Saturday, December 11, 2010

Best Aid Intervention - What is it?

Best Aid Intervention. Is there such a thing as the best aid intervention? And if there is, what is it? Can we define it as a development approach that is equally successful, cost-effective, and sustainable when implemented in any country or region of the world?

Girls Education

First thing that comes to mind is girls' education, on which I wrote before in Girls and Education-Why Do They Matter? Yet despite my own devotion to the cause and many great studies on the subject(check out "Because I am a Girl" by Plan International thanks to @KeshetBachan for the link), we have to acknowledge that girls education is NOT the most cost-effective tool. Nicholas Kristof, one of the most prominent supporters of girls education, states: "While we argue that educating girls does stimulate economic growth and foster stability, for example, it is also true that one of the most educated parts of rural India is the state of Kerala, which has stagnated economically." The example of the former USSR republics (almost all of which have literacy ratings around 90%) also proves that education is not always the key to economic development and high per-capita incomes. Therefore, girls' education is not a panacea(but oh how I wish it were!)and not the best aid intervention.

Microfinance

Is it microfinance that has gained huge numbers of supporters since the beginning of the new millennia with the help of its main champion, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus? Probably not. Not because of the SKS IPO controversy, Andhra Pradesh crisis, or the infamous Norwegian documentary, but simply because microloans do not fit the needs of all the poor people. Believe it or not, poor people are not equally poor and have different needs! To me, out of all the criticism that microfinance industry has received recently, the not-everybody-wants/can-(to)-be-an-entrepreneur seems to be the most viable. In addition, there hasn't been enough research on microfinance effectiveness, while some of the few researches that came out had actually come up with negative results.

On the other hand, there is an undeniable need for financial tools developed specifically for the poor, which is strongly supported by the research summarized in the brilliant "Portfolios of the Poor." Thus, microfinance still has a shot at becoming the most effective development tool... with two big "ifs". If the industry continues working on the diversification of its products, a prerequisite stressed in the latest CGAP report. And if microfinance shifts its focus back to its poor clients, away from the wealthy investors.

Seasonal Migration (of people)
Would you be surprised if I told you that seasonal migration is a more effective development tool than microfinance, deworming (one of the cheapest aid interventions!), or conditional cash transfers? That's exactly what this article states!



But does the success of a seasonal migration from Tonga to New Zealand mean that this approach will be equally effective in raising incomes elsewhere? Probably not. The article itself states that this type of policy will be most effective for small island nations and its results will depend on governments and international organizations. (Knowing these limitations, we can take seasonal migration down from the "best aid interventions" list right away.) Moreover, the article's daring conclusion is nothing but a suggestion based on very few one-sided researches.

Does it mean that there is no such thing as the best aid intervention, a perfect development approach creating miracles all over the world? Well, miracles do happen all over the world (look at Kenyan M-PESA for example!), it's just that they are brought about by different forces and different aid interventions.

The world and its people are simply too diverse for one aid intervention to be equally effective everywhere. There will ALWAYS be exceptions to the rule. As I see it, the best aid intervention, is actually a combination of all of the above + many more great development approaches implemented at the right time in the right place.( Concerning the last 2 points, i.e. "at the right time at the right place", I recommned to check out this great post on World Bank blog: Revisiting the "country-specific solution"

I am very interested in your opinion. Do you think best aid intervention actually exists? Maybe you have a different definition of it or would have used different examples? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Idealist: To be or not to be


"Idealists...foolish enough to throw caution to the winds...have advanced mankind and have enriched the world," Emma Goldman


I wasn't sure which career path to choose for a rather long time. My first choice, of course, was to be an actress. Unfortunately for Hollywood, it didn't happen as I gave up the idea of becoming second Julia Roberts early in my life (around 10 or 12.) My next choice was journalism; I still carry passion for writing and expressing my own opinion wherever I go.

The big change happened in 10th grade when I did a report on the problems of the third-world countries for my geography class. Suddenly I was exposed to the world of hunger, poverty, and diseases on a scale I never knew before. Mind you, I am from Russia, which despite all of its political bravado has rather low standards of living.

However, one of the biggest things that enraged me was not poverty and omnipresence of AIDS in itself, but long history of colonialism and economic exploitation of the developing nations by the West that continues even now. From then on, my career goal was decided: to help people, especially the ones that are in dire need of it. What an unoriginal career goal, I thought. Doesn't everybody want to help other people? Isn't every job's ultimate goal is to help people? Not particularly, I learnt later.

As I studied International Relations at the university my illusions about the UN quickly evaporated. Yet somehow, I still didn't loose hope for a good-hearted and effective global government. During political theory classes I found myself somewhere in between Hobbes' and Locke's camps, my mind telling me that humans are rather corrupt and self-destructive, my heart, however, always believing in the good nature of fellow Homo sapiens.

Even now I haven't quite decided which camp I belong to. On Twitter I got a chance to connect with many "development skeptics" (who are this way only for the sake of progress and effectiveness in the the field of foreign aid and economic development.) On the other hand, I recently read a book by 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate, Muhammad Yunus, who simply infects you with his optimism and belief in the good of humans' hearts!

So who am I, you wonder? An Idealist or a skeptic, Lockean or Hobbesian? If you look at my Twitter profile, you will learn that I am an idealist...with a skeptical side, which helps me focus on effectiveness and always keeps my feet on the ground.

"An idealist believes the short run doesn't count. A cynic believes the long run doesn't matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run," Sydney J. Harris


Which side are you on? Do you think it is worth being an idealist? Or do you think they always have their heads in the clouds? Maybe realism is the golden mean for you? Are you an aid skeptic or admire aid and philanthropic agencies simply for the attempt to help people? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments sections below.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Can microfinance be both moral and profitable?


I have recently stumbled upon a CNNMoney article on microfinance that talks about SKS Microfinance Ltd., India's biggest microlender', debut on Bombay Stock Exchange.

At first, I saw no problem with SKS' Initial Public Offering (IPO). By going public SKS will attract more money to its business that means more loans for India's poor. Yet, I forgot that as a public company SKS now will be accountable to its shareholders, who are interested in profit-maximization, not in serving the poor. How does a microfinance organization boosts its profits? You got it - by increasing interest rates on its loans. Now, this, of course, has been the main criticism of the founder of microfinance, Muhammad Yunus. He affirms that any microcredit organization charging its clients more than 15% interest rate does not truly serve the poor, rather it is in a profit-maximizing business.



So, is there a way for MFIs to get investment without raising their interest rates? The answer, yet again, lays in creative and unconventional thinking of Muhammad Yunus. The answer is social business, a business that functions in every way as a regular profit-maximizing enterprise except that it is not. Instead of profit maximization a social business' only goal is to serve a cause. Thus, a social business uses all its profits solely for the expansion of its operations. Moreover, a social business can be social in a different way, having poor people as its shareholders. In the beginning though social business has to be supported by regular investors, who will put their capital into a social business as into any other one, the only difference being that they will not receive any dividends. As soon as a social business becomes self-sustainable, investors will get their money back and will be able to decide to reinvest the sum or spend it on something else. The motivation behind investing in social businesses is simple: the desire to do good, which is in human nature and which brings if not material then emotional and spiritual benefits.

