Click To End Poverty

I just picked up a book called ”The End of Poverty” by Jeffrey D. Sachs. It is a must read for anyone who really wants to see World Peace happen in our lifetime. Through decades of working with governments around the world, investigating the factors that cause divisions between ”haves and have nots\”, that cause poverty, and wars; Sachs has assisted poor nations to begin their ascent into the developed community. In his introduction, he says:

”I have been fortunate to have observed, and contributed to, some real successes - the end of hyperinflations, the introduction of new stable national currencies, the cancellation of unpayable debts, the conversion of moribund communist economies to dynamic market-based economies, the startup of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, and modern drug treatment for impoverished HIV-infested people. I have increasingly understood the yawning gap between what the rich world claims to be doing to help the poor and what it is actually doing. I have also gradually come to understand through my scientific research and on-the-ground advisory work the awesome power in our generations hands to end the massive suffering of the extreme poor and thereby to make our lives safer in the process…….You will see that all parts of the world have the chance to join an age of unprecedented prosperity building on global science, technology, and markets. But you will also see that certain parts of the world are caught in a downward spiral of impoversihment, hunger, and disease. It is no good to lecture the dying that they should have done better with their lot in life. Rather, it is our taask to help them onto the ladder of development, at least to gain a foothold on the bottom rung, from which they can then proceed to climb on their own.”

He speaks to us about choices - ”choices that can lead to a much safer world based on a true reverence and respect for human life.”

This sentence, above all others, speaks of the new paradigm which is permeating leadership around the globe. For 5000 years or more, tyranny and exploitation have been the prevailing premise in leadership worldwide. As a result, walls have been built between nations, and wars have reigned over resources. Hostility, and careless toxic byproducts of development based on this paradigm, have escalated to the point that life itself is at risk.

His are bold words, bold and confrontational. The implications of these words are monumental. They respresent a drastic shift in the perspective of governance and leadership today. Humanitarian views have been crushed for millenia, left to the underdog to whine about. But today, as the population boom combined with advancing techology escalate the consequences, as well as unshield them for all to see; clarity is arising that safety and security are deeply imbedded in ”reverence and respect for life.” No longer do these ideas exist only in the peanut gallery - we are witness ing their rise as Good Business, intelligent and vital to the perpetuation of a thriving economy. This motivation, above all others, is what will make World Peace not only possible, but probable in the near future.

At the peak of conflict in 1993, over 60% of the homes were destroyed in Burundi’s long running civil war between native Hutu and Tutsi. Moved by the hundreds of thousands of refugees left homeless, minister Prosper Ndabishuriye rallied 153 Hutu and Tutsi youth to lay down their arms and come together to begin building homes. Thus, Juenes de Reconstruction de Munde en Destruction (JRMD.org) was born.

Prosper and his group of youth have built nearly 3000 homes to date - Read Their Story

Follow Marc as he travels around the world…. helping the world’s poorest get on their feet and make a way for themselves. Using donations provided by people like you, in most cases the funds are given as micro loans, to be repaid over time. The needy prefer it, saving their pride and knowing that the funds can then be given to another in need, and then another. From June through December this year, Marc’s journey takes him to Istanbul, Cambodia, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

 

 

The 100 Friends Project started 18 years ago, in 1989. The idea is very simple. Every year many people contribute to the project and I take the money to Third World Countries and I go looking for the neediest people I can find. Then I put the money to work in the most compassionate, appropriate, culturally compatible, constructive and practical manner possible. You put the donation into my hands and I put the funds directly into the hands of the needy individual or family, or a small trusted grassroots organization helping them. All donations are tax deductible.

 

My plans for 2007 are to build two schools, one in Afghanistan and one in Cambodia. I am also planning to help the Tuareg Nomads in Niger in 2008 with schools, wells, food banks and health clinics. A visit to Malawi is also in the works. These are two of the poorest countries on Earth. My goal is to raise and then bring $25,000 to Africa.

I raised $80,000 in 2006, a record amount (double the amount raised last year!) Here is where some of the money was spent for:

 

I was in Hanoi and was able to donate $9,000 to three groups helping children with medical operations and educational needs. HI also traveled to Kashmir to help families trying to recover from the massive earthquake of October, 2005. This was mostly in the form of micro-loan to families. When the money has been repaid it can be used over and over again.

My ongoing work with children rescued from a garbage dump in Cambodia is continuing. Here is a brief background for Yong Sokheng, a student who I am helping in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The donations are to help with his education and living expenses:

 

Yong Sokheng is 21 years old, a poor village boy who is struggling very hard to have a chance to study in a two-year course vocational school in Phnom Penh. His home is 30km away from Phnom Penh, the distance is not far for someone with a car, but it is far for Sokheng who has to go home every weekend to assist the family with their farming by his old bicycle.

Sokheng finished his high school in August 2006 and with good grade he was awarded a small government scholarship. His survival in Phnom Penh depends on his sister’s job in the garment factory which is not more than $50 a month. The $50 a month income is the main budget for the whole family.

 

 

I donated funds to three orphanages in Phnom Penh, Cambodia: I donated $250 to Chey Prach Kuma Multi-Arts Association for rent and school supplies; Also donated $300 to Lighthouse Orphanage; Plus I donated $300 to NACA orphanage plus we brought fruit to Lighthouse and NACA and all my fantastic masks, put shows on for the kids. And $920 was donated to CCH (children from the dump) for construction and job training. Plus I went twice to the dump to take photos, pass out candy and pencils and soccer balls and make donations to families.

I went back to Indonesia for a third time last November, 2007 to help orphans from the tsunami and earthquake zones. A short documentary has been shot about my work in Indonesia. Purchase 150 bicycles for a poor community near the Jakarta Airport; this will triple the incomes of 150 families.

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Today we interviewed a man, who almost unintentionally, is lifting an entire nation up and out of poverty. It is startling to see the impact that one person can have in these times. Tom Ritchey is a mountain bike champion who owns a bike manufacturing company. He was invited by a friend to go biking in the terrain of Rwanda. While there, he was deeply moved by the forgiveness and reconciliation of the Rwandan people after all they have suffered in civil war. Inspired, he stayed longer to get to know the people better. Discovering that they were losing quality and thus value of the beans in transport – because they walked – he designed a special coffee carrying bike. This bike will bring a higher dollar to the farmer, impacting the entire village and increase the national budget, and thus social services. Additionally, it has changed the distribution of labor in the village, with the result of freeing kids to go to school How cool is that?

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