The New Site is at www.digriz.com

The New Site is at www.digriz.com

The New Site is at www.digriz.com

The New Site is at www.digriz.com

The New Site is at www.digriz.com

The New Site is at www.digriz.com

If this week 40 people would give $25 each to New Futures Orphanage, instead of that same amount spread out over a year’s time, the children could buy chickens, fish, plants, and other sustainable food sources that would last over a long time, and wouldn’t have to eat the small increments of money coming in, while they’re waiting, so that they have no future. If 20 of us could give $50 this week, instead of spread out over a year, they could eat all year, instead of just on the weeks that someone gives.

Choose a child from the orphanage photo below, hold him or her in your mind, and picture what eating all year long might do for his mind, his health, and his opportunities. Now picture him wondering every day if there will be rice today. It’s easy to do the right thing: give directly, so 100% of the funds go to the orphanage, which is run by volunteers, take it as a tax deduction (they email you a receipt automatically), and you break even, but their lives are changed. Christ reward you according to you charity. — Daniel

I first got involved with direct giving to the poor because of the New Futures Orphanage. I was scouring the net, looking for just, real, and direct ways to impact the lives of the poor, with small funds. I came across a [ blog ] kept by an English teacher backpacking through Cambodia.

She’d come upon an orphanage there that needed volunteers to teach some English to the children. Teachers would come through, and some would stay a while and do this, and she was captivated and decided to stay for much longer. I was captivated too, and I looked, and they needed $900 in small gifts – that’s all they were asking for last year, and it was being given in small gifts ($25, $35, $45 at a time) through [ givemeaning.org ] a site that serves as the vehicle for giving directly to such small charities.

They finally met their fundraising goal, which was used to provide some basic things to the orphanage, like cinder block walls and a roof to enclose the toilet. I read the updates from Claire, who was giving her time there. She reported on how the children were doing, their improving skills, what this means for their future. I read what the children thought about their situation, and their hopes for their futures; each one is an individual. I knew I had to help.

The poor are Christ to us. They are the icon, the image. They are the means by which we are saved, by being filled with love. Apart from them, I know I at least cannot be saved. They are the ones of whom Christ said, “inasmuch as you have done with your riches to the least of these, who are my brothers, you have so done to me in my impoverishment”.

Recently, the landlord sold the orphanage and the children had to be taken to a facility that doesn’t have electricity. So they need to raise money to get 12volt battery-powered lighting installed and survive with the soaring food costs. The project has established a funding goal of $1000. I’m asking you to help me help them. Take the cost of a night out, or a new video game, or a month of cable TV, and give directly to them, for this need.

They are [ here ].

Direct Giving defined: Give in reality, not in theory. Give to people, not to ideas.

Note: This letter was sent by way of participation in an Oxfam Campaign and borrows content from a sermon by Sociologist Anthony Campolo on corporate responsibility.

Golden Star Resources Ltd.
10901 W. Toller Drive, Suite 300
Littleton, Colorado
80127-6312 U.S.A.

Dear Mr. Tom Mair,

I read the reports from Oxfam (who is like the Mother Theresa of global care and relief agencies), and like a lot of people, I don’t know how to get through to you. We live in a time when people do not believe there will be an accounting for what we do, for how we live our lives. We live in a time when people believe that the lives of one set of families must be improved by exploiting another set of families – in short, we live according to the most primitive ethos with the most advanced technology. We’re savages with computers.

I am asking you to consider the following words, which no doubt you’ve heard before:

There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He improved the land, and strengthened the land, and he gave it into the trust of some men to keep in good faith as honorable stewards of the land. When it was time to harvest the good rewards from the land, he sent his servant to the tenants to collect his share. But they seized the servant, beat him, and sent him back empty-handed. So the landowner sent another servant, and they hit this one on the head and treated him shamefully. He sent another servant and that one they killed. He sent many others, and some of them they beat and some of them they killed. Finally, he sent his own son, whom he loved, thinking “They did not respect my servants, but they will respect my son”. But the tenants had a meeting and decided, “This is the heir. If we kill him, the land will be ours to do as we please.” So they took him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to these stewards when he comes?

When you read that “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness of it, the earth and all that is in it.” what does that mean to you? You see, you’re not the owners of the land or of the company, not really. You are just stewards, temporary keepers of the land, but it belongs to the Lord. And you are not running the company, and keeping the land, and treating his servants with integrity, and decency, and goodness, and kindness, and fairness, and compassion. And one day the owner of this ‘vineyard’ is going to come back. And when he does, he’s going to get you.

