Oikocredit December 2015 newsletter

If this email does not display correctly, follow this link December 2015 OikoLinks: the Oikocredit USA E-Newsletter Oikocredit Celebrates 40 Years of Impact Tree Plantings Mark Oikocredit’s 40th Anniversary On November 4th, Oikocredit International celebrated its 40th anniversary of investing in people and changing lives around the world. The planting of a beech tree at our head office represents a commitment to long-term ‪‎sustainability, as the tree can live for hundreds of years. Click below to read more about the celebration in the Netherlands and worldwide. Read more about the anniversary... Amersfoort, The Netherlands © Clemens Rikken Stories From The Field Fostering Sustainability Michimikuru, Kenya © Cafédirect How can we help small producers climb the value chain? Just ask our partner, Cafédirect, who is featured in The Economist for its ‪‎fair trade hot beverages that ensure ‪quality and sustainability at the producer-level. Cafédirect ‪‎bridges the gap in African agribusiness by sourcing from small-scale farmers in five African countries. Cafédirect even directly sources some of its coffee from other Oikocredit partners! Read the article in The Economist... Diversity in Financial Products Banco Solidario SA, Ecuador © Christoph Hirtz Clarita del Carmen Moncayo is a client of Banco Solidario, an Oikocredit microfinance partner in Ecuador. Clarita is a kindergarten teacher living in Machachi, a town in the Ecuadorian mountains, and has been a client of Banco Solidario for ten years. Banco Solidario is a microfinance institution providing high-quality integral financial services, credit, savings and other products for micro and small entrepreneurs in urban areas. Read more about Banco Solidario... ASKI, Philippines © Opmeer Reports Responding to Typhoon Koppu in the Philippines In October, the Philippines was hit by yet another devastating typhoon. Oikocredit’s regional office reported from Manila that while Oikocredit staff and families were all safe, some Oikocredit partners on the island of Luzon had not escaped the devastation. Our thoughts are with the people of the Philippines, particularly those worst affected by the typhoon and our partners in the affected areas. Read more about our Philippine operations... What's New at Oikocredit USA? Norandino, Peru © Nicolas Villaume Oikocredit USA celebrates Fair Trade Month! Reflecting back on October, did you do anything special to celebrate ‪‎Fair Trade Month? Oikocredit has a long history in fair trade, and you can see some of the highlights below. By buying ‪‎fair trade items, you join a virtuous circle that improves lives & protects the planet. Learn more about Oikocredit's involvement with Fair Trade... Increase your Impact As a 501c3 nonprofit, Oikocredit USA raises donations in support of its social investment, women's empowerment, and outreach & education programs. Donations to Oikocredit USA support capacity building for women in the areas of business training, leadership development, financial literacy education, and other skill sets that enable women empowerment. At Oikocredit, we see each of our female clients as individuals and recognize her power and capabilities through this capacity building support. Contributions also support the administration of our social investment program and expand our education and outreach efforts in the U.S. in the form of events, webinars, and educational materials. Make an online donation today. BIFPL, India © Opmeer Reports Follow us on: ABOUT THE HEADER IMAGE: Laughter erupts among sewers of fishing nets at Yalelo, a sustainable aquaculture company farming tilapia fish in Lake Kariba, Zambia. The Zambian diet traditionally relied heavily on fish as a source of protein, but severe over-fishing has depleted stocks to the extent that the country now relies on frozen imported fish. As an aquaculture company, there is a good opportunity for Yalelo to meet the huge demand for local fish, both in Zambia and nearby regions. Apart from supporting the domestic market and providing people with sustainable fresh tilapia, aquaculture also supports the local soybean industry, which provides high-protein fodder for the fish. Photo © Opmeer Reports Unsubscribe from this newsletter Copyright Oikocredit USA 2015

Advent Conspiracy - Simple Living Works

Simple Living Works! eNews

Nov., 2015

In This Issue:

• Advent Conspiracy - interview with Ken Weigel
• WHOSE Birthday Is It, Anyway? #27
• Wisdom from Author David Shi on Simple Living
• Do-It-Yourself "Whose Birthday?"
• Free Fall Festival Resources
• What Others Are Doing - So much help!
• More!

