Everyday (Global) Justice, Served up with Tantalizing Travel – and Motorcycles

How do we work for global justice every day, from our lives at home – where we deal with bills and friends and life's daily distractions? I’ve pulled together a few resources here that help with global giving, connect us international armchair travelers with engaging inspiration, and remind me that my favorite forms of transportation have two wheels.

Justice from Home:

We have clear evidence that we can make a huge difference from home. And fortunately there are numerous resources available for those who insist – as so many of us do – that each human life, everywhere around the world, is equally valuable.

Here are just a few among many important resources. First, there’s Peter Singer’s The Life You Can Save book, website, and pledge.  It’s pretty simple: people are dying unnecessarily early, suffering through preventable diseases, and frequently deprived of educational tools and opportunities. We know how to change this. We know what has worked. We have records of success. We do not have enough funding.

Small, regular donations from those of us (regular people) who have disposable income will continue to change lives and ensure human freedoms. It’s astonishing. The value, each month, of two beers, two Starbucks coffees, or one big burrito from a fast food joint – can literally save not just a life, but lives. (For a longer discussion of how things work on the ground in developing countries, see my post on Millennium Development Goals from Tanzania). Here’s the short film from Singer. It's totally worth the three minutes. 

Second, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn wrote one of the most important books I’ve ever read, Half the Sky. It chronicles women’s experiences, challenges, and successes around the world. The individual narratives are powerful – and the data point that 100 million women are missing around the world (due to explicitly violent and more subtle discrimination against girls) is painfully valid and overwhelming (this data comes from world-renowned economist Amartya Sen). Everyone should read their book – and then take actions that follow from it. Kristof and WuDunn assembled numerous links to important, effective organizations advancing women’s rights around the world. Women and girls rights, without doubt, constitute one of the most important issues of our time. Give to any one of those organizations and know that you are making an important difference. Here's the book in one minute and eleven seconds. It's a beautiful clip.
    

Third, John Prendergast and company are taking “never again” as seriously as possible with their effort to completely stop genocide and crimes against humanity through the Enough Project. What’s amazing about The Enough Project is they always tie their campaigns to actions we can take. What’s more, they have clearly demonstrated how raising our voices and making deliberate ethical purchases have helped stop murderous regimes in the past. Take three minutes to watch this video, then follow their suggestions for letting companies know that we want conflict-free electronics.   

Fourth, and related to the Enough Project’s efforts, we can practice systematic conscious consumption. Corporations give us many nice things: as consumers, as employees, and as beneficiaries of positive unintended effects of product developments. But some corporations behave better than others. And all corporations respond to significant consumer pressure (It happened with slave-grown sugar and prohibition; it happened with bus boycotts during the civil rights movement; and it happened with diamond boycotts as part of ending apartheid in South Africa). Resources for advancing conscious consumption include:

• The British organization Ethical Consumer, which catalogues the impacts of your purchases across a wide variety of products. 
• Tree Hugger is also a great site, particularly in respect to the environment. 
• And the movie and movement Call and Response has developed a systematic accounting of each of our (it hurts to write it) "slavery footprints," which is an estimate of the extent to which slave labor is involved in the production of your products. Their estimate is based on data from the US Department of State, Freedom House, Transparency International, and other reliable organizations. The Call and Response trailer provides some quick data on and context for the current, real global problem of slave labor (that exists in the US in large numbers too):  

Fifth, we can be part of or support ethical international connections. This is a favorite of mine, and I think it’s actualized best through an organization where I sit on the Board of Directors, Amizade Global Service-Learning. Amizade connects community-driven development projects with volunteers from around the world. There are a few things that make Amizade stand out:

1. It is deeply committed to community-driven principles, and has been since its inception in Brazil in 1994. 
2. In a field increasingly distorted by private sector travel groups interested in making a quick buck off of something they call service-learning, Amizade is a nonprofit organization with clear ethical commitments, and 
3. Amizade has given substantial time and effort to developing programming that encourages all of its volunteers, students, participants, and community members to think about and act on what it means to be a global citizen long past the end of a brief volunteer experience. 

