Games for Change–Having an Impact Isn’t All Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Nicholas Kristof, NY Times über-journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner, and co-author of the outstanding and inspirational Half the Sky (like a burr under your saddle inspirational–you cannot sit still after reading it) book–with wife, co-author, and fellow Pulitzer winner, Sheryl WuDunn…are launching an online game to make a difference in the world.

Partnering with Games for Change, this couple is tackling gaming as a means of education and awareness. The yet-to-be-named game will be somewhat like Farmville, and played predominantly via facebook and other social media, and will raise awareness of global crises. The release, later this year to coordinate with the PBS broadcast of the filmed version of Half the Sky (did I mention you MUST read that book? Seriously), will bring a keen focus on women’s issues of injustice and oppression around the world. I follow Nick on facebook and both of them on Twitter–and their unwavering commitment to human rights is truly a model for us all (Nick is currently in Switzerland covering the World Economic Forum, and putting heavy pressure on sexual trafficking enablers here in the US—Hello Village Voice Backpage.com!—and abroad).

A description of the upcoming game says, “Players will be able to buy virtual goods in the game with real currency that will then go to NGOs and aid organizations around the world…Players will also be able to contribute to causes without paying money, for example by completing virtual missions that add them to advocacy campaigns or other efforts.”

While you’re waiting to change the world by playing games…go read that book!!! (and then tell me what you’re going to do about the inequities in this world. You’ll be seething with anger and energy that you can put to brilliant use toward a cause that matters to you–let me know what it is)

Volunteer at the Cloud Forest School in Costa Rica

A friend was talking this morning about an upcoming trip to Costa Rica, making me green with envy. The small nation has long been at the forefront of green travel and eco-consciousness (that doesn’t mean the record is perfect–no nation’s is) and they understood environmentalism and sustainability long before most of their neighbors in either of the Americas.

One of the many facets of creating a nation that prioritizes the environment, is education. The Cloud Forest School in Monteverde has been teaching kids for 20 years how to explore the world “from the ground up.” Their mission is to nurture generations of ecologically aware, academically well-rounded, bilingual individuals. The “three Rs” are not given more importance than fostering a genuine and enduring sense of wonder. Ahhhh, if only schools in the US were more skilled at THAT. The mostly young, inspired, and energized staff (about half Costa Rican, half North American—Students, too, are culturally diverse) makes learning an adventure, and hands-on, interactive exploration in the classroom and outdoors is the methodology.

Here’s why you care (in addition to being inspired)…you can volunteer there! Visiting volunteers commit to at least 3 weeks, and “typical volunteer tasks include gardening, working on our campus reforestation projects, trail maintenance, building maintenance, assisting with Environmental Education and Land Stewardship classes, as well as any miscellaneous tasks needed on campus.  Past volunteers have also worked on computer networking, teaching music lessons, leading yoga classes, making brochures, working in our library, or helping out in our development office.” Your transportation to and from the school is provided and you’ll live with a host family, be given 3 meals per day,  and Spanish lessons twice a week. Sweet deal, currently $525 for 3 weeks (super cheap by service travel standards).

Download to Make a Difference–FairShare Music

This is a great idea, based in the UK. FairShare Music does good things with great music. Just like all the rest of the music download sites on the web, they offer tons of songs (over 13.5 million tracks with new releases coming out all the time) legally–not pirating–and for every song you download, they give half the profits to the charity of your choice. They embed generosity into music–one of the inspiring and comforting things you already do for yourself. It’s so simple, really. They currently partner with 18 great charities (Amnesty.org.uk the British arm of Amnesty International, the British Heart Foundation, British Red Cross, Cancer Research UK, Centre Point for homeless youth, Friends of the Earth, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, Marie Curie Cancer Care, NSPCC to end cruelty to children, Oxfam, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Sue Ryder Care for people with life-changing illness, the Teenage Cancer Trust, V-Inspired to get youth involved in volunteer service, Virgin Unite the charitable arm of Virgin Airlines and Sir Richard Branson, War Child protecting children from war and helping the recover from its effects, World Wildlife Fund, and Youth Music to empower young people through the arts.

Next time you find a brilliant new band on Spotify or Pandora or from a friend’s recommendation, think about spreading the wealth for something you would do anyway. It is effortless giving…we can all afford that.

Dolphins & Whales Playing Together–Why Can’t We?

Love this!!! Just goin’ for a ride on a lazy afternoon–so amazing.

Go Eco–to Green Up Your Voluntour

Photo: Go Eco

You’ve already decided you want to book a volunteer vacation, doing amazing work that propels you out of bed (or your hammock or sleeping bag) every morning, working in a community where you’ll be forever connected because of the difference you make…but even here, like at every turn when we book travel, we can make ever more responsible choices. Go Eco (“Volunteers for Ecological and Humanitarian Projects”) is helping you find green voluntourism and service travel options, where sustainability and planet stewardship are priorities. Lots of animal-focused trips here, as well as research and education trips, but also medical missions, development projects, teaching English programs, and more.

Photo: Go Eco

Go Eco has curated trips from other providers, helping you narrow down your search, and helping you keep your priorities straight. Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and Latin America are all represented, so take a spin around and see what trips your trigger. As I’ve always said, there is a volunteer vacation for everyone–if you haven’t found your inspiration and passion yet, we have to dig a little deeper. It’s out there, and they need you. Not just anyone…YOU.