SLW! Podcast Episode #56: Ken Weigel, Director of Advent Conspiracy

Since 2006 Advent Conspiracy has become a global movement of people and churches resisting the cultural Christmas narrative of consumption by choosing a revolutionary Christmas. In this episode, Ken illuminates each of four tenets:

• Spending Less,
• Giving More
• Loving All
• Worshipping Fully

Because of people who have entered into the conspiracy, millions of dollars have been given to provide clean water solutions around the world.

FREE Church Resources: Children's Curriculum, audio, video, more

Advent Conspiracy FAQ's

2015 video on YouTube, 3:09

* * *

WHOSE Birthday? #27

"Xmas Gift Equation" and "Priceless Gifts" by Susan Vogt
"Saving Forgetful Old St. Nick' and "O Holy Night at the Clothes Closet" by Melodie Davis
"Advent Devotions" by Bob Sitze
"Putting Herod Back Into Christmas" by Joy Carroll Wallis

The classic Advent/Christmas resource “Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?” is available in multiple formats in 2015 to meet your personal, family and community needs.

"Whose Birthday?" #27 is a new, free online collection. You’re welcome to contribute to our most widely-read resource. All past editions are still available on the SLW! site. The articles are carefully indexed. The current edition will be updated as new material arrives, so send ideas and items anytime. Prepare something now while it’s really on your mind. Submission Guidelines

Yes, YOU can have our own customized, DIY Whose Birthday? Click here for tips to CREATE, PRODUCE, DISTRIBUTE and PROMOTE your do-it-yourself version.

Make it provocative, humorous, serious or a combination, in your way to advance SLW! mission: "equipping people of faith to challenge consumerism, live justly and celebrate responsibly."

A legacy "Whose Birthday?" is scheduled for release as a multi-part SLW! podcast series in Nov.-Dec. It can also be used as text or audio. It’s calendar matches the lectionary cycle (C).

Read past editions in the archives.

* * *

What's NOW with SLW!

• SLW! Podcast Ep. 55: David E. Shi, educator, speaker, consultant, author of the classic "The Simple Life: Plain Living and High Thinking in American Culture" (10/15) Complete Preview

• SLW! Podcast #54: Paul Canavese on Pope Francis -- How to Keep His Momentum Building

• FALL FESTIVAL RESOURCES (free online)
  • UNPLUG the Christmas Machine Workshop
  • How to Host an Alternative Gift Fair
  • Planning an Alternative Christmas Workshop
  • How to Organize an Alternative Christmas Community Festival
  • Resource Index: Advent/Christmas
  • Feeling Bullied by Consumo? Ask Slim.
• SUBSCRIBE to SLW! Podcast for free through iTunes, Stitcher.com or your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to SLW! Blog. Click "+Follow" at lower right of blog post, enter a name and email address. Welcome!
• Simpler Living Alternative Daily Calendar -- NOVEMBER
• Check out a few of SLW! thought-provoking, timely resources that might meet your personal, family or congregational/group needs. They're all FREE. Visit Seasonal/Thematic Resource Index

• What's Coming

• SLW! Podcast: WHOSE Birthday? (Nov. 15-Jan. 1)

• What Others Are Doing - So Much Help!

