV and AIDS.
You can help CARE fight AIDS. Donate here.
Madagascar photo by Birte Thorsen
"The failure to provide safe drinking water and adequate sanitation services to all people is perhaps the greatest development failure of the 20th century... Even if the official Millennium Development Goals set for water are met--which is unlikely given the current level of commitments by national governments and international aid agencies--as many as 32 million people, and perhaps many more, will die by 2020 from preventable water-related diseases." - Peter Gleick, Pacific Institute
We invite you to help supply safe, affordable, and sustainable supplies of water in impoverished countries. Donate here.
6:25 AM - Aug. 19, 2006 - {0} -
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"We shall not finally defeat AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, or any of the other infectious diseases that plague the developing world until we have also won the battle for safe drinking water, sanitation, and basic health care." -- Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General.
Download a PDF of Water Advocates' New York Times issue ad
We invite you to help supply safe, affordable, and sustainable supplies of drinking water in impoverished countries. Donate here.
Web Women Giving Circle member Frances Flynn Thorsen recently published two eBooks about HUD Homes for Sale. One is a consumer book and the other is a professional guide for real estate agents. All of the proceeds from the sale of both books that are sold during August, 2006 will be donated to CARE in a special arrangement with Giving Circle founder Joeann Fossland, who set up the eCommerce donation platform in her online bookstore on her web site: HUD Homes for Sale--A Complete Buyer's Guide ($19.95) and HUD Homes for Sale --A Sales and Marketing Guide for Real Estate Agents ($39.95). Agents who order the Sales and Marketing Guide will receive a BONUS copy of the Complete Buyer's Guide, a $59.90 value for $39.95. Click here at Joeann Fossland's online book store to purchase for the 2 for 1 special. All proceeds collected for these books at Joeann's bookstore will be donated to CARE.
9:24 AM - Aug. 16, 2006 - {0} -
View more entries tagged with: Hud
 TORONTO - The fight against AIDS cannot be won without reducing poverty, the humanitarian organization agency CARE said this week. CARE calls upon policymakers and practitioners meeting at the upcoming International AIDS Conference in Toronto to include food and income security — which are critical means of addressing poverty and the spread of the disease — in their HIV and AIDS strategies.
"Poverty exacerbates the pandemic, while the pandemic contributes to poverty and inequality. If we are going to succeed in fighting AIDS, something has to change," said CARE Canada's President A. John Watson. "Nutritious foods and a steady income are critical to the health of those living with HIV. If people stay healthy, they can continue working and contributing to their families and their communities. At the same time, if non-infected people are hungry and penniless, they often engage in risky behavior for day to day survival; and this contributes to the spread of AIDS."
CARE works with communities on prevention, treatment, care and support through 150 HIV and AIDS programmes in 40 countries. Communities are ravaged by the vicious cycle created when secure access to nutritious foods and a steady income is denied to people living with, affected by and vulnerable to HIV and AIDS.
Women and girls must be at the center of an effective response to HIV and AIDS. Issues related to gender are inextricably linked with food and income security and HIV and AIDS. By and large, it is women who are responsible for food production and preparation, and caring for families affected by AIDS, yet they have limited earning or negotiation power.
"Ignoring the critical role of women further exacerbates their vulnerability and weakens the fight against AIDS," said Dr. Helene Gayle, CARE USA president and International AIDS Society president and conference co-chair. CARE representatives from 16 countries are participating in the conference, sharing successes and outlining challenges in developing countries.
You can help provide medicine for children with AIDS. Donate here.
8:40 AM - Aug. 16, 2006 - {0} -
View more entries tagged with: Aids
BEIRUT, Lebanon (August 14, 2006) - CARE began distributing relief supplies in three Beirut suburbs today. The distribution centered around the villages of Mansourieh, Mkhallis and Beit Meri in the mountains just east of Beirut, where internally displaced Lebanese civilians have sought refuge from the fighting in southern Lebanon.
CARE provided aid to the families who are now temporarily living in makeshift shelters, including a large, windowless room under a public parking garage. The room, about 2500 square feet, with only one toilet and no natural light, houses more than 100 people. Another building visited by CARE is an abandoned chocolate factory which now houses more than 100 people. Its windows have no glass. A few electric fans provide slight relief from the stifling heat. The building has only one bathroom for more than a hundred people. Many of the people living in the shelters visited by CARE show signs of intense anxiety. The psychological impact of the massive destruction resulting from the conflict is affecting adults as well as children.
"What we are seeing here is only the tip of the iceberg," says CARE's emergency assessment team leader, Megan Chisholm. "We expect to see more casualties, bad living conditions and victims of this war as soon as we are able to access the whole of Lebanon."
CARE provided the refugees with sets of kitchen and household supplies, children's clothing and hygiene kits, including shampoo and detergent. Each kitchen kit consists of a cooking pot, bowls, knives and forks for a family of up to five. The CARE team also provided a number of portable butane gas stoves, which are particularly important because fuel shortages have made it increasingly difficult to cook hot meals. Household kits included 5-gallon plastic water containers, as well as mops, brooms and detergent for household cleaning.
The supplies were purchased in local markets to provide added support to the local economy. A major concern is that the summer months are normally the time when business is booming, and Lebanese try to earn as much money as possible to carry them through the slower winter months. The economic slowdown means that many heads of households are likely to need economic and livelihood support months from now when the local economy normally slows down considerably.
CARE has worked in the Middle East since 1948, when we opened our first office in Israel. Today, we’re active in the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, Yemen, Egypt and now Lebanon, focusing on the needs of the most vulnerable, particularly women and children. In Israel, humanitarian needs from the current crisis are already being met, and CARE’s assistance there is unnecessary at this time.