Prestea, Himan, and Dumase are servants of God. The Bogoso/Prestea Mine, and indeed all the land that it impacts, are the vineyard. You are the stewards, and God is the Lord who is coming back to collect.

I urge you to rise above the law of the jungle, and think about how your company can *both* turn a profit and do it with righteousness. I urge you to think about how you can make every dollar you earn a dollar earned from compassion more than greed. No one wishes to deny you your desire to take care of your
families and improve your place in the world. But when it is improved on the backs of the poor, the helpless, the voiceless, then it is not really improved. We have merely traded, in that moment, our heart, our soul, our compassion, our capacity for honoring our fellow human beings, for extra wealth. We’ve sold our birthright for a bowl of stew.

No one can make you better but you. But remember, that on that last day, when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord – on that day, you will not be able to say that you were not told. These words will rise up in the voices of angels, and you will be called to answer, if you do
not listen to them. The poor will stand up and, even if they are going into the fire, will point their fingers at you and say “There they are. These are the ones who broke our backs, and the backs of our wives and children.” And the Lord, who is the Protector and Mighty Defender of the poor, will hear them, and you will know dread.

Save yourselves. Be compassionate to the poor. “For as much as you have done it to the least of these, the poor, my brothers, you have done it to me.” Those are the words of the Lord who hears, the Lord who sees, the Lord who never forgets.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

- Daniel DiGriz

Please do not stop praying for Kenya. The poor, involved in microbusiness there, have been decimated. It’s easy to suggest that somehow it’s their fault, but it isn’t. It’s not your fault when armed gangs burn your tents and shacks to the ground, with everything you have, and kill people all around you. Below is a photo of Eunice Cherotich, someone I care about there, and a photo of Kenya in the aftermath.

Lee Jung Hyun is one of the most unique and creative pop artists in Korea. She developed her own style and made the already interesting pop culture there even more interesting. If Michael Jackson, Elvis, and Madonna became one person, they might start to measure up to Jung Hyun.

Nuh (You)

Bakkwa (Change)

This is hilarious. She certainly is daring.

Here she does an outrageous thing by bringing a double (one of her sisters)

Other creative peformances:

Uhm Jung Hwa (female singer) and Jinusean (the group)

1 TYM – 1 TYM

Senator Constance N. Johnson
Oklahoma State Senate, District 48

Senator Johnson,

I am concerned about legislation introduced and planned for introduction in 2008 by State Senator Owen Laughlin of Woodward and others. The legislation concerns inmates in county jails and financial responsibilities for pre-existing medical conditions. Links at the bottom of this letter include the recent court decision and area news articles on this matter.

On the surface it makes a great deal of sense that counties shouldn’t be responsible for a candidate’s cancer because he happens to get incarcerated. . . .

On the surface, the goal of this legislation is to place the responsibility on the inmate. But precisely because the inmate is incarcerated, he is no longer able to generate income for such expenses and faces depriving family members, already burdened with loss of income, with additional loss of assets. It is the equivalent, if you will, of visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children – something that, in this civilization, we are not supposed to do. The counties have, by incarcerating these prisoners, obviously assumed general responsibility for them, the way a ward of the court would be a responsibility of the court. We have a responsibility to continue to manage prisoners with justice, and that justice includes proper care-taking for their health.

Winston Churchill said “We judge a civilization by how it treats its prisoners.” Jesus Christ said, “I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.” We must judge the counties by how they treat their prisoners. We must judge ourselves by what it is we visit upon them when they are sick. I think I need not point out that this legislation may disproportionately affect the poor, and so it’s fair to say that this is not merely an issue of fiscal and financial justice, but of moral and social justice as well. The canard of “well if you want to get free medical treatment, just commit a crime” could just as well be used to deny them free food, clothing, and other basic care. In essence, prisons have always been simultaneously a form of charity as well as justice, aimed at reform and civilization as much as punishment.

As I understand it, hospitals cannot turn away patients, regardless of ability to pay. So it seems to be a question of whether counties, who can pay by raising taxes, or prisoners, who generally can’t pay, are stuck with the bills in question. I can’t help but think that in either situation, ultimately, if the pressure is not relieved, we will start to see inmates get less than proper care, their health deteriorate, and our jails a mediaeval place where the guilty go to suffer, languish, and die. That cannot be allowed to happen. Let’s take the example of a 39-year old man who is diagnosed with Leukemia, and it is determined that it is pre-existing, but his assets and savings are the primary means of support of his family. Do we really propose putting his wife and children out on the street to pay for his bone marrow transplant? His assets are essentially static, and he has been deprived, by incarceration, by the county, of the ability to generate income.

