Thursday, July 29, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Everything is for the rich people, and the poor people are just hurting
Henrietta Inman, 64, spoke to World Socialist Web Site reporters at the Housing Authority of Harlan, a Housing and Urban Development-subsidized apartment building in downtown Harlan, Kentucky. The apartment building was among the largest buildings in town, and full of hundreds of elderly residents and families.
Henrietta Inman
“Harlan used to be a thriving town,” Henrietta said. “There weren’t as many people, but there was work. All the work that is here for the young people today is low wage. Prices of everything are so high you can’t afford anything.”
Henrietta lives on a Social Security check of $600 a month. Her rent, $198 a month, is figured by the federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) based on her income, and set at just under 30 percent of her monthly allotment—technically under the government’s “housing burdened” threshold for the proportion of income used to pay rent.
“It’s a roof over your head. That’s about all,” she said of the apartment complex. “It was the cheapest place I could find. But it’s not like renting a house or a trailer, where you can have flowers and stuff, it’s not like that. There are six floors and all of them are full. We’re not allowed to have any animals; there is no place to garden, and nothing to do in town now. We sit here and do puzzles,” she said, gesturing to a table full of puzzle pieces and boxes. Several other residents present during the interview nodded in agreement.
Henrietta’s husband was a coal miner working in a union mine in the 1970s and 1980s. Harlan County had been home to some of the most intense and violent labor struggles in the United States during the first half of the 20th Century, earning the county the nickname “Bloody Harlan.”
In the 1970s, workers seeking to unionize their mines were once again met with violence from the hired thugs of the coal operators. In 1973, miners at the Eastover Coal Company’s Brookside Mine and Prep Plant went on strike for union recognition. After a bitter 13-month struggle, during which time a young miner named Lawrence Jones was murdered by company thugs and workers were forced to arm themselves on the picket lines, the miners won a contract.
In the following decades, the betrayals of the United Mine Workers of America and the deregulation of the coal industry facilitated an assault on the living standards of Harlan workers, and the gains won by miners in earlier decades came under attack. Today there are no union mines in Harlan.
“Life was very hard in the 1970s,” she said. At the time of the Brookside strike, “I had four children then, and it was hard. One of my daughters was born in 1970. But I feel it’s a whole lot worse now. There’s no work—just the fast food restaurants. We need factories and industry in here to where the young people coming up will have somewhere to work.
“Our roads are in bad condition,” she added. “They patch them up here and there but we need a lot more done.
City Hall and Revitalization offices in a building previously housing a furniture store, then a movie theater, in downtown Harlan
“Younger people have nothing to do. There are a lot of drug problems here because of that. I worry about the youth. We need something for 12-year-olds and 14-year-olds who are coming up here, because they’re not going to have anything either. It’s not just Harlan. It’s everywhere. Indiana used to be a booming place, too—my dad lived there. It’s gone downhill, too. It’s just really sad. Harlan used to be a beautiful place. I don’t know whether it’s the people they put in office, whatever they vote for in there, or what. I don’t think they represent us.”
The Bank of Harlan, bearing a coal industry sign: “Got Electricity? Thank a Miner”
Henrietta expressed deep concern over the ruthless energy costs imposed by Kentucky Utilities on the poor. Most of the coal bound for KU power plants is extracted from Harlan and surrounding counties. KU and other utility companies in the state are pursuing double-digit rate increases this year. “These high gas prices and oil prices and the electricity—it’s gotten outrageous,” she said. “Poor people have to have their electricity to cook and stuff like that, and the prices are supposed to go up again. It’s really unfair, because they barely make enough to live on, and these big bills are coming at them. Big electric bills, especially in the winter, are impossible.”
Another resident interjected, “What you think about when people’s light bills are $600 a month and they live on a small, low income? What do you think about that?”
Henrietta explained, “When they can’t pay their electric bills, they get cut off. One guy had three children. And he didn’t have money to pay it, and they cut his electric off in the winter.” The advocacy group Community Action, she told the WSWS, “is sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to help poor people, but I don’t know if that money is being used right or not. There are lot of people that, later on in the year when it’s chilly, can’t go over there and get their electric bill paid. Community Action is paid to do a good job on people’s homes to winterize them—but they get the cheapest windows that can be bought, and those windows are not going to hold the cold out. You can just feel the air coming through them. One little old thin piece of glass.
“Poor people have to have something. Everything is for the rich people, and the poor people are just hurting. They’re on their own.
“You know all of this falls back on the president,” Henrietta said. “Why has he not frozen these prices? Because he’s rich, and it doesn’t bother him. He represents the interests of the rich people. And the poor, he could care less about. It just all boils back to him. And now, all this oil is coming up in our water in the Gulf—and they don’t want to stop the oil because they’re going to make money off of that. What’s that doing to our fish and all the wildlife that’s there? They talk on the news about finding four or five turtles a day—and lord only knows how many are really dying. They won’t even say. Why don’t they stop that and protect those little creatures? It’s awful.
