Humanitas World Wide

Thanks to everyone for your kind words and suggestions. The task at hand is difficult but well worth doing. Some of our goals will be realized quickly and others may not bear fruit for several generations. Caralena asks what makes out efforts different? I would say  the #1 reason is, we do not represent any specific faith or religion and we are non-political. A thirsty child only cares about a cup of water. A mother holding her sick child only cares about seeing her child get better. Compassion is our calling.

I may loose a bunch of potential supporters, but I have to say this. According to the CIA World Fact Book, the people of Honduras are 98% Catholic in their faith. The only reason I can see non-Catholic Christians and those of other faiths building Churches and Temples in Honduras is to convert them.  A very well traveled friend of mine told me once about a tribe in Africa, they knew that in order to get a bag of rice or corn, they would have to dance around with their hands up high and shout “Praise Jesus!” That would make the Evangelical Christians feel good and they in turn would pass out the rice and then go back home to tell the members of their church how many souls they saved. As soon as the Christian Relief workers left the area, it was business as usual for the Tribe.  I think there is something very wrong with that picture and Humanitas World Wide will not ever insist a community, village, family or person change their spritual way of life, just to get a water well drilled or a clinic built. I hope this answers Caralena's question.

Dave mentioned that there are plenty of NGO's working in Honduras now. I'm glad to hear that there are groups there making a difference. According to a statistic cited in the book “The End of Poverty” by Jeffrey Sachs, on page 67, Honduras has experienced a negative economic growth pattern from 1980 - 2000. With so many NGO's in operation, the country is still falling deeper into poverty. Perhaps we all need to take a moment to find out why.

Dave also wrote …If Honduran aid workers came to the United States, what might they teach?

I think they would teach us to live simply. Live one day at a time. Love your family and your neighbor. Respect the land. Most rural Hondurans very survival depends on the land and what it can provide. We spoiled Americans only care about what color our new SUV will be or if we can get the 72” HDTV before the new TV season starts up in September.  Madison Ave advertisers have really messed up our priorities. I am not a wealthy person by any means, but I have invested several hundred dollars to build a solar system so I can have first hand experience with it and know what it can and can not do to power up a small school or clinic in Honduras. I could have used that money to buy a Play Station Portable for my son, but he'll do fine without it. As soon as one kid in my neighborhood got a PSP, everyone wanted one and everyone in my neighborhood is economically challenged. That's really messed up… that $300.00 PSP will be on the shelf in a thrift store in about 3 years.

Dave wrote: In addition to the highest concentration of Peace Corps volunteers in the world, Honduras already hosts hundreds of foreign nonprofits, not all of them church-supported, and many of them doing good work of the sort you are proposing, with minimal staff and low overhead. How will your nonprofit differ? Why not just set up an internet-based system, for example, to help funnel donations from Zaadsters and others to the best of the NGOs already in Honduras?

I would be happy to not form a non-profit corp and just coordinate the works of the many and be used as a financial channel. If everyone in the Zaadz comminuty set aside $5.00 a month to be used for Humanitarian efforts, we wouled have a monthly budget of $375,000. I have five bucks, how about all of you?

I just wrote a big comment and lost it all as soon as I hit the Submit button. The Zaadz software is evlving again!

We as Zaadzsters can set up a Humanitarian Orgaization that follows the Zaadz motto to Change the World. Supporters can sign up one time and check off the amount they would like to donate each month. The donation would be made automatically each month. I would be happy to have people donate $100.00 or more each month, but when people donate $5.00 - $20.00 a month, they don't even feel it or think about it.

Brian is too busy to consider all this stuff and that's why I just decided to stop talking and start doing. The project is called Humanitas World Wide for reason, the problems are world wide. We started in Hoinduras because they are our closest neighbor to the USA that needs help. We can have a team handle Central America and another one handling Africa and another one working in Asia or wherever else th need is greatest.

This is all very doable.

The current team and I have been discussing this for several weeks now. Naturally it all starts with money. Setting up the Non-Profit NGO will cost about $1200.00. The current members of the project (all Zaadz members by the way) have been debating the different options we will have for forming the Foundation. Once it's official the number one issue will be funding the projects. Fund-raising is always the number one priority to keep the work “working”. One of our contacts in Honduras see's little use for the “T-Shirt Brigades”, those groups that come in wearing matching T-Shirts, work for week or two and then disappear. Really making a difference means being involved long term. Long term work means we need a steady supply of cash.

Thanks Apollia

Every penny helps. Another Zaadz member told me about “Chip In”
http://www.chipin.com/

And I will add that to our Humanitas web page. It's Pay Pal oriented. By the way my email address associated with my Pay Pal account is

jeffsfo@yahoo.com

My Pay Pal account is devoted to the work of Humanitas untill we get our own Foundation Bank Account.

I will join your Pod as well.