Therefore, only if SKS was operating as a social business and if its shareholders had altruistic and idealistic minds, then SKS could have continued to truly serve the poor at the same time getting enough investments to run its business and expand its operations. Yet, in the business of serving the poor there is no place for self-enrichment. That again proves Muhammad Yunus' position, arguing that any hybrid business model will ultimately sacrifice its altruistic values for profit maximization.

And yes, did I mention that Vikram Akula, the founder of CEO of SKS, has recently sold his shares of the company for $10 million? He says he is not ashamed of it, stating that rewarding microfinance employees is part of his business strategy. That's a nice reward, isn't it? Especially that much of SKS' original capital came from public donations and grants.

Now, where do you stand on this issues? Do you sympathize with Mr. Akula's strategy or admire Mr. Yunus' altruistic position? If you haven't made up your mind yet, you will probably be able to do so after watching Muhammad Yunus' and Vikram Akula's debate on September 21st at the Clinton Global Initiative.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Microfinance: Propoor Nonprofits


There ARE ways of making microfinance work even without raising interest rates and truly serving the needs of the poor. One such example is EARN, a nonprofit putting microfinance to work for low-income Americans in the Bay Area. 100% of donors’ money go towards changing someone’s life and are matched twice, by federal grant and Earn Savers program.

Another nonprofit that I can personally ( as I am interning with them) recommend is Color Me In!, organization combining microfinance and tree-planting. Rural Zambian enterprise groups receive microloans for small business development that can be partly repaid by planting trees, 1 tree per 1USD borrowed. As a result, CMI not only empowers the poor, but also helps counter deforestation that has been plaguing the country for many years. CMI is currently raising $6000 to fund two enterprise groups in Zambia. One loan will help fish farmers expand their business, while another will go towards building a community school for 30 orphans. 90% of donations will go straight to support these loans, while 10% will be spent on communications and reporting over the next year. Finally, Color Me In! does not charge any interest rate on its loans in most cases, while in others lets the recipients define the interest rate themselves (which is usually 5-10%.)That is just one example of how smaller nonprofits without much publicity can have much more effective and transparent programs than their big media-loved counterparts.

Heifer International is an example of a different kind of microfinance organization. It gives microcredit loans in the form of domestic animals, such as cows, chickens, and goats. This way famers are not only able to feed themselves, but can also achieve stable income by selling surplus and breeding domestic animals for sale.

Another great nonprofit is Women For Women International that ultimately connects women-donors from the developed world with the women in need in conflict and post-conflict countries. Their Sponsorship Program has truly changed lives on both sides of the world, because as women in Africa, Asia, and Latin America benefit financially and become empowered, women in the US become inspired and happy that they are contributing to a greater cause. Not only a donor knows a recipient’s name, but can exchange letters with her that truly creates life-long relationships.

I was planning to include Kiva.org in my list of microfinance organizations, but, first of all, it doesn’t need much introduction as a top peer-to-peer microfinance organization and, second, I was not satisfied with the interest-rate they charge their recipients: average interest rate among Kiva's partners is 38%. Kiva, no doubt, does create change, yet it could have been much more effective and less bureaucratic.

In the end, the hardest part in identifying effective and transparent microfinance nonprofits is that most of them do not openly state their interest rates and, thus, you have to do an in-depth research. Doing and donating to charity work is not enough, effectiveness is the key if you want to create the most change for your money.

My next post will cover social business as coined and defined by Muhammad Yunus and that may be the long-awaited answer to aid effectiveness.

Microfinance: Helping the Poor or Making Profits?

As I noted in the previous post, there are virtually thousands of microfinance organizations out there nowadays, yet they are not equally transparent and effective. Even more so, some so-called microfinance organizations have trailed-off from the original mission to help alleviate poverty and became regular profit-maximizing businesses that exploit the poor. That is exactly why microfinance movement was started by Muhammad Yunus in 1976: to give people an opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty and break their unhealthy dependence on money-lenders who were living off them.

Mr. Yunus divides all microfinance organizations into 2 categories:

1. Poverty-Focused Microcredit Programs, ex. The Grameen Bank.
These programs charge loan recipients interest rate starting at the market price of the cost of funds up until additional 15% to that price.

2. Profit-Maximizing Microcredit Programs.
These businesses charge more than 15% on top of the market price of the loan and, thus, in Yunus’ words, operate in moneylenders’ territory.

To the defense of the latter, Kiva.org, one of the most famous microfinance organizations, explains why microloans have to have high interest rates. It all makes sense, but in a nutshell, the poor have to pay for the bureaucracy of NGOs, i.e. transactions costs, staff meetings, monitoring, etc. While it is an undoubtedly reasonable argument, for me, low interest rates define an effective microfinance organization, such as Grameen Bank that somehow managed to do so. Another explanation of high interest rates, as Muhammad Yunus notes, is that it helps microfinance organizations become self-sustaining in a shorter period of time. Again a very logical reason, however, the poor should not have to pay for that. Intensify your fundraising outreach, write more grants, what have you. The poor should be nothing but the beneficiaries of the program! Besides, there are other ways of reaching self-sustainability, such as establishing savings accounts for the poor or giving the loans for all the upper classes with regular high-interest rates.

The list of exemplary (and not-so much) organizations based on the criteria I outlined above is right in the next post.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Microfinance and The Grameen Bank - Revolution in the Aid World


To put things into perspective, microfinance has simply revolutionized the development world. The reason is that it has proved that with really small amounts of money, truly big results could be achieved. Yet, even this is not the major benefit of microfinance. As Muhammad Yunus, the inventor of microfinance, says:
"[Microcredit] lets individuals explore their own creative potential […] Microcredit turns on the economic engines among the rejected population of society. Once a large number of these tiny engines start working, the stage is set for big things.”

Indeed, Muhammad Yunus set the stage for big things: in 1983 he founded The Grameen (“grameen” means “rural” or “village” in Bangla language) Bank in Bangladesh that gave microloans for small business development to the country’s poorest and neediest, the ones who were rejected by the formal economy. In 20 years the bank became a self-sustaining social business. Even more so, The Grameen Bank has grown and spread out to become The Grameen Family of Businesses that include 25 for-profit, non-profit and social business enterprises, all of which aimed to alleviate poverty in bangladesh and worldwide. In 2007 80% of poor Bangladeshis were reached out with microcredit (with the help of other microcredit NGOs.) By 2012, Yunus projects, 100% of poor Bangladeshi families will be able to obtain microloans.

Of course, such success has been picked up by other bright minds, especially after the enterprise got a worldwide recognition in 2006, when Muhammad Yunus and The Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Nowadays there are thousands of local and international nonprofits specializing in microcredit and its various forms. The true beauty and potential of microfinance is that it can be tailored to specific needs of any given community or a country.

In my next post I will list grassroots and international microcredit NGOs that proved to be the most effective and create real change on the ground, so that
“Our Grandchildren will have to go to museums to see poverty," Muhammad Yunus.