“But the very same things are allowed to go on there, and here in the mines, because of money,” she said, noting that the mine operators regularly cut corners on safety. In the early 1980s, she told the WSWS, “When my husband worked in the mines, he had an air quality monitor he wore that was supposed to detect unsafe levels of coal dust, how much of it they breathed a day. Well, he was to cut that off, just supposed to use it so many hours a day.
“He would have gotten fired if he left it on. So he was breathing all that dust, but that machine only showed that he was getting two hours a day. And you know, that’s not right. I think a human’s life is triply worth any amount of money you can get.” Today he suffers from black lung, Henrietta told the WSWS.
“If things get much worse, I don’t think the lord’s going to let there be many more generations. Things are terrible, and it’s getting worse. We need clean rivers, clean water, we need to clean that oil spill. If the people don’t pull together and do something, nothing’s going to be done about it.”
Source - http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jul2010/harl-j22.shtml
Henrietta Inman
“Harlan used to be a thriving town,” Henrietta said. “There weren’t as many people, but there was work. All the work that is here for the young people today is low wage. Prices of everything are so high you can’t afford anything.”
Henrietta lives on a Social Security check of $600 a month. Her rent, $198 a month, is figured by the federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) based on her income, and set at just under 30 percent of her monthly allotment—technically under the government’s “housing burdened” threshold for the proportion of income used to pay rent.
“It’s a roof over your head. That’s about all,” she said of the apartment complex. “It was the cheapest place I could find. But it’s not like renting a house or a trailer, where you can have flowers and stuff, it’s not like that. There are six floors and all of them are full. We’re not allowed to have any animals; there is no place to garden, and nothing to do in town now. We sit here and do puzzles,” she said, gesturing to a table full of puzzle pieces and boxes. Several other residents present during the interview nodded in agreement.
Henrietta’s husband was a coal miner working in a union mine in the 1970s and 1980s. Harlan County had been home to some of the most intense and violent labor struggles in the United States during the first half of the 20th Century, earning the county the nickname “Bloody Harlan.”
In the 1970s, workers seeking to unionize their mines were once again met with violence from the hired thugs of the coal operators. In 1973, miners at the Eastover Coal Company’s Brookside Mine and Prep Plant went on strike for union recognition. After a bitter 13-month struggle, during which time a young miner named Lawrence Jones was murdered by company thugs and workers were forced to arm themselves on the picket lines, the miners won a contract.
In the following decades, the betrayals of the United Mine Workers of America and the deregulation of the coal industry facilitated an assault on the living standards of Harlan workers, and the gains won by miners in earlier decades came under attack. Today there are no union mines in Harlan.
“Life was very hard in the 1970s,” she said. At the time of the Brookside strike, “I had four children then, and it was hard. One of my daughters was born in 1970. But I feel it’s a whole lot worse now. There’s no work—just the fast food restaurants. We need factories and industry in here to where the young people coming up will have somewhere to work.
“Our roads are in bad condition,” she added. “They patch them up here and there but we need a lot more done.
City Hall and Revitalization offices in a building previously housing a furniture store, then a movie theater, in downtown Harlan
“Younger people have nothing to do. There are a lot of drug problems here because of that. I worry about the youth. We need something for 12-year-olds and 14-year-olds who are coming up here, because they’re not going to have anything either. It’s not just Harlan. It’s everywhere. Indiana used to be a booming place, too—my dad lived there. It’s gone downhill, too. It’s just really sad. Harlan used to be a beautiful place. I don’t know whether it’s the people they put in office, whatever they vote for in there, or what. I don’t think they represent us.”
The Bank of Harlan, bearing a coal industry sign: “Got Electricity? Thank a Miner”
Henrietta expressed deep concern over the ruthless energy costs imposed by Kentucky Utilities on the poor. Most of the coal bound for KU power plants is extracted from Harlan and surrounding counties. KU and other utility companies in the state are pursuing double-digit rate increases this year. “These high gas prices and oil prices and the electricity—it’s gotten outrageous,” she said. “Poor people have to have their electricity to cook and stuff like that, and the prices are supposed to go up again. It’s really unfair, because they barely make enough to live on, and these big bills are coming at them. Big electric bills, especially in the winter, are impossible.”
Another resident interjected, “What you think about when people’s light bills are $600 a month and they live on a small, low income? What do you think about that?”
Henrietta explained, “When they can’t pay their electric bills, they get cut off. One guy had three children. And he didn’t have money to pay it, and they cut his electric off in the winter.” The advocacy group Community Action, she told the WSWS, “is sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to help poor people, but I don’t know if that money is being used right or not. There are lot of people that, later on in the year when it’s chilly, can’t go over there and get their electric bill paid. Community Action is paid to do a good job on people’s homes to winterize them—but they get the cheapest windows that can be bought, and those windows are not going to hold the cold out. You can just feel the air coming through them. One little old thin piece of glass.
“Poor people have to have something. Everything is for the rich people, and the poor people are just hurting. They’re on their own.
