Image source: Champoli.com
I’m noticing a trend: our last three articles have been about organizations that use the word “global” in their titles. It’s the perfect word. It embodies what these organizations represent: the universality of human experience, change on a planetary scale. Distance doesn’t separate our natures. We are all citizens of one world. We have to take care of each other. I’m reminded again of our humanness by the subject of today’s article: Global Water.
Image source: Petergreenberg.com
It’s been a while since I’ve written about a long-standing NGO—the kind of organization that has roots overseas, and in US politics. Global Volunteers has been working on grassroots international aid projects since 1984. They work with the United Nations, UNICEF, and the Food and Agriculture Organization. They are known as the “grandfather of volunteer vacations.” Indeed, they are pioneers. They “engage short-term volunteers in long-term projects,” a model that hundreds (even thousands?) of volunteer organizations use today.
Image source: Dailynewschannels.com
I don’t often think of celebrities as being capable of divorcing themselves from their public. Perhaps I’m jaded by US Weekly or The Oscars—If one more stick figure tells me what she’s wearing I’ll lose it emotionally—but, my own prejudice aside, celebrities are people too. Many of them are people who care deeply about the world they live in. Sure, they hire stylists to make them look celebrityish and publicists to make them act likeable. But simply being a celebrity doesn’t make you vapid or incapable of giving or caring, it just carries some baggage.