Over the course of the next year we are going to give away all of our extra money to the World Food Program. Follow our adventure as we try to challenge ourselves and those around us to live a little more simply and avoid buying luxury items!
For Christmas this year I received the knowledge that a woman somewhere in the far east will have corrective surgery for her obstetric fistula. And Matt is getting the same. We decided to finish off the fistula fund, splitting the remaining amount between us, and that is our gift to each other.
While reading the Fistula Foundation's website (http://www.fistualfoundation.org)I found a link to some articles about the tumultuous times that women are enduring in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I learned that a lot of the fistulas women are suffering from are actually the result of rape, as opposed to complications in giving birth. Rape, as it turns out, is an excellent tool in ensuring dominance over communities and showing force. It is the worst kind of terrorism. Reading the articles and watching the video posted on their website brought tears to my eyes and made me feel sick to my stomach. I can't believe that there are such atrocities going on in the world. It is enough to break your heart.
I have included the video from CBS's 60 Minutes, and I must warn, there are some very disturbing images shown and stories told during this segment.
PROCEED WITH CAUTION - SOME IMAGES/STORIES MAY BE DISTURBING TO YOU.
It’s the time of year when we pull out our snowman shaped cookie cutters and we blow the dust off of the box of tree decorations. We search through our recipe boxes to find the ingredients for those disgusting, yet delicious, squares full of coloured marshmallows. We dream of days off from work and spending time with our families.
(Sound effect: A record coming to an abrupt stop.)
Okay, let’s face the reality of Christmas. It’s the time of year when most people are thinking about buying gifts and spending ridiculous amounts of money on…….
CRAP.
That’s right. Crap. There is so much of it in the stores today, available at a low cost, which is totally and utterly useless. Unfortunately, the low cost to you means that there are high costs somewhere else; costs to our environment and to the lives of the people who are manufacturing this stuff (see Annie Leonard’s Story of Stuff – link below).
Most people are feeling pretty stressed out right about now, with Christmas just a week around the corner. And the root of their stress seems to be this notion that they have to buy the biggest, the best, the most expensive, the most popular CRAP for their children, spouses, parents, friends, etc. What happened to Christmas being about giving selflessly to others, doing good deeds, spending time with family? Where along the way did we lose sight of these ideals? When did Christmas become such a blatant excuse for over-consumption (and I’m not talking about eating too much chocolate, for that I am definitely guilty).
This time of year I really enjoy going into Thunder Bay’s largest grocery store – The Superstore. I feel removed from all of this holiday stress and so I enjoy walking around watching people hurry to and fro, listening to people argue about which egg nog they should buy or how that old biddy just cut the line and just generally being miserable. It is rather entertaining for the voyeur side of my personality. But it also makes me sad. It makes me sad that so many people have been suckered into the idea that Christmas is about giving gifts that give instant gratification, and will probably just end up in the landfill next fall.
Skip all the stress this year and do something good for your pocketbook, the environment, the world’s poor and yourself.
Don’t buy crap.
Make something homemade; your family can’t throw that away without feeling some intense guilt.
Give edible gifts; who doesn’t want pretzels with Hershey kisses melted on them and an M&M placed on top? It’s like a little gift in your mouth.
Give a donation to your favourite charity with the money you would have spent on a gift. I recommend a Gift of Hope from the World Food Program. (http://gifts.wfp.org/)
My coworker reminded me last week that Christmas is all about peace and love. I would love to be able to witness a world of people who extend that thinking into the 365 days of the year, not just the 2 weeks at Christmas. But, for now, that will have to do. Let’s start changing the way people think about Christmas.
Peace and Love, Emily (I guess all of my relatives who read this know what they’re getting for Christmas this year!)
I haven't written on the blog lately because I have been trying to find an easy way to break the news. I've decided that the best way is to just be truthful and completely blunt.
We have bought a new car.
Obviously this purchase has spurred a few feelings of guilt, mostly on my part. We are excellent at providing justifications for our purchase, but still it is hard to rationalize spending upwards of $20000 on something that seems like a luxury (especially in comparison to our beater car we were driving).