  I'm glad to pass along links from simple living bloggers, podcasters, coaches and others. Some faith-based, some not. You needn't read them all. Choose FIVE links -- including SLW! -- to investigate.
• Becoming Minimalist (Joshua Becker)
  • The Hope Effect: Changing How the World Cares for Orphans (11/1)
  • A New, Minimalist Economy (10/26)
  • Inspiring Simplicity. Weekend Reads. (10/24)
  • 12 Simple Living Graphics to Share and Inspire Others (10/19)
  • The Productivity of Being Non-Productive (10/13)
  • The Appeal of Generosity (10/6)
• Center for a New American Dream: Kids Unbranded Action Kit
• The Common Good Podcast
  • Episode 65 :: Mel Lions: Why Food Choices Are Our Best Portal to Making Differences Ecologically (11/1)
  • Episode 64 :: Paul Canavese: Why Pope Francis' Encyclical and Visit Matter (10/1)
• Earth Mama (Joyce Rouse) -- Website, Songbooks, Whole Enchi-Mama on a USB Thumbdrive, Standing on the Shoulders music video, sheet music offerings -- all NEW
• Eco-Justice Ministries (Peter Sawtell) // Voluntary Simplicity archive
  • Thou Shalt Not Exploit (10/30)
  • We Have Defaulted (10/23)
  • Destruction and Transformation (10/16)
  • Why We Love Trucks (10/9)
  • Too Many Choices (10/2)
  • A US Dialogue with the Pope (9/25)
• GodSpace (Christine Sine)
• The Homesteading Guide Daily: Homesteading adventurer exploring life off the grid. Inviting you to share my journey and the friends I meet as we help you with your homesteading endeavors.
• Living Lightly (Susan Vogt on living more simply but abundantly): 365+ Days of Give-Aways // TMI-Too Much Information
• Live Simply (Third Way: Celeste Kennel-Shank)
• Mustard Seed Associates (Andy Wade)
• New Celebrations (Clyde Griffith)
• NorthWest Earth Institute's newest discussion course ebook,  Change Is Our Choice: Creating Climate Solutions
• The OneEarth Project (Lee Van Ham)
  • Three minute film: Ecology and Economics—Colleagues, Not Rivals
  • Conversation about The OneEarth Project and Lee's book,Blinded by Progress: Breaking Out of the Illusion That Holds Us
  • The Common Good Podcast, episode 42
  • Lee’s new Slide Show
• The Pastoral Center/Gospel Living (Paul Canavese)
  • CatholicCreationCare.com - General resources
  • CreationCareKids.com - Children’s resources
  • Advent/Christmas resources for families, some incorporating Alternatives.
  • Easter resources for families
• PostConsumers: Find the Satisfaction of Enough
  • The Hidden Consumerism of Crafting (10/30)
  • Inspiring Less-is-More Quotes to Find Your Personal Less (8/24)
  • 37 Marketing Traps to Look Out For This Holiday Season
  • • Online Marketing Traps
    • Offline Marketing Traps
    • Sign-Up Marketing Traps
    • Upgrade Marketing Traps
    • Data Collection Marketing Traps
    • All Marketing Tricks and Traps
  • Tips for Raising PostConsumer Children: Grade School // Middle School // High School // College
• Simple Enough (Bob Sitze)
  • Simplicity's Children: Shared Hobbies (10/27)
  • "Simple Things: Flowers (10/24)
  • "Filling in the Holes in Your Brain" (10/21)
  • "Solving Global Warming" (10/18)
  • "Magical Living" (10/15)
  • "Lifestyle Exemplars" (10/12)
  • "Simple Words: Kerfuffle" (10/9)
  • "Let It Alone" (9/27)
  • "Simplicity's children: Dealing with FOMO" (9/24)
  • "People analytics down at church" (9/21)
  • "Simple enough: Special feature—Advent devotions" (9/18)
• Simple Living: the Good Life (Janet Luhrs)
  • How can I minimize my wardrobe? (10/22)
  • How to Quiet Your Mind for a Simpler Life, Even When It’s Busy (10/16)
  • Tips to Cure the Shopaholic Inside You And De-Clutter Your Life (9/29)
  • Help! My Partner Is a Hoarder! What Can I Do? (9/16)
• Simple Times (Debi Taylor-Hough): Saving Your Time, Money & Sanity
  • Latest edition
• Simplicity Collective - Let us be pioneers once more (Samuel Alexander)
• Simplicity Parenting (Kim John Payne): because it is a beautiful world
• Smart and Simple Matters podcast (Joel Zaslofsky of Value of Simple: Liberate Your Time, Money and Talent)
  • How to Grow Food Anywhere and Build Community Everywhere with Eugene Cooke, Ep. 83 (9/21)
  • 5 Strategic Steps to Streamline Your Life with Miriam Ortiz y Pino, Ep. 82 (9/7)
• For links to earlier entries, check the previous SLW! blog.
  