You can help feed children in impoverished countries. Donate here.
9:17 AM - Aug. 15, 2006 - {0} -
View more entries tagged with: Relief, Lebanon, Israel, Humanitarian
 Master Coach Joeann Fossland, leader of the Web Women Giving Circle, and publisher of the Web Women Giving Circle Blog, was named one of the Top 10 Women Real Estate Bloggers 2006 by Sellsius Real Estate Blog:
"Real Estate blogging is in its infancy. The few of us that are blogging today do it because we love real estate and we have unique expertise and experience to share with others. One thing we are truly excited about is the growing trend of passionate female Broker/Agent bloggers that are making their mark as pioneers of real estate blogging. They all have one thing in common that makes them shine - the power of knowledge gained through hands on experience. We applaud them because they set examples for the next generation of Brokers and Agents. They are respected by their peers and cherished by their clients and customers. They have strong opinions which make them stand out from the crowd. They set new standards for all to follow. If we had a prize to offer we would give it to them but we don’t. All we can say is THANK YOU!"--sellsius blog
Joeann Fossland's recent blog post Negotiate Like a Pro was cited as a favorite blog entry. We couldn't agree more!!
Joeann invites you to help feed children in impoverished countries. Donate here.
Photo by Birte Thorsen
What is Africa to me:
Copper sun or scarlet sea,
Jungle star or jungle track,
Strong bronzed men, or regal black
Women from whose loins I sprang
When the birds of Eden sang?
--Countee Cullen (1903–1946) My Soul’s High Song
You can help feed children in impoverished countries. Donate here.
 BEIRUT, Lebanon (August 4, 2006) - A CARE assessment team has arrived in Beirut and will spend the next week and a half assessing the impact of the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and best options for providing emergency relief. Megan Chisholm, leader of the six-person team said: "As soon as we were in Lebanon we saw destroyed houses and buses with people leaving the country. Again, we urge an immediate cease fire and access for humanitarian organizations to reach the most vulnerable people caught in this catastrophe."
Lebanese authorities estimate that at least 841 Lebanese civilians have died in the conflict so far. Estimates are that more than 3,000 have been wounded, and more than 900,000 people have been displaced. Ongoing military operations have made it extremely difficult and dangerous to bring supplies to areas where civilians have gathered after fleeing the combat zones. Food and fuel prices have been rising dramatically because of difficulties in transporting supplies, and several supply convoys have been forced to turn back in recent days either because of the difficulty of getting clearance from military authorities or because of damage to roads.
CARE has called on all sides in the conflict to agree to a cessation of hostilities and to guarantee the protection of innocent civilians, especially women and children. CARE is especially calling on all sides to create humanitarian corridors and guarantee safe passage of badly needed supplies so that civilians who have nothing to do with the fighting can receive food, medicine and safe drinking water.
CARE is one of the world's largest and most experienced nongovernmental humanitarian relief and development organizations. Completely nonsectarian, CARE was formed to bring emergency relief supplies to Europe in the days immediately following World War II. Over the last several decades, CARE's mission has evolved to fighting poverty in the developing world and providing emergency relief during humanitarian crises.
You can help feed children in impoverished countries. Donate here.
Photos by Birte Thorsen
" Africa is a paradox which illustrates and highlights neo-colonialism. Her earth is rich, yet the products that come from above and below the soil continue to enrich, not Africans predominantly, but groups and individuals who operate to Africa’s impoverishment." --Kwame Nkrumah (1900–1972), Ghanaian president. Neo-Colonialism, ch. 1 (1965)
You can help feed children in impoverished countries. Donate here.
8:04 AM - Aug. 7, 2006 - {0} -
View more entries tagged with: Africa, Birte Thorsen, Kwame Nkrumah
 Molly Gordon is an internationally recognized Master Certified Coach, known for her work helping "Accidental Entrepreneurs" bridge the gap between doing the work they love and earning a living. Her clients range from artists to professionals to non-profit and governmental organizations.
Molly is the creator of Authentic Promotion, Grow Your Business, Feed Your Soul, a mind-body-spirit approach to embody a prosperity based on service, purpose, and lifelong learning. Tens of thousands of people subscribe to Molly’s free ezine and/or visit her Web sites to be challenged and supported to show up, serve, and prosper. Since 1993, she has helped thousands of professionals and artists develop prosperous businesses founded on their deepest values.
An avid student of Spiral Dynamics and Integral Theory, Molly is a passionate advocate for doing business as a path to increased personal and collective awareness and effectiveness. She is fascinated by the developmental potential in everyday business concerns such as pricing, competition, money, and marketing. Her lifelong commitment has been to bridge the gap between material attainments and nurturing the human soul.
Molly’s approach is straightforward, sassy, and smart. She’s a refreshing voice in a business world that can feel full of hype and manipulation. You can sample her work and subscribe to her acclaimed ezine here and on her blog.
"The Giving Circle captured my imagination immediately. Whatever business I've been in, I've always donated a portion of the income to some worthy cause or other. In the 90's, I supported One Percent for Peace (popularized by the Ben and Jerry's Peace Pop). My coaching company, Shaboom Inc., Life could be a dream..., sponsors two children through Childreach/Plan USA.
"Every month, somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 people read my bimonthly ezine and/or visit my web sites. I'm excited about the potential to reach these folks and include them in the giving Circle Project."--Molly Gordon
You can help feed children in impoverished countries. Donate here.
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The Web Women Giving Circle is presently raising money and donations for CARE, a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. We place special focus on working with poor women because, equipped with the proper resources, women have the power to help whole families and entire communities escape poverty.--Joeann Fossland, Web Women Giving Circle Leader
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