Besides this giant purchase, our challenge has been going quite well. We have been able to adhere to the rules very well and we don't feel like we are suffering at all. The upcoming Christmas season may pose us our greatest challenge, with gift-giving being the main theme. Stay tuned for our entry on giving at Christmas....
The vaccines thing is driving me crazy. People seem to think that their government has something to gain by secretly poisoning them.
I've actually had some great conversations at work and I've tried my best to encourage people to get vaccines by presenting the evidence for their efficacy and importance.
It's like a seatbelt. Sure, there are very rare circumstances where people can be hurt by their seatbelt but wearing it makes us ten million times safer (or something like that).
Some folks have said "It just seems like they rushed it", in regards to the production of the H1N1 variant vaccine to which I've had to bit my tongue and not say, "Well, how long will you need them to lock it up in the cupboard until you feel ready for it?"
People seem to fear, a great deal more, things that they've DONE PURPOSEFULLY to themselves or their children than things that might occur by chance, even if those chance things are more likely and much more dangerous.
Let us remember that in the past, and in many parts of the world without good vaccine access, children die at an alarming rate from childhood diseases. Smallpox, measles, mumps, rubella, influenza have killed countless millions. Vaccines have, perhaps, been the greatest lifesaving invention of all time (not to mention the only real way to 'boost' your immune system) but we seem ready to fear them at the drop of the smallest piece of misinformation.
Let's let the health professionals keep doing their jobs, and do our part to get vaccinated and keep those who can't get vaccinated (autoimmune disorder etc) safe by not passing it on.
(Matt's voice) I look so cool but Derek looks cooler. Is anyone surprised that I dressed up as an early 19th century gentleman? However, the best response was the slightly tipsy fellows that we passed on the street who said, "Napoleon!!! .... wait ... no... George Washington!!!" They seemed very pleased with themselves and, I must admit, GW was closer than Napoleon. At least they didn't notice that my waist coast was SO 1776 while my tailcoat was TOTALLY 1815. I'm so embarrassed.
Em was sick on Halloween so I asked my friend Derek to help with some Unicef stuff. We bought some stamps and Em prepared addressed, stamped envelopes with donation forms inside for Unicef. When Derek and I showed up on people's porches the usual reaction was to reach for some candy while giving us a suspicious "you two are WAY too old for trick or treating" look, but they all brightened up when we gave our polished spiel. Unicef, it appears, is no longer doing the change box things but seem to be working through primary classrooms.
(Matt's voice) One of the first things we've done to promote charitable giving in our daily life is create (basically) a swear jar. Sadly, Em and I don't swear very much (practice from working with kids all day) so our jar is, instead, an 'unnecessary stuff jar'. Whenever we're tempted to buy a $5 Latte (Em) or a gas station hot dog (not Em) we instead throw the cash in the jar. Right now our lovely mason jar is supporting the Fistula Foundation (http://www.fistulafoundation.org/), a group dedicated to supporting women with obstetric fistulas, a condition caused from giving birth, and providing corrective surgery. This condition isn't something that we worry about in Canada because it is treatable with a simple surgery. The cost (where it is needed)? About $450.
We've just hit the $200 mark. This gives us a nice, daily reminder and a short milestone to reach (plus it's fun to count and re-count the money in the jar!)
Part of the reason why I haven't written on the blog in over a week is because I have come down with some flu-like symptoms and have been pretty sick for the last few days. I had a fever over night Thursday night, stayed home from work on Friday and have been keeping pretty close to the bed ever since. Today is the first day that my head feels a bit less hazy and my eyes a bit less grainy and my lungs are burning less when I cough, so I see that as a great improvement. I don't know if I have had the swine flu or just regular seasonal flu or maybe just a really bad cold with some flu-like symptoms. But, I'm on the mend.
