Today is small business saturday and I know of a few wonderful small business having sales today in honor of it. I also have a few links in the sidebar to some of my favorite etsy.com shops. If you are a small business and are having a sale today, please post a link in the comment section.

A Stitch of Mine is offering 20% off today with the coupon code HOMEMADE. Her products are wonderfully made.

2 Chicks Cakery is offering 20% off all orders placed this weekend. My sister-in-law Michelle is following her passion and baking yummy cupcakes!

Stop Traffic[k] is having a three day sale on their t-shirts. They are determined to help abolish slavery.

Ez and my toes

Noah and my toes

Today we went barefoot all day. We did it for One Day Without Shoes. Sadly we didn’t have any plans and I didn’t feel like making any so we just went barefoot around the neighborhood. We went for a walk, did our chores, and played outside. I tried my best to avoid walking across the rocks, but had to do it a few times.

Here’s some facts on why we went barefoot to raise awareness:

• In some developing nations, children must walk for miles to school, clean water and to seek medical help.
• Cuts and sores on feet can lead to serious infection.
• Often, children cannot attend school barefoot.
• In Ethiopia, approximately one million people are suffering from Podoconiosis, a debilitating and disfiguring disease caused by walking barefoot in volcanic soil.
• Podoconiosis is 100% preventable with basic foot hygiene and wearing shoes.

I decided to count my pairs of shoes in honor of the day and confess how many I had, 26 pairs.  Made me sad I had so many shoes and so many in the world have none.  So I gave away a few more pairs, 8 and am down to 18.  I would still like to give more away, but I am a former shoe addict and I did the best I could today.  I am pledging that from now on whenever I buy a pair of shoes, whether new or used, I will donate the exact same amount to a charity that gives shoes to those who need them.  It will help me think about how much I really “need” those shoes and it will help a few people who need some shoes.

*Thanks to Melissa for her comment, here is a charity some might be interested in: http://www.soles4souls.org/ If you know of any others please feel free to add them in the comments.

Unshaken – charity: water’s campaign for Haiti from charity: water on Vimeo.

Unshaken

I couldn’t bring myself to do a Wordless Wednesday post.  My heart is breaking for the people of Haiti today.  I pray that the estimates of 100,000 dead are wrong.  I pray for all those living in chaos right now, with no where to go because their city is flattened.  Praying is not enough though, so I encourage you to act, donate, volunteer, or whatever you can do, just do it, and if all you can do is pray then please do.  CNN has a page set up with organizations that are looking for donations or volunteers, its not a complete list, but it is a start for those who don’t know where to look.

I started a Mocha Club team in Tom and Jerry’s names today to support education in Uganda and Kenya. Please join our team and provide education for only $7 a month.

Today, Oct. 15, is Blog Action Day, the day that thousands of bloggers, regardless of their genre, unite to discuss a single issue. This year’s issue is Poverty.

Many experts believe that education is a sustainable solution to poverty, specifically education of girls. Why girls? (ummm because we rock!)

Recent studies corroborate what Camfed has observed and fostered on the ground: girls who complete primary and secondary education tend to marry later, have smaller families and earn significantly higher wages. Girls’ education has been posited as a “vaccine” against HIV/AIDS, with comparative analysis of data from Zambia, for example, of non-educated and educated women showing a substantial difference in infection rates. Educating a girl changes her destiny, as well as those of her future children, and ensures that she can contribute to the economic life of her community. (UN Chronicle)

A child born to a literate mother is 50 percent more likely to survive to age five. And, providing girls with one extra year of schooling beyond the average can boost their wages by up to 20 percent. (CEDPA)

Mortenson’s belief, one shared by many scholars and human-rights organizations, is that educating women is the best investment for community sustainability. Studies have shown that a fifth-grade education level for girls results in decreased birth rates and infant mortality, and increases the strength of the social structure. (IKAT)

What can you do? Support organizations that focus on girls education, make sure the girls in your life value their education, or considering working with children in your area that have less education opportunities.

Here are some programs helping with education in developing countries:

Ethiopia Reads

Central Asia Institute (I highly recommend the founder’s book Three Cups of Tea)

Take the Walk

The Girl Effect

Send a Child to School for a Year in India

Teach Literacy to Women in the Congo

More on this topic:

NY Times Article

A Dollar A Day

United Nations Population Fund

If you know of any wonderful organizations building schools for girls, please feel free to share in the comments section.