does anyone have any interest in hearing about the humanitarian org I volunteer with? I'm trying to get active with it again and sharing stuff is motivating so I figured I might as well ask and see if anyone on here is interested
I'm trying to catch up with all the projects they're working on now, but it seems like they've been making a lot of pushes to fight the horror at the border lately, and get help to suffering central american countries, so that sounds cool
(for people who haven't caught me talking about this before, child sponsorship can be a hugely problematic model but i really REALLY love how WV does it)
oh!! a cool new thing that WV is doing now is they set up a page where you can put a kid's ID number in and actually go look at their page and learn about their community before sponsoring them
WV's model is that child sponsorship is the financial engine that enables them to work on their projects in the community, which are all ones that the community actually WANTS, and they don't leave until the projects are finished and the community is independent
(oh also if the fact that it's a Christian org is offputting for anyone, I VERY much get it, but they're not missionaries and are all about loving and serving instead of preaching)
they're actually one of the only christian orgs I know of that work with other faiths, don't railroad the native religions there, don't set up a bunch of white people in a foreign land, and will serve even in countries where they are not allowed to talk about christianity at all
for instance, wv sends sponsors holiday cards for you to send to your kids... and for easter, my christian kids got cards with easter messages, and my muslim kid got one with a really sweet non-denominational story about a girl who helped her community :'D
--OH but yeah there is also other sorts of donating that you can do, chipping in for microloans, doing runs/walks for clean water projects, becoming a CA and volunteering (which is what I do), all sorts of things
highly valid i'm not gonna lie, i'm definitely poking about on the internet right now, laughs but I am also interested in your stories of stuff you're doing while volunteering!
lordy... I have learned some crazy intense stories during my stay with them, since we hear a lot of things that are not easily digestible for average sponsors. most of them are in the archives on the site but you have to go digging
one of the more general awesome things though, which isn't always made super clear while just poking around and learning about wv, is it's not a bunch of white folks moving in and changing things in a community
they actually live there, which is great. and they work with the leaders of the community, and empower groups that might need it (like the women or disabled folks) to make sure that their voice is heard and made important
this past convention we got to see really in-depth examples of how wv actually settles into a community and gathers information on who the most under-served families are and it was so fascinating
they tap into who really knows the community, and it's usually moms or elder women, and they go around and gather info, talking to all the families, mapping things out... and it's often a community's very first effort toward checking in on the poor ever
gently bookmarks this website to poke around some more once I've started my job and can reliably do a sponsorship (i assume it's not an issue either if i am very much not christian, laughs...) but this sounds really cool!
oOo I didn't realize "countries that don't allow their kids to be shown online" was a thing unless it's that they have strict social media type laws, which.... ngl while it's inconvenient in this case, generally speaking I'm for it
Mauritania is especially rough because they don't allow any pictures of their children to be online, which means you might not ever see your sponsored kid's face. but you can still write to them and do all the other things!
or if there's a language that someone speaks and they want to be matched with a kid that also speaks it, or if there is a particular birthday you're looking for etc. etc. etc.
I absolutely don't mind the christian-speak as long as the local religions are respected and I'm not obligated to do it as well, laughs but I may hit you up in a few months for recommendations /points to eyes, points to you
(also heck yeah please do share)
i'm not gonna lie, i'm definitely poking about on the internet right now, laughs
but I am also interested in your stories of stuff you're doing while volunteering!
(i assume it's not an issue either if i am very much not christian, laughs...)
but this sounds really cool!
unless it's that they have strict social media type laws, which.... ngl while it's inconvenient in this case, generally speaking I'm for it
but I may hit you up in a few months for recommendations /points to eyes, points to you