This morning, one of the first things to come into my head was Dave's comment about all the groups in Honduras that are there and doing the work, and yet Honduras is still experiencing negative economic growth as mentioned in Jeff Sach's book. To borrow a few lines from the New Testament, perhaps it's because the right hand has no idea what the left hand is doing? Maybe all these groups have no idea what the other group is doing?

To jump off topic for a moment, I am a fan of Hemi Sync, Brain Sync, type technology. Each half of our brains, for the most part,  work independently of the other half. One side is very critical, (math oriented, 2+2 =4 and this will never change) and the other half is flexible and creative and artistic.  The folks at the Monroe Institute who developed the Hemi Sync system understood that human potential can be enhanced if the two half's of the brain were working together in perfect Hemispheric Synchronization.

I was asked once by a non Zaadz member if I could take on the task of coordinating the efforts of all the Humanitarian NGO's throughout the country. Would'nt it be nice to be able  to go to a single web page and click on any say of the week and find out what group is traveling to Honduras (in our current context) and where they are going and what they are going to do, or who is already in country? That would be a wonderful thing. Any ideas? Any My SQL database programmers out there?

It's all up to us my friends.  We can make a difference.

Thank you very much! You one dollar donation was recieved. I had a zero balance Pay Pal account and tossed in $50.00 as seed money to start this process of changing lives for the better. Now we have $51.00. This is wonderful.

I have mentioned this before in my blogs…how in the 80's I watched the Crystal Cathedral being built.

http://www.crystalcathedral.org/

Those who could afford to purchase a window ($2,500.00) did so. Those who could only afford to purchase a brick ($1.00) did so. Every donation mattered and through the efforts of many, the Crystal Cathedral is one of Southern Califorinia's most popular place to visit, right along with Disneyland and Hollywood.

We are not here to build a Cathedral, we are here to Change the World for the better, one life at a time, one family at a time, one village at a time. Every dollar will be strictly accounted for, that is my promise.

Thank You again.

Roger mentione Students Helping Honduras. I checked out their web site amd I'm really proud of what they are doing. These students are like the US Marines, The Few, The Proud. They are taking time out of their confusing, hectic, teenage lives to care about others who don't have it as good as they do.

This is very cool.

Gini Eagle made a comment above about Kiva and charity.

I just wanted to remind everyone that being a Humanitarian Organization dose not mean charity is the only way to go. Kiva is on point making micro loans to start small businesses. We will do the same. There will come a time when a loan is not the first step. The first step might be to solve a water problem or a sanitation problem. We focus on those who live in the rural areas because they need the most help. One of my blogs is titled “A Photo From Honduras” The family in that photo lives outside of San Pedro Sula. They all have jobs in a clothing factory and by the standards of Honduras, they are considered middle class. I send them the stuff they still can't afford, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, personal care items and even the little things that help a person feel better about themselves, nail polish for the girls and colone for the guys. I'll toss in paper and pencils and comic books I'll pick up at a dollar store. The last box I sent had a few Christmas decorations that will make this next Christmas season a bit brighter. All those little things really do matter.

Basic human nature makes it uncomfortable to accept charity. Everyone wants to pay their own way. We will give people every chance possible by “teaching them to fish, rather than just give them a fish”. Some families work a small patch of land and things could go better for them if they could afford fertilizer to increase their crop yeald. We could provide that fertilizer and we would expect the family to pay us back after the following harvest. It's simple things like this that can make a world of difference.

In the book “The End of Poverty”, Jeffrey Sachs wrote about this. A family in Africa had a small patch of land that would produce only enough corn for their survival. The following season the land was properly prepaired and the yeald was doubled. They kept what they needed and sold the excess and started the cycle again, saving all the money, less the cost of preparing the land for the next planting. After the next harvest they had enough money available to purchase what they needed to plant a cash crop (high value crops) in this case, vanilla beans. It only took 3 growing seasons to make a difference in this one family's life! We can do this my fellow citizens of the Republic of Zaadz.

Since I started to write this $100.00 has just arrived in my PayPal account. I will not mention this person by name and I will not mention anyone else by name. I bellieve people just want to make a difference and not be showcased and admired.  This is what we are all about. We need to build a foundation that is strong and with a strong foundation, we can build as high as we want to! We now have $151.00 and that is a good start.

Thank you all who have stopped talking and started doing.

Since my last post, our support has increased. Here is the latest results

http://www.humanitasworldwide.org/html/support.html

Thanks again to all those who share this vision to really change lives for the better. We need more supporters, so tell everyone in your Zaadz network about the good work we are doing. WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Namaste
Jeff

That sounds like good math to me.

By the way, your comments about debt forgiveness is a good point. Bolivia and Poland both had their International debts forgvigen and now they are better off, In the case of Bolivia, things are still bad but they are progressing. I don't know what the current situation with Honduras is. One thing I have been told is that government corruption is serious in Honduras and that makes it more important to deal personally with those in need and forget about doing business with the government. What government is'nt full of liers and criminals anyway? and the people continue to suffer as a result. What is important is that we all never forget that the price of a fast food meal that will do you no good, will help to change lives and pull people out of the cycle of serious poverty.

