I’ve been spending some time linking to articles by Train for Humanity and sending information about their endeavors through Twitter. There has been two reasons for this:
- -Mark Hayward is one of the nicest people I’ve met online.
- -Train for Humanity is using physical fitness and social media to bring raise money for Darfur Peace and Development
At first I didn’t know what to write about for Blog Action Day and then it hit me – duh! I said to myself, “Kim, you’ve been linking to Train for Humanity and sending tweets about them so why not take the time to write an entire post.”
Train for Humanity says what they are doing so well that I will use their words.
“Train for Humanity uses the web, social media, and blogging in tandem with everyday athletes in training to support organizations that help prevent suffering and alleviate the pain of children, orphans, and refugees who have been displaced due to genocide or internal strife and war within their country.”
Pretty awesome, huh? Mark Hayward, Leo Babauta, and Dan Clements and using their bodies to get in shape and participate in athletic events in order to raise money to donate to Darfur Peace and Development. They are using social media and blogging to bring awareness to their endeavors. You might know Mark Hayward from My Tropical Escape, Leo Babauta from Zen Habits (yes, that Zen Habits) and Dan Clements from Escape 101.
And Darfur needs our help! It isn’t a hot topic in mainstream media but it doesn’t mean the dire situation has lessened. To bring this point home, please read the article about the school that was bombed. It’s heartbreaking – young children died. This is just one instance of the horrifying things that are occuring in Darfur – things that are too uncomfortable to read about.
So how can you help? Well, Train for Humanity has a page listing what you can do. Here are some ideas.
- Donate if you can
- Write a blog post
- Stumble, bookmark and tweet their articles
- Put a badge on your site like the one in my sidebar
- Sponsor one of them
So, what have you written about for Blog Action Day – 08? Feel free to leave your links in the comments.
photo credit: SeniorArt
Hi Kim
Great feel about this blog action day – wish the world would work together like this. My handle is on the present day Global financial crisis and the effect on increasing stress related diseases such as cancer. I already support cancer patients see blog
Created a special blog to follow this poverty theme through the year… will be putting in material from when I lived in India over next few weeks.
http://marj54.edublogs.org/
http://marj54.edublogs.org/2008/10/12/action-on-poverty/
Like the offer of help with the technical side of blogging… keep in touch
Marjorie’s last blog post – Global cancer template
seems like an interesting program. will check them out. :)
for my part, i turn to sites like freerice, kiva, and goodsearch, as ways to help alleviate poverty online.
saw this post via the front page of blog action day. it’s great that you’re participating. :)
kouji haiku’s last blog post – guantanamo haiku poem
@Marjorie – Thank you for visiting and for providing information on your endeavors :-)
@kouji haiku – The sites that you mentioned are all very worthwhile – I’m especially fond of Kiva.
Thanks so much for stopping by and saying hi :-)
What a wonderful idea for Blog Action Day.
I wanted to thank you again for sharing your own personal story on MomGrind today, Kim.
Vered – MomGrind’s last blog post – Women Who Say No To Photoshopping
Hi Vered,
Thank you!
Your post was great. I actually told the condensed version and I do have friends and family who would help keep the worst from happening. I was just really upset with the other comment – I felt bad – like I had hijacked the comment thread.
I wrote about how music lessons provide a financial return on investment that can not only lift families but whole countries out of poverty.
Thank you for sharing your story and alerting me to Train for Humanity! I’ve dugg your post to send more traffic your way and alert everyone else to this wonderful organization.
Hi Cynthia – Thanks for stopping by and commenting! Train for Humanity is a great organization and I hope they are successful. Thanks for the digg – I don’t think my articles are very digg-worthy but new traffic is always a good thing.
Kim,
Thanks for this info. I had no idea that Train for Humanity existed.
What’s going on in Darfur is horrible and I’m glad you brought up the fact that the mainstream media is not DOING their job and focusing on something important other than this US election blah blah hoopla. What’s more important? People dying? Or whether I can see the fuzz on Sarah Palin’s upper lip? Okay, I’m getting pissed so I better leave before I go off on a tangent.
Thanks. E
Ellen Wilson’s last blog post – Retreat
Oh, and for some reason I could not subscribe to RSS on your site. I can’t figure out why, but I do remember bringing this up before. So I subscribed via email. It works.
Ellen Wilson’s last blog post – Retreat
Hi Ellen :-)
Thanks for subscribing – I sent you an email about the RSS and a possible reason for the problem.
Train for Humanity just started this summer – August I think. At first, I didn’t know too much about it but I do know Mark Hayward online and he is so kind that I knew this endeavor would be worth something. I think they are having a little trouble getting know which is why I try to spread the word about what they are doing as much as possible.
Don’t get me started on the media – I think they stuff people full of the unimportant to blind us from what is really important and to keep us ignorant. I don’t believe much positive change can occur until there is extensive media reform. And since Darfur isn’t a big issue with our media right now people don’t even know what it’s going but they can name Palin’s children and know what Britney Spears did yesterday.
These intensely horrible situations also keep things in perspective for me – I know that no matter how hard things are that my life will never be anywhere close to what these people experience on a daily basis.