Every year I write a special note regarding Thanksgiving. I think it is always good to examine our national myths as well as our national realities. And, as I indicated during my recent comments on Columbus Day, my thoughts regarding America's foundation myths have been recently affected both by my realization that my own family never would have survived had America not existed as a haven, and by the realization, reading about King Leopold II of Belgium's genocidal regime in the Congo, that the effects of colonialism on the natives of a nation for centuries after that colonial regime ends. But this year I have more hopeful thoughts at Thanksgiving, after the election, than I did at Columbus Day, before the election. The hope of the election reminds me of the real intention behind Thanksgiving, separate from its myth and its reality.

First off, one thing that Americans seldom consider is that Thanksgiving is an ambiguous holiday when viewed objectively. I, like most of us, love Thanksgiving because it is essentially our main feasting holiday, the day we all get together with friends and eat as much good food as we can stuff into our bloated bellies. But Thanksgiving, like Columbus Day, has two basic messages beyond the excuse to eat lots of food. The first, and most commonly recognized, meaning is a celebration of key events that led to our nation’s founding. We celebrate those who made our life today possible. Many of us have a particular reason to celebrate these holidays because without the founding of the United States, our families would not exist. I come from a family whose roots go back to Jewish communities in Germany and Lativia. We came to the United States early in the 1900’s, escaping one of many waves of anti-Jewish attacks in Europe. We came to the US and succeeded. Those of my family who remained in Germany or Latvia would almost certainly not have survived World War II. German and Latvian Jews were largely exterminated in the Holocaust. So in a very real way, I owe my life to the events celebrated (in almost mythical form) on Columbus Day and Thanksgiving. Without these events, the United States may never have been founded and my family may have had no place to go and we would have been exterminated. These holidays represent the opportunity given many of our families to find better, safer lives apart from the Old World prejudices.

In a GOTV email from Howard Dean, he outlines the values that the Democratic Party stands for. And they represent what I stand for and these are the reasons why I am a Democrat. As I have said before, it is not a lack of ideas that is the problem with the Democratic Party. It is a lack of unity in achieving those ideas. Here is a list of Democratic Values according to Howard Dean (and I agree):

Honest Leadership & Open Government
We will end the Republican culture of corruption and restore a government as good as the people it serves.

Real Security & A New Direction in Iraq
We will protect Americans at home and lead the world by telling the truth to our troops, our citizens and our allies, and we will heed the advice of our commanders on the ground and force a change in the failed Republican strategy in Iraq.

Energy Independence & Lower Gas Prices
We will create a cleaner, greener and stronger America by reducing our dependence on foreign oil, eliminating billions in subsidies for oil and gas companies and developing energy alternatives.

More Jobs, Better Pay & College Access for Everyone
We will create jobs that stay in America, raise the minimum wage, and open the doors to college for every American.

In my last article on this topic, I reintroduced KIVA and showed how 1.) what they do really can help create successful small businesses in East Africa and how those businesses help the community in which they exist, and 2.) how our efforts on the blogsphere have helped KIVA become so successful that they cannot keep up with the outpouring of help. But they are also bringing on the businesses in need of loans faster than ever, so jeep checking back. Congratulations to all who are making this such a success.

In this diary I want to reiterate the context in which KIVA works and how we also have to help that context. This will partly be a reiteration of diaries I have written before, explaining why I am calling for an "integrated" approach to development that we in the blogsphere can participate in. This is my vision of how you and I can change the world from the bottom up.

KIVA works to create small businesses in developing nations so that those small businesses can be the foundations of stable economies. But the areas that we are talking about are facing massive problems: considerable environmental degradation, lack of education, economic exploitation by the developed world, etc. And currently there is also massive famine. Within this negative context, I question the value of KIVA's approach. Can the small businesses they help survive long term within such a negative context?

