Ending Extreme Poverty in the Congo

What To Do With Your Old Manual Typewriter?

What's a manual typewriter?  That's a typewriter which requires no electricity.  You have to really push down hard on the keys to strike the paper.  And you have to push them down with the same amount of force to achieve a consistent print.  Manual typing required finger strength!

In the rural area of Congo, manual typewriter are needed because there is no electricity.  Generators and expensive gas is not need.  The manual typewriter still has a useful life in rural Congo. 

Students can learn how to touch-type or at least learn where the keys are located.  They can learn to format business letters and reports.  They can learn a lot.  Also, they can dream about the power of a real computer.

If you know someone who owns a manual typewriter AND wants to put it to continued good use, connect me.  Check around your estate sales and nursing homes.  Rescue a manual typewriter from the dumpster.

You Never Know

Strangers and camera make us self-conscious.  We look into the mirror to make sure things are in order.  It is the same for Congolese girls.

An older sister will hurriedly dress their younger siblings up for a chance meeting with a stranger.  You never know what they want or can do. 

Also, they want their younger siblings to look their best for a chance picture.  You never know who will see the picture.

Mistakes Are OK

If you visit a developing country like Congo, one of the things you will notice is plenty of American t-shirts.  You are guaranteed to find a t-shirt from your favorite sports team or a familiar organization. 

You may wonder how all these t-shirts got there.  Officially, many t-shirts are donated to American charities.  Then the charity may sell them to generate needed funding.

But sometimes, you see t-shirts with mistakes.  Some have misspelled words or misplaced logos.  Also, you may be lucky enough to find an advance market-order T-shirt.  It is common for t-shirt manufacturers to print two team-champion t-shirt.  Obviously, the loser t-shirt is a mistake.

The Indianapolis Colts' T-Shirt, as Super Bowl XLIV Champion, is an example this type of mistake. 

World Vision sent me an email today.  Download World Vision - Children Will Receive Super Bowl Apparel They were asking for donations to help ship the Colts t-shirts to Haiti.

These mistakes are OK.

 

The Connection Between Water and Poverty

Most of you know and understand the connection between water and health.  But water locks the poor in the poverty cycle.

Girls and women waste thousands of hours a day to fetch water.  Those hours could be better spent going to school, farming, or other income producing activities.

Just imagine if someone in your family spent 2-4 hours a day fetching water.

Living Water International >> » Water and Poverty >> Providing a cup of water in Jesus' Name..

Water and Poverty: In sub-Saharan Africa alone, 40 billion hours of labor are wasted each year carrying water over long distances.

Access to clean water is the foundation for other forms of development. Without easy access to water that is safe, countless hours are spent in water collection, household income is spent on purchasing water and medical treatment for water-related diseases. These factors contribute to keeping people trapped in poverty.

Highly Skilled Water Girls

Congolese girls learn to fetch water at an early age.  By 8 years old, they are conditioned to carry five gallons of water back to their home.

The sad thing is that these girls probably do not attend school regularly.  But they fetch water may be 2-3 times a day, and every day.  So they are very highly skilled at carrying water.

What were you learning to do at eight years old?

You Probably Missed My Super Bowl Ad

I could not reach the officials of the NFL, or the major television networks.  So my Super Bowl ad did not appear during the game or during pre- and post-game programs.
 
You have the power to change this Congolese girl's future.  She needs to go to school instead of spending her days fetching water.  She needs a water source close to her village to save her hours a day.  She needs school fees to attend school.  She needs school books and supplies.  She needs access to health care.  She needs a small micro loan to start her own business.

Just one second worth of the cost of a 30-second Super Bowl ad would change the course of her village.  Or just $30 donation would paid her tuition for a year.  Visit Congo Helping Hands to learn how.

Our Method Takes Water To Get Water

It takes money to make money.  You may have heard that saying before.  We know that there is some truth to the saying.

Micro-credit is a way to bootstrap a poor person's business to make money.  It is a proven methodology.

But it also takes water to drill bore hole for water.  While in Kananga, it took hundreds of gallons of water to drill.  The water was used to make a clay solution.  The clay solution serve three purposes.  One, it soften the soil.  Two, it floated the sand and material to the top of the borehole.  Three, it seal the borehole against cave-ins. 

The end result is a well producing potable water.  More importantly, the water is nearer to the recipients.