With hasty legislation, we run the risk of barbarous results and unjust consequences – something I know you and I could not countenance – especially in the wake of similarly hasty legislation on immigration in Oklahoma.

I ask you to urge more consideration, block hasty legislation, and propose compromises that attempt to do justice to all. Clinics all over Oklahoma do an income-debt-support analysis to determine an income-based fee for treatment. They take into account several crucial factors: 1. income 2. assets 3. dependents *** 4. other debts and then structure an appropriate fee. Something just along these lines could be a meaningful compromise to Sen. Laughlin’s approach. It should not be all or nothing. A single man with savings – I can see him paying the bill. A single man with nothing, or a man with a family supported by his assets, or a woman with children who would be affected by loss of her family’s assets, would be done an injustice by simultaneously burdening them with medical bills and preventing them from earning enough to satisfy them.

Thank you for hearing my request.

Your constituent,

Daniel DiGriz

ITEMS:
Court Case Docket:
http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID=451162
December 19 NewsOK Article
http://newsok.com/article/3182567
Dec 19 Edmond Sun Article
www.edmondsun.com/local/local_story_353120031.html
Dec 20 ArdmoreIte Article
http://www.ardmoreite.com/stories/122007/news_48178.shtml
Dec 26 Muskogee Phoenix Article
www.muskogeephoenix.com/local/local_story_360234852.html

[Find your Oklahoma Legislators]

I’m writing to ask that you intervene early, not wait, in the erupting situation in Kenya. I am deeply and personally concerned.

With Rwanda, the solutions of all parties, the UN and its member nations, were limp-wristed and inadequate.

Please get UN-troops on the ground and take the lead in supplementing Kenya’s security needs, and protecting civilians.

You remember at the end of the film Schindler’s List, when Schindler took off his watch and said “This could have bought several more lives. I could have done more…” That’s a man summing up the meaning of his life. At the end of the day and the close of our lives, it will be these least among our fellow human beings, the weak, undefended, and victimized that will either comfort or haunt us. Don’t let it be said that we did not do all we could.

Show me this headline: UN Troops on ground in Kenya – Supplementing Security

Daniel DiGriz
Oklahoma City, OK

One way of giving on behalf of colleagues and other professionals during the Holidays, is to give something related to their field of endeavour. For instance, for a training and education professional, you might give on their behalf to a school in Cambodia.

Organizations like globalgiving.org and givemeaning.org make it easy to target a sector of charity (medicine, education, justice and human rights, racial justice, etc.) that’s within the sphere of daily life and work of your colleague or loved one.

It’s a creative and appropriate way to give on occasions where giving to the world is precisely the point.

K***,

As a gift to you this Christmass, I have given $10 on your behalf to The Sharing Foundation’s Khmer literacy school in Cambodia, to help Cambodian children find a road out of poverty.

The literacy school runs three sessions a day for 120 children of Roteang village’s poorest families. Ten bilingual Cambodian college graduates teach English to 500 students in 19 sections offered daily after school hours at the village school.

 Thousands of Cambodian children grow up illiterate, with few educational options. The Sharing Foundation’s (TSF) Khmer literacy school helps farm children learn their native alphabet and numbers well enough to attend elementary school. Its English Language Program offers village students, ages 8-18, the opportunity to learn Cambodia’s language of commerce, allowing them to obtain jobs in tourism and word processing. These students are so dedicated that some meet on their own to study on weekends.

The gift was made via www.globalgiving.org and you can visit the project’s page at:

www.globalgiving.com/pr/1400/proj1382a.html 

One of the students: Chheng Srey Mom, 16, whose parents stopped school in grades 3 and 7, and whose two grown brothers also stopped in grammar school, has completed grade 8. She first went to the Literacy school five years ago, then joined the public school at the 4th grade level, and also began after-school English classes with TSF. Srey Mom wants to be a teacher; her favorite subject is Khmer. At her interview, she wrote she “wants to work hard for high education, and when I have good knowledge, I can help my community.”

I hope you’ll find this an appropriate gift for the birth of Christ, and as fellow training-education professionals.