The solution is not to give up. Nor is it to hope the UN and governments of developed nations will come to the rescue. The efforts of the UN and developed nations have mostly simply put developing nations deeper into debt and profited mainly big corporations. This is not to say that the UN and developed world have done nothing. But their approach has too often been inappropriate and ill timed resulting in debt and instability in the very nations they seek to help. I propose a grassroots approach where regular people like you and me help through small scale efforts to improve the context within which groups like KIVA operate. You and I, by pooling our efforts, can help the environment, the role of women, the education and the availability of food without having to hope that George Bush suddenly decides Africa is worth helping.

My proposal is this: a coordinated effort by the progressive blogsphere that will focus on several interconnected issues with a view towards REGIONAL and COMMUNITY based development. I have been proposing the target area of Uganda/Kenya/Tanzania (roughly the Rift Valley/Lakes region of East Africa) as a trial run for this idea because of the critical environmental issues, the presence of excellent groups like Kiva, and the fact that these nations are just stable enough have a chance for becoming actually prosperous if the immediate crises can be survived. In a later diary I will discuss, in the spirit of KIVA's expanded efforts, an expansion of my own proposal.

Here I cover ways we can help deal with the famine, environmental issues (including population control), women's rights, education and economic development (focusing on small businesses, the bedrock of any healthy economy). Pick your favorite issue and PLEASE act upon it in a big way. If we ACT, we will make a difference.

An outline of my proposal:

I. Dealing with the immediate famine: East Africa needs food. Now. That cannot be ignored. The scale of the famine is huge and so far is not being addressed by the international community anywhere near adequately. The only way they will get it is if human beings from all over the world, including us, help them out. You and I can start by helping to get East Africa food aid. A donation to Oxfam is probably the best thing you can do to help East Africa in its most immediate crisis.

II.Dealing with the environmental root causes of drought and famine: What are the root causes of this famine? People can point to several. But fundamentally there are some fundamental problems that quite simply trump all other root causes. Currently Africa is facing, simultaneously, a rapid decline of its fresh water lakes, a rapid decline in its forests, and a rapid increase in population. The combination creates an environmental situation that inevitably will lead to more and more droughts and hence to more and more famines. These environmental issues are on all levels the most important long-term issues that need to be addressed. No economic development plan, no food aid, no political changes from within can end African instability if these environmental crises are not addressed. These African environmental issues are also part of a global trend. The entire WORLD is facing a decline in fresh water sources, decline in forests and increased population and these trends are leading to wars, famines, and global warming.

Across the globe, one of the most destabilizing factors in any society's history, be it Japan or Haiti or Kenya, is deforestation. Sane forest management, after economic problems caused by deforestation, is one of the secrets of Japan's success. Bangladesh, on the other hand, faces an annual cycle of devastating floods followed by devastating droughts because of deforestation in the Himalayas. The theme of the devastating effects of deforestation and the benefits of forest management and reforestation recurs often in Jared Diamond's book Collapse though it is also obvious to anyone familiar with the problems of a nation like Bangladesh. Diamond simply argues it more formally and globally than I have heard before. And, of course, deforestation is also one of the factors contributing to global warming. One of the most important thing that any human being can do to help Africa as well as the world is to contribute to forest management and/or reforestation.

The NY Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has three programs trying to preserve the forests, lakes and wildlife of East Africa. Their focus is on BOTH the environment and the human populations in the area, integrating the economic and social needs of communities with the needs of the environment. One program focuses on preserving the entire regional environment in Albertine Rift region of Africa, mostly centered on Uganda, Rwanda and the Congo. This is one of the most critically threatened regions of Africa's environment. Preservation of this region is critical for the economy and freshwater supply of the region, the ecotourism industry of the region, and for preservation of the world's forests as a buffer for global warming. I strongly urge a donation to the WCS Albertine Rift Program. A second program focues on the preserving the Uganda environment in particular. The third program focuses on preserving the entire habitat of the mountain gorilla, an effort that includes some of the East African environment that provides the watershed for the nations we are focusing on. I include this program partly because it covers some of the same environmental regions as the other two programs, but also because the preservation of the Mountain Gorilla is another of my pet projects. So this is an opportunity to urge people to help two of my pet projects: helping East Africa and saving the Mountain Gorilla.