P.S. To learn more about The Grameen Bank and Muhammad Yunus' philosophy and approach to combating global poverty check out his books:

Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty; Public Affairs; 2003; ISBN 9781586481988
A World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism; Public Affairs; 2008; ISBN 9781586484934

I am reading the latter one and it's full of 30 years of experience, great ideas, and inspiration!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Girls' Education: Successful Grassroots Campaigns


Before I start listing NGOs that are promoting the cause of women's education, I should note that the programs that all these nonprofits support almost always transcend the formal educational process, addressing other women's needs and problems as well. These issues include sex trafficking, female genital cutting, maternal health & family planning, economic empowerment, AIDS/HIV prevention, and women's rights. The reason is that, as many of these problems have cultural roots, education turned out to be the key element in resolving all of them.

For example, one of the most effective ways of preventing girls from being sex trafficked is to keep them in school. Two great ways to achieve this is building schools in rural areas and "bribing" parents for the perfect school attendance of their daughters. Rural School Projects have been implemented around the world. In Cambodia, for example, where many girls end up being trafficked to brothels in Thailand, Rural School Project is supported by American Assistance for Cambodia/Japan Relief for Cambodia (AAfC). The project has built 470 schools all around the country. Donors pay $13,000 and the funds are matched by World Bank and Asian Development Bank; after the schools (with the donors' name on it!) are constructed donors are encouraged to support students by funding improvements for their school, such as computers, Internet access, a water well, or a vegetable garden.

While it is clear that not everybody can afford donating $13,000, this sum is very achievable if the ones who care unite their forces! One of the schools in Cambodia, for example, was fully funded by the Overlake School in America, whose students not only funded the school, but also visited and established life-long relationships with their Cambodian counterparts. Think about how easy and enriching it would be for (a) collegiate student organization(s) to raise this money! The importance of having a school in a village simply cannot be overstated, because a school is the only opportunity that these rural girls have for changing their lives for the better.

American Assistance to Cambodia has established another program, Girls Be Ambitious, that provides families with $10/month if their daughters have perfect school attendance. The logic behind this is that girls in poor rural communities usually have to abandon education and help their family survive by taking jobs far from home or even abroad, often ending up as sex slaves. This way, for $120/month you can fight sex trafficking and save one girls' life.

Tostan is another successful grassroots campaign that concentrates on education, but whose main objective is to stop female genital cutting and promote women's human rights. Cultural awareness of the founder and leadership of African women helped Tostan achieve what no international or governmental organization managed to do- create cultural acceptance of the notion that female genital cutting is damaging for women's health and that an "uncut" woman is no worse and deserves to be married as any woman who has been cut. Tostan was launched in Senegal in 1991 and slowly but surely achieved such results- 2600 villages announced that they had ceased cutting between 2002-2006 - that Senegalese government itself decided to adopt Tostan's approach on the national level. Now Tostan is trying to establish itself in Somalia, Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia, and Central African Republic.

The last two NGOs that I would like to note are:

Afghan Institute of Learning managed to hold classes for girls and boys even during Taliban regime (!) and now provides education, vocational training, and medical help for 350,000 women and children around the country.

CAMFED is a nonprofit that supports girls' education in Africa. Started by a Welsh woman, striving to help girls in Zimbabwe, it now helps girls and boys attend and stay in school, get college scholarships, learn basic economic skills, and start small businesses. Since 1993 Camfed improved the school environment for 1,065,710 children in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Ghana. (The picture is CAMFED's "get involved" banner, so I suppose I can use it here.)

As usual most of the information, inspiration, and knowledge I found in "Half The Sky." Let me know, if you would like me to list more similar organizations or maybe NGOs working in specific countries or for a different cause. In my next post I will concentrate on microfinance and how it changes lives all around the developing world.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Girls and Education-Why Do They Matter?


If you were asked what was the driving force of human civilization from its dawn up until now, what would you answer? I would say-with no hesitation-that it was education. After all, it has all began with the drive for knowledge and discovery that separated hominids from the rest of apes, and led to the "pinnacle of evolution"-Homo sapiens sapiens. Think about it, how essential literacy and education have been to the development of the whole human civilization, how much they defined the status of a person in almost any given society! Historically the ones who possessed knowledge and knew how to read and write have been the elite. For many centuries this elite was very small and very rich, while the absolute majority of people lived in the darkness of ignorance, unable to help themselves and trapped in the cycle of poverty.

Things first changed with the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg: suddenly anyone could learn how to read and write. That was a scary change for the upper-class that then consisted mainly of monarchy, feudals, and clergy, who literally were telling people what to think and what to believe. For the ordinary men, on the other hand, the invention of the printing press was the biggest breakthrough there has ever been, (until the invention of Internet maybe.) From then on nobody could dictate rules and oppress people without facing resistance, because, as they learnt how to read and write, people started to form their own opinions and learnt how to defend themselves. No doubt that industrial revolution-that led to the age of prosperity in the West- would have never been possible without Johannes Gutenberg and his ingenious invention.

Now, think about that: today 785 million people, age 15 and up, across the globe do not know how to read or write, 2/3 of them are girls (The UN). What it means is that, despite all the progress that humanity has achieved, these people are still trapped in the cycle of poverty and are deprived of tools for changing their lives. The reason is that education is empowerment, especially for uneducated girls who have no voice or rights in their communities. A typical life of such girl consists of getting married in early teens, doing house work, getting beaten and oppressed by her husband and his family and having babies, 2, 3, 4, 7...until she dies during childbirth or from an "honor killing" or from being killed simply because she cannot bear a son. In developing countries male children are traditionally given special treatment: they are the ones who are taken to a doctor when they are sick, they are the ones sent to school, while girls lack all these "privileges."
At the same time, investment in girls' education has been proven to be the most effective tool in achieving higher standards of living and economic development in general. The World Bank affirms that "there is no investment more effective for achieving development goals than educating girls." One African proverb says:

"You educate a boy, and you educate and individual. You educate a girl, and you're educating an entire village."


Why is that so? The fact is that educated and empowered girls for the first time in their lives have the door of opportunities open in front of them. After they learn that there is more to life than just cooking, cleaning, and having babies and that they can actually change their lives, they often do so. One of the main outcomes is, of course, that girls have fewer babies and at an older age and do not force their daughters into early marriages. This makes girls' education THE most effective solution to the problem of overpopulation. Yet, most importantly, if a woman is able to get a job or start her own small business, she invests 90% of her income into her household, while men- only 30%-40% (The State of the World’s Girls, UN Girls’ Education Initiative, 2009). Consequently, children of such empowered women are regularly taken to a doctor, are well fed, and are able to attend school. That certainly brings change upon whole communities.

What I am driving at here is that if you are debating what cause to choose and donate your money to, make it girls' education. Of course, it is not a panacea, but it is undoubtedly the key to solving the problems of developing world. Just think about China and The Four Asian Tigers, who achieved their staggering growth ratings with education and inclusion of women into their workforce (among other things). Now think about how things would change in Africa, South America, and Asia if all the girls (and boys, of course) were educated. That's right, this new revolution is deemed to bring the long-awaited change to the developing world. It's up to us to help make it happen.

See the list of NGOs working on girls' education in my next post.
If you want to learn more on the subject read "Half The Sky" by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn and join the movement at http://www.halftheskymovement.org/.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Are You a Humanitarian?


Happy World Humanitarian Day, everybody!

