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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Dec. 6, 2006
Copyright 2003 Valenda Campbell/CARE
There is abundant hope in 25 countries on the African continent. According to UNICEF, an estimated one million children and pregnant women in the southern African nation of Malawi are ready to receive the bounty of love that will put food on their tables.
 Help us help CARE help find fortune for these children. Donate here.
Oct. 22, 2006
© 2002 CARE/ A John Watston
About half of the world's population — nearly 3 billion people — lives in poverty, on the equivalent of less than $2 a day. These people do not simply lack financial resources. They struggle each day to keep hunger and disease at bay. Basic opportunities to improve their lives are frequently beyond reach.
The factors that keep people living in poverty are complex and interwoven. That's why CARE does much more than feed the hungry. We work alongside families and communities to understand the greatest threats to their survival and to help them find lasting solutions to their problems.
Through its Victories Over Poverty campaign, CARE is supporting integrated programs that include emergency relief, post-emergency rehabilitation and recovery, and long-term poverty-fighting projects. Whether it's teaching new farming techniques, training teachers or helping improve access to health care, CARE works with communities to create solutions that last.
Reducing Poverty: Proof is in the Numbers
Last year, CARE's programs directly improved the lives of more than 31 million people in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. Tens of millions more benefited indirectly from CARE projects that confronted poverty in their communities.
- Poverty is not having access to clean drinking water or adequate sanitation systems. Last year, CARE helped 3 million people in 34 countries gain access to clean water and sanitation, reducing time spent gathering water and illness caused by poor hygiene.
- Poverty is a lack of accessible, affordable health care information and services. In 2002, almost 10 million children in 26 countries benefited from CARE's child health projects, reducing their vulnerability to disease.
- Poverty is not being able to produce enough food to feed your family. Last year, CARE's programs helped train more than 1.5 million farmers in 43 countries in activities relating to agriculture and natural resource management, increasing crop yields while conserving the environment. --CARE
Help CARE score more victories over poverty! Donate here.
Oct. 21, 2006
Categorized in: Inspiration
© 2003 Anne Heslop/CARE
"Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all."--Nelson Mandela
It just so happens your opportunity to make a difference is right now! Help us help CARE put food into bare cupboards. Donate here.
Oct. 9, 2006
Copyright 2004 Evelyn Hockstein Polaris safe water
About half of the world's population — nearly 3 billion people — lives in poverty, on the equivalent of less than $2 a day. These people do not simply lack financial resources. They struggle each day to keep hunger and disease at bay. Basic opportunities to improve their lives are frequently beyond reach.
The factors that keep people living in poverty are complex and interwoven. That's why CARE does much more than feed the hungry. We work alongside families and communities to understand the greatest threats to their survival and to help them find lasting solutions to their problems.
Through our Victories Over Poverty campaign, CARE is supporting integrated programs that include emergency relief, post-emergency rehabilitation and recovery, and long-term poverty-fighting projects. Whether it's teaching new farming techniques, training teachers or helping improve access to health care, CARE works with communities to create solutions that last.
Reducing Poverty: Proof is in the Numbers
Last year, CARE's programs directly improved the lives of more than 31 million people in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. Tens of millions more benefited indirectly from CARE projects that confronted poverty in their communities.
- Poverty is not having access to clean drinking water or adequate sanitation systems. Last year, CARE helped 3 million people in 34 countries gain access to clean water and sanitation, reducing time spent gathering water and illness caused by poor hygiene.
- Poverty is a lack of accessible, affordable health care information and services. In 2002, almost 10 million children in 26 countries benefited from CARE's child health projects, reducing their vulnerability to disease.
- Poverty is not being able to produce enough food to feed your family. Last year, CARE's programs helped train more than 1.5 million farmers in 43 countries in activities relating to agriculture and natural resource management, increasing crop yields while conserving the environment. --CARE
Help CARE score more victories over poverty! Donate here.
Oct. 3, 2006
Categorized in: Water Advocacy
© 2001 CARE/Josh Estey
Women must manually collect water in some areas of the world. In many areas they are exposed to violence and animal attacks when walking to remote water sources and finding places to defecate. Lack of safe water means an additional burden for women who are responsible for looking after sick children and family members.
Lack of sanitation requires that some women wait until dark to relieve themselves outside. Imagine the discomfort of a woman suffering from diarrhea who has to wait for hours.
Help CARE bring safe drinking water and sanitation to the rest of the world! Donate here.
Sep. 26, 2006
Categorized in: Water Advocacy
Copyright 2004 Evelyn Hockstein Polaris
These women are fighting the elements to draw water from a well in Sudan.