Overpopulation is also a global problem, as many pointed out in the diary on Daily Kos discussing the politics of African famines. We are all familiar with Planned Parenthood, which addresses BOTH population issues and issues of women's reproductive rights and health. To those who view Africa's and the world's problems as primarily a population issue, Planned Parenthood's International organization will be of considerable interest to you. I also can recommend Engender Health, a wonderful group that deals with population issues within the general context of women's and children's health. But this concatenation of population and women's issues leads to my next section.

III. Women's Rights: One of the most important measures of development is the place of women in society. As a first approximation, women's rights go along with development. A more equal role of women in society seems to correlate well with improvements in health, education and prosperity. The equation is not simple, but women's rights are, in my view, an integral part of stable, sustainable development. Furthermore, in addition to access to family planning services (see above for International Planned Parenthood Federation for this), the best means for controlling population increase is through women's literacy and economic empowerment.

So, I want to highlight some groups in East Africa that are addressing women's rights. The Uganda Women's Network (UWONET) is an advocacy and lobbying coalition of National Women's NGOs, institutions and individuals in Uganda, founded in 1993. UWONET was born out of the East African Women's Conference held in Kampala in 1993. Their aim to "engender policies, laws and programmes, structures and processes in order to address the needs of both women and men leading to the achievement of gender equity and equality." In Tanzania, Kivulini Women's Rights Organization is a registered Non-Governmental Organization based in Mwanza, Tanzania. In Kiswahili, Kivulini means "in the shade." The word implies a place under the tree where people discuss and support each other.

IV. Education: Education is one of the most important aspect of any individual person's or any society's formula for success. In East Africa, education is not free. School fees prevent many individuals from getting even a basic education. Girls, in particular, are poorly served by education in Africa. You can help sponsor the secondary school education for a child in Kenya or Tanzania, though in this case you have to send a check to the Canadian Harambee Education Society. Find out more on their website.

V. Fair Trade Export Economy: In addition to small business that are the foundation of the local economy, we need to help the developing world enter the global economy not just as exploited victims, but as partners in fair trade. This movement is still in its infancy, and there are not many products that you can purchase from East Africa through fair trade. But there are some. Here are a handful of products you can purchase that are fair trade and will help the economy of East Africa:

Fair Trade Coffee from Ugaqnda. Most of us love coffee. Why not use your addiction to help out farmers in Uganda?

Fair Trade baskets from two companies in Uganda. Very beautiful looking items, if you are into baskets.

How about cool handicrafts from several companies in Kenya? All fair trade, these companies sell items like sculptures, jewelry and drums.

And there are a couple of handicrafts companies in Tanzania as well  selling fair trade items.

Finally, SERRV International has wonderful fair trade items from around the world, including many from East Africa. Baskets, coffee, tea, nuts, musical instruments, jewelry, etc. from cooperatives around the world. Great company!

Thank you to all who are joining me in making a difference.

Please join
Letitia James
City Council Representative
Bill Batson
Co-Chair Community Board 8 Fire Safety Committee
in a Benefit Performance for the
Arson Victims of the
1033 Pacific Street Fire

Featuring the music of Kakandé
Playing the powerful & beautiful melodies of West Africa
Famoro Dioubaté, traditional xylophonist from Guinea, music director
with Raul Rothblatt on cello

Wednesday March 15, 8pm
Dakar Restaurant
285 Grand Ave (between Lafayette & Clifton)
718-398-8900

Suggested donation: $15
Please donate what you can

Make checks payable to:
The Fofana Family Fund
Reference #800764350
Carver Federal Savings Bank
4 Hanson Place
Brooklyn, NY 11217

For more information, please call Council Member Letitia James
718-260-9191

It has been one of my little projects to develop within the blogsphere what I call an integrated approach to helping East Africa as a new vision for international development that can be applied anywhere the blogsphere wants to focus on. This approach was inspired by the wonderful efforts of KIVA, a microlending agency that connects small businesses with small investors like you and me. My intention has been to build on the idea of KIVA, creating an integrated context in which KIVA's efforts will be all the more effective. I will reiterate that contextual approach. But first, I think it is good to show just how successful our efforts can really be.