If you helped a grand mother cross a street, if you volunteered at your local American Red Cross, if you donated to Pakistan flood relief, if you are now in a developing country teaching somebody to read and write, if you donated your Facebook status to a good cause-you are a humanitarian! Because to be a humanitarian means to do good for anyone in need, making no distinction on the basis of religion, race, gender, or political views.

The United Nations note 4 core principles of a humanitarian:
1. Humanity: "human suffering must be addressed wherever it is found."
2. Neutrality: "humanitarian actors must not take sides."
3. Impartiality: "humanitarian action must be carried out on the basis of need alone."
4. Operational Independence: "humanitarian action must be autonomous."

http://ochaonline.un.org/whd/index.html

In a nut shell a true humanitarian sees only what unifies us all, not what divides us. For a true humanitarian we are all human and that's it.

Are you a humanitarian?

Sunday, August 15, 2010

The Giving Pledge For All of Us


I am sure that by now everybody has heard about Bill Gates' and Warren Buffet's call on America's billionaires to donate 50% of their wealth to charity. 40 billionaires have already signed the pledge, among them the creator of Star Wars, George Lucas, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and the CEO of CNN, Ted Turner.

This revolutionary and challenging idea came as no surprise from Gates and Buffet, the true leaders of American philanthropy. Now, the boldness of the idea is in the amount of money we are talking about here - $115 billion dollars of pledged donations, at least! Anyone can imagine this amount? I didn't think so. Many billionaires who have pledged are actually planning to give away more than half of their fortune, while Buffet is donating 99% of his wealth. This for me is a great example of the American spirit, the explanation of America's success, the motor behind America's strength. The only better and more powerful example of this would be the "Everyman Giving Pledge", which Stephanie Risa Stein in her post Where the "Billionaire Giving Pledge" Meets the Rest of Us urges ordinary people to "sign."

- Will we, with our ever-so-limited resources, be able to make any impact?- you would ask.
-Very much so!

The reason is that price and income level in developed and developing countries are so different that a sum that for you means nothing can actually change a life for somebody in Africa. People who live on less than $1 a day can start a small business with 2 spare dollars, much less than average American spends on Starbucks everyday! Believe me, I am not exaggerating a bit!

I just read a story of Goretti, one of the many forlorn and impoverished women in rural Burundi. With the help of CARE Goretti was able to get a loan of $2 from her women association which she spent on fertilizer. Her garden then produced a rich crop of potatoes which she sold in a local market. She earned $7.50 and was able to pay back the loan, $2.30. The rest of her profit, $4.20 she invested in making banana beer which was a great success at the local market. The next $2 loan she used on expanding her banana beer business. From her profits she was able to buy to goats, which of course are a huge asset in rural Africa. *

Thus, the solution to global problems lays not only in cash, but also in efficiency. Not all non-profits are equally transparent, not all approaches are equally effective. That is why it is so important to back donations with the knowledge of a problem you are trying to address. Yet, an average American donor, most likely, does not have sufficient knowledge of global poverty, reproductive health, or the water crisis. As a result, donors' money sometime go to projects that don't make substantial difference on the ground. The key, for me, is education of general public about global issues. We, ordinary people, do not always have smart friends as Bill Gates or advisors who will help us identify a critical problem and the best approach to solving it. So, if we don't want to waste our own money-which we don't count in billions-and at the same time want to make a meaningful impact in this world, we have to educate ourselves. Likely, we have Internet now, non-profit sphere is becoming more and more prominent, and social entrepreneurship is becoming a career for many young people.

Don't think that you cannot make a difference if your don't have a six figure salary. Don't be intimidated by the billionaires' pledge, get inspired instead and inspire others to give. Because, in the end, the billionaires' pledge won't solve all the global problems, but everyman's might.

* "Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide." Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Doing Good 101

As I promised, here is the list of some very worthy causes and non-profits that work in humanitarian field all around the globe. If you are interested in learning more you can always go to http://www.charitynavigator.org/ and check out background information and transparency ratings for any given charity. Another great source is http://www.globalgiving.org/, it matches donors' with non-profits that work in the field of their interest. For example on the front page for donors you can find the list of various topics from animals to environment to women to economic development each of which will lead you to NGOs working on the issue.

1. Disaster Relief in Pakistan. The flood in Pakistan has affected nearly 14 million people, according to UN latest estimates. All of these people are likely to "celebrate" Ramadan without food, water, or shelter.

Here is the page on Pakistan on Global Giving: http://www.globalgiving.org/pakistan-floods/

Oxfam: http://www.oxfam.org/en/emergencies/pakistan-floods-2010. Oxfam has been on the ground since the first days of the disaster and is one of the most well-known non-profits in disaster response. Oxfam is trying to reach out to 650,000 people in the hardest-hit areas with sanitation kits and hygiene supplies.

CARE: Another international agency addressing the crisis. They have built 8 mobile clinics all around Pakistan that will continue working on the ground for at least 4 months.
https://my.care.org/site/Donation2?df_id=7600&7600.donation=form1

2. The Water Crisis.
Did you know that there are almost 1 billion people in the world that do not have access to safe drinking water? That waterborne diseases is the number one cause of disease and death in the world? That every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease? That women in some communities spend 3-4 hours each day on collecting water?

Water.org co-founded by Matt Damon is one of the most renowned non-profits dealing with the water crisis that carries out water projects worldwide and supports their famous and highly efficient water credit program. One well can benefit the whole community and provide thousands of people with water, while toilets and safe hygiene training programs will help prevent waterborne diseases and keep people healthy. By donating only $25 you can provide a person with clean drinking water for a whole year! You can also donate your Facebook and Twitter status and spread the word about global water crisis. Find out more about this problem and the ways you can help: http://water.org/

A Drink For Tomorrow is a small non-profit that uses cause marketing campaigns to raise funds and awareness for the global water crisis. All their staff is unpaid and 100% of income goes to water projects, so you'll be sure that all your money go straight to helping people. How do I know that? Because I am interning for A Drink For Tomorrow! Check it out: http://www.adrinkfortomorrow.org/

3. Women's Issues & Reproductive Health.
Did you know that every year 2 million girls "disappear" because of gender discrimination, either because they were trafficked to brothels and turned into prostitutes or simply killed because they are women? Did you know that a woman dies ever minute, because of obstructed labor or lack of medical care caused by childbirth? Did you know that 27,000 women become victims of rape in Democratic Republic of Congo each year ? In short, poor, rural women are the neediest people in the world, because not only they have no money and no education, but most importantly they have no rights to stand up for themselves.

HEAL Africa is a hospital situated in Goma, the capital of the infamous Kivu province in Democratic Republic of Congo that has been hit the hardest by the war and where military gangs still carry out their bloody raids. HEAL Africa is ultimately the only place where women and girls from Congo's villages can turn to get medical care if they got raped or had labor complications. Nick Kristof, a New York Times Pulitzer prize-winning columnist and a big expert on women's issues who has visited HEAL Africa says: "It's an example of an aid project that makes an extraordinary difference in people's lives." HEAL Africa also does community development work and hosts vocational classes for women, so they can support themselves.
You cab visit the website, learn more about the situation in Congo, and donate here: http://www.healafrica.org/cms/about/

Pathfinder International supports reproductive health in more than 25 countries since 1957. Their programs include HIV/AIDS, Maternal and Newborn Care, Abortion and Postabortion Care, as well as community based work that strives to foster cultural acceptance of family planning. All of these programs have empowered women in the West and today are critical to helping women in the developing world gain the rights and-sometimes-simply survive.