Thanks again Zaadzsters

Thanks Caralena

This sounds like a valuable web site and we need to check it out.

As for PayPal if you have a PayPal account, all you do is log in to PayPal and click on the Tab that says “Send Money” or something like that. Funds are transferred through email addresses. Everyone who had contributed so far sent their support to my Pay Pal account:

jeffsfo@yahoo.com

I am working on other ways to generate enough cash to start the Non Profit Organization and once we have done that, we'll have a bank account and can then send future support to the organizations bank account.

I got a good follow up email from a guy who visited the Rockmaster Drill Company in Oregon. He is impressed with the product line and believes they would work just fine in Honduras and other places where water wells need to be drilled.

Additionally, we have a contact in Central Honduras who tells me there are drill rigs in Honduras already. I asked him what's the story, as in perhaps we need to raise some cash to hire this crew to get busy drilling? I'll let you all know what's going on when I know more.

Thanks Lori

We really need committed people. I have Paul in New Mexico looking into Earthships and if they would be a practical way to build a shelter in Central America. We need to develop low cost / no cost sanitation (septic systems). I'm working on Solar Power and so far so good. Basic healthcare and education are so important.

It does not take millions of dollars to make a difference, although I would not refuse a million dollar donation! The land in Honduras is very fertile. Somethimes the only thng that stops a small rural farmer from making a living is the lack of a truck to take his crop to market.

We need a full time presence in Honduras. That dose not mean that one person will live there full time, although I would volunteer for that job, but that we must always have someone there to live with the people and let them tell us what could be better for them and help them to make it happen.

As for finances, yes, we need them. We can't move mountains without the finances to move it! I would like to have every Zaadz member that believes in what we are doing, contribute $11.11 (the cost of a fast food meal for two) every month (or more) and have them find 5 more people to help out as well, financially or physically. Viral Marketing is powerful:

I tell five people (5)
Who tell five people (25)
Who tell five people (125)
Who tells five people (625)
Who tells five people (3125)
Who tell five people (15,625)
Who tell five people (78,125)

This is only 6 layers deep and if each person contributed $11.11 we would have $867,968.75 each month , assuming the viral marketing stopped at that point and I hope it would never stop! With that kind of budget, we can build a community center in a small village that would function as a school, a clinic, a town hall. We can build a water system and install septic tanks. Hard working people could then have a chance to start living, instead of just surviving. We're not giving them a hand out, just an open hand to help pull them out of a life of extreme poverty. Once we get them out of extreme poverty, we can help them set up their own profitable micro businesses and export their products to the global marketplace.

We can do this!

Thanks Ted

I'm in this for the long haul. The work needs to be done. Kids need to have an education, or they will never escape poverty.

I've mentioned this  before, that the government has a distance learning program, covering primary and secondary school. All you have to do is turn on the TV and learn. The one thing they forgot is all the villages that do not have a single watt of electricity!

No electricity
No TV
No education

We provide a village with a school tha is solar powered
The kids come
They turn on the TV
They get an education
Easy as it gets my friends.

A quick update, the solar system I'm developing is working fine with my Laptop, a sewing machine, I have 4 small LED and CFL lamps that keep the home office well lit. I do need someone with a bit more knowledge of electrical engineering to help with a few practical issues. I need the 12 volt battery to also provide a 3 volt feed to fire up some LED lamps.

Thanks to all of you for your help and encouragement

Jeff

Overnight, we just received another $5.00 contribution to Humanitas. Once again I have nothing but the profoundest gratitude to those who have chosen to support Humanitas by word and deed.

Please remember that talk will not move mountains, or help people to escape the grip of extreme poverty. We need the financial wherewithall to do the work as well.

Namaste
Jeff

Overnight we received another $5.00 contribution to support the work of Humanitas. I am profoundly grateful to all of you who have contributed in the past. We now have $226.00 toward our goal of establishing the Foundation.

We can not move mountains or change the world by talk alone. Change requires financial commitment as well. Please understand that a small contribution may not seem like it will make a difference, but it will. Please look at my comments above about viral marketing and you'll understand just how powerful it is.

Namaste
Jeff

I agree Peter.

We are focusing our efforts in one place first. Tropical Central America is very different from South Africa for example. Many of the needs are the same and some are very different. Africa has more need to combat malaria and Honduras has less. Eastern Europe has different needs as well.

Quite frankly Peter, it's easy to identify the problems. It's very hard to fix them without the financial resources to do it. The UN Millennium Project asks for a contribution of .07% from the wealthy countries. I mentioned previously that if you are earning $10.00 an hour, full time, you would be asked to contribute $1.12 per month. We can save lives and build a Biological Sand Filtration System for $25.00 using the local labor in a village. Getting $25.00 in contributions are far more difficult.