earth hour

Today, people around the world at 8 pm in their respective time zones will turn off the lights and use the least amount of electricity as possible to mark earth hour. I understand the symbolic importance of these initiatives, but they still drive my crazy.

I understand that if we can get each individual to change their habits, we can make significant changes. However, I am frustrated on this total focus on individual behaviour when countries and nations are doing nothing to resolve the climate crisis. Why as an individual should we pay, when the majority of the damage has come from large scale polluters. Don't get me wrong, I think individuals needs to do their part, and I recognize that large scale polluters are often making the items that we as individuals demand, but still, the focus is still too much on the individual.

Here's a youtube video that takes on Al Gore along this same idea, poking fun at Al Gore jetting around creating a huge carbon footprint to talk about global warming:

heading towards a flock

I've been writing about my microlending experience for some time, and jut wanted to provide a further update. As my first loan has now paid off, I can reinvest it. My original $50 investment in Kiva is now the equivalent of $100 of loans.

Since Natik had some success with sheep, I've decided to stick with that theme while reinvesting the money I originally loaned to him.


This is Maarif Aliyev. He also lives in Azerbaijan. The following is the Kiva writeup for his loan:

Maarif Aliyev lives in Beylagan, a small town in Azerbaijan. He is 55 years old, married, and has three children. He is engaged in animal sales. He has ten years' experience at this business. Maarif purchases animals from the livestock market of Beylagan, raises them for some months, and then sells them again. (He is pictured at the livestock market.) Now he needs $400, with which sum he plans to buy some sheep to add to his flock.

Maarif's loan has been filled and paid out. Repayments should begin in March. I've been thrilled by the whole experience with Kiva so far and hope to continue to have the loans repaid and then reinvested. It's an easy and simple way to make a difference in someone's life and I highly recommend it.

pay day

Well, my very first foray into international finance has finally come to an end. Natik, the cattle/sheep farmer in Azerbaijan has repaid his $800 loan. For the full details of the international bank of glen, click here.

As with the loan to the fuel seller in Afghanistan, the $25 I loaned is repaid into my account where I can reloan it to another business.

Kiva works great. My original $50 investment continues to get reloaned each time it is paid back, so it will now be the equivalent of $100 having gone to help people in developing countries!

If you haven't yet, check Kiva out, and consider getting involved.

this kind of stuff still shouldn't happen

From the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission:

New York, Wednesday December 5, 2007) - The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) has learned today that despite an order by the Iranian Chief Justice to nullify his death sentence, Mr. Makvan Mouloodzadeh was executed in Kermanshah Central Prison at 5 a.m. this morning, Iranian time. Neither Mr. Mouloodzadeh's family or his lawyer were told about the execution until after it occurred. IGLHRC is still investigating the facts in this case.

"This is a shameful and outrageous travesty of justice and international human rights law," said Paula Ettelbrick, IGLHRC's executive director. "How many more young Iranians have to die before the international community takes action?"

Mr. Mouloodzadeh was a 21-year-old Iranian citizen who was accused of committing anal rape (ighab) with other young boys when he was 13 years old. However, at Mr. Mouloodzadeh's trial, all the witnesses retracted their pre-trial testimonies, claiming to have lied to the authorities under duress. Makvan also told the court that his confession was made under coercion and pleaded not guilty. On June 7, 2007, the Seventh District Criminal Court of Kermanshah in Western Iran found him guilty and sentenced him to death. Despite his lawyer's appeal, the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence on August 1, 2007. The case caused an international uproar, and prompted a letter writing campaign by IGLHRC and similar actions by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Outrage! and Everyone Group.

In response to mounting public pressure, and following a detailed petition submitted to the Iranian Chief Justice by Mr. Mouloodzadeh's lawyer, the Iranian Chief Justice, Ayatollah Seyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi, nullified the impending death sentence of Mr. Mouloodzadeh. In his November 10, 2007 opinion (1/86/8607), the Iranian Chief Justice described the death sentence to be in violation of Islamic teachings, the religious decrees of high-ranking Shiite clerics, and the law of the land.

In accordance with Iranian legal procedure, Mr. Mouloodzadeh's case was sent to the Special Supervision Bureau of the Iranian Justice Department, a designated group of judges who are responsible for reviewing and ordering retrials of flawed cases flagged by the Iranian Chief Justice. However, in defiance of the Chief Justice, the judges decided to ratify the original court's ruling and ordered the local authorities to carry out the execution.