Support women worldwide at: http://www.pathfind.org/

To be continued.

Ramadan Mubarak-Time To Do Good... For All Of US



The Holy month is coming upon us and, although I am not a Muslim myself and don't even believe in organized religion per se, I see a lot of good meaning and lessons to learn in Ramadan. Besides fasting from sunrise to sunset, there is another important part of Ramadan: to give back to people and to do good. While it is always time to do good and give back, Ramadan serves as a very strong reminder of this human responsibility, at least within the Muslim community. Christian community is, of course, also known for its charity work and has it's own share of "do gooders" all around the world. As Nick Kristof in his book "Half The Sky" points out: "Missionaries have been running indispensable health and education networks in some of the poorest countries for decades." It is true, and I praise all religions and churches for their humanitarian work. Yet, interestingly enough, the root of the word "humanitarian" doesn't have anything to do with religion, but it does with humans.

The reason is that it is our human responsibility to care about others and try to help them. Today, in the 21st century, it has never been easier to save a life! Sometimes it just takes a click, 30 sec to fill out a form, $0.20 for AIDS treatment/per day that will save someone's life, $1 that can provide clean water for 1 person for a whole year, $10 a month to keep a poor Cambodian girl at school so that she doesn't end up trafficked into a brothel, $13,000 to establish a whole school in a developing country and change thousands of lives forever. Forget about money! Now you can even donate your Facebook or Twitter status and spread the word about the cause your care about. CARE. It's really the only thing you need. Because if you care you will find time, money, and opportunities to help. If not, you will simply continue living your comfy life in your 1st world bubble. Because unless you want to know what is going on in Pakistan, Haiti, India, or Africa, unless you are not indifferent, you can simply turn off CNN and decide not to hear about all the poor and dying. Because it is not your business and you are not Angelina Jolie to be saving orphans. Right? NO.

You need to be rich to make a difference, right? Wrong, again. I gave you the amounts that each one of us, especially if you have your own car, especially if you go to college, especially if you eat and go out every now and then, can afford to contribute. (Well, maybe except for $13,000, which is still achievable if we come together.) If you do not have money, you can spread the word and fundraise, let people know about the problem and not all of them will be indifferent, I promise! Don't think that rich are more generous than you and me just because they have more money. In fact, it's the opposite! The study conducted by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology suggests that people with lower income are willing to donate 44% more of their respective income than their richer counterparts.

The bottom line is this: it is not about money, it is not about time, it is not about religion, skin color, or political affiliation. It's about our common humanity and your personal desire to help.
In my next post, I will post names and brief info about my favorite non-profits, working in various fields and different countries, but serving one goal: to give help where it is needed the most.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Modern Day Slavery

Do you know Ashton Kutcher? The main punk from "Punk'd"? Well, that was him who was the first to tell me about modern day slavery. No, of course, I haven't had a face-to-face conversation with him, it was through Twitter, silly.

Ashton Kutcher, @aplusk in Twitterverse and whose twits, surprisingly to many, bear a lot of important messages to his 4 million audience, came a long way from Punk'd, as you can now see. Yes, I am shamelessly using his popularity to attract attention to global slavery. After all, that's exactly what he and his wife, Demi Moore (@mrskutcher), are doing. In January 2010 they have founded DNA Foundation that aims to eliminate child sex slavery worldwide. Yes CHILD sex slavery; we are not talking about teenagers here, but about tiny 8, 9, 10 year-olds! "More than one million women and children are trafficked across international borders every year. In just the United States, between 150,000 and 300,000 children are enslaved and sold for sex." Why on earth would somebody do that? Because it is nothing but a business and it is all about business in this world, isn't it? "Child trafficking is the fastest growing crime in the world-a $39 Billion a year industry!" And it will remain just another ( yet extremely profitable) industry, as long as we, ordinary people, and along with us important decision makers continue to look the other way (Demi & Ashton Foundation: http://demiandashton.org.)

The next time I heard about slavery was during the showing of "Call+Response" documentary at my university. The creator of the project actually brought it to ODU himself and had Q&A session after the showing. His name is Justin Dillon, a musician himself, he once found himself saving a Russian girl from becoming a sex slave. After this close-encounter with the industry he did some research and realized how big and omnipresent the slave trading industry is and that he had to do something about it.

Did you know that there are 27 million slaves in the world? That there are more slaves today in the world than ever before in human history? Did you know that in 2007 slave traders made more money than Google, Nike, and Starbucks combined and 8 times more than UN budget?! I didn't know either, but knowing is not enough, we have to take action! As much as I loved and was inspired by "Call & Response", I was even happier that my friend who is an art-therapy student was so influenced by the documentary that she considered being a rehabilitation specialist for victims of slavery. Talking about Response here!

Nevertheless, forced prostitution is not the only form of slavery, there are also child soldiers and labor slavery. The latter maybe the most preventable, because each one of us through our consumer choices can make a difference so easily! By simply sending a letter to the companies, you show that you don't want to buy products made by children or slaves and can force the big corporations to change their practices and become more aware of human right issues in the lowest levels of their supply chains. Go to http://chainstorereaction.com/, choose a company and send a letter- you don't even have to write it, the letter is ready for you to sign it! Put your name and email address just once and then all you have to do is to choose again and click! See the real difference you can make: companies as Kenneth Cole, Gap, Banana Republic, and BCBG Max Azria have already responded to the plea and changed their policies!
Finally, check out Call+ Response website http://www.callandresponse.com/ and you will find out everything you need to know about slavery and how you can make a difference.

Be aware, take action, see the results, help people gain their freedom, because "justice is what love looks like in public," and because the problem is not as far from you as you might think.

P.S. I will continue writing about global slavery in my review of the book by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, luminaries on the issue and proponents of women's empowerment.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

What Faux Pas is really all about

I started a blog because I wanted to talk about something that really matters to me, something I want for others to matter. But then I somehow deviated from this mission and wrote lightheartedly about anything that came up to my mind, which is not bad at all, but not good enough either.

So, from now on I will concentrate on what matters to me and what I would like to matter for everybody else. I will write about the global problems that we, enveloped by the comfort of our lives, do not notice or choose not to notice.

I will write about the modern day slavery (yes, it still exists!), the water crisis, (yes, it is already here), poverty (it is as strong as ever and very much preventable), and the climate change (yes, it is happening now and our day-to-day activities is the reason for it.)

... Because the biggest faux pas there is to ignore all of this, pretending we have nothing to do with it.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Inception


If the success of the inception into Robert Fisher's dream could be doubted, the originality of Inception, the movie, cannot. If you have watched the movie, you'll know what I am talking about, if you haven't yet, you better do it soon. Yet, despite my absolute satisfaction with the movie, my admiration to lead actor, Leo DiCaprio, and my love for mind boggling films, I am ready to accept that some people might actually not like it... Unsurprisinly though, I haven't met anyone like that so far, even in the wide Internet universe.

So, first the satisfaction. Although, I HAVE been totally satisfied with the movie, I must say that I expected more. It sometimes happens to me, when I build my own anticipation about something to such a level that in the end this something is never able to stand up to my expectations.