  Upcoming Alternate Celebrations

  • November

• What's Happened

• SLW! Podcast #53: World Community Cookbooks UPDATED
• SLW! Podcast #52: Kristina's "Alternative" Ph.D. Dissertation + Plus links to other fascinating historical "Alternative" documents and photos.
• Previews of Simple Living Blogs, Podcasts and Sites // New Collaborators and Champions
• Recent Responses to all SLW! media, including links
  

  Podcast Reminder

  You can access all SLW! podcast audio and the show notes either at SimpleLiving.startlogic.com/SLW-PODCAST or at SimpleLivingWorks.org (then click window #3). Complete Episode Index Listen through your computer, iPod, iPad, iPhone (or equivalent).
  SUBSCRIBE through iTunes, Stitcher.com or your favorite podcast service. To SUBSCRIBE to email notices, click Comments at the bottom of Show Notes, then check 'Notify me of new posts by email.' Please rate us in iTunes and leave a review.
  Send us your email address to receive the free monthly SLW! eNews. Remember to like us on Facebook. Urge your friends to do the same. Do your friends a favor. Share our blog and podcast.
  Like SLW! on Facebook. | Follow us on Twitter. | Follow us on Pinterest. Share your thoughts on our podcast and blogs. Email SimpleLivingWorks@yahoo.com, leave a message on our Facebook page or on the SLW! blog.
  Peace, Gerald “Jerry” Iversen, Chief SLW! Activist
  
  *IMAGE: AdventConspiracy.org
  For hard copies of Alternatives’ resources at nominal cost, contact ELCA Archives, 321 Bonnie Lane, Elk Grove Village, IL 60007 * (847) 690-9410 * archives@elca.org
  
  We do not solicit or accept donations, nor do we sell anything. All our resources and services are free of charge. We’re an all-volunteer organization. Instead, we urge Alternative Giving. Give away at least 25% of what you spent last year on all celebrations – Christmas, birthdays, etc. -- to local, national and international causes.
  Copyright: Creative Commons non-commercial attribution share-alike license.
  *Treasury of Celebrations: published by Northstone, a division of Wood Lake Publications, BC, Canada, best known for its Seasons of the Spirit curriculum.
  Through social media, we extend the mission and resources of the non-profit organization Alternatives, 1973-2011. Simple Living Works! web site home page | Theme/Seasons Index. To learn more about SLW! – our MISSION, for example -- please listen to our getting-acquainted episodes, especially #1 and 2. We produce a half-hour podcast twice a month, hopefully educational and inspiring for you, your family and your congregation or group. We blog several times a week. 
• You’re welcome to forward this eNews to your friends and contacts. If you received this from a friend and want to continue receiving it directly from SLW! send a SUBSCRIBE notice to SimpleLivingWorks@yahoo.com. Thanks.
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Action Alert: Tell Congress to Advocate for Palestinian Children

 