“You know all of this falls back on the president,” Henrietta said. “Why has he not frozen these prices? Because he’s rich, and it doesn’t bother him. He represents the interests of the rich people. And the poor, he could care less about. It just all boils back to him. And now, all this oil is coming up in our water in the Gulf—and they don’t want to stop the oil because they’re going to make money off of that. What’s that doing to our fish and all the wildlife that’s there? They talk on the news about finding four or five turtles a day—and lord only knows how many are really dying. They won’t even say. Why don’t they stop that and protect those little creatures? It’s awful.
“But the very same things are allowed to go on there, and here in the mines, because of money,” she said, noting that the mine operators regularly cut corners on safety. In the early 1980s, she told the WSWS, “When my husband worked in the mines, he had an air quality monitor he wore that was supposed to detect unsafe levels of coal dust, how much of it they breathed a day. Well, he was to cut that off, just supposed to use it so many hours a day.
“He would have gotten fired if he left it on. So he was breathing all that dust, but that machine only showed that he was getting two hours a day. And you know, that’s not right. I think a human’s life is triply worth any amount of money you can get.” Today he suffers from black lung, Henrietta told the WSWS.
“If things get much worse, I don’t think the lord’s going to let there be many more generations. Things are terrible, and it’s getting worse. We need clean rivers, clean water, we need to clean that oil spill. If the people don’t pull together and do something, nothing’s going to be done about it.”
Source - http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jul2010/harl-j22.shtml
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Jesse Ventura Debates the 9-11 Conspiracy Theory
Former Minnesota Governor, professional wrestler, actor, and author Jesse Ventura visited the Opie and Anthony Show to promote his new book, and the conversation eventually turned
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
My Muslim News: Israeli soldiers Killed 5 Palestinians In Gaza in June”
My Muslim News: Israeli soldiers Killed 5 Palestinians In Gaza in June”: "The al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, based in Gaza, issued a report on the Israeli violations in the Gaza Strip in June and stated that Israeli soldiers continued their attacks and killed five Palestinians in different part of the Gaza Strip.
The attacks targeted the residents and their property, while the soldiers killed five Palestinians in different parts of the Gaza Strip and wounded several other residents.
The center said that the army used excessive and deadly force against unarmed civilians in direct violation to the international law and the Fourth Geneva Conventions."
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The attacks targeted the residents and their property, while the soldiers killed five Palestinians in different parts of the Gaza Strip and wounded several other residents.
The center said that the army used excessive and deadly force against unarmed civilians in direct violation to the international law and the Fourth Geneva Conventions."
Subscribe to My Muslim News by Email
Monday, July 19, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Leaving Catholism for Islam
time comes in everyone’s life, or at least I hope it comes, when they realize that they have to not only believe what they believe in, whatever it may be, but get out there and proclaim it to the world. Luckily, that time came early for me. I am 17, and Islam is the belief that I’m proclaiming.
I was raised Catholic. Not internally as much as externally. I went to Catholic Sunday school, called CCD, but the Catholic view of God never played a major roll in my childhood. It was a Sunday thing. Anyhow, I started to enjoy Mass around 7th grade. It made me feel good to do the right thing. I was always a rather moral person, but I never really studied the fundamentals of Catholicism. I just knew that I felt good worshipping my creator.
I really liked Catholicism, but I always saw it as us (the Catholics) with Jesus worshipping God, not us worshipping God and Jesus as one. I saw Jesus (peace be upon him) as my example on how to be a good follower of and submitter to God’s will, but not as God himself.
Before I was confirmed in 8th grade, in the fall of 1999, I learned a lot about what Catholicism was. The Catholicism of the Church had a lot on viewing Jesus as God in it. Nothing like my “undivided God being worshipped by me with Jesus as an example” train of thought. It was like they just opened up a can of cold, illogical confusion and tried to feed it to me. It didn’t feel right.
I continued with Catholic church, and kept on worshipping. But I talked to many in the church about my feelings that Jesus wasn’t God but more of a Prophet, an example. They told me that I had to accept him as God and as a sacrifice, and so on. I just wasn’t buying it. I tried to buy it but I guess God withhold the sale for my own benefit. There was a better car out there for me. I continued at the church.
Sometime in mid-December of 1999, for no reason that I can recall I started reading up on Islam in encyclopedias. I remember making a list of bolded words in the entry for “Islam” in an old 1964 Grolier World Book that I found in my closet, and studying them. For some reason I was amazed by this faith and that it was all about God and that it was everything that I believed all my life - right here. Previously, I had accepted that there was no faith like I felt inside of me. But I was amazed that I had found this faith. I found out that “my” faith had a name, and millions of other adherents!
Without ever reading a Qur’an or talking to another Muslim, I said shahada (declaring your belief in no god but God) on 31 December 1999. As the months passed, I learned more. I went through many periods of confusion, happiness, doubt and amazement. Islam took me on an enlightening tour of me, everyone else, and God.
The transition was slow. I was still attending Mass five months into my change of faith. Each time I went, I felt more and more distant from the congregation, but closer and closer to Prophet Jesus and God.
