Dear Supporters of Invisible Children,
A lot of you may be confused at all the criticism that Invisible Children (IC) has faced as of late. Perhaps you feel that this criticism is coming from people who fail to understand the mission and nature of IC. Alternatively, perhaps, you may feel that this criticism - while having some merit - has been unfairly blown out of proportion.
What I think needs to be understood is that there is no such thing as black and white. Invisible Children, as an organization, isn't some nefarious evil group robbing people of their money. But, at the ...
We Speak For Ourselves
When it comes to international aid and development, we are all biased. It doesn't matter if you're a donor reading pamphlets, a celebrity or YouTuber endorsing your favorite NGO, a journalist interviewing villagers, an academic outside of the ivory tower, an experienced aid professional talking about "good aid", or even a free agent trying to be a bridge-maker.
There is nothing nefarious about this fact. We as human beings, while capable of untold capacities for empathy, will never have a complete verstehen and fully imagine the complexity of others. This is important because the arbiters of what is and is not ...
5 Steps for NGOs to Move from Guilt to Empowerment
My thoughts on how charities need to drop the guilt is getting tons of views. But the question remains: how does a charity drop the guilt? Can they do it overnight? Cold turkey?
As I mentioned some charities, like the US-branch of Save the Children, have already stopped using "poverty porn". I'd like to share something I've talked to them about behind closed doors.
I guess you can call it a 5 Step Program for NGOs using guilt:
3 Reasons Charities Need to Drop the Guilt
[caption id="attachment_3629" align="aligncenter" width="473" caption="A Charity Guilt-Ad Currently Airing in Canada"][/caption]
It's 2011 and we still live in a world where many charities think that the best way to raise funds to help those in need is by using guilt.
This needs to stop and here are three reasons why:
Hey there ONE Campaign folks! I’m a big fan of you guys. In fact, I wear your ONE Campaign bracelet almost everywhere I go! I can also tell you’re a huge fan of my work – especially my latest video called “Thank You YouTube”:
Thanks so much for finding a way to reduce that video down to 30 seconds (which I guess you guys decided to call “ONE Thank You”):
I’m really flattered you even stuck with a similar text effect for the “Thank You” at the end!
FYI, I come up with stuff like this all the time. Why not give me a call? I’d be happy to help out if you guys out more formally sometime
P.S. On a more serious note, this is actually an awesome message from The ONE Campaign. It’s positive, non-partisan, and optimistic. The fact this 30 second video is going to be used in a national ad campaign should hopefully counter-balance those dark, depressing, guilt-inducing videos we often see on TV about global poverty.
It’s no secret that I’ve been lucky to work closely with the great organization that is Save the Children USA. They seem to be making leaps and bounds in their attempt to change the conversation about global poverty. I absolutely love this video:
It’s a great balance of the harsh reality but also combined with a really positive and hopeful message. If you were on the fence about how great Save the Children is – hopefully this video has erased any doubt
Santa’s not putting anything underneath the tree this year unfortunately. In fact, this past year, there have been no birthday presents, nothing for the holidays, and definitely no surprises. Between my parents helping me replace my busted external harddrive, helping provide the airline points so I could meet Hank and John in Texas, and helping me return to Bangladesh in the new year – they have been supporting me as much as they can.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t things on my wish-list. In this blog post, I’ll list some of the things that would make a huge difference in this project. However this isn’t a ploy at Christmas-time cyberbegging because the most of the things on this list require a Christmas miracle (or two).
One of the things I’ve learned from this project is that some of the most vile, intolerant, and hideous comments I have received have been left by local Bangladeshis who are privileged enough to have the resources to access (and be hateful) on YouTube.
The thing to keep in mind is that, with over 80% of the country earning less than $2 a day, those within Bangladesh who are able to comment and critique my videos come from a very narrow (and very privileged) position in society. I guess sometimes the hardest people to get through to are those living right in the middle of it all.
As of this Monday, the money that I had allotted for Challenge Poverty has now been transferred (in full) to Save the Children USA. It’s the YouTube community that is voting on what I do – but it is Save the Children that will be carrying it out.
This is a huge of a load off my chest. This project has come with a lot of jobs. I had to become a part-time cameraman, director, editor, field/aid worker, graphic designer, webmaster, accountant, and full time blogger, vlogger, and tweeter. But the biggest stress has always been that I’ve been entrusted to handle other people’s money. This is a big chunk of the money donated to me and, by teaming up with Save the Children for this particular project, I can sleep easy knowing each and every penny is going to be spent wisely and efficiently.
It was only when I was getting the paperwork for this together that I realized the scope and scale of this project. When completed, Challenge Poverty will have been funded by over 200 different donors – many of whom are my age or younger and most of whom are first time donors to something like this. In total, this project has received donations from 18 different countries across the globe. Not only that, there have been countless people from 11 different states across America who have donated in cash during the Tour de Nerdfighting.
I have a strong idea as to what we will spend this money on. But it’s not to late to lend your voice to what is no doubt on this highly ambitious project Feel free to vote by YouTube comment or by video response to this video.
For this year’s Project for Awesome, I decided to pull out all the stops and show you guys a lot of the stuff I’ve been doing but haven’t had the time to put into individual episodes or videos. I keep saying that this project is less about me and more about the community behind it – hopefully this latest video helps convey that.
And, yeah, this video does use copyrighted music by Coldplay (part of EMI Records). I did enough research into YouTube’s agreement with EMI Records and am fairly certain this video won’t be taken down. But, of course, I also had to forfeit any chance of earning any ad revenue and (as I later found out) any reasonable chance of having this video being featured or promoted. EMI can also reserve the right to take down this video, region lock it, or place ads on it where they can earn all the ad revenue from it (just like the Counting Crows & Universal Music have region locked my Cyclone Sidr video and take all the ad revenue from it).
But that’s cool. This was a kind of video I wanted to make for ages. I just never could find the right match of visuals and music until I heard “Life in Technicolor ii” by Coldplay.
Haha – just kidding. This is just a video of that cockroach infestation I had photoblogged about on Flickr a while back. I sure have come a long way in my phobia of cockroaches. (Heads up – this video is not for the squeamish).
Looking at this video from the comfort of my home here in Canada, I actually feel real sad. Because the fact is I have a few well-to-do relatives in Bangladesh. They all live in nice big modern homes free of insect infestations.
Unfortunately, things got so bad for me in Bangladesh, that I now know that I can’t rely on my well-to-do relatives even if it’s a medical emergency. Unsupportive relatives are one of the many reasons, I decided to come back for a break.
This is not a charity, organization, or anything formal. It’s my journey to try and make the world a better place - one meaningful difference at a time. To learn more click here.
As of this Monday, the money that I had allotted for 