In many countries, collecting water is considered women’s work. Women are generally responsible for collecting water for their families – this can mean walking up to six hours each day to fetch water from the nearest source, or waiting for hours at a sporadic water source.
Constant carrying of heavy water containers (up to 40 pounds) on the head, hips, or back, has severe health implications and can cause deformities.
It is common for women to drink less water than the rest of the family so they can carry more back to their families. This is a particular problem during childbirth or menstruation when they are often unable to replenish the fluids they have lost, or clean themselves.
Help CARE bring safe drinking water to arid regions of the world. Donate here.
Sep. 25, 2006
Tap the world's greatest natural resource to end poverty.
Help CARE end poverty! Donate here.
Sep. 25, 2006
Copyright 2005 Evelyn Hockstein Polaris
One-year-old Badamassi Narauana of Niger and his mom have eaten nothing but bitter berries for two months. Lots of kids in Niger have bellyaches that make them cry.
Help CARE bring food to hungry children and make the bellyaches go away! Donate here.
Sep. 21, 2006
2004 CARE/Evelyn Hockstein
"Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning....They have to play with what they know to be true in order to find out more, and then they can use what they learn in new forms of play."--Fred Rogers, children’s TV personality and author.
Hmmmmmmm.... I wonder what Mr. Rogers would say about children who don't have the word "play" in their daily lexicon.
Help CARE bring childhood dreams to children. Donate here.
Sep. 20, 2006
Categorized in: Water Advocacy
© 2002 Dick Loek PhotoSensitive
This little girl may have to help her mother collect water. Carrying water may keep her out of school.
Involving women in a safe water and sanitation project improves the status of women, provides dignity, and improves the health of women and their families. Women have more time to participate in agriculture, family care, or income-generating work.
Help CARE bring safe drinking water to the rest of the world! Donate here.
Sep. 16, 2006
© 2006 Phil Borges
 There's no question that female genital cutting is difficult to talk about. This is true not just in the United States, but even in the communities where it is practiced, in countries throughout Africa and parts of the Middle East and Asia. So when CARE began to work with communities in Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan to try to stop the practice, just opening the discussion was the hardest step — and the most important.
A Complex Issue Female genital cutting, also called female circumcision, has affected more than 135 million women and girls worldwide. FGC includes to several different forms of cutting practiced for hundreds of years. Infibulation, the most severe, involves cutting some or all of the external genitalia, leaving only a very small opening for urination and menstruation.
Each ethnic group and community that practices FGC is unique, but some details are common across different cultures. In the communities where CARE works, girls are usually cut between the ages of 4 and 12. The cutting is performed by a circumciser, a woman who often is also a traditional birth attendant. The event is a rite of passage, celebrated by women in the community. Many communities see FGC as an important part of their heritage and cultural identity, and often believe it to be a religious obligation under Islam or Christianity. It also plays an important role in a girl's social standing: FGC is seen as ensuring her virginity until marriage, and thus her value as a bride.
But FGC can also cause serious health and social problems that follow a woman her whole life. The health complications from infibulation can include chronic and severe pain, infection, prolonged and difficult labor and difficulties with menstruation. Psychologically, cutting can cause tension between couples due to painful or difficult sexual relations. Socially, cutting makes it harder for girls to go to school or earn income by making them more likely to marry early.
Starting the Discussion When we began to work in communities in Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan, the first step was to talk to a range of people in each village and find out what they felt about FGC. There were some people who wanted the practice to end or change, but most people felt it was important.
Many said FGC was required for religious reasons. "A woman who is not circumcised is not a Muslim," said one man in Kenya, while one woman in Sudan suggested that food prepared by an uncircumcised girl was haraam (unclean under Islamic law). FGC was also seen as an ancestral practice, passed down through generations; women in particular saw themselves as custodians of this cultural tradition. Many people spoke of sexuality, saying that FGC ensured the girl would remain a virgin until marriage, and that after marriage, the practice would ensure she remained faithful to her husband. Many believed that no one would marry an uncircumcised girl, and that such girls would be subjected to abuse and insults. Very few people, especially among the men, knew about the health consequences of FGC. What they did know was often limited to immediate problems after the procedure, rather than long-term effects like difficulty in childbirth or pain during sex.
CARE's Approach Listening to the communities and understanding how they valued FGC made it clear that any effective program would need to change deep-seated attitudes and assumptions. CARE decided to work with key members of the community, such as religious leaders, elders and traditional birth attendants. These leaders are highly respected and play an important role in upholding social customs. Working closely with these key people, CARE provided training and educational sessions to talk about the health problems caused by FGC and discuss some of the justifications for the practice.