The whole time I have been sick I just keep thinking about how lucky I am. I am so lucky that I live where I do. Just down the street there is a hospital that I can be whisked away to in the event that I show any emergency symptoms. I have a large support network between my boyfriend, family and friends; all of whom are more than willing to help me. I can take a day off work if I feel ill. I can spend the day just lying around using my energy to heal. I can stay warm in my apartment without any effort from me. I have immediate access to fresh, clean, potable water so I never have to worry about becoming dehydrated due to some of my less enjoyable symptoms (no need to mention those here). And, to prevent further infection, I can go out to one of the government-run community vaccination clinics and receive protection from further sickness.
How many people in the world can say these things? I bet that I'm in the minority. So, I'm sick and it sucks. But damn, am I ever lucky!
(Emily's voice) - Pictures taken from Peter Singer's article "Peter Singer's Solution to World Poverty" published in the New York Times On the Web dated Sept. 5, 1999 (http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/singermag.html).
The past two nights in a row we have been invited out to hang out with friends and spend money on things that we don't need to! Friday night we were invited to go and see a movie and last night we were invited to a local pub for a friend's birthday party.
We already used up our one-movie-a-month money earlier in the month to see "9" (which I highly recommend to everyone; super animation and a really creative idea for a post-apocalyptic world). Fortunately, my sister gave us a gift card to the movie theatre for my birthday and we still had some money left on that so we used it up Friday night (no more freebees!)
But last night. Oh last night! There is nothing I love more than to meet a bunch of friends down at the Madhouse for a pint of cider and some delicious sweet potato fries. I love it so much that I have been known to go and sit there by myself at 4 pm to guarantee a table for when everyone else arrives at 6!
So we arrived and announced that we wouldn't be staying long and asked the waiter if it would be possible just to get 2 waters. In most restaurants the wait staff would look at you with disbelief (did they just order 2 waters?). But, lucky for us there are places like the Madhouse where the staff are decent folk and are happy to fulfill such a request. It probably helped that we were sitting at a table with 8 other people, all of whom just ordered a crap load of appetizers (pretty sure the waiter is going to get a large tip, whether we order anything or not). Now the table is laden with delicious treats like nachos, chicken wings and the aforementioned sweet potato fries and it took all of my will power (and trust me folks, I don't have much!) to not look at the steaming plates. It kind of felt like when you walk into a room and there is someone there you don't really want to talk to so you try not to make eye contact. I found myself doing that with the food; do not make eye contact, do not make eye contact.
Now, by this point, my salivary glands were squirting with anticipation, all my senses alight with yearning. And then I had a sobering thought. We are not eating food in this restaurant to help the starving children around the world. The amount of food sitting on this table right now, is more food than some children will see in a week, let alone one evening. We have a whole fridge filled with food back at home. Go home and eat the food you have already paid for.
Okay. So that really was our first test. Can we go out and still have some fun without feeling pressured to spend money? Yes. We can do it.
"If 100 jumbo jets crashed tomorrow, killing everyone on board, the world would be united in mourning, but every day a similar number of people die of hunger related diseases."
I saw a great commercial (or should we call it a public service announcement?) on TV the other day for the World Food Program. Check it out:
Whenever a famous celebrity endorses a charity it seems to draw a lot of attention. For some reason we tend to trust celebrities and value their opinion. I suppose it is because they are the trendsetters of the world, and if they're doing it, then we've got to do it (like when the whole world cut their hair just like Victoria Beckham)! Or maybe we are just fascinated by their seemingly glamorous lives and by doing what they're doing we feel like we are a part of it too (hence the trashy mag after trashy mag at the grocery store checkout).
I suppose if I was as famous as Sean Penn I would try to use that fame to garner support for causes I thought worthwhile. And the World Food Program is definitely worthwhile.
A big part of my required reading for learning more about global poverty has been Peter Singer's "The Life You Can Save". This has been a wonderful read for me because it delves so much into the psychological research about why and how people do/don't give charitably and the research (and lack thereof in some cases) about the effectiveness of certain organizations and anti poverty strategies.
