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I don’t need to tell you about the Black Friday mayhem of crazed shoppers, big bargains, long check-out lines, and subsequent buyer’s remorse (or in my case, a quiet day at home putting up Christmas decorations).
Isolated, but not alone
A drive through the city of Managua, Nicaragua, felt like traveling in circles as we passed building after building defaced with the spray-painted slogans, “Viva la Revolucion” and “Viva Daniel.” It was hard to say whether the signs were the result of grassroots activism or a public graffiti art initiative, displayed among an abundant supply of billboards, posters, and statues promoting President Daniel Ortega and his political party.
Never enough water
En route to a rural village in western Nicaragua, we pulled over to talk to a man and woman on a horse-drawn cart headed the same way. When you see these sorts of sights along the road in Latin America, you don’t think much of it… until you realize what they’re doing.
Remote Chance in Peru
Our project officers must travel to incredibly remote places to reach some of the projects we support—but they’re well worth the effort. For instance, Claudio, who covers Latin American projects, describes his recent journey to a boarding school in the mountains of Arequipa, Peru. After a long flight, he rode a crowded bus for 12 hours until it literally reached the end of the road.
Giving with Dignity
It can be humiliating to be treated as a charity case—the object of someone else’s pity and justification for their pride. Not being able to feed your family can be enough of a blow to your self esteem; but having food (or a house, or other basic need) provided in the wrong spirit can be almost as crushing.
World Water Day
Did you know that an estimated 1.1 billion people around the world rely on unsanitary water sources for drinking? Clean water is a basic necessity that no one should have to do without. That number got a lot of attention this week as the U.N. and other international groups observed World Water Day, a time for raising awareness about the plight of those who lack access to clean water.