World AIDS Day

The theme for both the 2007 and 2008 World AIDS Day is leadership. According to the World AIDS campaign, "leadership" was chosen because "significant advances in the response to HIV have been achieved when there is strong and committed leadership. [This] leadership must be demonstrated at every level to get ahead of the disease - in families, in communities, in countries and internationally." The two leaders highlighted below were in their twenties when they founded their organizations and will be featured in Ten Ways to Change the World in Your Twenties. See how you can be a leader in your community and beyond by visiting their websites.

Sekolo Projects was founded by Elizabeth Robinson, who spends much of her year in Namibia, and her organization works to both prevent HIV infection through education and to support those who are living with HIV/AIDS. Elizabeth works closely with the Namibian Ministry of Education to train teachers and young people all over the country.

The Ubuntu Fund was founded by Jacob Lief while he was still in college, and it has since grown into an organization which reaches over 40,000 children with its health and educational services. Their Mpilo-Lwazi (Health-Knowledge) Initiative, is "a comprehensive community health program that empowers at-risk children and youth to confront HIV/AIDS openly and develop the knowledge, skills and resources to secure healthy lives."

amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS research, is a good resource for facts about HIV/AIDS. You can also search for HIV/AIDS resources and organizations by state and country. Many provide educational resources, support, and testing.

Giving Back on a Day of Thanks

It will be Thanksgiving in less than a week, and it is my favorite holiday because it is all about gratitude and giving to those who need our help. We remember what we are so grateful for, and we make offerings, (often in the form of delicious food both to loved ones and also to those that we don't even know). I know from emailing with many of you that you will be volunteering your time at homeless shelters or soup kitchens this holiday. There is still plenty of time to plan a way to give back on this upcoming day of thanks.

Need inspiration? If you are interested in volunteering this holiday season, and have not yet found a place to do so, check out Volunteer Match. You can search by geographic location as well as areas of interest to find a volunteer opportunity that matches your skills. For more ideas, look at the thousands of volunteer opportunities on Idealist.org. You can also inquire with your local community centers and churches to see when and where they will be serving meals and what help they need. You can often prepare meals or dishes the day before and drop them off Thanksgiving morning. Consider dropping by your local food bank on the way back from your holiday shopping to share a few items of food that will surely make someone else's Thanksgiving a bit easier and sweeter.

If you want your efforts to be felt a bit further afield, consider making a donation to the Vitamin Angels. They are a non-profit organization dedicated to "providing vital nutrition in the form of supplements, to developing countries, communities and individuals in need." For example, $1 provides enough Vitamin A to prevent blindness in a child. Just $1 provides sufficient funding to preserve the sight of one child. On a day when many of us have so much, it is important to remember that 30% of the world's population suffers from nutritional deficiencies.

As for me, I can take no credit for my plans this week; they are all the product of the generosity and ingenuity of my friends and teachers. Thanks to our dear friends in Seattle, we will be making our annual trek out West in a few days where we will stock up on local fare, (check out the Puget Sound eat local pledge here, and visit local harvest.org to find your local and organic food purveyors). We will be cooking some dishes on Wednesday to drop off at the Plymouth Housing Group, whose mission is to "eliminate homelessness and stabilize homeless and very low income housing by preserving, developing, and operating, safe, decent, and affordable housing, and by providing opportunities for homeless and very low-income people to improve their lives." After dropping off our food at Plymouth on Thursday morning, I will go to the "Spirit of Gratitude" practice at Seattle Yoga Arts, the proceeds of which will be donated to Pasado's Safe Haven. Each of these upcoming celebratory moments will serve as reminders of how fortunate I am both to be with loved ones and to be of service to others.

Wishing you all a day filled with celebration, loved ones, and gifts of thanks.

Back to School in December

As a former teacher, married to a current one, who currently resides on a school campus, I have seen first-hand the incredible power of student initiated action. Many of these students, most of whom are not even old enough to vote, have done something tangible about poverty, war, and injustice. On December 5th, students all over the country will once again have a chance to take action to help those displaced and in danger due to the atrocities in Darfur.

DarfurFast, sponsored by STAND (Student Anti-Genocide Coaltion), asks students to organize a day of fasting on December 5th. Participants are asked to give up one comfort item, such as a cup of coffee, and donate the money they would have spent to help feed and protect displaced Darfuri women and children. Just $3 can protect one person for a year. Students all over the country are already registering their schools and encouraging fellow students, family members, and those in their community to participate.

STAND, in partnership with the Genocide Intervention Network, provides educational materials to help spread the word about the situation in Darfur, as well as a link to register your school for the fast.

For more information about the situation in Darfur, I recommend that you read Not on Our Watch, by Don Cheadle and John Prendergast, any of Nick Kristof's many editorials about the situation in The New York Times, or visit ENOUGH, "the project to abolish genocide and mass atrocities." After doing your homework, challenge your representatives in Congress to do the same. You can visit Genocide Intervention's Darfur Scores to see whether or not your Representatives and Senators are making the grade. Some of them really need to raise their scores on this one.

For extra credit, (listen up Scrabble lovers and high SAT score seekers), visit freerice.com. It is the sister site of Poverty.com. Free Rice's two goals are, "To provide English vocabulary to everyone for free, and to help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free." The free rice is supplied by the advertising sponsors, and the more words you know the more rice they donate! Students working to end mass atrocities and hunger is something we should all be able to stand behind. Take a few moments to help end world hunger, and join DarfurFast on December 5th.

Step it Up Tomorrow!

Want to help change the world tomorrow? November 3rd, 2007, is Step It Up's second national day of action. The organization's goal is to "empower the grassroots climate movement to take action locally by calling for national change." Step it Up has helped to organize rallies throughout the country to raise awareness about global warming and to initiate policy changes at both a local and national level. Visit their website to find an event near you.

Of the 18 presidential candidates invited to events tomorrow, 8 will be attending along with 78 members of Congress. The presidential candidates attending are Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson.

Step it Up was founded by Bill McKibben, author of Fight Global Warming Now: The Handbook for Taking Action in Your Community, but most of the team members are in their twenties. Step it Up is working with the 1 Sky Initiative, which has come up with a clear plan for "avoiding the worst effects of global warming and creating a clean energy economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty." The three priorities of the plan are:


GREEN JOBS NOW
5 MILLION GREEN JOBS CONSERVING 20% OF OUR
ENERGY BY 2015

CUT CARBON 80% BY 2050
FREEZE CLIMATE POLLUTION LEVELS NOW AND CUT AT
LEAST 80% BY 2050 AND 30% BY 2020

NO NEW COAL
A MORATORIUM ON NEW COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS

Saturday's events will encourage our legislators to make these priorities their priorities too. They will also be great places to network with other like-minded individuals, and to send a message to Congress that we are concerned about climate change. Your attendance will also demonstrate your commitment to taking action both on Tuesday at the ballot box, and on presidential election day a year from now.

Ten Ways is also a friend and ally of Step it Up. For the complete list of friends and allies, click here.