A friend once asked me, "What is the best way to make a difference?" Of course, there is no one answer to this but I always respond quickly with the concept of kindness; something I certainly picked up along the way from my Christian "do unto others" upbringing and the Dalai Lama's "Open Heart". Yet, certainly I should be able to enumerate the plethora of ways to help?
I speak for myself, and I believe for many that I know, when I say that we all have a common preoccupation. That is to seek meaning, importance, purpose in every day life. As a former UN employee, I often found solace on those particularly stressful days in the mere fact that I worked for an organization that seeks, although with exception, the moral high road. This helped me when I sat inside my NY bubble, watched the war in Iraq on TV, read the quotidian accounts of conflict in the paper and meanwhile did little else philanthropic than be kind, work at the UN, and buy my parents an Oxfam cow for Christmas.
So, now we are in Sri Lanka where, if you haven't noticed, there is something of a civil war occurring. Now, in no way do I suggest that the best way to help is to move to a country at war. I certainly appreciate the work of war photographers and journalists but my disposition will always keep me a safe distance from the front line. I am incredibly isolated from the conflict, aside from the ever present check points. I sit at home and read articles such as this one in Marie Claire that make me anxious and frightened but rarely do I get such a reaction from actually traveling in the country.
So, to actively pursue the question "What is the best way to make a difference?", I am going to place an ongoing focus on exploring the "best" ways to help.
This whole rant was inspired by an interview with one of the founders of Kiva.org on Al-Jazeera. Following the heed of Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammed Yunus, Kiva was born as a micro-finance institution with a particular modern and accessible edge. With it's online platform, Kiva is armchair philanthropy at its best. The website almost mimics those of social networking fame Myspace or Facebook but obviously with more altruistic ambitions. By giving the needy entrepreneur a Myspace-esqe profile, Kiva provides an ingenious way of instilling trust in the donors through visibility; no more faceless cold calls or return address stickers to lure you into donating, now for better or worse you can just login and view how your donation has made a difference.
Unfortunately, there are no listings for entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka but it looks like there will be soon as they are actively seeking Sinhala translators.
So, here it is, a way to help: Kiva.org!
Please email me if you have any comments or great examples of smart ways to help!