You can support Amizade by volunteering with them, organizing a group volunteer experience, or by giving this week, when every gift is matched at a 100% match rate (until Nov. 7, 2011)! Also, if you commit to giving $10 or more per month, there's an additional, one-time match of $50! Please consider giving to simultaneously advance community-driven development (this means water systems in Tanzania, classrooms in Bolivia, and much more) AND develop peace by pieces, by connecting people across cultures.

Here are two inspirational minutes on Amizade below (great clip!). But don't let that distract you. You've read this far. Take action. Give to one (at least one) of these important initiatives today. You get the most bang for your buck with Amizade this week (because of the match through the link above), but - more importantly - give somewhere. We're building a better world.

Where, you may ask, is the inspirational international arm chair travel and mention of motorcycles? It turns out this will be  a series. Those posts will come soon.

Please share your additional resources by responding below or sending them my way otherwise. And if you agree that supporting these efforts is important, please re-post, re-tweet, or otherwise share! Thanks for reading! 

Kindness in Kayanga

“Mr. Erici? Are you here, Mr. Erici?” – the Swahili-speaking custodian, grounds manager, watchman, and chicken-slaughterer called through our room door, adding the final “i” that is customary for adopted English words. “Yes, James, I’m here,” I said as I opened the door. He had brought a gift – one pineapple and one papaya – presumably because I gave him a small amount of antibiotic ointment (antibiotic-i) a few days ago when he nearly sliced his finger off. I’m sure the cut deserved stitches. I’m sure James is as deserving of basic health care as I am, but instead he’s left showing his thanks with gifts from his garden for a small amount of antibiotic ointment. The people of Kayanga (town), Karagwe (district), Kagera (region) are continuously kind and welcoming.

Earlier today I went with a small group of students to learn more about a regional outreach effort to support people with disabilities. In short, the challenges are these: people with disabilities have long been marginalized as presumed burdens; children with disabilities do not typically attend any school, because those with physical disabilities cannot manage to walk to school and those with mental disabilities have no support services; there is a severe problem with rape of women who have disabilities, along with ensuing pregnancies for women who may not be able to care for the children.

Into this sea of challenges steps a network of dynamic community-based organizations that are making real, if painfully slow, progress on each of these issues. Today we accompanied the Anglican-supported Karagwe Program for People with Disabilities on a village outreach visit. As a special treat, our group included Matthew Mcllvenna, Field Representative for Friends of the Children of Tanzania. Matt is currently on sabbatical from the UN and has been focusing on developing and supporting the networks that work with people with disabilities in this region.  

We drove out of Kayanga, past Omurushaka, onto the dirt roads, off of the energy grid, down continuously narrower dirt roads, until finally we reached the small village Catholic Church that was the center of outreach for the day. Word had spread, and more than thirty people with disabilities had found their way (walking, limping, otherwise moving over miles) to the site. The day began with a prayer – inviting Muslims and Christians to pray as they wished for one another. Immediately after that ecumenical beginning our female facilitator, Upendo, asked the group what they had learned during a previous visit.

Their answers were quick and compelling, “people with disabilities are fully human; people with disabilities deserve equal treatment; people may be born with or may develop disabilities; disability may result from old age…” The answers continued for several minutes. After this educational outreach, the triaging began. The visit focused not on care but on connecting people with the appropriate services. Several people were recommended for treatment by Dr. Angelo, the orthopedic doctor and physio-therapist at the hospital in Bukoba.

Each individual patient’s story was extraordinarily compelling, and their challenges include not only their physical ailments but also the need to pay for transportation to the hospital and to afford food during their stay. I’ll share specific stories as students summarize them in their journals.

And now  a few photos courtesy of Shannon Wheatley Hartman. They are as follows: a Kayanga Village Street (near where we're staying), local entrepreneur and friend Peter Lazaro explaining his screen printing business to us, and WOMEDA Director Juma Massisi sharing information about Women's Rights in the region. 