First off, KIVA has received a great deal of attention across the blogsphere. The result is that they have had the enviable problem of too much success. In the past month or so, they have three times had a batch of loans filled within 24 hours of posting them. I haven't plugged them for a while simply because they didn't seem to need my help. They have expanded the partners they work with (from one to five) and the number of countries they work in (more on that in a later diary) and yet they still cannot keep up with the willingness of people like you and me to help small businesses in developing nations.

For those who aren't familiar with how KIVA works, here's the deal:

Kiva's microlending directly connects small lenders (you and me) who can lend as little as $25, with small businesses who need small loans. Up until recently KIVA only worked in three nations in East Africa--Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Recently they have expanded to several other nations, but that will have to wait for a future diary. You get your money back within 6-18 months, though without interest. The business that KIVA works with have already gotten a boost from a partner agency and have shown some track record of success. For example, Kiva's first partner site, the Village Enterprise Fund, gives training and a small seed grant (usually about $100) to get a small business owner in East Africa started. Once a business that VEF has helped has shown promise, KIVA then helps that business get a loan (often around $500 worth, sometimes more, sometimes less) compiled from people like us to help that business expand. One way to help KIVA find more promising businesses to meet lender eagerness is to donate to Village Enterprise Fund so that they can help business at an earlier stage.

I have lent money to several KIVA businesses. The success of these businesses, helped by the loans I have participated in, is quite gratifying and shows how successful this approach can be. Let me give you three examples that I am proud to have been a part of.

1. Lakev Groceries is a small shop in Eregi, Kenya owned by Petronilla Shivachi, nicknamed "Betty" by her customers. She and her twin sister lost their father's land to neighbors because in Kenya girls cannot inherit land. They, due to lack of school fees, did not go to college, but rather married early. Petronilla was deserted by her husband and now is a single mother bringing up two children without any child support.

She started her business with assistance from VEF. After first establishing her small store, she received a $500 loan through KIVA. Petronilla used this loan to introduce new products to her store for which there is a demand but there had previously been little supply. Primarily she introduced new Mobile phone air cards. This new product brought in 70 new customers in 4 days! Her business has exploded thanks to the loan, bringing what appears to be a much-desired commodity to her town.

2. Fur Ber Fish is a fishmongering business in Tororo, Uganda owned by Penina Oburu. She received a grant in 2001 from VEF to start her small business and has gotten this business off the ground in a small, but successful way. She then received a $300 loan through KIVA, to hire a truck to go directly to Lake Victoria and buy fish for herself rather than having to go through a middleman.  Eliminating this middleman will allow her to sell her fish at a lower price.

With the KIVA loan Peninah Obure, has expanded her purchases of fish from 1-3 baskets to 10 - 18 baskets per day. This economy of scale allows her to sell more fish cheaper, at a profit of 45% as opposed to her previous 15%. She is also able to bring the fish closer to her customers, making their walk to get fish shorter. She uses her profits to support her family and to pay school fees (public education is NOT free in East Africa) and medical bills, and to buy clothes and bedding for her children.

3. Kuro Chiki Hotel is a restaurant (hotel means restaurant in Uganda), also in Tororo, Uganda, owned by Lovisa Asinde, a widow with five children. She started a small business baking pancakes, chapatti and mandazi with a donation of 100 dollars from Village Enterprise Fund in 2000. After receiving training in business skills from VEF, she decided to open a eating house in the local trading center. She received a $500 loan through KIVA to expand this eatery.

With that loan she bought a large amount of new kitchen equipment, hired new staff, and expanded her menu, allowing greater choice to her customers. She now serves around100 customers a day and makes about 80% profit. This allows her to buy new clothes for her children and to pay to send them to school.

