Do Something About the Hot Mess

I am almost finished with Half the Sky. (I guess when I really want to read something, I somehow find the time to squeeze a few pages in each day). It is a powerful and engaging book that left me in tears as I read just some of the stories of the many ways the world's poorest women are oppressed and victimized. I have been marking numerous tidbits that I want to share here on the blog at some point. The book also offers many solutions for ways that all of us can serve as channels for hope and redemption for these women who so desperately need us. One of the main ideas promoted in the book is microfinance which involves providing small loans to women in order to help them start and grow small businesses in poverty-stricken regions of the world. Studies are showing that by giving a woman even just a small loan of $65, she is able to use her creativity and initiative to build a business that allows her to feed her family and educate her children. This has particular impact on girls who are often excluded from an education when finances are limited. That same woman can also then gain greater respect in her family as she becomes a contributor of income to the family (this can keep her from being beaten by her husband as might normally be the case). In my reading tonight, I learned of the coolest website for an organization called Kiva. This organization allows you to partner directly with individuals in poor countries who are seeking small loans. You can give a loan of $25 and your money is pooled with other small lenders to create the total amount a person is hoping to borrow (sometimes just a few hundred dollars). I love this! I love the concept and I love how it harnesses the power of the Internet to bring people together. Another new group that does something similar is HopeMongers. They are connected with Children's Hopechest and several other great organizations. There seem to be some problems with their website right now (it just went live recently) but here's an article about how this group plans to make Christ's love a physical reality. I'm looking forward to learning about and getting more involved with supporting microfinance. What a great way to make God's love tangible for the price of pedicure.

Speaking of HopeChest, we also just got the profile for the child we will be sponsoring. She is 10 years old and lives in Swaziland. Swaziland is a small country almost completely contained within the country of South Africa. It has a population of 1.2 million people. According to Children's Hopechest, Swaziland has the distinction of being the country with the highest rate of HIV/AIDS infection on the planet. 46% of the Swaziland population is infected with the virus. By age 3, kids born with HIV die. The infection rate in children ages 15 – 23 is 57%. Only 6% of 15 years olds will survive to age 30. Those statistics are startling and troubling to say the least. Isn't it great to know that for just $34 a month, we can help do our part to keep Little Miss T from becoming one of those statistics. She is the latest child to take a place in our hearts.



Finally, I have to say a quick word about a recent post from
Zoe at Chasing Saints. Evidently, there are quite a few folks are in a stir about Angelina Jolie's Ethiopian daughter Zahara. And what issue could be so important as to even garner attention from Newsweek? That's right - her hair. It appears that some members of the African- American community do not think Angelina is properly maintaining her daughter's hair. One writer went so far as to say Zahara's hair was a "hot mess" that she would be embarrassed by when she looked at pictures later in life. My thoughts on this are many. First, it makes me feel like I'm not crazy for sensing the need to make sure the my daughters meet appropriate standards for being "well kept" African-American children, particularly because I, as their mother, am not black. (You can read my ramblings on this issue here if you missed that post.) Second, I find the whole thing pretty ridiculous. What is worse? For a child to be loved and adored by a family who provides for her but may not happen to do that child's hair in a way a stranger finds acceptable or to be left motherless and fatherless as an AIDS orphan with no hope of a better future? Let's get real here, people. It's time to focus on what matters. I am all about being sensitive to the the ethnic and cultural differences that are now an inevitable part of my life in a transracial family (I have spent a bundle researching and trying all kinds of hair products...Redken does wonders). However, if you have enough time on your hands to write about someone else's kid's hair, you should book a ticket to Ethiopia...or Uganda...or Rwanda...or Burundi...or Swaziland...and get to work changing lives. There is a lot to be done because it's a hot mess in much of the world today. Enough said. I'm off to pick out my girls' hair.



A recent shot from a "hot mess" morning....