Returning to old friends; witnessing change; comfort in Kayanga

As the Arizona State-Amizade Community Development course begins, the red-dirt streets of Kayanga are familiar. I’ve spent more summertime here over the past five years than any other place except Pittsburgh. It’s been a joy to return and reconnect. Peter Lazaro has a wife and baby. Juma Massisi is doing very well. Joseph Sekiku’s son Simeon has grown into a young man and his young daughter Anna is now away at boarding school in Uganda. The originally-imagined Amizade-ELCT orphanage project has morphed into a much-needed nurses training center (as reviews of orphanages have steadily grown more critical). This year’s students are rapidly meeting and connecting with Amizade’s network of friends in the area. We’ve noticed that more people seem to know how to say uh-ma-za-gee correctly in Kayanga than in most cities in the United States. 

Amizade’s presence and partnership here has contributed to the development of at least one small business, one nonprofit organization, seven family water harvesting systems and tanks (supporting some 40 people), one USAID grant supporting WOMEDA and renewable through later years, further dialogue and awareness about women’s rights, English tutoring in schools, the expansion of FADECO radio, the creation of a tree and plant nursery at Mavuno, the completion of a village-scale water harvesting system in Chonyonyo, the completion of one-going-on-two water tanks at Mavuno for a girls boarding school that is currently under construction, and the development of water access and wind-generated electricity at the Eden Center, where computer training classes for women currently take place. We are here now with fourteen students; yesterday was the first day of service.

One group is supporting WOMEDA’s most recent data-gathering project, working to provide data for a future grant application that will help address teen pregnancy. Another group is supporting English language learning in the schools, and the third group is advancing the construction of a water harvesting tank that will support the Mavuno girls’ boarding school. The groups will spend several days on each project, cycling through with steady leadership at each location. Along the way, the students are wrestling with development issues, learning a great deal about the reality of regular electricity service, steady and sometimes hot water, travel, and dust. They’re experiencing international borders in East Africa and getting a glimpse of what education systems often look like in rural communities. Most of all, they’re eating an awful lot of matoke (mashed banana).

I find myself at comfort here; the systems of support for the program continue to improve and I’m increasingly familiar with each bend in the road and trail through the banana trees that cover the valley. My main concern as always is how we could do more as an organization and group of service-learners. Organizations like Amizade serve many missions, providing students with educationally challenging and personally rewarding study abroad programs that encourage global ethics while also taking seriously the substantial challenges involved in community-driven development across cultures. I think Amizade does a good job of balancing the pressures at play here: neither focusing too much on students at the expense of community concerns nor jeopardizing students’ experiences, learning, and safety in order to give more attention and resources to the community. How this is achieved will be the subject of future posts. For now: we are all healthy, happy, and pleased to be serving and learning in Kayanga.          

Walk, Experience, Make a Difference: 4th Annual Water Walk for Women's Rights

The bottom line is this: Amizade has a wonderfully strong and successful water access program implemented in cooperation with nonprofit partners in rural Tanzania. The materials involved in this collaboration are funded largely through annual citizens' events: water walks for women's rights. People of all ages register, carry a bucket of water, and walk over a course in solidarity with women around the world who have to undertake the task daily. All proceeds support the water initiative, which ultimately saves lives, provides opportunity for education, and improves economic development.

Please register for Amizade's 4th Annual Water Walk for Women's Rights or simply make a donation to support Amizade's literally life-saving work with water in Tanzania. Also, please spread the word. Tell more friends. Make it a family day. Get the good people you know out there-walking the Walk. Post this, tweet it, otherwise announce, invite, cajole and coordinate your friends. That's how citizens' efforts become movements that make a difference - and the water walks keep growing in just that way. Thanks to you.

This year's water walks are coming up on next Saturday and Sunday in Pittsburgh and Morgantown, respectively. If you'll forgive the journey and the narrative, I have a bit more to share about how we got here, why water access is so important, and how we know Amizade's efforts are working.

Four years ago, I led the first of several university student groups on a community-driven development course in rural Tanzania through Amizade. The students and I learned several things. First, we helped an amazing local women's rights organization, WOMEDA, chronicle the fact that women walked an average of 26 miles to receive its services. The group subsequently got a small grant through USAID, and more women were therefore afforded basic rights protections like the right to hold property.