During Ramadan 2001, the second time I fasted (the first year, I converted during Ramadan and did not fast), I went to the library during lunch period. It was better than sitting at a table with my friends, because I got work done in the library. I swear my grades went up. Anyways, I started talking to the only other Muslim at my school, John. We talked about Islam a little more each day. He’s an awesome brother and he took me to the mosque on the last Friday of Ramadan. Going was one of the best things I ever made in my life. God really answered my prayers this time. I thought I would be nervous, but I wasn’t at all. It was the most natural thing I ever did in my life. I felt home. I realized something before leaving. As I sat there on the floor, praying to God, I realized that the room was full of others but it was OK. See, at home when someone asks me what I am doing, I never say I am praying. I never admit it to anyone. It is too awkward. But there, at the masjid, I was praying to God in front of a score of other Muslims and I felt perfectly fine. Better than fine! I felt secure and safe. It was the most liberating thing since I accepted God into my heart that cold New Year’s Eve almost two years ago.
Source
I was raised Catholic. Not internally as much as externally. I went to Catholic Sunday school, called CCD, but the Catholic view of God never played a major roll in my childhood. It was a Sunday thing. Anyhow, I started to enjoy Mass around 7th grade. It made me feel good to do the right thing. I was always a rather moral person, but I never really studied the fundamentals of Catholicism. I just knew that I felt good worshipping my creator.
I really liked Catholicism, but I always saw it as us (the Catholics) with Jesus worshipping God, not us worshipping God and Jesus as one. I saw Jesus (peace be upon him) as my example on how to be a good follower of and submitter to God’s will, but not as God himself.
Before I was confirmed in 8th grade, in the fall of 1999, I learned a lot about what Catholicism was. The Catholicism of the Church had a lot on viewing Jesus as God in it. Nothing like my “undivided God being worshipped by me with Jesus as an example” train of thought. It was like they just opened up a can of cold, illogical confusion and tried to feed it to me. It didn’t feel right.
I continued with Catholic church, and kept on worshipping. But I talked to many in the church about my feelings that Jesus wasn’t God but more of a Prophet, an example. They told me that I had to accept him as God and as a sacrifice, and so on. I just wasn’t buying it. I tried to buy it but I guess God withhold the sale for my own benefit. There was a better car out there for me. I continued at the church.
Sometime in mid-December of 1999, for no reason that I can recall I started reading up on Islam in encyclopedias. I remember making a list of bolded words in the entry for “Islam” in an old 1964 Grolier World Book that I found in my closet, and studying them. For some reason I was amazed by this faith and that it was all about God and that it was everything that I believed all my life - right here. Previously, I had accepted that there was no faith like I felt inside of me. But I was amazed that I had found this faith. I found out that “my” faith had a name, and millions of other adherents!
Without ever reading a Qur’an or talking to another Muslim, I said shahada (declaring your belief in no god but God) on 31 December 1999. As the months passed, I learned more. I went through many periods of confusion, happiness, doubt and amazement. Islam took me on an enlightening tour of me, everyone else, and God.
The transition was slow. I was still attending Mass five months into my change of faith. Each time I went, I felt more and more distant from the congregation, but closer and closer to Prophet Jesus and God.
During Ramadan 2001, the second time I fasted (the first year, I converted during Ramadan and did not fast), I went to the library during lunch period. It was better than sitting at a table with my friends, because I got work done in the library. I swear my grades went up. Anyways, I started talking to the only other Muslim at my school, John. We talked about Islam a little more each day. He’s an awesome brother and he took me to the mosque on the last Friday of Ramadan. Going was one of the best things I ever made in my life. God really answered my prayers this time. I thought I would be nervous, but I wasn’t at all. It was the most natural thing I ever did in my life. I felt home. I realized something before leaving. As I sat there on the floor, praying to God, I realized that the room was full of others but it was OK. See, at home when someone asks me what I am doing, I never say I am praying. I never admit it to anyone. It is too awkward. But there, at the masjid, I was praying to God in front of a score of other Muslims and I felt perfectly fine. Better than fine! I felt secure and safe. It was the most liberating thing since I accepted God into my heart that cold New Year’s Eve almost two years ago.
Source
Muslims Must Join the Oppressed
On January 26, 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradiction. In politics, we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality...We must remove this contradiction at the earliest moment or else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy which this assembly has so laboriously built up”.
These historic words of Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly spoke for all the poor of the country and Dalits in particular. What he had said 50 years ago, will hold good as India goes into the second millennium. He had also been prophetic in his assertion that persistent inequality will spell the demise of political democracy itself.
The thoughts of Ambedkar are most relevant today and his analysis of the Indian society needs to be understood by all those who are deeply concerned with the destiny of the people here. He has laid bare the inequities of this society and the theology which has been its driving force. His critique of this theology popularly known as Manuvada, professed by the upper castes of the land, must be known to all who cherish the democratic ethos.
Ambedkar characterised this society driven by caste as graded inequality because caste is an integral part of it. He found this caste-bound society bereft of social conscience and remarked on its moralistic unconcernedness.
Ambedkar’s rhetorical question, “A population which is hide-bound by caste, which flouts equality of status, which is infected by ancient prejudices and is dominated by notions of gradations in life. A population which thinks some are high, that some are low, can it be expected to have the right notions even to discharge bare justice?”
