Everyone's a Daughter

It's the first of the month! Which in my house means new budget month! Ok, yes, bill paying, but also renewed stash of grocery and spending money.

So before I spent all that cash (ha, ha) I thought I would roll out our spotlight organization this month.  One day my good friend Amanda was wearing this gorgeous scarf.  When we ooohhed and aaahhed, she shared with us where she bought it.  The organization is called "by Tavi", and all of the scarves and handbags are made by women who are using this business to get their families out of severe poverty.

This is an issue dear to my heart.  There are places in the world where when her husband dies, a woman is left with almost no options to provide for her family.  Or sometimes, a family is so desperately poor that even if the husband is around, there is still no property ownership.  Loan sharks prey on people like this, and keep them virtually in slavery when they lend money for small business operation.  People stay in poverty and never get ahead.  Anyway, I'll let you read about it at the link at the bottom of the blog page in the "Reaching Out a Hand" section.

A sister project of this is called "Daughters." And I really love this one.  There are little girls in this world who are given to brothels in order to provide their family with income, or kidnapped, and forced into prostitution.  This is one of those things I HATE.  Stealing childhood has to be one of the worst crimes on earth.  "Daughters" provides a safe home for these girls, where they can be girls.  They also teach the older girls skills, and they have launched a line of gowns that are being sold in a prom and bridal store in Indiana.  The "by Tavi" link also includes a way to get to the "Daughters" blog.

My thought concerning this type of post is multi-faceted.  I hope we are informed, and not shutting our eyes to the suffering of daughters in other places. I hope we are inspired by people fighting injustice, and find little ways to chip away at oppression in our world.  All of the causes might not tug at your heart, but there may be one or two along the way that move you to do something.  If so, don't ignore that feeling - that's the Holy Ghost moving! ;)  These organizations always need money as they are not- for- profit, so maybe each month we can forgo a latte or two and send 10 bucks and a note of encouragement.  Or, the next time we want a beautiful scarf or new handbag, we can shop on "by Tavi" and support some hard working women.  And when people oooh and aaah, we can share the story.