CARE Knows How #CareKnowsHow

Thank you to CARE for sponsoring today’s post and inspiring me to learn more about this global humanitarian organization and the amazing ways they are helping all over the world! 

It's not often that something comes up here in internet world that makes me comfortable putting on my social worker hat, after all this blog is typically removed from my profession completely. I feel like this is my personal space and bringing in my professional self makes me feel like I have to be an "expert" in my field, on the internet. That sounds pretty scary to me and I don't know that I'm quite ready for that! That being said though, being a social worker is really a huge part of who I am. My faith and my profession serve as guideposts for how I see and experience the world. Fortunately, in many areas they intersect. So, when asked to share about what CARE is doing around the world, it was a no-brainer! Yes, of course I will share because after all

"the primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty. A historic and defining feature of social work is the profession’s focus on individual well-being in a social context and the well-being of society. Fundamental to social work is attention to the environmental forces that create, contribute to, and address problems in living."  taken from the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics 

So, not only are we called to be the hands and feet of Jesus but we are asked to teach those we are serving how to have a voice and to care for themselves and others. That's exactly what CARE is doing and that is in perfect alignment to what I hope to achieve as a social worker, believer, and mother. I often feel small and like the world's problems are too great for me, but then something comes along to remind me how making a difference in one life can have a ripple effect on others. So, when CARE goes into communities and works from the bottom-up it shows us that just one person can (and does) make a difference.

CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty with a commitment to empowering women and girls.  CARE is committed to its mission to serve individuals and families in the poorest communities in the world.. CARE seeks a world of hope, tolerance and social justice, where poverty has been overcome and people live in dignity and security. What a strong message that is! To prove that CARE Knows How to achieve these goals, check out the CARE Know How page and read the many stories of what they are doing to empower people around the world.

Biti Rose Nasoni in the southern African nation of Malawi

For example, the microfinance program and the story of Biti (pictured above), Alfred and their family being able to start their own Donut business to be able to pay their children's school uniform fees is amazing! The foundation of community's survival has to begin within the community itself. Their village is working toward something bigger by bringing 10 cents a week. The cycle of extreme poverty is being broken with $2.00 loans for school uniforms. Now the boy who would not have gone to school at all can have the chance to go to college, along with his siblings. Head over and watch the video embedded from the New York Times.

While you are there, check out the other things CARE Knows How to achieve, like making drinking water from fog, preventing malaria with goat poop, and changing the sheets to pink can convince Peruvian mothers to get prenatal care. CARE doesn't just deliver aid, they learn from the community, teach strategies that will work where the need is, and they provide people with the skills they need to empower other members of their own community. The cycle is changing and we can be a part of that change with CARE. 

So, today and every day I want to encourage you to learn about how you can be the change, even if it's in a really small way like just educating other's in casual conversation by getting updates from CARE on social media or even just giving a few dollars to help facilitate the changes that are being made in these vulnerable communities. You can make a ripple!