He made a fine distinction between class and caste, terming the former as non-social and the latter as anti-social.
Ambedkar pointed out the devastating impact of caste on the Dalit community, which showed itself in the most obnoxious practice of untouchability. He said, “Dalits - not that they have large property to protect from confiscation. But they have their very persons confiscated. The socio-religious disabilities have dehumanised the untouchable and their interests at stake are the interests of humanity”.
Apartheid of South Africa pales into insignificance beside untouchability and Ambedkar had to caution its practitioners thus, “To observe untouchability is a risk as dangerous as to bear live coals on their tongues”.
That this shameless practice should be prevalent even to this day is a crying shame. Ambedkar described the most sacred book of the Manuvadis as neither a book on religion nor a treatise on philosophy, but a mere justification for war based on the spurious logic which holds killing a body does not amount to killing the soul because the soul is immortal! Hence there is neither regret nor remorse over killing. Source-http://mymuslimnews.blogspot.com/2010/07/muslims-must-join-oppressed.html
These historic words of Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly spoke for all the poor of the country and Dalits in particular. What he had said 50 years ago, will hold good as India goes into the second millennium. He had also been prophetic in his assertion that persistent inequality will spell the demise of political democracy itself.
The thoughts of Ambedkar are most relevant today and his analysis of the Indian society needs to be understood by all those who are deeply concerned with the destiny of the people here. He has laid bare the inequities of this society and the theology which has been its driving force. His critique of this theology popularly known as Manuvada, professed by the upper castes of the land, must be known to all who cherish the democratic ethos.
Ambedkar characterised this society driven by caste as graded inequality because caste is an integral part of it. He found this caste-bound society bereft of social conscience and remarked on its moralistic unconcernedness.
Ambedkar’s rhetorical question, “A population which is hide-bound by caste, which flouts equality of status, which is infected by ancient prejudices and is dominated by notions of gradations in life. A population which thinks some are high, that some are low, can it be expected to have the right notions even to discharge bare justice?”
He made a fine distinction between class and caste, terming the former as non-social and the latter as anti-social.
Ambedkar pointed out the devastating impact of caste on the Dalit community, which showed itself in the most obnoxious practice of untouchability. He said, “Dalits - not that they have large property to protect from confiscation. But they have their very persons confiscated. The socio-religious disabilities have dehumanised the untouchable and their interests at stake are the interests of humanity”.
Apartheid of South Africa pales into insignificance beside untouchability and Ambedkar had to caution its practitioners thus, “To observe untouchability is a risk as dangerous as to bear live coals on their tongues”.
That this shameless practice should be prevalent even to this day is a crying shame. Ambedkar described the most sacred book of the Manuvadis as neither a book on religion nor a treatise on philosophy, but a mere justification for war based on the spurious logic which holds killing a body does not amount to killing the soul because the soul is immortal! Hence there is neither regret nor remorse over killing. Source-http://mymuslimnews.blogspot.com/2010/07/muslims-must-join-oppressed.html
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Battle against poverty in Bangladesh
It was this vision of change that spurred Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, to set up Grameen Bank in Bangladesh during the 1970s. Yunus had two major drives for his vision of the future: “to make credit a human right so that each individual human being will have the opportunity to take loans and implement his or her ideas so that self exploration becomes possible. And second: that it will lead to a world where nobody has to suffer from poverty – a world completely free from poverty.”
The Bank’s philosophy was simple: to lend out small loans, averaging under $400 per person, to those who had no access to credit facilities, creating growth opportunities for entrepreneurship. To date, the Bank has lent out almost $9 billion in microcredit loans, making a difference to over 8 million of Bangladesh’s poor.
Meeting life’s needs
Emergencies, weddings, funerals, theft or injury are often definitive events for the poor in developing countries. In “The Poor and their Money,” Stuart Rutherford cites several needs such as lifecycle needs, personal emergencies and disasters. These are all events that can devastate a family already mired in poverty and struggling to make a living, like that of Ibu Samsariah from Indonesia.
A canal fisherwoman and oyster gatherer in the village of Ruko, Ibu Samsariah’s husband worked as a mini van driver. Her two sons worked as day labourers when there were jobs to be found. Their four combined incomes allowed them to meet their basic needs until the 2004 tsunami hit the shores of Ruko, sweeping Ibu Samsariah’s husband, their home and all their possessions out to sea. With no husband, no father, no home, no fishing tools and no income, Samsariah struggled to survive.
In 2006 she formed a borrowers group and received a $100 loan from Yayasan Mirtra Dhuafa (YAMIDA). Using this loan, she bought fishing equipment to re-start her business. She found buyers for her oysters at the local market, repaid her loan and is now looking to apply for a larger amount to open her own stall.
Without access to microcredit, Samsariah’s fate would have been far different. With no means to regain a source of income after the tsunami disaster, it seems likely that she would have spent the rest of her life struggling to make ends meet. Now, Samsariah has big plans and dreams; profits from her oyster stall will allow her to hire an assistant to fish and shell the produce, thereby increasing both profit and employment in her small community.