But, is there anything more to expect from Inception that has everything there is to be in a great movie? First, Leo DiCaprio. I know it's very lame of me to be constantly praising him, but he was my childhood crush and then grew into my favorite actor, not because of his good looks, but because of his amazing movie choices. And, may I mention this, Leo is a very big environmentalist, which I greatly respect. After all this leomania craziness, he showed that there is so much more to him than just a cute Hollywood heartthrob, even than just one of the best actors of our time!

However, Leo's great acting didn't leave unnoticed one of the best supporting actors cast ever! Marion Catillard, the French Oscar-winner, who's acting is getting really acknowledged in US ever since the big win, Ellen Page, the famous "Juno" Oscar-nominee, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the guy you remembered since "500 Days of Summer" and may have remembered since "10 Things I Hate About You," Ken Watanabe, probably the most famous Japanese actor in Hollywood and the supporting actor from "the Last Samurai" and "The Memoirs of a Geisha," and finally you've got Michael Caine anyone, yes he was in "The Dark Night" and in "The Prestige", "Miss Congeniality"... this guy has a separate wikipedia page for his movie list!

Finally, my love for sci-fi, mind bogglers and cinematic riddles making you think throughout the movie. Well, that's quite self-explanatory and unexplainable at the same time. You either love it or not. The same goes with the fantasy genre. You either take a leap of faith or do not...

If you have watched Inception, you know what I am talking about or you may soon. It's all up in the air and in the moment as a whirligig!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Quote of Our Lives

"The question which divides the men of our day, is no longer a question of political forms, it is a social question-that of deciding whether the spirit of selfishness or the spirit of sacrifice will rule, if society will be nothing more than a great exploitation for the profit of the strongest or a consecration of each of us for the good of all and, above all, for the protection of the weak. There are too many who have too much and who still want more; there are many more who do not have enough."

St. Francis Ozanam

Monday, June 21, 2010

The Darkest Hour




It happened exactly 69 years ago, on the night of the Summer Solstice: The Nazi Attack on the Soviet Union. The night before, the country's high school graduates were happily celebrating their graduation. Now, at the dawn of June 22nd 1941, all the celebrations died off and the Western part of the biggest country in the world was sleeping... only to wake up to a nightmarish bombing attack coming from an ally, Germany.

To say that the country was not ready for the war with Germany is to say nothing. Millions of Russians (Soviets if you wish) died only during the first days of the war, because they simply did not have guns to shoot with. "Get the guns from the enemy!"- that was the high commander's advice. The person in power, though, the notorious Stalin, was probably surprised by the attack more than anybody else. He thought USSR had at least a year to prepare..

Clearly, Stalin did not care as much about his people as he did about defeating Germany and showing everybody the advantages of the communist regime. However, today, looking back at the Great Patriotic War, I think if somebody even an inch softer than Stalin was in power, we might have been defeated, enslaved, and annihilated, and whatever else was in Hitler's plans. Who else other than Stalin would have ordered to shoot any soldier who tries to back up and flee the battle of Moscow?! Yet, the battle was won... Not to deny that it was Stalin himself that brought Russia to its knees in the beginning of the war, by simply killing off all "white" Russian generals and whoever else was not "red" enough.

Even despite all that, that war is the single most horrible and glorious part of Russia's history that I hope none of us will forget. For Americans, US has clearly won the war ( so what if it was the only one to ever use atomic bombs? No biggie, right?), Brits can make the same claim, French-not so much after their surrender in 1941. For me and for any Russian, at least I hope so, there was only one winner, the one that was bleeding with 22 million hearts lost forever. 22 million! Has any other country ever lost so many lives??? Can any other country even perceive this number??? No.

That is why WWII will be the most touching topic you'll ever ( and better not) discuss with me. Too much to forget (and we'll never forget), too few that still live to remember. There's never going to be enough words to express our gratitude to the veterans who fought for Russia 69 years ago... and shame to feel for Neo-Nazis and skinheads proliferating in the very same country today...Oh well, each country has its darkest and brightest moment. I hope that my country will be strong enough to reinvent itself one day like we did back in '45.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

The best movies of early 1990s ( my version)







Recently I have watched "Dirty Dancing" and "Terminator 2" (I know, they are two VERY different films) and realized how much I love movies that were made in late 1980s and early 1990s. I started thinking to myself how romantic movies were much more erotic, but not as vulgar then. How many good sci-fi movies were made and how few now. Nostalgie! That's what it is! These are the movies I grew up with, of course they are the best and I can watch them over and over again!

So here's the list, in no certain order.

1. Terminator-2 (1991). My father loooved movies with Arnold Schwartzenegger and so do I. Terminator-2 is my all-time favorite of his. By the way, if you don't know, James Cameron ("Avatar" 10 years later, anyone?) directed it and it was voted one of the best sci-fi movies of all time! So, it's not just me and my love for a muscular Austrian governor.

2. The Bodyguard (1992). My father's and my love #2 (or #1) is Kevin Costner. Yes, I know that he got a gazillion of Golden Razzies and is still picked on. But, guess what? I don't give a damn! And my absolute favorite among all Costner "masterpieces" is The Bodyguard. I have watched it at least 15 times and know it by heart. Whitney Houston played the main role brilliantly, I think and, boy, was she gorgeous! Plus, soundtrack! It must be one of the best songs ever! I will always love... it!

3. Pretty Woman (1990). I mean, is there a better romantic comedy? Not for me, at least! When I watched "Valentine's Day" this year and in the very end of it Julia said her famous line from "Pretty Woman" " It was a big mistake, HUGE!", I was totally elated! Ever since "Pretty Woman" I am a big fan of Julia Roberts, her smile and laugh. It pretty much makes the whole movie, as good as it already is. About Julia Roberts and her "Valentine's Day" salary. She got paid $500,000 per minute or $3,000,000 total for 6 minutes on the screen! And you know what? She made it worth, every second of it! She came a long way since "Pretty Woman" (for which she only got $300,000) and she's still THE STAR.

4. The Ghost (1990). Here come the two movies with Patrick Swayze, which are absolutely fantasic and which both were blockbusters back in the days. The most sensual and touching romantic drama ( is it a movie genre?) ever! An incredibly beautiful love story, gorgeous performance by Demi Moore and Patrik Swayze and, of course, Woopi Goldberg, who not only added a comical element to the movie, but also snatched an Oscar for a supporting role! The soundtrack, "Unchained Melody" by The Righteous Brothers is yet another masterpiece.

5. Dirty Dancing (1987). Wow, just wow! The best dancing romantic movie of all times! Man, how sensual and erotic were all these dancing routines, but nothing vulgar, nothing as disgusting and degrading as contemporary "how low can you go?" Well, Patrik is of course a great dancer, but what a performance of her life Jennifer Grey gave!.. Turned out it was THE performance of her life, because after an unfortunate nose-job she became unrecognizable and her career (with the capital "C") practically stopped. But, back in 1987, it was hers and late Patrick Swayze's triumph as they were enjoying the much deserved success of the movie. Watch it and you'll be dancing like "Baby" from Dirty Dancing!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The world turns FOOTBALL!


