Caroline with Deepak, March 2009

The Miracle Foundation secured the place on Global Giving for two years, by raising $4,000 from 50 unique donors, in 30 days. Now, the foundation has a chance to win from $3,000 to $6,000 in grant money from Global Giving – and you can help make that happen!

As part of their Global Open Challenge 2009, Global Giving is awarding bonus grants of up to $3,000 for the nonprofit organizations that raise the most money during the Challenge – and an additional $3,000 will be awarded to the organization that has the most unique donors.

Please click here to go to The Miracle Foundation’s page on Global Giving and make your donation to help get us there – the foundation is currently in 3rd place out of 121 organizations! No donation is too small - even $10 will help a lot! Online donations will be accepted through September 18th, 2009.

Miracle Foundation’s project will save the lives of single mothers and their babies, by providing a home, nutrition, healthcare and love to these marginalized members of India’s untouchable caste. Caroline Boudreaux, founder of The Miracle Foundation, says, “By offering a safe environment to these abandoned and destitute mothers, we improve the maternal and infant mortality rate and care for those who are not cared for by others. It is a powerful way to make a significant difference.”

Providing pre-natal care, hospital births, formula, and immunizations ensures healthy mothers and children. Hear the impact that The Miracle Foundation is having direct from a mother herself. Sangeeta, a woman who gave birth at the home in Simdega, said, “I now have hope for both my own and my child’s future.”

Global Giving is an online marketplace that connects you to the causes and countries you care about. You select the projects you want to support, make a tax-deductible contribution, and get regular progress updates – so you can see your impact. Their mission is to build an efficient, open, thriving marketplace that connects people who have community and world-changing ideas with people who can support them.

In my 5 year old world, her journey created an unforgettable adventure.  For my sister and I were placed in the care of two missionary families. They did their best to amuse us and keep us active while my mom undertook a dangerous humanitarian project.

Her trip was the culmination of a program named Operation Dorcas which derived it’s inspiration from a widow lady who sewed clothes for women and orphans in distress in Biblical times.  The difference of this modern day Dorcas operation in the early 1970′s expanded the outreach to men and women who labored long hours on treadle style sewing machines under Mom’s direction to make clothing for the victims of the Biafran war.  It was her job to teach them a trade and help these individuals who were refugees to get back on their feet by making garments for others.

It was only later, that I would hear of the journey my mother took in the belly of the beast; an apt name for a cargo plane stripped of essential elements, such as seats.

I was told of how she carried her own chair which was braced by the relief items that the plane was carrying to war torn Biafra in the eastern region of Nigeria.  Brutal scenes of devastation and starvation unfolded as people rushed to the landing strip when the plane landed to unload the clothing, food and relief supplies.  These were scenes which she would never forget  in the aftermath of the horrific war that almost divided the most populous nation on the African continent.

But the ongoing tragedy of our world today is that every day around the world, someone is still being devastated by war.  Today, there are more wars and more suffering human beings than at any other time in history.  And the aftermath of this reality, which displaces a vast sea of humanity with searing physical and emotional scars, still requires that people somehow learn anew the work of re-building a life.

So, when I heard about a fellow real estate agent, Sue Prins from Grand Rapids who went to South Africa to teach people how to sew and make a living through the use of treadle machines, my interest was piqued.  For it reminded me of the work my Mom was involved with in her 30′s.

This project named Vox Threads is using the treadle machine to fight another form of war…a war caused by the devastation of poverty and HIV AIDS which has left so many in this impoverished South African community without any means of livelihood.

Sue  & her daughter Ginger travelled to Kliptown, South Africa to give people the gift of life.  The gift of the tools through which to build a skill to knit together a new framework of provision to sustain themselves and their families.   This reminds me that many of the solutions that our world needs today are not new nor do they need to be to work.

The solutions we need require things like persistence, patience, generosity, perseverance, common sense and compassion.  These are ingredients which all of us have the capacity to give in some measure.

It can be as simple as keeping two little girls distracted and happy while their Mom was on a mission in Biafra, or donating to an organization like Vox Threads which helps people mend their lives again.  Or, you can simply GO…as Rocky Turner, the founder of Mothers Fighting For Others is to the little girls at St. Monica’s Children’s Home where she will work alongside others who are caring for these incredible young women.

