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Blog Action Day 2013: Human Rights Stories

jennifer · October 16, 2013 · 14 Comments

I typically only post photos on Wednesdays for Wordless Wednesday. But I’m adding an extra post today because it’s Blog Action Day.
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Blog Action Day brings together bloggers from different countries, interests and languages to write about one important global topic on the same day. Over 25,000 blogs have taken part in Blog Action Day since 2007. This year’s topic is Human Rights.
The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on December 10, 1948. There are 30 articles in the declaration, which came about as a result of and reaction to the experience of World War II.
With the creation of the United Nations, international communities came together to ensure that the atrocities that happened during WWII did not happen again. Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, chaired the committee that drafted the UDHR. Read more about the history of the UDHR
To celebrate the day and start a conversation about human rights, I decided to share three short stories from Opportunity International that illustrate what happens when you give people these important rights. Opportunity International provides microfinance loans, savings, insurance and training to over five million people working their way out of poverty in the developing world.

No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property (Article 17)

A guerilla war in rural Colombia drove Federico Rodriguez Bastos out of his hometown and forced him to abandon his land. He can’t return because he fears for his life. Instead, Federico received a loan from Opportunity International in Bogota to build a woodworking shop to make curtain reels and buttons. He and his wife now employee several others in their community who have migrated from the country to the city to find a better life.

photo credit: Opportunity International
photo credit: Opportunity International

Everyone has the right to education (Article 26)

Justine Nassali lives in outside of Kampala, Uganda with her 11 children. After her sister died of AIDS, she also took in her 3 children. In 2000, Justine launched a piggery business with two pigs in her backyard. She joined Opportunity International in 2002 in hopes of growing her business. Today, Justine has almost 40 pigs—7 at home and 30 more in the village. She was also able to open an electrical retail shop where her son now works. Thanks to Opportunity’s Education Finance program, Justine has also received education finance loans to ensure that each of her 14 children has a bright future.  The loans helped Justine pay educational expenses such as textbooks, uniforms and school tuition fees.

Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services. (Article 25)

Ana Celia Acuña and her seven siblings grew up in La Laguna, often without enough to eat, and she worked from a very young age to pay her own school fees. Ana says her parents instilled in her a sense of independence, and also responsibility to give back to her community. Ten years ago, in order to survive, Ana and 20 other determined women formed La Nueva Esperanza (New Hope) Trust Group to access loans from Opportunity International. Most bought goods such as oil and rice to sell by the roadside or in front of their homes. Then Opportunity International approached them to work on critical issues in the community, including the need for potable water.
Ana and her neighbors had been without drinking water in their homes for many years because of an earthquake. They would travel 7 km to fill their barrels at a monthly cost of about $24 for 3 cubic meters of water. Ana was determined to get things done and became the first woman to join the community cooperative that managed these issues. That’s when things started happening. Opportunity International lent the cooperative $10,000, payable over 10 years, to dig a well 600 meters deep. Today, the water project is self-sustaining and Ana says the improvement in their lives is remarkable. They save so much time and money now, and the water is far superior to what they were getting before.
These stories illustrate that, when given the chance, humans can accomplish just about anything. 

Want to see what other people are writing about on Blog Action Day? Follow the hashtags #BAD13, #HumanRights, #Oct16

this post was also published on pplkind.com

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Blogging, Philanthropy 2013, Blog Action Day, Human Rights, Opportunity International

Comments

  1. Alexa says

    October 16, 2013 at 10:17 am

    very cool! Good for you! I wish I had known about this!!

    Reply
    • anotherjennifer says

      October 16, 2013 at 10:21 am

      I’ve had the badge on my sidebar, but I hadn’t shared the info much. The date crept up on me! Mark your calendar for next year. It’s always on October 16th. I did the same thing last year. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Tamara says

    October 16, 2013 at 11:58 am

    Oh wow! Awesome cause, though! I’ll definitely mark it for next year. I always remember October 16th anyway. It’s a special date in our house because it’s when Scarlet became..a reality! Is that TMI?

    Reply
    • anotherjennifer says

      October 16, 2013 at 5:23 pm

      Ha! How funny that you celebrate that day. A memorable day indeed. At least Blog Action Day will be easy to remember next year. 🙂

      Reply
  3. Ilene says

    October 16, 2013 at 12:00 pm

    I was thinking about getting onto your simple giving lab site this morning to write something – I wanted to do it weeks ago, and then I saw this post and Alexa’s post. I’m on this. Later today/tonight I will help spread the word. Gonna put a Hurricane Sandy spin on it since it’s almost a year and people are still without homes. You always help me feel compelled to act. You’re a treasure.

    Reply
    • anotherjennifer says

      October 16, 2013 at 5:25 pm

      You are so sweet, Ilene. I’d love to see a post with a Hurricane Sandy spin to it. Too many people have already forgotten about the devastation it caused. I recently saw a show on Hurricane Katrina. It’s amazing how much still needs to be done and that was 8 years ago!

      Reply
  4. Jennifer Hall says

    October 16, 2013 at 12:55 pm

    This is a great post. Love that you quoted some of the articles. I quoted the first. Glad to know some other familiar faces participated!

    Reply
    • anotherjennifer says

      October 16, 2013 at 5:26 pm

      Thanks, Jennifer. I enjoyed your post as well. Happy #BAD13!

      Reply
  5. Michelle says

    October 16, 2013 at 4:51 pm

    This is such great information. Definitely a worthy cause!

    Reply
    • anotherjennifer says

      October 16, 2013 at 5:27 pm

      It’s amazing that we live in a world where human rights isn’t a given. I love the work that Opportunity International is doing. They are helping people out of poverty and other dire situations and those people end up paying back the loans when they succeed. Such a great model.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Talking Human Rights for Blog Action Day | pplkind says:
    October 16, 2013 at 11:12 am

    […] this post was also published on anotherjennifer.com […]

    Reply
  2. What If I Told You | The Fierce Diva Guide to Life says:
    October 17, 2013 at 9:34 am

    […] I woke up this morning to Jen’s post about Blog Action Day 2013 and then within a few hours, saw Alexa’s post on the same topic, I knew I wanted to help spread […]

    Reply
  3. Philanthropy Friday: Talking #Inequality for #BAD2014 says:
    October 16, 2014 at 5:35 am

    […] Note: Yes, I realize I am publishing my Philanthropy Friday post on a Thursday. But it’s Blog Action Day, so I moved Friday up. If only we could do that in real life. Blog Action Day is an online global event that has taken place on October 16 since 2007. Each year, bloggers around the world unite by posting about one issue on the same day in order to raise awareness and trigger a positive global discussion. The issue is different each year. Last year the topic was Human Rights. I participated in #BAD2013 and shared human rights stories from a great nonprofit partner, Opportunity International. […]

    Reply
  4. Talking human rights for Blog Action Day says:
    November 26, 2014 at 4:13 pm

    […] this post was also published on anotherjennifer.com […]

    Reply

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