You can imagine how gratifying it is to be a part of these women's successes. This is how an economy can be built in developing areas--through small businesses that slowly grow while serving their community. By loaning through KIVA or donating to KIVA or VEF, you can be a part of this process and help not only these small business owners, but their children as well.

KIVA and VEF (and KIVA's other partners) are doing wonderful work. But this cannot alone solve the problems of East Africa or any other part of the world. In my next diary on this topic I will once again discuss the education, environmental and economic context in which KIVA's efforts must exist and how we can help that context.

If we do, here's a fantastic reminder created by National Geographic and made available to the public through www.video.google.com :

I agree with the National Trust for Historic Preservation : Don't build anything until all details for preservation are sorted out.

At this month’s

An odd consequence of the famine in East Africa is that now schools have a record attendance. Normally kids going to schools is a GOOD thing. But this is tragic.

From BBC.

...the local Oxfam team took me to a school where I met Mohammed, its eloquent headmaster.

He said that around a month ago, half of the primary school children had stopped attending classes. He explained that the drought was so severe that families had to take their cattle many miles away in search of pasture, making attending school impossible.

Now however, school attendance is higher than it ever has been and the classrooms I saw were packed full of kids.

My relief on at last hearing some good news was cut short when he explained that the only reason they have come back to school is because they no longer have any livestock to look after, and attending school is the only way they can get food.

The situation is so bad that even people in their late teens are trying to enrol in primary school.

No more livestock means no more economy for many. This will be a bad, long term problem. But it is also a major crisis right now. From elsewhere in the same article:

They told me that the malnutrition rates are already triple their normal levels and that the huge numbers of kids currently classed as 'moderately' malnourished could, within weeks, move to being severely malnourished. It would be at this stage that the mortality rates would soar.

The local hospital here is already full of severely malnourished children. In Wajir clinic alone, one child a week is already dying and that figure is increasing all the time.

The scenes on the ward are those that we all hoped Africa had left behind in the 1980s - distended bellies, children teetering on the brink of death and mothers waving flies away from their children's eyes.

We've been through this before. It is time for Africa and the world to do a better job. The traditional "development" programs that lead to debt, low paying jobs and environmental destruction have failed as they failed in the 90's and in the 80's. It isn't working.

I have been proposing an alternative. And I am going to propose it again, because it really can work, but only if many people pull together to help.

My proposal is this: a coordinated effort by the progressive blogsphere (that's you and me, my friend, not someone else) that will focus on several interconnected issues with a view towards REGIONAL and COMMUNITY based development. I have been proposing the target area of Uganda/Kenya/Tanzania (roughly the Rift Valley/Lakes region of East Africa) as a trial run for this idea because of the critical environmental issues, the presence of excellent groups like Kiva, and the fact that these nations are just stable enough have a chance for becoming actually prosperous if the immediate crises can be survived.

Here I cover ways we can help deal with the famine, environmental issues (including population control), women's rights, education and economic development (focusing on small businesses, the bedrock of any healthy economy). Pick your favorite issue and PLEASE act upon it in a big way.

An outline of my proposal:

I. Dealing with the immediate famine: East Africa needs food. Now. That cannot be ignored. The scale of the famine is huge and so far is not being addressed by the international community anywhere near adequately. The only way they will get it is if human beings from all over the world, including us, help them out. You and I can start by helping to get East Africa food aid. A donation to Oxfam is probably the best thing you can do to help East Africa in its most immediate crisis.

II. Dealing with the environmental root causes of drought and famine: What are the root causes of this famine? People can point to several. But fundamentally there are some fundamental problems that quite simply trump all other root causes. Currently Africa is facing, simultaneously, a rapid decline of its fresh water lakes, a rapid decline in its forests, and a rapid increase in population. The combination creates an environmental situation that inevitably will lead to more and more droughts and hence to more and more famines. These environmental issues are on all levels the most important long-term issues that need to be addressed. No economic development plan, no food aid, no political changes from within can end African instability if these environmental crises are not addressed. These African environmental issues are also part of a global trend. The entire WORLD is facing a decline in fresh water sources, decline in forests and increased population and these trends are leading to wars, famines, and global warming.