The treadle machine symbolizes how our feet can be in motion to make something of value anywhere we are or choose to go. When one uses a treadle sewing machine, the motion of the feet creates the power to drive the motor which moves the sewing needle forward.  A metaphor for the path of life isn’t it? It’s about walking the walk, not simply talking the talk.  Where will you choose to put your feet to work today?

Picture courtesy of aussiegall on flickr

I tend to agree.

After all, who am I to argue with Nietzche, eh?

Rock for Kids has been providing support, hope, inspiration and assistance to under-served children and teens through music since 1988. Via their free year-round music education programs, Rock for Kids gives underprivileged children the tools necessary to strengthen self-esteem, challenge themselves, and explore their creative potential.

I think the following pretty much sums up just how awesome this organization is (from RockforKids.org):

Rock For Kids feels no child’s future should be compromised academically, socially or emotionally simply because of economic disparity.

Rock For Kids believes it is critical that all children experience kindness, security, compassion, personal success and individual creativity, as the smallest of these may inspire the course of a life.

And who am I to argue with that?

Today, you can become a part of this great organization while paying tribute to one of the greatest musical icons of all time.  I Miss You MJ is a collective photo memorial that includes 10,000 photo plots in which fans can say their goodbyes to the late Michael Jackson, whose music filled the soundtracks of so many of our lives.

A $25 donation allows you to submit your own photo into the mosaic and receive a copy of this poster once all of the squares have been filled.

All proceeds go to Rock for Kids.

This is a really great opportunity for fans of the King of Pop to say farewell while contributing to a really great cause.

Of course, you can become part of this amazing cause other ways as well!

Be sure to check out their website, RockforKids.org,  for more information on their programs, to see upcoming events, and find out how to make a contribution.

Dog’s Eye View Media proudly presents a true-life story straight from today’s headlines.  Shelley Seale’s narrative non-fiction book follows the lives of just such children as those brought to life in the movie Slumdog Millionaire. The Weight of Silence: Invisible Children of India depicts Shelley’s journey into orphanages and through the streets and slums of India where millions of innocent children live without families.

Slumdog Millionaire is a fictional movie ending with a bizarre twist of fate. However, the reality of the story is that for millions of children in India, the life portrayed in the movie continues beyond the rags-to-riches ending of the film. Today there are 25 million Indian children living without parents, on the streets or in orphanages or other institutional homes – some good, and some bad or corrupt like that portrayed in the movie. Many of these children become victims of trafficking, prostitution and child labor. Slumdog Millionaire shows us a side of India, and a way of life, that hundreds of thousands of children in Mumbai alone struggle to survive every day.

During her three years of writing The Weight of Silence, Shelley has befriended and told the stories of many such children – and has born witness to their struggles first hand. Little did she know how much they would change her life. Their hope and resilience amazed Shelley time and time again; the ability of their spirits to overcome crippling challenges inspired her. Even in the most deprived circumstances they are still kids – they laugh and play, perhaps far less frequently than others; they develop strong bonds and relationships to create family where none exists; and most of all they have an enormous amount of love to give. Foreword by Joan Collins, with endorsements by Geralyn Dreyfous (Executive Producer of Born Into Brothels), Dominique Lapierre (Author of City of Joy), Save The Children, Human Rights Watch and more. Order the book from weightofsilence.wordpress.com and receive an autographed copy and bookmark!

“Amidst the growing prosperity of India, there is an entire generation of parentless children growing up. They are everywhere. They fill the streets, the railway stations, the shanty villages. Some scrounge through trash for newspapers, rags or anything they can sell at traffic intersections. Others, often as young as two or three years old, beg. Many are homeless, overflowing orphanages and other institutional homes to live on the streets where they are extremely vulnerable to being trafficked into child labor if they’re lucky, brothels if they’re not. They are invisible children; their plight goes virtually unnoticed, their voices silenced. The Weight of Silence: Invisible Children of India is a non-fiction narrative that gives a strong and hopeful voice to its most vulnerable citizens. The stories told in this book do not belong to me. They were given to me as a gift, often because I was the only person who had ever asked.”