I believe in always being informed, aware and mindful of the world we live in and the people struggling to survive in it. We are all of us connected and what someone is experiencing half way across the world I believe should affect us all. That’s why coming to India meant so much to me. After reading about the women and children in the Red Light District I couldn’t forget about them. I wanted to become immersed in their lives and offer not only money but my time as well. I wanted to give of myself.
It’s important to me to stay informed about those halfway across the world but also to be knowledgable about the individual stories and struggles of those living in the US, in Washtenaw County, in Ann Arbor.
I first found out about New Light after reading Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. A book that brings awareness to the global issues of gender discrimination, gender based violence, impact of recieving an education, maternal and infant mortality, human trafficking, sex trafficking…
They’ve now come out with another book, a continuation of the first titled A Path Appears. It's focused on what everyone can do to take a stand and contribute to these causes-to ending gender discrimination, promoting the freedom, the rights of every human being, providing services for the underprivileged… They use individual stories to connect you with the immensity and the stark reality of the issues people are faced with everyday, here in the US as well as across the world.
We are all capable of taking a stand, of making a change. Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn remind us of this.
In the US more than 300,000 girls go missing every year, 100,000 of those are sold for sex in some form. We are all capable of making an impact on these girls and women’s lives.
One way you can make a difference right now is by going to the link posted below and signing the petition. In communities across America--including ours--homeless and runaway youth are more likely to struggle to stay in school, and at greater risk of being trafficked or sexually exploited.
The Runaway and Homeless Youth and Trafficking Prevention Act would take important steps towards protecting these at-risk children from trafficking. Congress now has the chance to co sponsor this bill today.
The bill supports family intervention and reunification services to help prevent trafficking and sexual exploitation, providing shelter and improving trauma services for youth who have been victims of trafficking or sexual exploitation.
http://www.unicefusa.org/stop-trafficking?utm_campaign=2015_childreninconflict&utm_medium=paidsocial&utm_source=20150722_facebook-unicefusa&utm_content=ad3-link&ms=psc_dig_2015_childreninconflict_20150722_facebook-unicefusa_ad3-link&initialms=psc_dig_2015_childreninconflict_20150722_facebook-unicefusa_ad3-link
One vital component of Kristof and WuDunn’s new book A Path Appears is generosity.
“The wealthiest 20 percent of Americans donate significantly less than the poorest 20 percent. I don't think that's because the affluent are intrinsically less empathetic or less compassionate. Rather, if you're affluent, you can pretty effectively insulate yourself from need. But if you're poor in America, you're every day seeing people who are even needier than yourself, and when you see those needs, you tend to respond. It's one of the challenges, and hopefully one of the purposes, of A Path Appears—to connect with some of those affluent folks and help them appreciate that they can have an effect.” –Nicholas Kristof
I think some people also become insulated because they become so overwhelmed by the numbers of people in need.
Again in Kristof’s words - “There are a lot of people who would like to make a difference, but the problems can seem so vast that they don't know what to do. Rachel struck us as an example of someone who can show us the way. Rachel was an eight-year-old at the time. So if she can figure this out, hey, anybody can.
She had heard about problems with lack of clean water in poor countries, so she decided to donate her ninth birthday to an organization called Charity: Water. In lieu of birthday presents, she asked people to donate to Charity: Water. She set up a page on their website and set a goal of $300. She was a bit bummed out that she only raised $220.
Then, a few weeks later, Rachel was in a car accident. As she was in the hospital, fighting for her life, friends and her community were struggling to figure out how to show their support and solidarity. They decided to donate to her fund-raiser, and very quickly she surged past $300, then past $1,000, and then past $5,000.
Her parents didn't know if she could hear them or not, but they would whisper to her and tell her how her fund-raiser had set a new record, surpassing the goal Justin Bieber had set for his birthday.
Tragically in the end Rachel died. Obviously nothing can salve the grief her parents felt for the loss of their daughter, but at the same time the page did raise $1.2 million dollars—an extraordinary sum that ended up providing water for 30,000 Ethiopians. For us, Rachel underscores the ability we each have to make a difference.”
Everyone is capable of immense change and of changing the path of even just one person’s life. We're all capable of volunteering our time with local non-profits like SafeHouse Center, of generating discussions about the issues people face everyday, making our elected representatives aware of these issues and persuading them to speak out and act, donating ourselves, our time and if you can afford to, your money.
Anyone committed to acting on what they read about everyday in the news and looking for some inspiration, I highly recommend reading A Path Appears.