(crossposted.... similar text)
My immediate family have finally (after nearly 50 years) determined that swapping gifts at this time of year is not necessary. I did, however, have others to shop for, and had a nice holiday (three days running, through yesterday, really) complete with wonderful Stuff going this way and that; my chosen family is turning out to be Splendid!
But someone (on facebook?) reminded me of other ways of giving (and someone else here just posted about Kiva), and here's what I chose to do: http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/develop-women-jobs-in-afghanistan/
Develop women jobs in Afghanistan - GlobalGiving
www.globalgiving.org
Women learn to weave beautiful carpets, preserving their ancient Persian
traditions. Carpet sales earn women income to support themselves and their
families.
I only forked over $50 this time, but hope to do more in the future. I've had an interest in learning more about Afghanistan for a while now; perhaps this will get me going.
GlobalGiving, in general, looks pretty good: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/24/opinion/24kristof.html?_r=1, and there's also Kiva for high-impact microloans (you get your money back, so you can do it again and again): http://www.kiva.org/
Maybe I should think about that for my birthday.
My immediate family have finally (after nearly 50 years) determined that swapping gifts at this time of year is not necessary. I did, however, have others to shop for, and had a nice holiday (three days running, through yesterday, really) complete with wonderful Stuff going this way and that; my chosen family is turning out to be Splendid!
But someone (on facebook?) reminded me of other ways of giving (and someone else here just posted about Kiva), and here's what I chose to do: http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/develop-women-jobs-in-afghanistan/
Develop women jobs in Afghanistan - GlobalGiving
www.globalgiving.org
Women learn to weave beautiful carpets, preserving their ancient Persian
traditions. Carpet sales earn women income to support themselves and their
families.
I only forked over $50 this time, but hope to do more in the future. I've had an interest in learning more about Afghanistan for a while now; perhaps this will get me going.
GlobalGiving, in general, looks pretty good: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/24/opinion/24kristof.html?_r=1, and there's also Kiva for high-impact microloans (you get your money back, so you can do it again and again): http://www.kiva.org/
Maybe I should think about that for my birthday.
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