Nuru International and CAWST Competition

Okay, so I know that I said that Nuru International and CAWST are not in competition just a week ago. And that is totally true. These two organizations work together to help end extreme poverty through micro-loans and education. I love the way that they play on one another's strengths and empower people to escape the cycle of poverty.

All that said, I'd like to extend a challenge to you, my readers. I'd love to raise an extra $100 for both of these organizations this holiday season. So I've set up a Holiday Wish to ask you to donate to Nuru International. And I will match up to $100 to CAWST. I've already seen you raise $370 for Nuru earlier this year and I can't explain how much that means to me. And I would love it if you could help me get money for BOTH of these groups to close out the year.

If you can't donate, here are some other things you can do.

• Please share this post on the interwebs. Check out the social media buttons at the bottom of the post to make it super easy.
• Like Nuru and CAWST on Facebook. 
• Follow Nuru and CAWST on Twitter.
• Let others know about Nuru and CAWST and the work they're doing through your own blog or a note on Facebook or Twitter or G+ or whatever thing I don't know about because I'm just not hip enough.

Together, we can raise additional funds for two organizations that are doing some amazing work.

Head over to the donation page! 

Thank you so much!

Working Together: Nuru International and CAWST

You read my blog, so you know that my favorite NGO is Nuru International. I love the work that they do. I love the people that work for it. I love the methodology they employ to empower people living in extreme poverty.

Nuru works by giving loans to people living in extreme poverty. Through these loans, people are able to purchase good grain so they are able to earn more money for their families. When they have this money, they are able to feed their families and educate their children. This creates a whole new trajectory for these families, allowing them to pull themselves from extreme poverty. The payback rate on Nuru loans is 95%, which means this works.

You can follow the excellent work that Nuru is doing through Twitter and you can also follow them on Facebook.

Because I love Nuru, it can be easy for me to see other NGOs as being in competition with them and have a bit of a negative attitude about them. But see, that's just silly. The work in Africa (and the world) is big and it takes a lot of people working together to end extreme poverty.

Which is why Nuru regularly partners with other groups to do their work. From their page:

Partnerships can be a powerful force for good. Our partnership strategy says, "If our goal is to end extreme poverty, and it's really about the poor and not getting credit, then let's put aside our brands and start working together!" Partnering with other organizations allows us to extend our reach, increase our impact, realize rapid results and avoid the ever-dreaded reinvention of the wheel.

What a great attitude!

So I want to share one of their partners with you. Check out CAWST (Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology). This group provides training materials to help people improve their water and sanitation hygiene. Like Nuru, they don't believe in simply giving the people things like clean water and toilets, they teach people how to clean their water and how to build toilets. They give people the tools to empower themselves. You can find more about them by following them on Twitter or on Facebook.

Rather than competing against one another, Nuru and CAWST draw on one another's strengths for a common goal.

Two organizations, one purpose.

For more amazing humanitarian organizations, I encourage you to follow the link up below and check them out. And consider adding your own favorite group to share with us as well!

If we're working to make this a better world, we're working together.

This is a blog hop! Check the linky below to read about more amazing organizations!

Happy Birthday Nuru!

If you've been reading my blog for any time at all, you know that my all-time favorite humanitarian group is Nuru International. I love the work that they do and I love the way that they do it.

Tomorrow, this amazing organization turns 3 years old. In 3 short years, they have touched over 10,000 lives, helping people escape extreme poverty. By providing loans, teaching basic sanitation, helping to dig wells, teaching better farming techniques, they are providing people with a way to lift themselves out of poverty and lack.

To celebrate this occasion, the media team for Nuru produced the following video. Take a watch:



Really and truly, I just love these guys and watching that makes me all weepy and happy. I love hearing directly from the folks whose lives have been changed by what Nuru does. By what Nuru allows them to do.

I want more people to see it. That's where you come in.

Please post this video to Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus or your blog by midnight tomorrow night (9/25) and I will donate $1 per share, up to $50.

If you share on Twitter, please use the following tweet (this makes it easier for me to track):

I'm joining @AliseWrite to wish @IAMNURU happy birthday! Watch this video to find out more: http://bit.ly/ocmD9H Please RT!

If you share on Facebook, please tag Alise Write in your share (you probably have to like my Facebook page to do that). If you don't want to tag me, please leave a link in the comments to your share. To do that, just click on the time stamp next to the "Like * Comment * Share" bit underneath the item.

If you share on Google Plus, please tag Alise Wright. I should get an email notification for those. And if you don't want to tag me, just go ahead and leave a comment here with the link (again, just click on the time stamp to get the direct link).

And if you blog about this, please leave a comment with a link to your post. I definitely want to give it a read!

Also, be sure to give a like to Nuru's Facebook page and follow them on Twitter and wish them a happy birthday directly.

Thanks for sharing this video with your friends and helping get the word out about Nuru. I know that we can get to 50 shares by tomorrow night!

Be Hope. Be Light. Be Nuru.