CHARITY | São Tomé e Príncipe - Your upvote can make a difference! | #2
Source
THIS POST.
News!
I'll start this week's post with some news!
1. Last week's post
Last post achieved almost 6$ in post rewards! That's A LOT and a very good start for this. But I think steemwhales (I use for the 100% beneficiary to @sisou) screwed up big time, since only 1.7SP went through and the SBD simply disappeared!
So... Shit. This post will not have the 100% beneficiary until I figure out what happened and try to get the SBD back. Once the post reaches payout, I'll transfer the SBD manually to @sisou.
So for the moment, there is 0 SBD and 1.712 SP in @sisou and 0 SDB and 0 SP in this account. Not much, but with your help I'll get that SBD back and get a bigger payout on this post!
Theatre, in Príncipe. Source
2. Staying away from money
I decided I won't be giving the money directly to institutions. I talked with several volunteers and people living there, and the truth hurts: even if you deliver the money directly to institutions on-site, almost none of it will be spent in things kids actually need.
And what if I give the money directly to the families? Well, they'll just spend it unwisely. Their style of living is not suited to savings and wise buying habits. I saw documentaries about it as well.
3. So... what's your plan?
I'll be buying stuff and carry an extra suitcase with me. My sister gave me some wise advices about this. I want to donate a bunch of proper educational games, toys, and tools, but since São Tomé has no recycling system, I'll stay away from plastics. Instead I'll get a bunch of colour pencils, notebooks, inks and pencils, not to mention the amazing crayons that refuse to die no matter how many times you break them.
I'll be contacting wholesale vendors to get t-shirts and other useful textiles. About the games, I have a friend that is an amazing thinker and pedagogue that makes games for kids in wood. I'll challenge him to create an educational, simple, safe and cheap game he can make a dozen of them without spending the whole money you are providing.
São Tomé e Príncipe
Geography
The fear of the unknown has led to slavery on most portuguese colonies such as Brazil, Angola or Guiné-Bissau. But São Tomé is different, since there were deserted island. I can safely say the explorers "discovered" these islands.
Where are they? Well, let me google that for you, so you don't have to!
Economy
Nevertheless these islands were used for slave trade, and plantations of sugar, coffee and cocoa continued with forced labour even after the abolition of slavery in 1876. Political instability in Portugal that led to the 1974 revolution set the tone for São Tomé's independence in 1975.
The country's economy is based on agriculture, tourism and petroleum. But almost 90% of the food needs are imported from the EU, specially Portugal. It is sad.
Culture
The mixture of african and portuguese cultures is just amazing. From architecture to music, not to mention the cuisine, everything you see has the both sides of that equation. I'll try to taste as many vegetarian food I can handle, from their use of coffee as a spice to their fried bananas, avocados, pineapples and all kind of hot spices they use in everything.
Cocoa is a huge part of the country's agricultural production. It's amazing, too. Source
As much as I know, you can loose yourself in São Tomé's cuisine. If you like food, DON'T GO THERE. The same happens with their music and dancing rhythms. Very strong stuff for very strong and gentle people.
The banana beach. Source
That's it for today! Please if you have any questions regarding this project, read this post
I remind the addresses for donations in crypto:
Bitcoin (BTC): 16PPGv5WipSvQgqmqaZEe8iCMAavzt5bZL
Ethereum (ETH): 0xb37E3A39ad64C8E772090E50C09d88f8761c1567
Litecoin (LTC): LLBsMBMWkrCygHmJssqwbvNsoKaZPuUREM
ZCash (ZEC): t1VbM7k6VngGbu953nzZWuTTgRo2G1oBRAT
I saw the documentary and read the books from the people who did the Half The Sky documentary, and two of the things they said was:
a) if you give the money to the women, they usually spend it on sensible things like school fees or clothes for the kids or food or home repairs or some such. If you give it to the men, they tend to spend on cigarettes, alcohol, and sodas.
b) one of the big problems is they don't have a safe place to save, either there are no banks, the banks are unstable, or women aren't allowed to have an account. The simple and effective solution was to simply give the women a lock box. They make a group of women who have businesses or just want to make a savings and they all agree to deposit even a tiny sum once per month. The box changes hands between them and the key with another for safety, and withdrawals can only happen when they are all present. The test group of women this started with were in a country that had a civil war break out, and all the charity groups left. Years later, they returned, and these women had saved a lot and made investments with it to better their lives!
So maybe you could give women a little money and a lock box. ☺
Awesome ... I wish you the best and hope you raise enough to jam pack that suitcase full of goodies.
My upvote isn't worth a penny yet so I am sending a micro bot.
Thank you so much! You can also help by resteeming the post :)
Bora!!
Muito obrigado por chamares a curation trail! Vocês são incríveis!
So awesome of you to feature these amazing people. I hope you enjoy your trip - and thank you for being such an awesome person!
Well that sucks with those whales somehow screwing up on their end. Anywho, good job on the analysis and taking action part. Albeit I agree phoebixwren on the saving’s part. Resteemed anyways.
You just planted 0.23 tree(s)!
Thanks to @theironfelix
We have planted already 4474.18 trees
out of 1,000,000
Let's save and restore Abongphen Highland Forest
in Cameroonian village Kedjom-Keku!
Plant trees with @treeplanter and get paid for it!
My Steem Power = 24928.51
Thanks a lot!
@martin.mikes coordinator of @kedjom-keku
What a lovely post, lots of good information and interesting pictures! Wishing you luck on this project!
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You got a 11.55% upvote from @brupvoter courtesy of @fireguardian!
Thanks for helping make a difference in São Tomé! The kids will love the colored pencils and crayons...I know that from experience. São Tomé is an incredible place, and I hope to visit it on my next service trip to Africa. Wishing you the best on your trip!