Mr. Mouloodzadeh's execution came days after a panel at the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty.

You can read IGLHRC's action alert on our website: http://www.iglhrc.org/site/iglhrc/section.php?id=5&detail=797

Our Letter to the Iranian authorities is also posted on our website in both English and Persian: http://www.iglhrc.org/site/iglhrc/section.php?id=5&detail=798

world aids day

and the money kept rolling in

Well, my first loan through Kiva has been repaid. Although Natik, the cattle turned sheep breeder in Azerbaijan has received most of the attention, it was in fact the fuel seller in Afghanistan who was the first to repay his loan fully. Although I wasn't getting updates on how the business was doing, payments were being made regularly.

Once a loan is paid, you can withdraw it, donate it to Kiva to help cover operating expenses or reinvest, so it's back into the world of high finance for me. I'm switching continents this time, and heading to Africa, specifically Nigeria. I know the online scams usually start in Nigeria, but so far Kiva and their partners have been dead on, so I'm giving it a shot.

This is Gbemisola Adeshkor:


Gbemisola Adeshokor is 48 years old, married, and has 6 children. She hails from Ibgolerin, in Lagos State, Nigera. Gbemisola sells foods in her local market to support her family, and has been doing so since 1992. Gbemisola would like a loan of $400 to purchase a wider variety of foods to sell.

As of the time I write this blog, Gbemisola is only 56% funded for her $400 so there's still time to jump in if you want to give Kiva a try.

free rice

Although not as exciting a headline as free drugs, I still hope that I can draw your attention to Freerice.com.

This web site is a sister site to Poverty.com and has two main goals.

1. Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

The site gives you a word, and four possible meanings. For each right answer advertisers on the site will purchase 10 grains of rice to be distributed through the United Nations Food Program. Just a few minutes of play can really add up the grains of rice.

Plus the more you play the more you learn. The vocabulary level goes up and down based on the number of correct or incorrect answers. If you get one wrong, keep playing as your rice total will contine to go up.

the daily dharma

This may come as a surprise to some of my readers, but I subscribe to a yahoo group called Dharma for Today. Dharmas are generally the teachings of the Buddha and could be considered doctrines or laws. The group sends out sends a dharma daily, and once on weekends. One of the messages this week has stuck with me and has been bouncing around my head. I thought I would share it.

In the Dhammapada, a buddhist religious scripture, Buddha said:

We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with an impure mind
And trouble will follow you
As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart...
Speak or act with a pure mind
And happiness will follow you
As your shadow, unshakable.
Happiness and unhappiness depend on our actions.

the international bank of glen

Yes my ever increasing role in international finance has brought me a wealth of new riches and attention. First off, I've received blog visitors form Ghana and Austria through the international bank of glen. I'm expecting loan requests from them soon. I'm still waiting for the visitors from Switzerland or the Cayman Islands to show up and ask me to join their club, but that may still be a way.

So why all the excitement and trumpeting? Remember Natik, the cattle breeder. Well, he has started repaying his loan. This week, I received the first payment on my loan, $4.19 That's almost a 1/5th of the loan paid off, disbursed among the various lenders. With the loan he was able to double the number of cattle he has from three to six.

A full list of stories on my new career as an international financier can be found here.

where in the world...

It's been quite some time since I've had a real unusual hit to the blog. Just yesterday though, I had a hit from Ghana, Africa. It appears they found me through my writings on kiva. One more continent to go and I think I have them all covered.

brother can you spare a dime?

It's been a while and I've been keeping my eye out for a new project to fund through kiva. I've decided to support a firewood business in Afghanistan. Information on the project can be found here.

I choose Afghanistan because of the war going there and the Canadian soldiers. I figure the sooner the country can get onto a firmer economic footing, the sooner things will improve. Development, and not anything else is going to solve the problems there. Without economic development, I see Afghanistan, and the Canadian presence there continuing forever.

Now that they are there, I support our forces. We have entered the country, it is our duty to support them and to stay there until the situation is stable. We have a responsibility to fulfill our committments. But if we can help move things along through development, I'm all for it.

free drugs

Now that I have your attention, I would like to encourage you to sign a petition calling on the Government of Canada to change Canada’s law on exporting lower-cost medicines to developing countries so that it stands a greater chance of working.