Sincerely,

Daniel DiGriz

This is an excerpted letter of response I wrote to the COO of globalgiving.org — she’d written to thank me for participation, mention some web traffic coming from my site, and ask how I’d learned of their organization. I responded to explain how, personally, I select the charities that suit my interests.

Hi Donna,

Here’s the deal: It was a process. Like many people, I’ve gone years wanting to help the poor but feeling paralyzed – unable to find a way to do it effectively, for several reasons:

Reasons for Paralysis:

• the overhead of some organizations makes the process feel unjust – just like the exorbitant interests rates with some microloan repayment plans
• the administrative costs mean that it actually costs them more to process a small donation than the amount of the donation – meaning I’d be doing harm, not good unless I can regularly donate larger amounts
• there’s a sense of distance from people that actually undermines motivation, because the money is spread across issues with impersonal, even if effective, solutions – it begins to feel like political action (issue-based) rather than charitable action (person-based)
• simultaneously, the marketing techniques create a hunger for a different kind of charity – I already knew that child sponsorship didn’t mean directly sponsoring an individual child, and I understood and approved of the reasons why, but precisely because of those marketing campaigns, I couldn’t turn away from that child, and wanted a way to directly affect lives – that became a primary motivator and I began looking for an organization that would serve as a vehicle for that approach – targeted, direct, personal intervention – and a trust but verify policy toward financial accountability

How I became Un-paralyzed:

• Oxfam started the avalanche: First, in one of my periodic web scouring raids, I got interested in Oxfam after reading an article at www.fpif.org – specifically this one: www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3374 Oxfam seemed to me to support the values I and my peers hold – when we go to another place, we eat *their* food – we don’t go to an international chain – we buy locally, support local businesses, subsidize mom and pop places, etc. We think this is just, and it’s the appropriate response to their hospitality. It would be barbaric to visit Thailand and go right to McDonalds. Even if it’s just stopping in a roadside one-lane town on the way to somewhere else, we stop at a local garage and say “Every town has a diner that people like, has been there forever, and serves just good local fare – where’s yours?” And then we always eat the cobbler or pie.” Oxfam was a solution – they buy food locally and ship it locally in the donor region, rather than using 3/4 of the overhead to buy US food and ship it with US carriers. They do on a global scale what I do personally. So I donated and carried a link. I’m currently running an ebay auction with 100% of proceeds going to Oxfam.
• Kiva set me free: Kiva fell in my lap. I got interested in kiva.org from watching a CNBC report. The investigative reporter *tried* the approach, initiating small microloans anonymously on their site, and then flying to Africa to see what had happened. It worked. They found the exact people who had borrowed, and they had significantly improved their lives ( i.e. from mud and stick hovel with family of 6 and one income from a dilapidated bike taxi to two incomes, a thriving business, and a little two-room house with a locking steel door – theirs were genuinely happy children). I was in! As Christmas gifts this year, I made microloans on behalf of friends and family and sent Christmas cards with the name, photo, and information on the person receiving the loan. My wife asked me what I wanted for Christmas, and I asked her to help me help one more person. So we did. There’s a Schindler’s List kind of feel to it, in some ways. At the end of the film, he wished he could give up his watch to help just one more person – he was willing to trade. We don’t, on our death beds, lie wishing we had bought more things; we wish we had built stronger relationships, loved more people, and been more involved in others’ lives. I’m not waiting for wishes.
• Short jump to GlobalGiving: I wanted more, and what I’d already found gave me the search terms I needed. I combined oxfam and kiva into a google search and went on the hunt again, running across blogs with banners for those and other charities. An example: http://bjancy.blogspot.com — I then visited the web sites of each charity, to narrow it down, and looked for reviews and comments in further google searches. The one that made me want to give this way the most was an orphanage in cambodia that needs $900 total for toilets and things, and so far only have $189. I liked what I saw with globalgiving.org (direct action, progress reports, well-organized site) and decided to begin working with it to fight poverty. It also gave me a vehicle to fight injustice – it actually expanded the areas in which I thought I could help.

. . . What globalgiving does, is give me a way to *give* in a similar manner that kiva gives me a way to *lend*. GlobalGiving also provides me a way to target certain sectors easily while maintaining that direct personal action I mentioned. For instance, I can zero in on orphanages. The progress reports are strong motivators.

. . . Being featured in Clinton’s book was very positive as an endorsement ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlobalGiving ) – that was the final trigger that got me over the edge and into the water w. GG.

– Daniel DiGriz