Solution to Poverty: Women!

Why do microfinance organizations usually focus their assistance on women? And why does everyone benefit when women enter the work force and bring home regular pay checks? While violence against women is one of the greatest and most under-recognized global phenomena, there’s a growing recognition among everyone — from the World Bank to the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff to aid organizations — that focusing on women and girls is the most effective way to fight global poverty and extremism. Read on for Saima, Abbas, and Tererai’s tales of empowerment.

The Bus Ride That Changed My Life

A few years ago I was an employee of an international company that sold computer devices. I had to travel a lot as part of my work. I remember that I was at a stage of my life where I only cared about how to make more money and how to solve technical problems. I was locked in my own world living as a robot that only worked in a mechanical way. On one particular business trip, I encountered a 20 year-old homeless man who was living his dreams.

Sand Artist Moves Audiences

Sand artist Kseniya Simonova has become an online sensation with millions of video hits. Miss Simonova, 24, moved audiences to tears as she won Ukraine’s Got Talent, as she drew a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. This moving video clip of her work on the television talent show starts with a couple sitting, holding hands on a bench under a starry sky.

Sam Ewing

“It’s not the hours you put in your work that counts, it’s the work you put in the hours.”

Henry David Thoreau

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”