Across the globe, one of the most destabilizing factors in any society's history, be it Japan or Haiti or Kenya, is deforestation. Sane forest management, after economic problems caused by deforestation, is one of the secrets of Japan's success. Bangladesh, on the other hand, faces an annual cycle of devastating floods followed by devastating droughts because of deforestation in the Himalayas. The theme of the devastating effects of deforestation and the benefits of forest management and reforestation recurs often in Jared Diamond's book Collapse though it is also obvious to anyone familiar with the problems of a nation like Bangladesh. Diamond simply argues it more formally and globally than I have heard before. And, of course, deforestation is also one of the factors contributing to global warming. One of the most important thing that any human being can do to help Africa as well as the world is to contribute to forest management and/or reforestation.

The NY Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has three programs trying to preserve the forests, lakes and wildlife of East Africa. Their focus is on BOTH the environment and the human populations in the area, integrating the economic and social needs of communities with the needs of the environment. One program focuses on preserving the entire regional environment in Albertine Rift region of Africa, mostly centered on Uganda, Rwanda and the Congo. This is one of the most critically threatened regions of Africa's environment. Preservation of this region is critical for the economy and freshwater supply of the region, the ecotourism industry of the region, and for preservation of the world's forests as a buffer for global warming. I strongly urge a donation to the WCS Albertine Rift Program. A second program focues on the preserving the Uganda environment in particular. The third program focuses on preserving the entire habitat of the mountain gorilla, an effort that includes some of the East African environment that provides the watershed for the nations we are focusing on. I include this program partly because it covers some of the same environmental regions as the other two programs, but also because the preservation of the Mountain Gorilla is another of my pet projects. So this is an opportunity to urge people to help two of my pet projects: helping East Africa and saving the Mountain Gorilla.

Overpopulation is also a global problem, as many pointed out in the diary on Daily Kos discussing the politics of African famines. We are all familiar with Planned Parenthood, which addresses BOTH population issues and issues of women's reproductive rights and health. To those who view Africa's and the world's problems as primarily a population issue, Planned Parenthood's International organization will be of considerable interest to you. But this concatenation of population and women's issues leads to my next section.

III. Women's Rights: One of the most important measures of development is the place of women in society. As a first approximation, women's rights go along with development. A more equal role of women in society seems to correlate well with improvements in health, education and prosperity. The equation is not simple, but women's rights are, in my view, an integral part of stable, sustainable development. Furthermore, in addition to access to family planning services (see above for International Planned Parenthood Federation for this), the best means for controlling population increase is through women's literacy and economic empowerment.

So, I want to highlight some groups in East Africa that are addressing women's rights. The Uganda Women's Network (UWONET) is an advocacy and lobbying coalition of National Women's NGOs, institutions and individuals in Uganda, founded in 1993. UWONET was born out of the East African Women's Conference held in Kampala in 1993. Their aim to "engender policies, laws and programmes, structures and processes in order to address the needs of both women and men leading to the achievement of gender equity and equality." In Tanzania, Kivulini Women's Rights Organization is a registered Non-Governmental Organization based in Mwanza, Tanzania. In Kiswahili, Kivulini means "in the shade." The word implies a place under the tree where people discuss and support each other.

IV. Education: Education is one of the most important aspect of any individual person's or any society's formula for success. In East Africa, education is not free. School fees prevent many individuals from getting even a basic education. Girls, in particular, are poorly served by education in Africa. You can help sponsor the secondary school education for a child in Kenya or Tanzania, though in this case you have to send a check to the Canadian Harambee Education Society. Find out more on their website.