I LOVE this stuff. It is science at it's most wonderful. Facts, double blinded studies, and the difficulties of research in the field - oh my!!!
I do so love data. I am certainly swayed by emotional arguments but, especially in the last few years, I have become a more logic driven creature. I want evidence for everything. (I have also learned that in a discussion with people it is considered rude to demand that they cite their sources).
Factoid of the day... or at least this day. Did you know (and I'm prepared to cite my sources if you want...) People tend to give MORE when told about a single child in need as opposed to several children. Even adding one extra child to the picture decreases donations. The more people in a group that needs our help the LESS likely we are to give.
Ok.... so I bought some dodgeballs. So much for saving money to give to the poor, I'M A-GONNA PLAY ME SOME DODGEBAWL!!!!
I think that we need a rule addendum (is that a word?.... did I use it correctly?.. "rule" is such a difficult word..)
I'm going to add a rule that we are allowed to spend a reasonable amount of money on physical recreation. Since dodgeball is my most favouitest passtime in the whole wide world I'm just going to go ahead and rationalize it. There... Done.
I feel like this is ok. I'll spend a few bucks going to the bubble to play basketball on the weekend, Em will spend a bit on volleyball leagues etc. We will soon be living in a winter wonderland (sorry for the reminder Mom) and we will need to get out of the house and move around a little.
I'm comfortable with this. I do feel some tiny twinges of guilt... but then I just smash their guilty little torsos in with a dodgeball!
At Thanksgiving Dinner last weekend we got to talking about our little project. Several family members had read Emily's article in the newspaper (Grandpa Winslow had gone out of his way to bring it down and show it to my folks) and so it was an easy way to chat about our year ahead.
(here in case you missed it - or don't live in TBay) http://www.chroniclejournal.com/stories.php?id=217180
Like you would expect talking about giving gets everyone a little more comfortable opening up their closet and letting their dark skeletons of charity-past out to play. I've always known that members of my family were involved in charitable giving of some sort or another. The foster child photo on the fridge growing up, my Dad's trip to Rwanda, my mom's work at the food bank... and a vaguely remembered trip (or two) by Bev to work in an eye clinic in India. I suppose there is a culture of giving in our family but it is not talked about much unless there were a lot of photos involved.
Several family members mentioned a long history with The Plan International (formerly Foster Parents Plan). I suppose, that while it might feel strange to talk about giving, there is not better time that Thanks Giving. We are social creatures and by sharing out charitable pursuits, hopefully, it will energize us to continue.
Yesterday I told a few of my coworkers about our plans to give away our money. My supervisor, who is a bit of a cynic, made an interesting comment. He said, "isn't it convenient that you are starting to give away all of your money now after you have bought a new computer and gone on a big expensive trip." And it is true. It was my birthday last month and from Matt I received a netbook, a small but noteworthy expense. Also, Matt and I spent the greater part of the summer hiking the Appalachian Trail, a very expensive recreational trip (see our other blog 3millionfootsteps.blogspot.com). It was actually on our hike that we came up with the idea of giving away most of our money. I think that we realized that we could survive with barely any possessions, quite happily in fact. During our 2.5 months hiking we lived with 2 sets of clothes, our tent, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, food and water and very little else and we still lived SIGNIFICANTLY MORE comfortably than the 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty.
And so yes, it is convenient that we are starting this project after spending a lot of money on extraneous items. Perhaps that is even greater of a reason for doing this challenge; that we live in a position where we can pick and choose the times that it is convenient for us to give.
On the other hand, would anyone give if they weren't allowed to decide on their own when it is the right time for them?
Alright, enough of the serious talk. Let's get down to the nitty-gritty. Is this challenge really going to be possible? I am completely a self-professed gear head and I think that it may be difficult for me to resist buying a new fleece or pair of Carhartts. It is especially hard because I work outside all year long and so it is really easy for me to justify those kinds of purchases. I think that the best way for me to resist is just to avoid. I am not going to tempt myself - I am going to stay clear of the gear stores of Thunder Bay. To ease my sorrows I will probably just end up baking copious amounts of delicious treats - not such a bad compromise.
