Here is quick link to the NBC Nightly news that explains how paper beads are making a difference, life changing difference. Beads for Life. ← Click here !!
If you go to BeadforLife.org what you will not see is swimsuit models. What you will see is real women, women to whom life is tough, whose dreams are to provide a home with a floor, buy medicine for themselves and their children, maybe own a cart to sell food.
Listen to them sing thank you to Beads for Life – that’s real.
Recently I made a blog here about an organization called Under The Same Sun. I made that blog after learning about the need to help albinos in Africa. I learned about that situation because of a speech in my Toastmasters Club #641259. Toastmasters is all about education! See the post or check the website to learn.
Today I received an email from an organization called Beads For Life. I actually learned about this website after seeing an amazing program on television. The story explains how two women in Africa seeing the plight of women in Africa started this organization to help women in Uganda help themselves by giving these women the chance to go into business. You can see the joy in their faces, and hear it in their voices in the video below.
After learning how many women in the world make less than a $1.00 (that is ONE dollar) a day I decided this was my opportunity to give a speech and in the process educate myself, and others. As you can imagine, earning one dollar a day does not allow a person to buy enough food to feed a family (you are hungry and so would be your children), have decent shelter (you must live in a slum, on dirt floors, sharing your hole in the ground and water sources with hundreds of others), you are prone to bad health (you can’t afford medicine) and you lack hope. No hope because you are working all day long under harsh conditions and are barely surviving. You also could be the only source of food, shelter, medicine, and hope for your family.
I learned how the program works, and bought beads, which I gave away and felt great about so that others could learn about Beads For Life.
check out the shopping and fight poverty one bead at time
Will you take the time to watch and learn?
I find it amazing how these women make beautiful jewelry with paper beads! Amazing♥
It is strange how in modern times we like to lament pollution, over-population, nuclear wars, and so on and somehow think times were rosier in the “old days”.
In the “old days” people died by the millions at very young ages from simple health problems like diarrhea. I walked through one cemetery in Penticton a week ago, and they have a section for children. It was sad to see so many headstones where the child died at birth or at very young ages. Modern times we witness miracles of medical science. A nurse at the hospital was taking my blood today and her son weighed just over 2 pounds and he survived, and he survived leukemia in his pre-teens. Myself I would never have survived in the “old days” because they didn’t do transplants and dialysis was not dreamed of.
What about other things? Houses are built to standards a zillion times stronger, and more airtight, and energy efficient.
Travel? In my grandfather’s day, people rarely travelled, and the bold few might risk a car or train excursion. Tires in those days punctured easily and if you drove, you had to know how to change a tire, and carry multiple spares. My grandfather drove on dirt roads in horrific conditions all winter long during the depression, and he had a big family to feed so he drove and worked 18 hour days.
Life expectancy? in the old days, a 50 year old was lucky, and even 40 years ago 70 was a good life expectancy.
I am glad to live now. I live in a time where I am around to see my children grow up, otherwise I would never have even seen my son born. The house I live in isn’t a palace but it is much nicer than the one my Dad was born in. He was born on the prairies in October 1938. Basically a one room shack, a little heat from a stove, constantly losing heat as no insulation to speak of. His uncle had to stand at the door and tell trick&treaters no treats that year because they were trying to keep the house warm and couldn’t open the door.
Travel. This is so cool. People do travel now and are able to travel huge distances in a single day. Travel is affordable and not just for millionaires. I have seen the Vatican with my family, cave churches in Cappadocia in Turkey with my Sue, ridden the tube in London with my family, and walked on the beach at midnight with them in Sweden.
I never dreamed of doing those things and now those memories are mine; of mosques at dawn, white skirts of whirling dervishes, colorful hot air balloons in cool mornings over the fairie castles of Cappadocia, pizza and cappuccinos across from the Colosseum. An average person like me to have seen so much, it is amazing.
The reality is that we live in a wonderful time of opportunity, and have been blessed to be here living in this time.
Image via Wikipedia
This guy Mac Davis must have left a string of broken hearts, including Miss Piggy. I have to admit he has self control with that mermaid tail smacking him in the face.
On another note, I have to learn to stay home when I get a cold bug. I am the one with the suppressed immune system but I bounce back real quick. I should have stayed home from work when I felt a bit sick last Friday to make sure no one else caught the bug. I grew up with the John Wayne syndrome I think, you know the scene;
Imagine the wagons pushed over and in a circle. The attacking Indians outnumber the calvary 20 to 1. Our hero John Wayne is shot in the arm, but he just shrugs, “flesh wound” and switches hands for his rifle.
Lots of guys suffer that JW syndrome but really for the betterment of others, feeling a cold coming on ~ Learn to stay home DAVE! It doesn’t matter what day of the week or if you have a short day, just stay home! Message received, but how do you change a lifetime of shrugging off colds and flu’s.
Today I went for a long walk for two hours! It started out I could hardly put any weight on my right foot but gradually I was using it fully. Not sure what happened but it must have needed some discipline! heh heh
After that I wanted to watch soccer, Barcelona and Manchester, but couldn’t stay awake, and so I got to work on my stairs.
Sue has picked some new carpet for the stairs. “She who must be obeyed” told me to get to work taking off the old carpet and underlay. New carpet also will go upstairs in two bedrooms but this was enough for today. I guess this carpet had a nail or staple every half an inch and it was sweaty and dusty work getting it off, one stair at a time.
Mother Nature watered my lawns again today, sure wish she would send over a goat who likes to eat dandelions though. Just a few but I hate digging them out.
I am excited to see people checking out the blog, but if people start reading it I could get worried about what I write!
PLEASE READ THE POST CALLED UNDER THE SAME SUN – the post before this one. thank you! 🙂
Image via Wikipedia
Albinism is the condition where people, for no fault of their own, have little or none pigment in their skin. Perhaps you are familiar with the term ” albino?”
Myths
This is where the speech became very sensitive when I learned in detail how unfairly these people are treated even by their own families. Sad, atrocious, and frighteningly believable stories where sons, and daughters with albinism are sold by their own parents.
→You can learn more from Under the Same Sun.
Fortunately, this is not where the speech ended, not a black, sad, and depressing finish. Instead I learned that this organization and caring people around the world are combating the myths, and evil treatment of albinos with caring and real hopeful action to reach out to these people.
Toastmaster Linda explained how she began to purchase sunscreen SPF50 for these people to send it to them. It makes a huge difference to them as they are subject to skin cancer and dying at early ages without it. As Linda started out to buy sunscreen, others became involved, stores lowered the prices, children from her scouting group helped wrap and package individual bottles for shipment. As a result, the founder of Under the Same Sun delivered 400 bottles of SPF50 directly to albinos in Tanzania.
This year Linda would like to collect 1000 bottles of SPF50 sunscreen to send and provide relief in Tanzania. Would you like to help? Let more people know about Under the Same Sun, and I can connect you with Linda.