It was especially important to convince community leaders that there was no religious obligation to perform FGC. In Ethiopia, CARE organized a four-day seminar for 12 religious leaders to study the Quran and other Islamic scripture for references to female circumcision. At the end of the meeting, the leaders agreed that Islam did not require communities to perform FGC. Their outreach following the seminar led to more than 50 other imams speaking out in favor of abandoning FGC.
CARE worked with these community leaders to start a community dialogue about FGC, in some cases organizing large public discussions where community members could talk about the issue in a safe environment. Just getting communities to talk about the practice at all was a huge first step, giving people a chance to learn about the consequences of FGC and voice their opinions and concerns. The discussions also helped people to consider how the practice affected the rights and social status of women and girls in the community. More and more people learned about the harmful effects of the practice and began to question its value.
Changing from Within Change has not been easy. As one CARE staff member recalled: "At the beginning, it was difficult, even risky to talk about FGC. One Ethiopian man was so fearful that CARE staff were coming to prevent him from circumcising his daughter that he pointed a gun at two field workers and held them hostage inside their car. The CARE staff rolled down their window and talked to the man for an hour. They then got out of the car and talked for another two to three hours. Finally, the man gave them afu, a ceremony asking for forgiveness."
Despite the difficulties, however, CARE's work has shown that, with a respectful approach, it is possible to break the silence and start an effective community dialogue about abandoning female genital cutting. For the thousands of girls who risk undergoing the painful procedure every day, it's a discussion that can make a world of difference. --CARE
Help CARE end FGC! Donate here.
Sep. 11, 2006
© 2002 Dan White/CARE
CARE provides training in small economic activities that enable poor people, especially women, to earn money to support their families.
Help us help CARE to provide more microdevelopment aid. Donate here.
Sep. 10, 2006
The crisis in Darfur, Sudan, has rightly captured the world's attention. But another emergency is taking place in Uganda, Sudan's southern neighbor, where a forgotten war has been raging for more than two decades. In camps like Tetugu, in northern Uganda, CARE's work with women is helping to ensure the health and livelihoods of families displaced by conflict.
© 2003 Ami Vitale/CARE
 As if reading off a ledger, Anna Okot can rattle off every crop she has planted recently, how much she earned on the harvest and how she spent the income. "When CARE gave us bean seed, I was able to sell the harvest for 50,000 shillings (approximately $30) and buy household items. I also got tomato seeds; that harvest brought me 20,000 shillings and I bought a goat. I sold my cabbage harvest for 15,000 shillings and bought a small radio. I have planted cowpeas, as well; with that money I paid school fees for the children."
This 47-year-old mother of six arrived in Tetugu camp three years ago. "When I came from my home, I had nothing," Anna says. Like millions of others in northern Uganda, Anna and her family fled their home because of fighting between government troops and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). It's a battle that had been raging for nearly 20 years, and the toll of the feud is heaviest on families of poor, rural farmers — families like Anna's. With land their greatest asset, being forced off it leaves these families with scarce opportunities to feed themselves or earn enough cash to buy items such as clothing, soap or school supplies.
Anna certainly felt the burden of meeting her family's needs when she arrived in Tetugu. She was not alone. "When families were displaced by the war, we realized women could not rebuild all by ourselves. We needed to work together to earn some money," says Anna.
Anna helped form and now chairs a 40-member group called Lacan Kwitte, "A Poor Person Struggles." When CARE began working in Tetugu, we sought the support of groups like Anna's; we believed these women had the most to gain from projects to increase food production, and they had clearly demonstrated an interest in working together to improve life for their families. CARE worked with several women's associations in Tetugu to distribute seeds and tools, and cows for plowing fields more efficiently. The women also got training in small-scale savings and loan management and general leadership skills. -- Gretchen Lyons for CARE
Help us so that we can write more success stories! Donate here.
Sep. 4, 2006
© 2005 CARE/ Jesse Moore
...if you told her that you had a chance to feed hungry children and make a difference in their lives? ...and you could do that by sacrificing just a couple of Starbucks coffees? She would be proud of you!
It just so happens your opportunity to make a difference is right now! CARE provides food for hungry children. Donate here.
Sep. 4, 2006
© 2005 Evelyn Hockstein Polaris
...but there is still no pediatric version of easy-to-take AIDS drugs and more than half of HIV-positive infants die before their second birthday. So much for technology, huh?
Instead of downloading a couple of new songs today, how about helping some kids? Donate here.
Aug. 27, 2006
© 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.
Aug. 27, 2006
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.
Aug. 22, 2006
© 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.
Aug. 19, 2006
©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.
Aug. 8, 2006
Categorized in: Inspiration
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.
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