Here are the rules that we are going to follow:
1. No limit for spending money on food at the grocery store or farmers' market. 2. No limit for spending money on rent, hydro, telephone, or internet. 3. No limit for spending money on our car (gas, oil, repairs) or car related things (insurance, license plate stickers). 4. No limit for spending money on rat food and bedding (for our pet ratties Beaker and Bunsen - but NO toys!). 5. Purchase no clothing (unless ABSOLUTELY necessary to maintain a professional role and in this case try to buy as much second-hand as possible). 6. Monthly payments towards my student loan are allowed (and necessary, got to get rid of the ol' ball and chain!). 7. Dinner out (or any meal) only once a month. No buying alcohol while out. 8. We are only allowed to buy alcohol once a month (in both of our cases this will not be a problem as neither of us are big drinkers). 9. Out to see a movie only once a month. 10. One night out a month to do something recreational that costs money (bowling, mini-putt, etc.) 11. No spending on any household items unless absolutely necessary (if something breaks than we are allowed to replace it). 12. No recreational trips out of the Thunder Bay region.
So far - that's it. I'm sure that we will add more rules to this list as the year progresses and that some of these rules may morph and evolve. It is interesting to note that already some of the rules are becoming a little obscured. This usually occurs when there is something that either of us really wants. For instance, Matt is running a dodgeball league this year at the university and somehow was able to justify the purchase of a set of dodgeballs! Not sure how he got away with that.....????
Besides giving up buying gear, the thing that will be hardest for me is not going on any recreational trips. We have an annual tradition where we drive down to southern Minnesota to a nature centre that I once worked at to buy delicious apples from their orchard. It is really disappointing that we are not able to go there this year. I think it is also disappointing for our family and friends because they often reap the harvest of the fall apple road trip!
Our goal with this challenge is to see if we can live a semi-normal life while still giving a considerable amount of our earnings to the World Food Program. It is our hope that through this investigation we will be able to convince more people that it is relatively easy to give.
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) is an organization that deals with immediate food emergencies, as well as assists countries in developing infrastructure to be able to cope with poverty related issues on their own.
On the WFP website they have set out 5 objectives:
Save lives and protect livelihoods in emergencies
Prepare for emergencies
Restore and rebuild lives after emergencies
Reduce chronic hunger and undernutrition everywhere
Strengthen the capacity of countries to reduce hunger
We have, for years, given money to the WFP and now want to do it on a larger scale.
So why the WFP? We began by looking only at secular organizations. We weren't interested in an organization with an ideological agenda (beyond that of 'stability and education lead to a better world') of any kind. Also, an extremely efficient organization is a must. No CEO's driving BMW's.
Research has shown that people are more likely to give more if there is a specific person or situation that their donation is going to - an fortunate fact, in that it encourages people to give more, but an unfortunate fact in that it makes fund raising for bigger picture projects more difficult. We both feel like it is important to support more large-scale solutions to the problems of poverty and we wanted to give to an organization with a large scope. The WFP seems to fit the bill.
As a personal quest, we have decided to give all of our extra money that we earn this year to the World Food Program.
In 2008, the World Bank set the poverty line at $1.25. This is less than what the average North American spends on a bottle of water. For us, this number is extremely poignant. It serves as a tangible example of how little some people have to spend on their daily needs. According to the World Bank there are 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty. This means that there are 1.4 billion people in the world who are unable to meet the most basic of human needs (adequate food, water, shelter, clothing, sanitation, health care and education). In my mind this is absolutely appalling.
We feel that as wealthy Canadians (wealthy in comparison to the people living in extreme poverty), we have a moral obligation to give money to assist in the battle against world poverty. We have chosen the World Food Program as our main beneficiary. We are also going to go 'trick or treating' for donations for UNICEF (a Halloween must!) and purchase one fistula surgery through The Fistula Foundation.