FIFA World Cup is only couple of days away, and the world is going ballistic!!! Mind you, all of us, even the ones not usually following soccer games or other sport events, have been swept away by this wave of worldwide excitement!

I, myself, am a rather dedicated football fan... every other 2 years :) Seriously, I would have had a nervous breakdown already, if I was following all the championships and club games! I watch regularly only Euro Cups and World Cups, saving myself a lot of nerves. I can still remember the "end of the world" in 2006, when Zizou was sent away from the field and France lost. I can hardly remember another time I cried like this! And here lays the difference between girls watching a game and boys doing the same thing. We get emotionally involved, first, of course, with cute players and then with the game itself. Not everybody considers Zidane "cute", but he's simply another level of a person and football player. In fact, I would have been much more excited if he was playing this year. but we all know that his professional career ended 4 years ago.

So, I found myself trying to get pumped up ( at least to the level of my bf) about this World Cup and thought about the rest of the female soccer fans that are now picking a team to cheer for... going over the list of the hottest players. Here is my personal list of favorites, teams and players.

1. La France. Simply because this team is the successor of Zidane. Last World Cup everybody was super negative about them, just expecting them to drop dead on the field, because they were "too old" and "too slow." In other words, France can always bring surprises, negative as well as positive. The team's hottie or maybe anti-hottie is Frank Ribery, a very talented guy with a scar. Watch him play without Zizou.

2. Germany. Another European team. Germany is always strong and interesting to watch... especially Mr. Michael Ballack!
After I wrote this, I decided to google him, only to find out that he has also been injured and is not going to participate in World Cup! This is just too much! No Beckham, no Ballack. I mean, who am I supposed to watch on the field??? Well, there is some hope left.

3. Brazil and Kaka. The football's only dream team, Brazil is always expected to win. This time is no exception, especially with Kaka and always smiling Ronaldinho in its line-up.

4. Portugal. Under the leadership of Scolari, Portugal became one of the best teams in the world. Even though it still didn't get a title yet, Portugal is yet again striving for gold with notorious and extremely popular Christiano Ronaldo as it's captain. Personally, I am not fascinated by Ronaldo and think that Portuguese fall too much during the game. Yet, the great Louis Figo used to be Portuguese captain once, so keep your eyes on Ronaldo & Co.

5. Spain. Still looking good, I say, as good as ever after winning Euro 2008, España is lead by its charming goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

6. Argentina. After previous 2 shameful World Cups, Argentina seems to be revived by the young and incredibly talented Lionel Messi. What may be even more sensational is that Diego Maradona with his "hand of God" will be guiding Argentina's team as its head coach in this mondiale.

How interesting will that be???

P.S. After watching England-USA game today, I finally realized that I totally left out the former.

7. England. The inventors of football haven't won a major title since forever, to be precise, since 1966, when they won their only mondiale championship. True Beckham is not going to be on the field, but, hey, he's on the coach bench! :) Besides, England has a bunch of other uber-talented (if not equally hot) players, like Gerrard, Lampard, and Roonie. Go, mates!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

"Sex and the City 2"-you get what you want!


I know, I know, so trivial, and yet I couldn't resist writing about this movie that so many girls dreamt about for the last 2 weeks... at least!
In the beginning of the movie I got a feeling that the authors simply ran out of things to say (not new crazy outfits to show, THIS will never happen with Sex and the City!) I mean, how can you continue a story where in the last movie the main heroine finally got married to the man of her life?! Sure, you can continue this story. The question is how entertaining will it be. BUT, all in all, I think the people behind "Sex and the City" managed to pull it off once again!
The only thing in Sex and the City that I may criticize is actually the outrageous outfits!!! They are really not from this world. Not even from NYC, which I visted just 2 weeks ago. And, no, I haven't seen a woman even slightly resembling Carrie Bradshaw (now Preston) in her clothing style. Actually, how can one describe her style? It's not even pret-a-porter...or maybe it's just an opinion of a person who doesn't really follow high fashion. The fact is though that Carrie in the 2nd movie wears high heals even in her apartment, which is all posh of course. If, in the TV series we could, at least from time to time, see her wearing small heals or sandals, in this movie it's only ridiculously high glittering heels and designer dresses even on the sofa (which is also designer, of course.) Bit this is not the most outrageous part about Carrie & Co's wardrobe! As we all know, the quartet travels to Abu-Dhabi... Looking at the movie posters I thought that only on the posters were they wearing high heels and crazy sparkling designer outfits in the desert. Turns out I was wrong. In the movie they actually wore all these in the desert! Can it get more unrealistic? Can these four be more unreal?
But then again, Sex and the City is a dazzling fairy-tale for grown up girls, (most of which will never be able to afford anything from Carrie's wardrobe.) In the end, the audience gets exactly what it wants! I, myself, was leaving the cinema totally satisfied, happy, and enlightened, not by the glitter of the outrageous outfits, but by the girl advises that Carrie keeps giving us. Every relationship and marriage is different and, thus, Carrie concludes and then proves that each couple should make up its own rules. This is the way to happy ending that we traditionally see in every Sex and the City series or movie...An absolute chick-flick, but, boy, do we love it!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

American countryside and Russian “dacha”, a cross-cultural comparison


“So similar and yet so different.” This is a countryside-dacha comparison in a nutshell. They are both the same thing and serve the same purpose, providing city-dwellers with an escape from a busy urban life. Nevertheless, Russian and American views of suburban living cannot be more different!
For practical and very logical Americans countryside is a place of tranquility and relaxation. While for not-so-conventional Russians “dacha” has a multidimensional application. For example, it can be another place where you work from dawn until late evening, another realty that boosts up your social value (How? You don't have a dacha?!), another hot gossip spot for grandmas (it's so much easier to be uptodate in a smaller venue than in a city.) To the defense of Russians, first “6 acres” were distributed by the communist government in 50s, 60s, and 70s and back then you had nothing, so if you were given something you took it even if you didn't need it or couldn't afford to developing it. That is how for millions of Soviets and later Russians dacha became another place of work. Even when they were leaving their work where they were building communism and better future, they kept on building better future in their countryside, hoping that someday they could finish these ambitious projects and finally relax. For some, who could not afford hiring construction workers (this is the absolute majority), such projects are still on, and only now more and more people are starting to hire workers instead of doing everything, from building a house to planting tomatoes, all by themselves. As a result, nowadays “on the dacha” instead of the sound of peace and serenity, you are more likely to hear the sound of a saw, construction work, and complaints on how much work there is still to be done. Classic!
Such obvious reasons to buy a dacha as to have a source of fresh air and a picturesque and healthy place for kids to grow up for Russians seemed to come behind the ones listed above. Then again, many Russians in 50s and 60s have just made it in the cities, their parents still living in rural areas, so there was a place to send your child for the summer and there was no such appreciation of and no imminent need for fresh air.
Americans, on the other hand, buy countryside houses (and houses in general) when they expect to have children. By then, they are usually rather well-off and can, at least ,afford a credit from a bank. In this manner, an average country house in the US has all the appliances as the main house or apartment. That is, a washing and drying machine, a TV (the good old 100+ channelles), gas (duh!), bathroom and toilet in the house ( Can it be anywhere else?!), and, of course, Internet. Meanwhile, even 10-15 years ago, most of the Moscovites didn't have Internet or computer in their city appartments! Toilet, 100 TV channels, a washing machine, and Internet still seem pretty crazy to imagine even in the suburbs of Moscow. But, let us go back to Americans. What do they do in the countryside? Relax and enjoy the nature, and that's it! After all, that's exactly why they bought a country house, isn't it? No need for annoying neighbours and their dramas, it's so much better to invite friends over-the house can comfortably fit more than one family! It's not a problem to have a BBQ or cook in the countryside, because kitchen is exactly how it is in the city, with gas and water and even a microwave. American countryside is exacly what it is supposed to be, a place of tranquility, an escape from work and busy life. In Russia, people still buy gallons of gas for their dachas and get water from a well. The latter, of course, very nature-friendly, but it does make cooking process much more demanding and long.
The funny thing is that city dwellers in Russia, 99% of whom live in small apartments, need dachas and fresh air so much more than Americans, many of whom communte to work from suburban areas where they live in big houses in rather quite areas. If Americans suffer from a daily commute to work, Russians, on top of it, suffer from a weekend commute to dacha! Here, I speak mostly of Moscow and the 4 hours drive to our dacha that is 50 miles away! 8 hours there and back of plain torture, how worthless it seems when you spend only 2 days in the countryside! In the end, in US everything serves its own purpose and nothing else.That is how, in Russia, the search for a better place and better future (aka the tranquility of the countryside) turned out to be so never-ending and complicated that many Russians forgot why they had dacha in the first place, some of them even forgetting from which grandmother they inherited it.

