Kiva - have you tried it ??

We just added another loan to our portfolio...


Florence is 45 years old and married with three children. Her husband is a farmer. Florence has a livestock business where she rears cows, goats, pigs and sheep. She wants to use the extra business profits to invest in the pig business. Solome, Norah, and Harriet are all poultry farmers and want to use the loan to purchase more poultry feed and also buy more chicks. Sarah sells charcoal and intends to increase stock with the loan.

This is a group loan. The loan funds will be distributed among the group members, each of whom will invest in her own business. The members mutually guarantee one another's loans. If one member does not repay, the other members are responsible.

follow this link to see how you too could help someone in our world...

later man, jan

Censorship ???

Bill C-10, an omnibus bill now before the Senate, includes provisions in the Income Tax Act that would allow the federal government to deny tax credits for films that are offensive or not in the public interest.

OK - who decides ??? based on whose ideas of good or bad ??? Read the article and tell me what you think!!! I just can't stand it when people use the words "the government".
Did I hear the name Stockwell Day???

later man, jan

I drink tap water - do you ???

Bottled Water! Of course I think it is not environmentally friendly. All those plastic bottles? Never could figure out why people can't drink the same water as I do. And the energy costs and transportation costs...

It has always made me cringe at the grocery store to see all those bottles waiting to go to the landfill. And then apathy sets in. I am just one little person. I can't change anything... That's why we elect governments - to do what one person can't do - sigh...

This article in todays Calgary Sun by columnist Michael Platt really made me think about all the things that go on behind my back or over my head. I was astounded at the statistics in this article showing how much is actually used by ordinary people! And we, the City of Calgary, have a contract to sell our water!

I have always had this naive idea that our elected officials have been looking after my welfare! Well, of course they have - they use our tax money to clean water to sell for a profit! Keeps my personal taxes down, right? So that should be good, right? Dear God, we need help - please. There has to be another way!

later man, jan

wrong - this is wrong...

There is something so wrong with this - I consider myself a good \ nice \ nonviolent person - why would I even do this test...

8

sigh

later man, jan

Poop from a Plane???

Just this weekend, we were walking around the bird sanctuary...

Some folks were commenting on the wonder reclamation of land that used to be a refinery...

I was enjoying the sight of the airplanes flying over on their way to land at our airport...

These lucky birds are right in the line of fire...

Is this how land is reclaimed - by fertilizer dropped from the sky ???

later man, jan

How Exciting...

Hi

I'm so excited that I just wanted to follow-up on my blog before Christmas... about Kiva.org - 'loans that change lives'...

We started lending in November and December and now It's So Exciting...

... emails have started coming in telling us that one of our lenders has made a payment... the people we have lent money to are now repaying their loans and we will be able to then send this money out again...

We have money working right now in Paraguay, Sierra Leone and the Ukraine. People in these countries are improving their lives with a little help from us and others...

WOW

later man, jan

Can you spare 20 minutes ?

So I get this email forward from my mother-in-law...

Sheesh - she gives me a link and wants me to spend 20 minutes watching something called "The Story of Stuff"...

Me - the delete key whiz...

But - sigh - it's my mother-in-law...

So I made John come and sit with me and we watched together...

and now I want YOU to watch it too... Please ???

It's definitely worth your time ! Thanx Mom - we love you :)

later man, jan

Spiritual Resolutions from All Traditions...

I am not really into resolutions... but wanted to say ---
Happy New Year everyone !

I thank Frodo for blogging me to the following series of spiritual disciplines. This list is only a small piece of what is called The Alphabet of Spiritual Literacy - where you can find 37 spiritual practices from all traditions - authored by MaryAnn and Frederic Brussat.

I don't expect to even come close. But I do know I have to TRY!!!!!

1. I will live in the present moment. I will not obsess about the past or worry about the future.
2. I will cultivate the art of making connections. I will pay attention to how my life is intimately related to all life on the planet.
3. I will be thankful for all the blessings in my life. I will spell out my days with a grammar of gratitude.
4. I will practice hospitality in a world where too often strangers are feared, enemies are hated, and the "other" is shunned. I will welcome guests and alien ideas with graciousness.
5. I will seek liberty and justice for all. I will work for a free and a fair world.
6. I will add to the planet's fund of good will by practicing little acts of kindness, brief words of encouragement, and manifold expressions of courtesy.
7. I will cultivate the skill of deep listening. I will remember that all things in the world want to be heard, as do the many voices inside me.
8. I will practice reverence for life by seeing the sacred in, with, and under all things of the world.
9. I will give up trying to hide, deny, or escape from my imperfections. I will listen to what my shadow side has to say to me.
10. I will be willing to learn from the spiritual teachers all around me, however unlikely or unlike me they may be.

later man, jan

Straight No Chaser - 12 Days

This is hilarious...

later man, jan

$25 AT A TIME...

Kiva.org had a post yesterday telling us to tune in to "Business Nation" on CNBC tonight, to see a feature length piece about Kiva.org featuring correspondent John Larson (www.kiva.org/lender/john2481) who actually went to Africa to find the entrepreneurs he loaned to!!!!

Of course - I can't find CNBC - not on my little tv:) I did find their website and copied the following intro...

"There’s a remarkable new venture that’s transforming the lives of people in some of the poorest countries on earth. Kiva.org is the innovative website that enables ordinary people all over the world to make tiny loans – as little as $25 at a time -- to small business owners in third world countries. NBC News correspondent John Larson reports. watch video"...

John and I watched it. It really is easy to change another person's life...
Just like the cliche "a hand up - not a hand out" How very true!

later man, jan