A leg up
Almost by definition, the poor have very little money and therefore little chance of investing in opportunities or of improving their circumstances. Without credit, they are unable to expand their business, improve their housing or buy assets. Kofi Annan, erstwhile leader of the United Nations, believes that “poor people are remarkable reservoirs of energy and knowledge,” and that microcredit is a way to “bring people in from the margins and give them the tools with which to help themselves.”
Small loans can transform the lives of the poor, give them social mobility, secure the future of their children and improve their social standing. In male-dominated societies, the practice of lending money predominantly to women also helps to drive equality and social change.
Charity Kulola, from Kenya, does not dispute the power of microcredit to change lives. Married off at 16 into a polygamous marriage, then expelled for not bearing a son, Charity had no income and no way of supporting herself or her daughters. An initial loan of $64 given by the Yehu Microfinance Trust was used to open a coconut stall in the seaside village of Charareli. As sales took off, Charity took out a second loan, then a third to invest in a retail shop and to diversify her business. Instead of merely being the third wife to a man not of her own choosing, Charity is now a successful entrepreneur, intent on sending her daughters to school so that they can have a better future.
Alleviating poverty
Although micro lending is not the definitive answer to ending poverty, it is an effective tool for breaking the poverty cycle. Micro finance is “not a charity. This is business; business with a social objective, which is to help people get out of poverty” (Muhammad Yunus). Unlike handouts or charity, microcredit helps to empower the poor and encourages them to lift themselves out of poverty.
In rural Haiti, Dieula Calixte worked as a servant, sometimes starving for days when she couldn’t find work. Often ill and unable to hold down a steady job, Dieula applied for a $68 loan from Esperanza International and started her own business selling snacks. Within six months, she had paid off her loan in full and increased her capital to $69. She now earns almost $2 a day and is financing a second loan to expand her business. The income from her work allows Dieula to obtain the medications she requires and puts food on the table each day. She is enthusiastic about the role of microfinance in her community, acknowledging that without the initial loan, she would still be hungry, poor and ill, condemned to the cycle of poverty.
The Bank’s philosophy was simple: to lend out small loans, averaging under $400 per person, to those who had no access to credit facilities, creating growth opportunities for entrepreneurship. To date, the Bank has lent out almost $9 billion in microcredit loans, making a difference to over 8 million of Bangladesh’s poor.
Meeting life’s needs
Emergencies, weddings, funerals, theft or injury are often definitive events for the poor in developing countries. In “The Poor and their Money,” Stuart Rutherford cites several needs such as lifecycle needs, personal emergencies and disasters. These are all events that can devastate a family already mired in poverty and struggling to make a living, like that of Ibu Samsariah from Indonesia.
A canal fisherwoman and oyster gatherer in the village of Ruko, Ibu Samsariah’s husband worked as a mini van driver. Her two sons worked as day labourers when there were jobs to be found. Their four combined incomes allowed them to meet their basic needs until the 2004 tsunami hit the shores of Ruko, sweeping Ibu Samsariah’s husband, their home and all their possessions out to sea. With no husband, no father, no home, no fishing tools and no income, Samsariah struggled to survive.
In 2006 she formed a borrowers group and received a $100 loan from Yayasan Mirtra Dhuafa (YAMIDA). Using this loan, she bought fishing equipment to re-start her business. She found buyers for her oysters at the local market, repaid her loan and is now looking to apply for a larger amount to open her own stall.
Without access to microcredit, Samsariah’s fate would have been far different. With no means to regain a source of income after the tsunami disaster, it seems likely that she would have spent the rest of her life struggling to make ends meet. Now, Samsariah has big plans and dreams; profits from her oyster stall will allow her to hire an assistant to fish and shell the produce, thereby increasing both profit and employment in her small community.
A leg up
Almost by definition, the poor have very little money and therefore little chance of investing in opportunities or of improving their circumstances. Without credit, they are unable to expand their business, improve their housing or buy assets. Kofi Annan, erstwhile leader of the United Nations, believes that “poor people are remarkable reservoirs of energy and knowledge,” and that microcredit is a way to “bring people in from the margins and give them the tools with which to help themselves.”
Small loans can transform the lives of the poor, give them social mobility, secure the future of their children and improve their social standing. In male-dominated societies, the practice of lending money predominantly to women also helps to drive equality and social change.
Charity Kulola, from Kenya, does not dispute the power of microcredit to change lives. Married off at 16 into a polygamous marriage, then expelled for not bearing a son, Charity had no income and no way of supporting herself or her daughters. An initial loan of $64 given by the Yehu Microfinance Trust was used to open a coconut stall in the seaside village of Charareli. As sales took off, Charity took out a second loan, then a third to invest in a retail shop and to diversify her business. Instead of merely being the third wife to a man not of her own choosing, Charity is now a successful entrepreneur, intent on sending her daughters to school so that they can have a better future.
Alleviating poverty
Although micro lending is not the definitive answer to ending poverty, it is an effective tool for breaking the poverty cycle. Micro finance is “not a charity. This is business; business with a social objective, which is to help people get out of poverty” (Muhammad Yunus). Unlike handouts or charity, microcredit helps to empower the poor and encourages them to lift themselves out of poverty.
