Zen College Life

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Photo Courtesy of W.P.A.

Happy Blog Action Day everyone.  Today you, along with 9,535,041 other readers, will be reading about poverty and what we the inhabitants of earth can do to rid ourselves of it.  As you read the different blogs you subscribe to today you will notice that each has their own ideas and ways of helping rid ourselves of poverty, all in an effort to get those who have to help those who don’t have.

But we know who the key audience of Zen College Life is, right? College students.  And what can college students do to cure poverty… I mean we are all poor ourselves, right?  Well, not quite.  The type of poverty we are talking about here isn’t the same type of poverty as “I can’t afford an iPhone,” or “I can’t afford to eat at outback steakhouse.”  The type of poverty we are trying to cure here is “I don’t know when my next meal will be,” or “my drinking water is brown…”

So heres the deal.  We are the richest people in the world, no matter how poor we are when compared to millionaires.  We are the educated, the intelligent, the elite of society.  And because of this we have the greatest responsibility to mankind.  It is our responsibility to care for those who aren’t educated, who don’t know how to fix their problems.  I’m sure you are well aware that life isn’t just about chasing benjamins.

I consider it my purpose to leave this world in a better position than it was when I was born.  I plan to have a large impact.  If you didn’t want to have an impact, if you weren’t worried about the world, be it your family and friends or the entire of humanity, you wouldn’t have sacrificed those 1000s of hours you have put into your education throughout your life.  And you probably wouldn’t be reading this.  If you’ve made it this far in this article, I will assume from here forward that you care about making a difference, and that you are committed to doing however much you can to help cure world poverty.  So the rest of this article will be ways to do so.

The easiest way to help someone else is to sacrifice of yourself, be it time, money, food, education, etc.  Where is your greatest asset?  Do you have significant amounts of free time?  Do you have a lot of money?  Can you cook, teach, tutor, etc?  What aspect of your life can you donate to others?  Personally I have very little money, but enough to give.  I don’t have a lot of time, but I can find a couple of hours in the week to share with others.  My education is great enough that I can teach someone else.  What can you do?

I’m going to start with the easiest one: Donate money.  I have found a few organizations I feel are worthy of your donation.  I’ll link to each and give a small description of what your donation will go to.

Kiva
Loans that change lives.  Kiva is an organization that allows you the ability to lend to entrepreneurs in the developing world, empowering them to lift themselves out of poverty.  This gives them a feeling of self worth, a feeling of growth and security, and gives them an opportunity to make a better life than they would have been able to without you.  Though repayment is not guaranteed, if you consider it a donation, you will have done a grand deed, and getting the loan repaid would only sweeten the deal. Donate $5 to $5000 (or more I’m sure).

Eden Reforestation Projects
This great project plants millions of trees, for less than 10 cents each to start.  Your donation of $10 per month makes a huge difference.  These people are cutting down their forests for farmland.  The lack of animal life (due to lack of forest) makes farming their only source of food.  Their lack of education is endangering their people.  This project is dedicated to helping reforest their land so that they may once again be prosperous.  The video above explains in greater detail.

Unicef
Another great program, Univef focuses on child survival and development, basic education and gender equality, HIV/AIDS and children, child protection, and much more.  They work to promote healthier living conditions and teach preventative care and disease prevention.  They are well informed on the big issues that face the impoverished world, and take serious steps to help rid the world of these problems. Check them out, if for no other reason, then to understand the parts of the world we don’t see every day and what they are going through.  You’ll surely want to help.

Innovations for Poverty Action
This is a group that does rigorous research to find and develop solutions to real world problems faced by the poor in developing countries.  Their objectives are to innovate, evaluate, replicate, communicate, and facilitate scale-up replications of effective solutions to the world.  If you want to promote scientific research to help the world rid itself of poverty, this is the choice donation for you.

The Hunger, Breast Cancer, Child Health, Literacy, Rainforest, and Animal Rescue Site
A great resource for ways to help hunger, breast cancer, child health, literacy, rainforest, and animal rescue (as the title states).  The cool part about this site is that you can make a difference even without a donation.  Just click the button on each page and click through a couple of the sponsor ads.  You will be making a real difference.

Compassion
A great resource to sponsor a child in need. $32 per month helps change a child’s life, and touches yours.  You exchange letters, photos, and prayers.  You become a friend, while providing education, health and personal development. It’s a great opportunity for everyone involved.

before you go, check this link out.  There are some great resources here.

88 Ways to DO Something about Poverty Right Now

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