courtesy newlightindia.org
We only have 22 days left to seek out that perfect gift for every one of your loved ones on that long, long list. Instead of ANOTHER cute J. Crew sweater (no offense, love them!) for your sister or adding to your sweet grandmother's already bulging snow globe collection why don't we actually make something happen for someone else? Perhaps feed a family in Somalia or send a Pakistani girl to school. It's online shopping gone global, but we are actually investing in the welfare of humanity-just a few clicks away...Top Ten Ways to Make a Difference this Holiday Season
2. Central Asia Institute (Open donations) CAI's mission: To promote and support community-based education, especially for girls, in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. (Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea is Executive Director)
3. Heal Africa ($10) Help rape victims by providing them with a variety of services from vocational training to safe house refuge.
4. Hunger Project (Open donations) Hunger Project's mission: Empowering women and men to end their own hunger.
5. New Light ($35-$500) Shelter in Kolkata, India offering protection and education to prostitutes and their children. $35 buys food for an elderly woman for one month, $50 ensures a woman on the street a safe shelter, $100 sponsors treatment for HIV positive woman for one month, $500 sponsors one child's healthcare, education, and nutrition for one year.
6. Pro Mujer ($10 and beyond) Provides Latin America's poorest women with means to build livelihoods for themselves and futures for their families through microfinance, business training, and health care support.
7. Shared Hope (Open donations) Fights sex trafficking around the world. "*She was a 12 year old, living in poverty in rural Nepal...her stepbrother drugged her and sold her to a trafficker…she woke up a 1000 miles later to a nightmare…she was now someone’s property, a sex slave in the worst brothel districts in the world—Mumbai, India…"
8. The Worldwide Fistula Fund (Open donations) Works to improve maternal health and is building a fistula hospital in Niger.
9. International Medical Corps ($10) Deliver health services to one mother and her baby, including prenatal and postnatal care, routine checkups, immunizations and safe delivery services.
10. UNICEF ($9.04) Purchase adult hygiene kit for those in need in developing countries. The kit contains soap, a washcloth, sanitary napkins, nail clippers, toothpaste and a toothbrush. The contents are intended for two individuals for one month.