In rural Haiti, Dieula Calixte worked as a servant, sometimes starving for days when she couldn’t find work. Often ill and unable to hold down a steady job, Dieula applied for a $68 loan from Esperanza International and started her own business selling snacks. Within six months, she had paid off her loan in full and increased her capital to $69. She now earns almost $2 a day and is financing a second loan to expand her business. The income from her work allows Dieula to obtain the medications she requires and puts food on the table each day. She is enthusiastic about the role of microfinance in her community, acknowledging that without the initial loan, she would still be hungry, poor and ill, condemned to the cycle of poverty.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
STANDING UP TO UNPROFESSIONAL RUDENESS - APATHY NOW!
Few remember when a handshake agreement actually meant something, and when cashiers and other customer service persons met you with a smile and sincere concern. We are now met with rude clerks and service personnels. When we ask to "see" the manager, he or she is often more disrespectful than the service person. We are placed on long holds only to be forgotten. When we recontact, we are told to "start over", only going through the exact same "pass the buck" maze. Our travels on the road are met with rude and inconsiderate drivers and toll persons. Often restaurant cashiers or servers serve us items we have not ordered. How many times has a diabetic been served products with sugar when he or she precisely warned against it? What about movers who destroy and misplace property because they do not care, or mechanics who do not repair problems (or cause other problems during their "repair")? How bout businesses that take our finances and give us items that we did not order (or fail to give us any items at all)? Is there anything you and I can do to stand up to such apathy, rudeness, unprofessionalism, and/or incompetence?
I've been around for over 4 decades. I'm elated to see Americans standing up for themselves. More complaints are being filed, and more areas are now being reviewed that were overlook. So many office personnel were getting paid to "do nothing" as complaints were "pushed under the table".
Here are some suggestions (in no particular) order to help you and I address and correct any areas in our life that include apathy, rudeness, unprofessionalism, or incompetence:
1) Sorry to say this, but we have to become record takers. Yes, we have to note down dates, times, events, location(s), the names and appearances of those we dealt with. This information will be most essential when placing a complaint or recalling such events. It's not that we are "looking for trouble". We just live in a period of time where apathy (and Murphy's Law) rules. Any person with a rude or "bad ass" attitude has been bitten by the "apathy bug" and needs a quick reality check. We should write these notes away from public view to prevent any attempts to stop us from filing a complaint with the correct department.
2) Do not accept "verbal contracts". Very few persons promising to "correct the matter" will do so. Attempt to get specific information (and agreements in writing) if possible.
3) Outside agencies will always encourage you to try to solve your problems with the particular businesses before contacting them. Again, make sure you document everything as outlined in number 1. If that particular business doesnot "stick to its end of the bargain", then seek outside assistance. Time is of the essential. The longer you wait, the less of a chance you will have in your customer satisfaction.
4) Business and consumer matters can be addressed to the Better Business Bureau, Consumer Affairs, the Attorney Genral's office, and in many cases, your local newspaper (or even televised news locations).
5) Matters of the local and state government can be addressed to your Mayor and the Governor's office.
6) Cases of discrimination, misconduct, and associated issues can be addressed to the Equal Employment Opportunity office and the Civil Rights office. It might be wise to hire your own personal lawyer in matters of misconduct and/or employment matters. Many States do not readily enforce matters in these areas.
7) Again, documentation and witnesses are essential. No matter how "right" you may be, no one can help you if you don't have solid proof.
Sad to say, problems and disatisfactions (Murphy's Law) are primary existences in our world. This might be why Jesus told His disciples to be innocent as doves but cautious (aware) as serpents. When dealing with anyone in business (or shopping) matters, it's good to make eye contact, get the names of the persons involved, double check everything, and ensure that these person know that we are not easily "bullied" or fooled.
Any manager who fails to take our complaints serious should be reported to the owner of that particular location. If this information is not known, the Better Business Bureau or Consumer Affairs may be able to assisst.
This article was Published Here
I've been around for over 4 decades. I'm elated to see Americans standing up for themselves. More complaints are being filed, and more areas are now being reviewed that were overlook. So many office personnel were getting paid to "do nothing" as complaints were "pushed under the table".
Here are some suggestions (in no particular) order to help you and I address and correct any areas in our life that include apathy, rudeness, unprofessionalism, or incompetence:
1) Sorry to say this, but we have to become record takers. Yes, we have to note down dates, times, events, location(s), the names and appearances of those we dealt with. This information will be most essential when placing a complaint or recalling such events. It's not that we are "looking for trouble". We just live in a period of time where apathy (and Murphy's Law) rules. Any person with a rude or "bad ass" attitude has been bitten by the "apathy bug" and needs a quick reality check. We should write these notes away from public view to prevent any attempts to stop us from filing a complaint with the correct department.
2) Do not accept "verbal contracts". Very few persons promising to "correct the matter" will do so. Attempt to get specific information (and agreements in writing) if possible.
3) Outside agencies will always encourage you to try to solve your problems with the particular businesses before contacting them. Again, make sure you document everything as outlined in number 1. If that particular business doesnot "stick to its end of the bargain", then seek outside assistance. Time is of the essential. The longer you wait, the less of a chance you will have in your customer satisfaction.
