Aid to Pakistan

With our Beyond US funds, our community at Mosaic has gotten involved with relief efforts in Pakistan through World Vision and the International Mission Board.  We are looking at sending a medical team as well.

In a Christian Science Monitor article called “Why Pakistan’s Disaster Should Concern You,” U.C. Berkeley professor of public policy Robert Reich writes:

“The human tragedy unfolding in Pakistan right now demands our full attention.

Flooding there has already stranded 20 million people, more than 10 percent of the population. A fifth of the nation is underwater. More than 3.5 million children are in imminent danger of contracting cholera and acute diarrhea; millions more are in danger of starving if they don’t get help soon. More than 1,500 have already been killed by the floods.

This is a human disaster.

It’s also a frightening opening for the Taliban.

Yet so far only a trickle of aid has gotten through. As of today (Thursday), the U.S. has pledged $150 million, along with 12 helicopters to take food and material to the victims. (Other rich nations have offered even less – the U.K., $48.5 million; Japan, $10 million, and France, a measly $1 million. Today (Thursday), Hillary Clinton is speaking at the UN, seeking more.)

This is bizarre and shameful. We’re spending over $100 billion this year on military maneuvers to defeat the Taliban in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan. Over 200 helicopters are deployed in that effort. And we’re spending $2 billion in military aid to Pakistan.

More must be done for flood victims, immediately.

Beyond helping to prevent mass disease and starvation we’ll also need to help Pakistan rebuild.”

To read the rest of the article, go here.

What are other strategic ways we can help the people of Pakistan in the midst of this crisis?

!deation Conference Highlights (Wedded Bliss & World Vision)

Ideas are a dime-a-dozen. What really brings positive change to an individual, organization, or
business is the actual implementation of these ideas. But in order to get there, ideas need
intentional strategy, development of skill-sets, sustainable infrastructure, and a viable network.

The !deation Conference is a unique conference experience that gathers some of the most innovative thinkers and practitioners from a given field in order to help fellow practitioners develop thoughts and tangible next steps for greater impact in their respective work.

Here are some of the highlights:

Nisa Islam Muhammad decided to promote the benefits of marriage in her community by creating the Wedded Bliss Foundation and Black Marriage Day.  During slavery marriage was illegal. After slavery strong marriages were the norm due to strong cultural cues. Now the cultural cues are missing. Through courses, conferences, and relationships, Nisa and her team are bringing cultural change.

Keith Kall serves as executive director for Corporate Engagement at World Vision, a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice working in nearly 100 countries around the globe. Capitalism and the private sector can build democracies, provide clean drinking water, bring about the end of famine, etc.. The goal is not to make people less poor but more rich. Capitalism has problems, but when allowed to function properly the private sector finds needs and seeks to meet them. Capitalism at its best is not about greed but self-interest. You can be profitable without damaging your own credibility or the working relationship. Too often “a hand up” is really “a hand out” which does not help in the long term. For example, Food Aid destroys the local markets.  NGOs can learn a lot from the corporate world. A great example would be Toms Shoes. We shouldn’t treat corporations as ATMs or adversaries but partners in bringing good to the planet.

Devastation in Haiti

With little information yet on the magnitude of the devastation in Haiti, I stumbled across these pictures of the Haitian Presidential Palace before and after yesterday’s 7.0 earthquake.

If one of the most important buildings (which I assume may be one of the buildings built with the most resources) looks like this, I cannot imagine what the rest of Port Au Prince must look like.

Praying for the people of Haiti.

We can give to help them through World Vision or Compassion.

If you have other ideas on ways to serve them, let us know!