Second, we understood on a visceral level the cycles of poverty that Columbia University Professor and former director of the United Nations Millennium Project Jeffrey Sachs discusses in his book The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time.  That is, we came to see and more clearly understand the daily drudgery that dominates life in much of the developing world. Witnessing the challenge of everyday life brought us to a third conclusion that is ultimately backed up by significant data from the United Nations Development Program: water matters. Access to water is fundamental.

People who can access water easily have more time to work and to attend school. The United Nations Development Program indicates that investments in clean water supply yield an average return on investment of $4.4 dollars of growth in gross domestic product for every $1 invested. In other words, clean water is a catalyst. When people do not need to walk hours for it, they spend time in other productive activity. And when people have clean water, they avoid regular debilitating sicknesses that come with water-borne diseases. In fact the UNDP concludes that investments in safe water and sanitation are more closely linked to human development than is true for any other development intervention examined, including education, health care, and access to energy services. From experience what is perhaps even more compelling is knowing how hard women and children (it is mostly women and children) work for water, and how unsafe that water often actually is. See the photos to get a glimpse of both the struggle and the poor quality of available water.

These three insights: the importance and strength of WOMEDA, the ruthless challenge of cycles of poverty, and the fundamental status of water as a building block for living, learning, and working moved us to action. After the course, several of the students and I were part of organizing Amizade's first Water Walks for Women's Rights. They took place in Pittsburgh and Morgantown in April of 2008. (Archive: video promotion for year 1).

The proceeds from the Water Walks led to clear outcomes in Kayanga Village, where Amizade works. These outcomes include water tanks for gravity-based water harvesting systems on homes (pictured below) as well as (later on) village-scale water system development through cooperation with Mavuno, a local community-based development organization.

Each of the tanks you see above was connected to a gravity-based water harvesting system constructed of metal gutters that directed water off of the home roofs and into the water tanks. Cooperation with Mavuno and WOMEDA ensured that the tank recipients received the necessary training on how to ensure water in the tanks was purified before drinking. What began during a course in the summer of 2007 led to the first water walks in 2008, which led to the summer 2008 purchase and installation of several tanks like the ones you see above. Along the way, Amizade was fortunate to become a recipient of a grant through the All People Be Happy Foundation, which ensured that Amizade could continue to build its capacity to address water access issues in cooperation with partners in Tanzania. 

As is true with all growing movements, these efforts built on themselves. More and diverse Pittsburghers and West Virginians took part in the walks, more tanks were purchased, and eventually Amizade found itself cooperating with Mavuno on a village-scale water project, pictured below. 

Why? All because a few people decided to organize, take steps to get others involved, and spend a few hours on Saturday (or Sunday in WV) enjoying the excellent spring weather in Pittsburgh and Morgantown while making a vital difference for women and children in rural Tanzania. Walking does make a difference. The pictures above make that clear. What is more, Amizade and its partners in Tanzania continue to improve upon the work they do together (check out the summary!!!). The most recent family-size tanks were constructed with all local materials. And the Chonyoyo Village tank pictured above now supports water access for more than 300 school children. 

Kids can go to school, women have the chance to work or attend school as they wish. You can support that access by registering for this year's Amizade Water Walks for Women's Rights now. If you can't walk this year, please show your support with a donation to Amizade. You can specify your donation to go 100% toward the Tanzania water initiative if you wish. 

Be sure to check out this creative video on water access prepared for this year's walk: 

 

As you'll see, the video was created by a Duquesne University student, which begs the questions: Will WVU, Pitt, Duquesne, or the general public have the most water walk participants this year? I'd love your feedback on this and other questions. 

I've gotten a couple individual messages since returning to the blogosphere, along with a few book suggestions, which I hope to catch up on. Please post thoughts, comments, or questions below, and feel free to message me. Also, if you decide to become a follower or click on any one of the Facebook, Twitter, Email this, etc., buttons below I just might blush and I might also continue this blogging experiment beyond a month of occasional late-night effort. Upcoming topic possibilities: cross-country travel and a pick-up full of justice, education in the United States, and an ode to Colorado. Once again, your suggestions are appreciated.