P.S. The descriptions of both American and Russian countryside living are given solely from my experiences and my point of view. The suburb life in Russia is just now starting to slowly change to a more comfortable and relaxing way of living... at least from what I've heard.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Up in the Air



All these great reviews of the movie were definitely true, and I really didn't expect anything less of George Clooney and Vera Farmiga. The latter I simply adore for no obvious reason other than she is a great actress without being a celebrity. The former is, oh well, he is George Clooney, the sexiest man alive, any movie with him is worth watching simply because of his smile. AND he is also a great actor! Haha
But back to the movie. Very original, despite this whole corporation theme, which starts to freak me out already. Maybe because of my age, maybe because I grew up in Russia and not in the US, the cradle of capitalism, but I never realized what a big deal this corporate relations/culture/life was. If not in the whole world, but here, in America, CEOs and business people rule the game, which is quite scary. Just remember “Duplicity” and “Deception."
“Up in the air” starts out very depressingly too, with George Clooney playing the guy who is hired to fire people. Indeed the movie talks about the worst time for American economy-2008, when thousands of people were fired every month. Yet, at the same time, “Up in the Air” talks about different people, their different lives and their different views of lives, represented perfectly by 3 main characters played by Clooney, Kendrick, and Farmiga. You can make your pick: who are you, a fresh college graduate with naïve and idealistic view of life, a hard-core realist middle-aged business man or a cold-hearted business woman, who claims herself to be Clooney's character just with a vagina? Three very different perspectives, and different characters who evolve and will surprise you! Moreover, “Up in the Air”, although being a comedy, is definitely not a romantic comedy whose predictable endings are so annoying, it has a drama element and an ending that will surprise you. Going back to people who got fired. The movie reminds you that family, (not a career, money, or a social status ), is the most important thing, something that really matters and that will get you through even the toughest times of your life.

The end of the world.


I just happened to be watching “2012” for the 2nd time on my long drive from south Florida to Virginia. And that is how I came to thinking that all these movies, as “The Day After Tomorrow”, “The Happening”, and even “Apocalypto”, despite their seeming unrealism, do have a very sensible message, which, pretty much, goes like this: “Stop messing with our planet, or it will mess with you...really bad.” The funny thing is how popular are these catastrophe-movies, yet how little these movies influence people in the right way. We become incredibly touched and shocked by the scenes of thousands of people dying and whole cities being wiped out of the face of the Earth. Too bad that these scenes are so impressive (such as on the pic) that they really are the only things we remember from these movies. The audience clearly wouldn't be able to tell you what was causing all the disruptions in “The Happening” or “2012”, yet the answer is one-humans civilization. But knowing this, we, even petrified as we are after such movies, will fight away all the scary thoughts and continue on with our lives, not willing to change anything until we are actually living a scenario of some apocalyptic movie.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Ithaca by K. Kavafis

As you set out for Ithaca
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon – don’t be afraid of them:
you’ ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon – you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbours you’re seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind -
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaca always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaca to make you rich.

Ithaca gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn’t have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then this is the meaning of Ithaca.

P.S. I found this poem posted recently by Paulo Coehlo in his blog and, being obsessed with Odysseus and Ithaca since my childhood, I could not but read this poem. I still remember the story of the Trojan horse and Odysseus' adventures, still a big fan of Greek myths...But this poem shows other aspects and messages of Homer's masterpiece that I, as I child was not able to understand.

Monday, January 4, 2010

A very short story

A story.
She shut the door and picked up the telephone. She called the police. She was trembling from head to foot, what would she tell them? That the boy, whom she’d met yesterday, was trying to kill her at the moment? What has she done in these 24 hours that this angel-looking boy has transformed into a real fanatic and murderer so quickly? The shots of the previous hours appeared in front of her eyes. No, it was a dream, a nightmare but not her own life. She was walking down the street. It was an afternoon, late afternoon. It was sunset, and the sky was extremely beautiful. People should have been cheerful after a working day, but she had not really noticed them. She felt absolutely lonely and only the sun was warming her. And then… That soft voice, those blue, kind (they had seemed to be so) eyes:
“Such a taking girl can’t be so lonely.”
“Oh, yes she can,” She had replied.
“Then will try to change this state of things!”
That was all she could remember. His smile, her smile, her heart beating quickly, his eyes shining, her head winding. And then… those words, which she has been ready to pronounce herself: "Forever you and me together…” But there was also the knife’s lustre and her legs running, leading her out of nowhere…

Она захлопнула дверь и взяла трубку. Она позвонила в полицию. Её трясло с головы до ног, что она им скажет? Что парень, которого она встретила вчера, пытается убить её сейчас?! Что такого она сделала за эти 24 часа, что этот мальчик с ангельским лицом превратился в настоящего фанатика и убийцу так быстро? Кадры предыдущих часов появились перед её глазами. Нет, это был сон, кошмар, но не её собственная жизнь. Она шла по улице. Был вечер, поздний вечер. Солнце садилось, небо было невозможно красивым. Люди, должно быть, были радостными после рабочего дня, но она их не замечала. Она чувствовала абсолютное одиночество, и только одно солнце согревало её. А потом... Этот мягкий голос, голубые, добрые (они казались такими) глаза, в которых она сразу утонула:
«Такая очаровательная девушка не может быть столь одинокой. »
«О, да, может, » - ответила она.
«Тогда мы постараемся исправить такое положение дел!»
Это было всё, что она помнила. Его улыбка, её улыбка, её быстро бьющееся сердце, его светящиеся глаза, её кружащаяся голова. А потом…те слова, которые она была готова сказать сама: «Навсегда вместе, ты и я…»Но были ещё блеск ножа и её ноги, бегущие, ведущие её из ниоткуда…