Fighting poverty one goat at the time
by Julia Jakobsen
Do you know what a goober is? I don't. It’s either a convent, woman hater, talent or peanut. I think to myself, “It could be a woman hater”. My decision can mean the difference between 20 grains of rice to someone who needs 20 grains of rice more than I do, or no rice. Googling the word would probably be the humanitarian thing to do, but I grew up with Monopoly as religion, so cheating in games - any games - is really quite inconceivable. I click on peanut. Relief spreads through to my toes; someone's gonna eat tonight. At the same time, the competitive streak in me is pretty stoked I got the word right.
This, of course, is the UN initiative - Free Rice. The concept is simple yet ingenious (a factor which has led to it's astounding success) - you guess what a word means, if you get it right, you've helped alleviate hunger by 'donating' 20 grains of rice. Obviously, 20 grains is not a whole lot. But it's an addictive game. Before you know it, you've donated 500 grains of rice.
Since its introduction in October 7, 2007 the amount of rice grains donated tallies a staggering 12,950,301,970 (and counting). That is a lot of rice. Considering that about 25000 people die from hunger a day (according to Free Rice's sister site, Poverty.com), it is also rice that is sorely needed.
Besides from being entertaining and rather educational, it's free. Sponsor companies get to advertise a banner under each word; paying for the rice. Honestly, how often does one get to contribute to a worthy cause, while expanding your vocabulary, having fun and not having to open your wallet even once?
Another fantastic charity-related initiative comes from these folks. Oxfam has managed to offer a solution to the age-old problem of 'not knowing what to give the person who has everything' (come one, we all know someone like that). Instead of racking your brain (and ending up giving a nondescript gift voucher anyway) - go check out what Oxfam has to offer. They managed to sell more than 200,000 of their gifts this Christmas alone. The variety is wide - you can buy a goat for a family (this seems to be the most popular gift, perhaps because it is so peculiar), help a deserving entrepreneur set up a small business, assist in preventing HIV/AIDS, train a teacher, etc. It sounds like a cliché, but these are actually gifts that will keep on giving. Another alternative is to purchase fair trade products, which helps sustain the communities that produce them.
The difference these sites have made to aid the war on poverty is substantial - not only in terms of the actual donations, but also regarding the awareness they bring to the table. The Internet has helped to popularise such initiatives, as well as make them accessible to the average consumer (who perhaps does not subscribe to the UN's news updates). 20 grains of rice might not even fill a tablespoon, but if everyone guessed just a couple of words a day, we might be able to save the world, after all.
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