I stumbled onto an organization website that I was unfamiliar with and it was a nice surprise. Healthy Child Healthy World. Here is a charity that focuses on protecting people and particularly children from harmful chemicals. They refer officially to the chemicals as “harmful environmental exposures”. With that in mind they give advice on how to shop healthy and how to eat healthy avoiding problematic products.

Here is a good video they made about waking up to the fact that consumers can avoid eating dangerous pesticides which are present in many store bought foods.

A good friend of our families just told me how his daughter had a series of mini-strokes before she was 30 and one of the alarming things her doctors found out was that she had very high levels of mercury in her body. She had eated a lot of canned tuna for her entire life and that was the only thing they could all think of that had potentially elevated her levels of this dangerous chemical.

For me, I was concerned that our entire environment was over the top with dangerous chemicals (my “Wake Up”) when the bee colonies in the US started disappearing at an alarming rate. One of the things researchers found was that the average bee colony had an average of 127 different pesticides present in their hives and in fact on each bee in some cases. I know chemical testing with a few chemicals mixed together is done sometimes but with a staggering amount of chemicals mixed in our environment who knows what can happen.

We need organizations like this one to keep an eye on dangerous chemicals entering our bodies. I always say “follow the money trail” and unfortunately it leads to greedy people out there just to make money at the expense of everyone else in the world. This organization has a very high rating from Charity Navigator and with their 11 million dollar budget based solely on donations, they do a good job helping educate us on this important issue.

I know I featured the Clinton – Bush Haiti Fund previously but I saw this video on Clinton’s Foundation website and I had to write a post on it. There’s a brief endorsement from Mr. Mandela at the end of the video clip. We don’t see a lot of public appearances from Nelson Mandela now that he’s in retirement so I thought I would help get a little more exposure for the cause he is supporting in this case.

Mr. Clinton offered to personally match donations up to $100,000 USD before the end of 2010. Wow !! He has tried with his foundation to tackle some very difficult situations all over teh world and I have to give him credit and respect. He helped a lot of people.

For me personally, I was in Vietnam in 1993 before the embargo was lifted and I saw with my own eyes the difference it made in people’s lives over there when Bill Clinton lifted the embargo in early 1994. It was like turning on a light in a room that had been dark for a very long time. It instantly gave the average Vietnamese citizen hope for the future. Sometimes that’s all we need to keep going through rough times. It helps when someone is out there cheering for your team and in this case it was a lone President of the United States who saw through all the smoke and lies and he reached out to lend a hand. Most people just don’t realize that Vietnam was a great friend with the US after World War II and fell victim to French and American greed and stupidity starting in 1947. That was when the “allies” gave Vietnam back to France as a “possession” because France threatened to not join NATO unless we gave them Vietnam and Cambodia back.

Anyway, my life was changed by Bill Clinton’s vision back in 1994 and I’ve kept an eye on his successes and failures ever since. This foundation is definitely a success and I encourage you to invest in a small donation if you can because the money is well spent and not wasted.

I hope everyone has a great year in 2011 and I can tell you from personal experience that giving your time or support in the form of a few dollars is good. I think that despite all the opposite and confused teachings of the many religions that have sprung up over the history of mankind, helping anyone who is less fortunate is one of the real central purposes of this life. Best Regards – from the editor Mal Milligan.

The Vietnam Children’s Fund Builds Schools all over Vietnam and I know a number of people who have been involved. This is one of those charities that American soldiers who fought in Vietnam frequently participate in. It’s a great concept and each project is manageable. There are no grandiose goals but at the same time, what this charity accomplishes has had a significant positive impact on thousands of kids. I’d like to see the organization market itself a little better on the internet with pre-made charity banners and so forth. I’m going to write to them this week about getting some made and available on their website. Anyway check out the Vietnam Children’s Fund and look at all those smiling faces !!

I’ve been to Vietnam 10 times since 1993 and one of the greatest assets I’ve ever seen there is the smiles on the kid’s faces. I frequently hold up my hand and smile back shouting “Hello !” to groups of school kids and without exception they always return the gesture. These kids are genuinely happy to meet foreigners and they could use any help you could offer. I’m personally going to look more into the Vietnam Children’s Fund to see if I can help a bit on my next visit to Vietnam.

What can a former US Marine do to promote peaceful change in the world? Start a non-profit organization that helps the poorest people on the earth with Agro resources, Health resources, clean water, sanitation, education, and economic development. The organization was started by a Force Recon Dude named Jake Harriman who’s idea was that poverty fostered terrorism and if we ended poverty we could take a big bite out of terrorism. Good idea.

Each individual program is implemented and then it becomes self-sustaining because every area becomes profitable. Wow. What a concept.

Contact Neru at:  http://www.nuruinternational.org/

My brother will graduate from Harvard with his Masters in IT in 2010. Since he’s been going to Harvard, I’ve noticed how much of an impact the University has had in the last decade in terms of positive global change. The alumni from the school can be found all over the planet working on some of the most critical problems facing the world. It’s not far fetched to claim that Harvard and maybe in particular Harvard MBA’s have had a tremendous impact on the global and international economy. Here is a link to the Global Initiative at Harvard University. http://www.hbs.edu/global/