Thursday, May 6, 2010

{Sign Here Please}

On Jan. 1st, 2008, Guatemalan adoptions went from being privately ran affairs to being controlled by the government. At the time there were 5,000 adoptions in process. Now, over 2 years later, there are still 900 children waiting to be placed with their families.

That is where Guatemala 900 Steps in. Guatemala 900 aims to bring light to this issue by a seires of actions, by speaking in D.C., to the news, and making known that their are adoptions left incomplete by the turning over of forces to the government. By going {HERE} You can sign a petition that is being put before the first ladies of the U.S. and Guatemala - assuring the waiting mothers that this will be their third and final mother's day without their child.

Do something to effect the world in a positive way today - help make this the last possible mother's day without their mom for the children - Sign the petition.

Friday, April 30, 2010

{Global Girlfriend}



This is a little piece of a big dream I have - I would LOVE to create [and I will - just wait and see!] a store with a similar model as Global Girlfriend. Global Girlfriend is an online retailer that offers unique hand-made clothing, jewelry, paper goods and more that benefit women world wide. In 2003 Stacey Edgar founded GG with one main goal: to help women who could not help themselves. Stacey ensures that Global Girlfriend carries products that are made by women, in fair-trade conditions, and are earth friendly.

Also, with each purchase, a charity royalty is paid from GG to Camfed {another post itself!}. Camfed fights poverty and aids in Africa through educating and empowering young women. So when you make a purchase from Global Girlfriend, you are not only buying from a women in India, Bangladesh, or Brazil, and helping change their lives, but also aiding the fight in Africa.

A must do is to check out Global Girlfriends Meet the Artisans - you can see the reality of how people live, and know that you can make a difference.


{The Bags above are recycled and made by women in Kenya - LOVE the green!!!}

{This LOVE necklace would be a great accessory for this summer!}

Monday, April 19, 2010

{Sseko Designs}


Some of you might have seen these on my FB a while back - but I wanted to feature them here too!

SSeko Sandals! These sandals not only are super cute - but also go to help women in Uganda finance their university education.The coolest part about Sseko is that is was founded by one. One person who went to Uganda. One person who sought to help. One person who had an idea. One person is making the difference in lives of many women of Uganda.


Be sure to check out their [GREAT!] site -You can not only read about Liz and the birthing of her passion to make a difference under the Love, Liz section - but you can also see the bio's of the girls who are getting an education because of Sseko.

If you know someone getting hitched they also do custom orders for wedding parties - not to mention that once you have the shoes, you can just order various straps and Viola! another pair of Sseko Sandals!!!


Thursday, April 8, 2010

{One Day Without Shoes}

I knew that I would be writing about Toms shoes - just wasn't sure when - then I hopped on-line to see that today is Toms ONE DAY WITHOUT SHOES challenge to help others truly see what it's like to not have shoes.

Toms makes super cool kicks [the burlap pair are my weakness!] and for every pair of shoes you purchase, TOMS gives a BrAnD NeW pair of shoes to a child in need!

Sure water, shelter, and food are the basic necessities, but shoes are too. In many countries children are not even allowed to attend school without shoes. If those children aren't allowed to attend school, who are they going to learn from, how are they going to get any form of education? Not to mention the health hazards that are encountered by such a simple and preventable thing, such as shoes.

To read more about going barefoot today - to do it for the children go [Here]!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

{Invisible Children}


Imagine being 9 years old, abducted from home, forced to walk miles and miles for days with little or no food/water, and then handed an AK47 and taught to kill - this is how things are for most of the children in Northern Uganda, Africa.

The LRA [Lord's Resistance Army] and GoU [the Government of Uganda] have been at war for over 23 years - this is the longest running war in Africa, and has left over 2 million civilians dead. The LRA is a army of rebels using the children to attack the government in hopes of completely annihilating it.

It's pretty obvious that we can't all hop on a plane and head over to Uganda - but we can support Invisible Children - a movement that is redefining humanitarian aid.

There are a ton of ways to support Invisible Children - through their site you can sponsor a handbag maker, buy the movie, or get involved locally.

I LOVE the bracelets!! - you can get yours [HERE].




to do good, you have to do something - what's your choice?

Sunday, March 28, 2010

{Water for the thirsty.....}


Every 15 seconds someone dies from a water related disease. Over one billion people do not have access to safe drinking water. The number one cause of death in children under the age of 5 is water related. {www.hydratinghumanity.org} - that's where ZAO comes in - an amazing team that the we support monthly.

A project that is doing their part to bring water, hope, and education to under developed countries, through springs, catchment tanks, and wells. Working in Tanzania and Kenya, ZAO has planted over 25 wells, 34 springs and one tank.

The astonishing part is for $5 a month, you provide safe drinking water for five people for one year.

Interested in them -, just hop on over the their site [here]. You can purchase bottled water from them, a single donation, or monthly support, ALL the money goes to bringing water to those with out it - it does make a difference.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

{the BODY SHOP:defending human rights}


We all love The Body Shop for their all natural products made from ingredients from all around the world, but do you know they are major players against injustices? Yep, that's right. My favorite part is they do multiple campaigns to combat a number of issues including the war against violence in the home and the sex trade.

The Body Shop goes above and beyond your average store in the mall, to provide us with information and insight into the different ethical issues they are fighting. With downloadable PDF's on their website, not to mention you can easily find their "Values & Campaigns" section - I support them, and of course I think you should too.

Below is an excerpt from the PDF file on their campaign to stop sex trafficking:

An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked worldwide for sexual exploitation, including for prostitution or the production of sexually abusive images, as well as to be used as cheap labor.1 Among the total victims of the global trafficking of human beings (which is believed to generate billions of US dollars annually), children count for over 20%.2 To some, this may appear as a phenomenon mostly concerning less developed countries, but the fact is, even if many victims may originate from relatively underprivileged areas, these children are trafficked for sexual exploitation in or through virtually all countries in the world to meet the sexual desires of a large number of exploiters and abusers, and financial gain for traffickers.

The world of trafficking is a spider web, and it is even well woven into America - but by raising awareness, and making small decisions to purchase items from companies like The Body Shop, we could possibly save one more child from exposure.