The Eyes Have It–Give the Gift of Sight

Post-Surgical Cataract Patients from the Ride in Which I Participated--Rajasthan, India

I’ve had a stye in my eye for the past few days and it has been driving me up the wall. I haven’t had an eye infection since I was a teenager, and I am more sensitive and freaked out by eyes than the average soul. If I watch someone put in contact lenses I will weep rivers of tears–the idea just freaks me out. Did anybody tell you YOU ARE TOUCHING YOUR EYE!!! STOP THAT!

The glaucoma test at the optometrist? Murder for me. Hell on earth would be LASIK surgery–aargh–I just had full-body involuntary shivers  thinking of it.

It’s kind of weird, then, that one of the most powerful and life-changing voluntourism experiences I ever had was with Relief Riders International in Rajasthan, India. A group of us were on horseback in the Thar Desert, riding from tiny village to desolate rural outpost, camping along the way, and we, with a team of doctors, were setting up free medical and dental camps as well as delivering school supplies to kids and immunizing them, and donating/delivering milking goats to the poorest families in the region. The eye connection is this–one of the main projects was a free cataract eye surgery camp. Desert-dwelling individuals who have never had sunglasses are prone to cataracts at very early ages, and this medical team goes into rural villages and screens hundreds of potential surgical patients in a day. Those who qualify receive sight-restoring surgery the following day as the surgeon works tirelessly through the night, sitting between two hospital gurneys (set up in a school when we were there), working first on the patient on the left, then as that one is wheeled away, the surgeon simply pivots on the stool and immediately begins the next surgery on the right–and on and on. It is an astounding and efficient process, maximizing every potential to save sight. The patients–some of whom have never had professional medical care of any kind, do not pay for the surgery. Donations Give the Gift of Sight to those who would surely lose their vision without the program. Think about donating. Eighty-five bucks and someone can see again.

Think, also, about possibly joining a Relief Ride–I promise it will rock you to the very core. There are rides in India, and now Turkey as well. Even if you aren’t comfortable on horseback, you can join the caravan (by Jeep–occasionally, perhaps, by camel) and participate fully in camp life and the service parts–the most important parts–of the trip.

Now I have to go put a teabag on my eye–I’m getting squeamish all over again.

National Human Trafficking Awareness Day

Tomorrow, January 11, is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. If you’ve been a long-time reader of my blog I’ve certainly rattled this cage many times–there are more slaves right now than at any other time in history–here in the United States as well as internationally. Children and adults, in the sex trade, garment workers, agriculture workers, housework, construction laborers…indentured servants, sexual slaves, entire families in debt bondage. Tomorrow is a day to talk about it (as is every day), to shine light on this shameful fact of our life. Presidential hopefuls are campaigning but will never mention this (at least one portion of the issue is too fraught with unpopular opinions about illegal immigration and cheap, next-to-free labor picking our food for our dinner tables). Sexual slavery clientele–the end user of that “product” if you will, is practically a codified part of Washington wink-wink-and-a-knowing-glance life in some good ol’ boy networks. (But please never think it is a regional problem–it is worldwide where kids are sold into prostitution on the streets, in brothels, and over the Internet).

ATEST (the Alliance To End Slavery and Trafficking) wants us to talk about it and keep talking about it. Give our business to those who defy the system of slavery (travel and tourism are some of the areas where this comes into play most)…look to The Code (by ECPAT–End Child Prostitution and Trafficking) to make travel decisions–these tourism businesses have signed a pledge to actively fight against modern-day slavery and trafficking of children.

You truly can make a difference with the way you spend and travel. So in addition to going on a volunteer vacation to change the world for the better with your involvement on a project, make sure that the sources and suppliers in your personal consumption chain make a difference as well.

Top 10 Ethical Travel Destinations of 2012

Ethical Traveler, an all-volunteer non-profit division of the Earth Island Institute, has released their list of Top Ten Ethical Travel Destinations of 2012. The research team studies developing nations around the world, rating them on environmental protection, social welfare, and human rights. It is part of their mission to encourage the use of travel and the power of tourism as tools to support and protect human rights and the environment.

Some nations in Latin America and Africa, with otherwise high credentials, were downgraded due to draconian anti-gay laws, and some new countries showed up on the list with motivated efforts in 2011 to address environmental and sustainability issues.

The Developing World’s 10 Best Ethical Destinations (in alphabetical order, not in order of merit) are:

Argentina
The Bahamas
Chile
Costa Rica
Dominica
Latvia
Mauritius
Palau
Serbia
Uruguay

Ready to book your flights?

World Book Night–April 23–Be a Giver

Ready to do a little advance planning? Mark April 23 in your calendar. It is the date that Shakespeare died. Also Cervantes. Plus it is UNESCO’s International Day of the Book. It is also World Book Night, when tens of thousands of volunteers in the US, UK, and Ireland will go out into their communities and give away free books to celebrate literacy and the joy of reading. You can sign up to be a giver here. All you’ll need to do is pick up 20 books (no, it doesn’t cost you money) and commit to distributing them on that night–to non-readers or light readers. Pass them out on the street, in a coffee house, at the gym, at a hospital, shopping mall, train or subway, school…and they are great books (special not-for-resale World Book Night editions are donated and sponsored by publishers and booksellers). Find the list of thirty 2012 titles for the giveaway here (I’ve only read some of these–would love to read several more!)

A million best-selling books will be given away free. This is one night a year–and should, hopefully, inspire more patrons to support booksellers and libraries year ’round. Spread the passion for reading, and get some folks reading!

LastRealIndians.com–New Real Creativity from Indigenous Americans

LastRealIndians.com is a custom content site. We highlight Indigenous artists, writers, musicians, designers, speakers, community organizers, movers, shakers, leaders, success stories, struggles, and current events as viewed through the lens of Indigenous perspective.