In 2004 the Parliament of Canada unanimously passed legislation that was supposed to facilitate the compulsory licensing of patented medicines so that lower-cost, generic versions could be manufactured and exported to developing countries in need of more affordable drugs to address public health problems, including HIV/AIDS. However, no drugs have yet been exported, in part because of the cumbersome process the legislation puts in place.

Member organizations of the Global Treatment Access Group (GTAG), including the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, have been advocating on this issue for some time. The federal government has recently completed a period of public consultation about the legislation. All the submissions that were received by the government, including from GTAG and many of its member groups, are now on-line.

I understand that the relevant House of Commons committee will hold 3 days of formal hearings into the legislation in March, where this petition will likely be referenced.

i don't think we're in kansas anymore

After the recent Arkansas post I really shouldn't have been surprised, but yesterday I had a hit from Kansas. Now that I have the statcounter working properly, it's proving to be a wealth of information.

I "drilled-down" the details of their visit, combine that with a little google searching and voila, I have a profile of my Kansas visitor. A good public relations tactic is to monitor what people are saying about you, both the good and the bad. The Internet, and the proliferation of blogs and web sites like these make this even more important. It appears I was visited today by a public relations person today doing just that. The hit came from Heifer International. It appears if you do an blog search for "heifer international", my blog comes up.

Heifer International is a charitable organization focused on ending hunger and caring for the environment. One of their initiatives is to give families farm animals to provide them with food and resources.

Interestingly enough, they appear to be running off a server in Kansas, but their head office is in Little Rock, Arkansas. HMMM, very interesting, my blog world is converging.

Anyways, I offer this plug for them, as I am sure they may have been disappointed to find the entry was about another charity. I would have added them to my "do some good" links if only they had answered the burning question I posed below, why is it Ar-kan-saw, not Ar-Kan-sas?

one's a heifer

The first thing that I thought of today when I received an update on my journey into the glamourous world of international finance and cattle breeding was Sinclair Ross' story "one's a heifer". I think I read that story in grade nine, but it's always stayed with me.

In the update I recieved, I was told that the microfinance loan I gave through kiva.org has been disbursed to Natik Asadov, a cattle breeder in Azerbaijan. The site maintains a journal where I will receive updates on the progress of Natik's business and the repayment of the loan. The loan is going to be used to expand his business by buying three more cattle. Although I don't know for sure, I'm sure at least one of the three will be a heifer.

high finance

My new role of international financier is off to an excellent start. In just two days, Natik has gone from 31% of his loan funded to 100% funded.

I should soon be recieving updates on how his business is progressing and repayment should occur in roughly 12 months or so.

I wasn't expecting the money to be raised so quickly and over the several weeks will be going back to the web site in search of a new loanee. In the meantime you can continue to follow Natik's progress on their site and here on the blog.

Also, over the next little while, I'll be adding some more links to the "do some good" sidebar here on the blog.

i'm an international financier

I may not be able to balance my chequebook, but I have entered the fast-paced and glamorous world of international finance. I am officially a money lender.

I just made a $25 loan to Natik Asadov a young man in Azerbaijan looking to expand his farm business by purchasing three cattle. The whole deal was done in less than five minutes online.

Kiva.org allows individuals to make $25 loans to low-income entrepreneurs in the developing world (microfinance). By doing so, you can provide affordable working capital for the poor (money to buy a sewing machine, livestock, etc.), empowering them to earn their way out of poverty.

It's a new, direct and sustainable way to fight global poverty, and for only a small amount of money you can help someone build a future.

If you have a minute, please check out the the site. Also, you can follow the progress of Natik Asadov's loan on the banner on the right side of my blog.

do some good

December 10th is Human Rights Day, celebrating the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Amnesty International holds a write-a-thon on December 10th to encourage people all over the world to write letters in support of human rights.

If it's December 10th, take a look around your community, there may be an event happening. Or better yet, follow the link below, choose an action and write a letter yourself. If it's after December 10th, don't worry, you can still write a letter, or take part in Amnesty's Christmas Card Greeting Campaign, where cards are sent to prisoners of conscience all around the world.

Amnesty International is a great organization and only accepts donations from individuals and not from governments of any kind.

For more information:

Write-A-Thon
Greeting Card Campaign
Amnesty International