Action Alert: Tell Congress to Advocate for Palestinian Children The detention of Palestinian minors by Israel raises serious concerns about lack of due process and ill-treatment.  These concerns serve as a call to action for those who feel a responsibility to care for the most weak and vulnerable members of society.   According to the Israeli human rights organization, B’Tselem, as of the end of March 2015, 184 Palestinian minors were held in Israeli custody.   Furthermore, as B’Tselem notes, “the military law applied in the West Bank…denies them the protections accorded to minors under both international and Israeli law.”  A 2013 UNICEF report states, “Ill-treatment of Palestinian children in the Israeli military detention system appears to be widespread, systematic and institutionalized.”  While noting positive progress on some fronts, a UNICEF update this year states, “The data demonstrates the need for further actions to improve the protection of children in military detention, as reports of alleged ill-treatment of children during arrest, transfer, interrogation and detention have not significantly decreased in 2013 and 2014.”   Contact your Members of Congress today:  Ask them to attend an important Congressional briefing to learn more about this issue and to advocate for ending the ill-treatment of Palestinian children in detention.   Entitled, “International Juvenile Justice Reform: Children in Israeli Military Detention,” the briefing will take place Tuesday, June 2, 2015 at 9:30 AM in the Capitol Visitors Center, Congressional Meeting Room North.   The briefing will discuss the legal and structural components of the military court system, and situate the detention of Palestinian children within the larger context of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.  Opening remarks will be provided by Congressman Keith Ellison and featured speakers include Tariq Abu Khdeir, a Palestinian-American who will provide a firsthand account from a child’s perspective and examine the effects of detention. Also:  If you’re in the DC area, you are invited to attend an Interfaith Vigil on the occasion of the International Day for Protection of Children, Monday, June 1, at noon, at the Upper Senate Park, 200 New Jersey Ave NW, Washington, DC 20001. The vigil will highlight the issue of Palestinian children in Israeli detention.      For more information:   “Children in Israeli Military Detention,” UNICEF, February 2015. “Minors in Detention,”  B’Tselem. “Military Detention,” Defense for Children International Palestine (DCIP). “No Way to Treat a Child.”     General Assembly Policy   In 2014, the 221st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) approved the following policy:   1.     Reaffirms the commitment of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to the human rights of all children, particularly the children of Palestine and Israel. 2.     Reaffirms the support of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as expressed by the 202nd General Assembly (1990), and affirms its support for the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement on children in armed conflict. 3.     Calls upon the United States Senate to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and directs the Stated Clerk to communicate this call to members of the Senate and encourages the Presbyterian Mission Agency of the PC(USA) to promote the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in its advocacy with the United States Senate. 4.     Directs the Presbyterian Mission Agency, to engage in advocacy and public witness for the human rights of children in Palestine and Israel in relation to widespread and systematic patterns of ill-treatment and torture within the Israeli military detention system, including physical violence, psychological intimidation, and violent night arrests; denial of due process guarantees, including denial of the right to prompt access to legal and other appropriate assistance, particularly the presence of a parent or family member during interrogation; the use of coercion or force during interrogations, including physical violence and psychological pressure, to compel children and youth to give testimony, confess guilt, or to provide otherwise incriminating statements against their family, friends, and communities; the negative impact on former child detainees, including the psychosocial effects and obstacles to reintegration and access to education following their release from custodial detention; and the discriminatory legal framework in force in the Occupied Palestinian Territory involving separate laws governing children based on religion or ethnicity. 5.     Directs the Presbyterian Mission Agency, to create information documents, study guides, or other educational materials using information, research, and statistics from the Palestinian Authority and the State of Israel, United Nations agencies, including OCHA and UNICEF, and other human rights or nongovernmental organizations, such as B’Tselem, Defense for Children International Palestine, and Amnesty International to be made available through digital download at the PC(USA) website, as well as links to materials and research from other organizations.   Contact your elected officals today!
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Prayers to End Hunger: May 29 - June 12

Prayers to End Hunger: May 29 - June 12

Prayers to End Hunger: May 29 — June 12

Joseph Molieri/Bread for the World In Luke 15, Jesus tells the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Can we treat people leaving prison (often called "returning citizens") the way the father treats his returned son in that parable? When men and women pay their debt to society and acknowledge their crime, Christians should be the first ones to accept them back into society. Yet many returning citizens encounter barriers to a second chance, which often push them into hunger and poverty. We, the people of God, believe in a resurrected Christ who offers us second chances (and third, and fourth ...). Let's be the loudest voice calling for a second chance for returning citizens. Join us as we pray for: 1. People facing long sentences for nonviolent crimes due to mandatory minimum sentences and other unjust sentencing policies. Also pray that they would be re-united with their families soon. 2. Children whose parents are incarcerated, that they would receive the love and care they need to develop fully. 3. Congressional leaders, particularly Sen. Chuck Grassley, that they would revise mandatory minimum sentencing laws that hurt families and foster hunger. If you appreciated this prayer digest, please take a minute and share it with your friends using the button below. "Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing." (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

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