V. Economic Development (small businesses): One of the most important aspect of any local economy are small businesses. And the development of small businesses in East Africa is the focus of two excellent organizations Village Enterprise Fund (VEF) and Kiva. In many ways these two organizations work in tandem to help small business owners in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania to get started and to expand. In general, VEF helps get people started running a business but giving them a microgrant (generally around $100) and some training in effective business practices. This alone will make a huge difference to many people in East Africa seeking to better their economic life and in some ways VEF may be one of the best organizations you can give to if you want to help improve the local economy in East Africa. These small businesses are not part of an export economy, but are mostly simply small stores, tailors, fish mongers, goat herders, brick makers, restaurants, bike shops, etc. that will improve the local economy.

Once a business has shown some success after being sponsored by a group like VEF, they can then be considered by Kiva as a recipient of a microloan to help expand. Kiva.directly connects you and a small business owner in East Africa so that you can help that business owner with a small loan. For those new to this idea, Kiva connects small lenders (you and me) who can lend as little as $25, with small businesses in East Africa who need small loans. All small scale! You get your money back within 6-12 months, though without interest. This method of helping can make a large difference for a small business, and it is a great source of pride for a business owner to receive a loan, improve their business, then repay the loan. The recipients of Kiva loans do very well and are very proud of the partnership with lenders.

Please find at least ONE thing you can do and please spread the word. This effort depends on a broad, grassroots outpouring of help. You'll feel good about it and in the long run it does help America as well.

I am trying to spread the word on this campaign far and wide. So far it has generated only modest interest, but maybe I can catch the attention of a few big name bloggers who can then boost the visibility of this campaign.

Awhile back there was a wonderful outpouring of support from the blogshpere for a microlending group called Kiva, which, at the time, was connecting microlenders (that's us) with small businesses in Uganda that need small loans.  dKos basically filled all the loan requests that were up at that time.

Kiva is back with more businesses that need loans from us, though this time the villages that are being helped are in Kenya and Tanzania, neighbors of Uganda. Can we fill the loan requests again? Last time the initiative came from dKos. Maybe we can get some competition among blogs as to who can help the most per capita? To further this, I also want to address some people's comments the last time this was discussed regarding helping by outright giving. Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania together make up a region of Africa that could be at a turning point...or really three closely related turning points: economic, environmental and political. We can help.

My vision is this: a coordinated effort by the blogsphere that will focus on several interconnected issues with a view towards REGIONAL and COMMUNITY based development. The target area of Uganda/Kenya/Tanzania (roughly the Rift Valley/Lakes region of East Africa) is an excellent place to start because of the critical environmental issues, the presence of excellent groups like Kiva, and the fact that these nations have a chance for becoming more stable if some immediate crises can be survived.

My vision includes primarily economic, education and environmental issues and combines microlending through Kiva, purchases through Fair Trade organizations that operate in this area, and donations to particularly important organizations that focus on these issues in this region of Africa. In invite you to join me in this ambitious, difficult, and potentially historic effort.

We begin with Kiva's microlending which directly connects you and a small business owner in East Africa so that you can help that business owner with a small loan. You can loan as little as $25 or you can cover the whole loan for an individual business owner in Africa. This is a loan, not a donation, and you will be repaid, though your loan receives no interest. Your only loss (barring the potential risk of the business failing) will be the use of that money for interest-bearing investment. This effort is a very effective way to boost the local economy (as opposed to the export economy) of this region. To further boost our effectiveness, we can also support Kiva's partner site the Village Enterprise Fund (VEF) which accepts donations instead of loans and helps build up an economic infrastructure for small businesses to operate within in East Africa. Direct help for these small businesses (Kiva) combined with help for the economic infrastructure (VEF) can have an enormous impact on East Africa. And you can be a part of it!

The export economy is another issue. I have tried finding some Fair Trade groups that sell products from this region of East Africa. These can help you in selecting holiday gifts this year while helping the export economy of the same region that Kiva loans are helping. Here are some suggestions:

Fair Trade Coffee from Ugaqnda. Most of us love coffee. Why not use your addiction to help out farmers in Uganda?

