Kiva: making a difference

Last Christmas, my cousin Steve gave me a $25 Kiva gift certificate/credit in our gift exchange. Kiva is a service that lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. From their About page:

"By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can 'sponsor a business' and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you've sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back."



The photo at the top of the page is of Joseph Kamau, whose small business is the one I decided to sponsor. The description on his page read:

"Joseph Kamau is a 45 years old father of three children. Two of his children are in school while one is not yet in school because Kamau is unable to raise the high school fees at the moment. Kamau owns a one acre piece of land in Nyandarwa District of Central Kenya where he has been growing maize. The land size is small to produce profitable harvest and he lacks sufficient capital to finance quality farming. Kamau wants to diversify into dairy farming which requires less land and is more profitable. He is requesting a loan of US $ 1,600 to purchase two dairy cows. This will enable him keep all his children in school and save enough to expand the business. He will be able to repay the loan."

I Blathered about this briefly in January and didn't expect much follow-up. So many businesses go under, after all, and my $25 seemed so tiny in comparison to the amount that Mr. Kamau needed.

To my surprise, however, I've been getting regular updates throughout the year. I just got one today saying that Mr. Kamau had made another repayment (of $100). In total, he's repaid $1,000 and has $600 more to go. Clicking through to my "loan portfolio page" on Kiva, I can see a full schedule of the repayments that he's made, a list of the other lenders (you can remain anonymous if you wish) and where they're from, and a journal entry on behalf of Mr. Kamau.



When my loan is fully repaid, the $25 is put back into my credit and I can either withdraw it or choose another small business to which I can lend money. Yes, it's only a small amount but it's clear that every little bit helps. I'm also enjoying checking in on Mr. Kamau from time to time throughout the year.

When you're doing your holiday shopping, do consider Kiva. It's an unusual gift, keeps on "giving" through the year, and it's very cool to know that even a small thing like a $25 loan can help make a difference in someone's life.



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A culture of beauty

Inspired by the recent discussion in response to my Blathering yesterday about Dove's Campaign For Real Beauty, I've been reading In Your Face: The Culture Of Beauty and You by Shari Graydon. It won the Norma Fleck Award For Children in non-fiction. Fascinating and thought-provoking. The book is well-researched and has a TON of relevant info of interest to grown-ups as well as teens. The author, Shari Graydon, is a veteran media literary activist and has taught media literacy at university.

Thanks very much to all those women out there brave enough to answer my survey about fashion and body consciousness. A few quotes:

"Fashion is for fools. It's a huge industry that tries to say that only women who look prepubescent (or like boys) are worth looking at, and anyone with more meat on her bones is fat. Sad, sad, sad."


"I am somewhat fashion conscious, not that I will wear anything that I dislike or follow a trend just because it's a trend, but I enjoy fashion as an art and as self-expression. I loathe the industry's obsession with women who look like 13 year old boys, but in general I enjoy the art."

"For a long time I bought into the idea that I could be pretty or I could be smart (which was an easy choice.) Honestly, I have no idea where that came from, since my Mom is pretty and smart, and clearly neither she nor Dad believes in that myth. But somehow I picked it up. Fandom has taught me that I can be pretty *and* smart. *grin*"

"I wore makeup when I worked in Chicago (formal setting) and when I was in my 20s-30s because I thought I couldn't get any (male) attention without it. I stopped wearing makeup when it accented wrinkles rather than eyes. Yes, I have indeed been exposed to the promotion-goes-to-the-slim-and-pretty on the job. Made me angry then, makes me angry now."


"As a bigger woman I actually consider it my own little personal crusade to prove that a curvy girl can be pretty, sexy, well-dressed."

"This year in particular, I've become very self-conscious about myself. I'm nineteen and I weigh around 93 lbs. I'm the perfect size, the one everyone wants to be: 0. The unachievable zero. Except I've always been this weight and have to do nothing to get there. I've always been skinny, but this year everyone seems to think that they need to comment on it and remind me how abnormally thin I am and that I really should eat more."

"In the plastic surgery shows, the 'before' women look so soft in surgical prep rooms, with their tousled hair and hospital robes, smiling gently at the cameramen, aware that things are about to improve for them. The before is approachable-- warm, human, real. The after is beautiful, yes-- but also distant, and somehow, fierce-- not someone you'd ever want to share a secret with. And when the 'swans' move like real people, and talk like real people, the illusion of dollhood is suddenly broken, and the contrast between the two is often jarring(or just unfortunate)."


"I used to be paralyzed around people, worrying about what they would think of me, terminally shy. I finally realized (with age) that nobody was thinking about me at all, they were too busy thinking about themselves and their own lives and their own insecurities. It was an enormous relief; I could look and be however I wanted and nobody cared. Freedom!"