4) Business and consumer matters can be addressed to the Better Business Bureau, Consumer Affairs, the Attorney Genral's office, and in many cases, your local newspaper (or even televised news locations).
5) Matters of the local and state government can be addressed to your Mayor and the Governor's office.
6) Cases of discrimination, misconduct, and associated issues can be addressed to the Equal Employment Opportunity office and the Civil Rights office. It might be wise to hire your own personal lawyer in matters of misconduct and/or employment matters. Many States do not readily enforce matters in these areas.
7) Again, documentation and witnesses are essential. No matter how "right" you may be, no one can help you if you don't have solid proof.
Sad to say, problems and disatisfactions (Murphy's Law) are primary existences in our world. This might be why Jesus told His disciples to be innocent as doves but cautious (aware) as serpents. When dealing with anyone in business (or shopping) matters, it's good to make eye contact, get the names of the persons involved, double check everything, and ensure that these person know that we are not easily "bullied" or fooled.
Any manager who fails to take our complaints serious should be reported to the owner of that particular location. If this information is not known, the Better Business Bureau or Consumer Affairs may be able to assisst.
This article was Published Here
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Some light on the teaching of the Prophet Muhammad about how to deal with your guest and what are the rights of your guests
(1) It is narrated that the Prophet Muhammad said,
"He who believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him show hospitality to his guest; and
He who believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him maintain good relation to his kin; and
He, who believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him speak well or remain silent.''
How to honor your guest according to Islamic custom:
1. welcome him cheerfully,
2. Entertain him happily according to our capacity and
3. Have full regard of his comfort and rest.
The good relation to your kin:
As for the relatives, the believers are supposed to
1. treat them nicely, and to
2. Do their proper duty towards them.
Reserve in speech implies that the believers should:
1. Avoid senseless and irrelevant talk.
2. Say what is good to everybody, or
3. Have better keep silent.
4. Apt to pass most of their time in the remembrance of Allah, seeking His forgiveness
These three qualities are possessed by those people who believe in Allah and the Day of Reckoning.
In other words, those who lack these three qualities have weak and imperfect Faith in Allah and the Day of Reckoning.
The Rights of the guest:
Muhammad: if hospitality exceeds three days it is charity
(2) It is also narrated that the Prophet Muhammad said,
"He, who believes in Allah and the Last Day, should accommodate his guest according to his right.''
A man asked the Prophet Muhammad: "What is his right, O Messenger of Allah?''
Muhammad replied: "It is (to accommodate him) for a day and a night, and hospitality extends for three days, and what is beyond that is charity.''
(3) In another Prophetic Hadith, Muhammad said,
"It is not permissible for a Muslim to stay so long with his brother till he makes him sinful.''
He was asked: "O Messenger of Allah, how can he make him sinful?''
Muhammad replied: "He prolongs his stay with him till nothing is left with the host to entertain him (guest).''
This Hadith presents the protocol of the duration of hospitality.
A guest should to be given the best entertainment on the first day and night. For the next two days, hospitality should be moderate.
On the fourth day, the guest should leave for his destination.
Yet if he chooses to stay, hospitality will be in the sense of charity.
"He who believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him show hospitality to his guest; and
He who believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him maintain good relation to his kin; and
He, who believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him speak well or remain silent.''
How to honor your guest according to Islamic custom:
1. welcome him cheerfully,
2. Entertain him happily according to our capacity and
3. Have full regard of his comfort and rest.
The good relation to your kin:
As for the relatives, the believers are supposed to
1. treat them nicely, and to
2. Do their proper duty towards them.
Reserve in speech implies that the believers should:
1. Avoid senseless and irrelevant talk.
2. Say what is good to everybody, or
3. Have better keep silent.
4. Apt to pass most of their time in the remembrance of Allah, seeking His forgiveness
These three qualities are possessed by those people who believe in Allah and the Day of Reckoning.
In other words, those who lack these three qualities have weak and imperfect Faith in Allah and the Day of Reckoning.
The Rights of the guest:
Muhammad: if hospitality exceeds three days it is charity
(2) It is also narrated that the Prophet Muhammad said,
"He, who believes in Allah and the Last Day, should accommodate his guest according to his right.''
A man asked the Prophet Muhammad: "What is his right, O Messenger of Allah?''
Muhammad replied: "It is (to accommodate him) for a day and a night, and hospitality extends for three days, and what is beyond that is charity.''
(3) In another Prophetic Hadith, Muhammad said,
"It is not permissible for a Muslim to stay so long with his brother till he makes him sinful.''
He was asked: "O Messenger of Allah, how can he make him sinful?''
Muhammad replied: "He prolongs his stay with him till nothing is left with the host to entertain him (guest).''
This Hadith presents the protocol of the duration of hospitality.
A guest should to be given the best entertainment on the first day and night. For the next two days, hospitality should be moderate.
On the fourth day, the guest should leave for his destination.
Yet if he chooses to stay, hospitality will be in the sense of charity.
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