Fair Trade baskets from two companies in Uganda. Very beautiful looking items, if you are into baskets.

How about cool handicrafts from several companies in Kenya? All fair trade, these companies sell items like sculptures, jewelry and drums.

And there are a couple of handicrafts companies in Tanzania as well selling fair trade items.

Next I want to address the environmental issues facing East Africa. In particular, I am familiar with the efforts of the NY Wildlife Conservation Society in the Lakes Region of Africa. I have recently read frightening stories of the massive decline of African forests and lakes, threatening the freshwater supply and environment for the entirety of the continent. East Africa is one of the areas hard hit by this decline. The NY Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has three programs trying to preserve the forests, lakes and wildlife of East Africa. One program focuses on preserving the entire regional environment in Albertine Rift region of Africa, mostly centered on Uganda, Rwanda and the Congo. This is one of the most critically threatened regions of Africa's environment. Preservation of this region is critical for the economy and freshwater supply of the region, the ecotourism industry of the region, and for preservation of the world's forests as a buffer for global warming. I strongly urge a donation to the WCS Albertine Rift Program.

A second program focues on the preserving the Uganda environment in particular. Again, the local economy critically needs freshwater and ecotourism and both are critically threatened by environmental degradation. A loan to Kiva can be well complimented by a donation to preserve the Ugandan environment.

The third program focuses on preserving the entire habitat of the mountain gorilla, an effort that includes some of the East African environment that provides the watershed for the nations we are focusing on. I include this program partly because it covers some of the same environmental regions as the other two programs, but also because the preservation of the Mountain Gorilla is another of my pet projects. Most people know that Gorillas are severely endangered. Not so many know that the Moutain Gorilla is directly facing extinction right now. About 6 years ago I learned that only about 600-700 Mountain Gorillas remained. That number was practically halved in a three-year period. Since then there has been a small recovery thanks to the efforts of conservationists, but any further halving of such a small population will condemn these cousins of ours to exinction. The time to save them is now and since they live in Uganda, as well as Rwanda and the Congo, I am including this program in this diary. Please donate to save the habitat of the Mountain Gorilla while you are also preserving the watershed for much of East and Central Africa.

Finally I want to focus on family and education issues. Here is a group that was recommended in the comments. You can help sponsor the secondary school education for a child in Kenya or Tanzania, though in this case you have to send a check to the Canadian Harambee Education Society. Find out more on their website.

I want to suggest a few other organizations helping in the East Africa region, however I cannot find a way to link to the search results directly. So I will have to highlight the groups and let you do your own search on the Network for Good website. If you search their site for these groups you will be able to directly donate.

First there is the United Movement to End Child Soldiering, which tries to stop the practice of using children in armies in the Great Lakes and Uganda regions of Africa. This group not only tries to end the practice, but tries to re-integrate children who have already been used as soldiers into civilian society.

Then there is the Ugandan Children's Charity Foundation. This group provides education, food, shelter, clothing, and medical care to Ugandan AIDS-related orphans and vulnerable children and to nurture their mental, physical and emotional growth and wellbeing.

But a nation needs more than just help for its youngest children. A good advanced education system is critical for a successful nation. So I urge support for the Central Buganda University Foundation, which provides quality research and teaching to all qualified students at the lowest possible cost.

Finally, there is the Africa Rural Family Helthcare Uganda foundation. Its mission organization is to save the lives of mothers and children, relieve suffering for mothers, young adults and babies with HIV/AIDS infections, and to educate the community about health, nutrition, and disease prevention measures. They work with and train persons from the local community to organize and provide health services that meet their health and nutrition needs.

Again, this last set of suggestions requires that you do your own search on the Network for Good website and donate through there.

Thanks to all who help in this ambitious effort. Feel free to post other suggestions in the comments and, if you like, to brag about what you are doing to help create a more stable and prosperous East Africa. I have avoided political organizations, but if anyone wants to plug organizations that promote democracy in these nations, please feel free to do so.