"I have been morbidly obese for many years, mainly as a result of hiding away from the world and not caring about myself. This year I decided it was time to finally tackle my weight problem - not to fit into any societal ideals, but to fit into my ideals and to be able to do what I like and wear what I like. Now I'm starting to develop an interest in hair styles, clothes and make-up. I'm not following fashion, I'm just trying to find my own style. And I'm loving every minute of it!"

"I think it is difficult to untangle all the confusion of opinions about what is perceived as beautiful and what is actually healthy. But, I know that since losing weight I enjoy a better quality of life. I am less moody, less hormonal during that certain time of the month, and I sleep better."


"I so enjoy seeing other people, photographing or drawing them, and I honestly can say I find genuine beauty in every person I see; everyone is unique and has something wonderful about them. I love the variety, the wrinkles, the character in faces and bodies and their movements. I do not find the overly made-up look attractive because it conceals so much. I find beauty in others, yet I confess that I find it harder to see it in myself because of those old tape-loops that were burned in as a younger person. At least now I can recognize them and try to set them aside..."

"I tried to be original and somewhat bohemian in what I wore when I was in university, but had trouble settling on a style because I am, truly, too many women for one fashion style. Now I have kids, and I'm happy if I brush my hair in the morning. There are women at the schoolyard who are done out in Lululemon with makeup and done hair as they drop their kids off; they are not me."

To read the rest of the comments or to add your own, see this page.

Related link

Photoshopping Mag Covers: How Much is Too Much?: I came across this article while researching publishing news this morning.

Unrelated link

The Happy Endings Foundation invites you to a book burning!: I've posted about this in Inkygirl. Apparently some woman in the UK is spearheading a national campaign to put a stop to children's books that don't have a happy ending.

UPDATE: Turns out this was a clever marketing ploy for the Lemony Snicket books. :-) See my follow-up post.





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Dove's Campaign For Real Beauty - and a survey for women

Will Write For Chocolate has been updated. I'm going to be moving WWFC to a new server soon. Speaking of NaNoWriMo, my cartoons will start appearing on the NaNoWriMo site next month.

Worked on a new Urban Tapestry song last night. I used to do all my songwriting on the guitar but after my tendinitis episode, I changed my strategy. Now I compose in Garageband (soon Logic Express, when I learn how to use it properly).

This time I tried something different: I recorded myself playing a few guitar chord progressions that I knew I wanted in the song, using a click track. Then I split up the track sections so I could copy and move them around, and THEN recorded myself singing the melody over top as I wrote it.

The final version won't have me singing lead (I don't have a lead voice) but Allison and Jodi instead. Once I've finished writing their parts, I'll e-mail an MP3 along with the lyrics; that way they'll have a chance to practice ahead of time before they come over to my place and record. Hoping to finish writing the song tonight!



I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with the Dove Campaign For Real Beauty. Not having cable tv, Jeff and I have been out of it when it comes current television commercials, so I only heard about this recently.



I saw the video above first. Most commercials these days (the ones I see when I do get tv access, like at the gym) strike me remarkably insipid, but found this one really hit home. So I checked out some of Dove's other Campaign For Real Beauty ads, like the very short but surprisingly moving "Amy":



And also the one below, which I had heard about but never seen:



Sort of frightening, really, which I guess is the point.

I went through the whole "I hate my body" phase ages ago, especially through adolescence. I still cringe at some photos of me now, especially ones which highlight flabby bits that didn't used to be flabby, but on the whole I no longer stress about not looking anything like the Gorgeous People in the media.

I exercise and try to eat healthy because it makes me feel better and gives me more energy to pour into my creative projects. I don't angst about not being in fashion or trying to cover up my facial blemishes with a cake of make-up. I'm also aware, however, that I have the luxury of working at home, and that unfortunately there are work environments where a woman who thinks this way might easily be passed over for promotion for someone else who DOES get those tummy tucks and augmented breasts and spends an hour each morning on her make-up and hair.

And I DO have self-indulgences. Occasionally wearing shoes with a bit of heel because I like the look, for example, even though they may not be super-comfortable for long periods. And sometimes colouring the grey out of my hair (ok, so there's not a lot of grey yet but I admit I don't like it).

So what about the rest of you women? How fashion-conscious and body-conscious are you? Be brave and speak out. And how important are these factors in your work environment?

LINK O' THE DAY

RealEstatePlus.ca: Hey, my cousin Daniel (who works for Bell Canada) recently launched a Toronto real estate site that has more info than the usual MLS listings with a user-friendly interface (uses neighbourhood names instead of confusing codes).



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