Welcome to The Kettle!

Primarily, "The Kettle" publicizes and manages the "Three Cups of Tea Book Project." However, as described in our very first post (click here), we also hope to use "The Kettle" as a medium for individuals interested in social issues to become more aware of the lives of those less fortunate. Ideally, whatever we write or publish here will take that nascent concern and transform it into action. To inspire any action, small or large, in the genuine interest of doing better for the world is our ultimate goal.

Though heavily slanted towards Pakistan and Afghanistan presently, we do try to include news, opinions, and reference materials regarding diverse topics, including poverty, reconstruction, human rights, Africa, "Green" developments, Micro Finance, and other solutions and considerations for what are essentially man made problems in the world. In the universe of charitable options, we endorse and support multigenerational solutions and initiatives for multigenerational problems.

The education made possible by the Central Asia Institute is one such solution, but there are certainly others. We encourage the commitment of resources and people that goes beyond merely "patriarchal" handouts to the multitude of people in need. We agree that it is good to charitable, but charity that only treats the symptoms and not the root causes has proven to be insufficient. A consistent commitment to work with the local communities of people in need to provide and/or improve education, nutrition, access to capital, human rights, security, sustainable development/redevelopment, and environmental stewardship are what will lead to an enduring improvement in people's lives.

If you have any questions, general comments, and suggestions for improvements, please leave a comment on any of the posts below, and we'll follow up with you!

The Kettle's shared items

Monday, September 14, 2009

Book Project Update

Sorry for the lack of updates of recently. I've started taking classes after work, and that is taking a considerable amount of time. I continue to work offline though. This afternoon I sent 8 books to Japan, 2 books to London, and 1 book to New Jersey. It cost me $115 in shipping altogether but if even a few of those books manage to inspire one or two people, then the $115 would be worth it.

Farzeen from New York recently left me a message which made me feel good about the money and time I am spending on the project. After reading Book 15, she wrote:

Personally, for someone who is at somewhat of a crossroads in my career, I found the story truly inspirational The idea of the Three of Cups Book Project is brilliant in how we try to spread this message out there. I hope for each of us who participate in this project, in the coming years, whenever we are touched by a story, an incident, and at that moment if we mentally make a promise to make a change, however small, we do follow through with it.
I made a commitment several months ago to give away 200 copies of the book and try to raise $50,000 for the CAI. Though I have been slowed down by work, life "stuff", and the speed participants are getting through the book, I continue to be committed to the 200 book goal. I'm actually down to 3 books, and need to buy more soon. I have about 40 books in circulation now.

Thank you, Farzeen and other project participants, for inspiring me to continue even as things become much more inconvenient.



-- The Kettle Rumbles
Posted by Draven
Labels:

2 comments:

  1. TamreezSeptember 21, 2009 at 7:58 AM

    Edgar, we received our books today! Thank you so much! We are very excited about the project and look forward to reading them and passing them on!

    We wrote a blog about the Book Project today. Check it out: blog.asimandtamreez.co.uk

    Thank you for letting us be a part of such a great project!

    ReplyDelete
  2. DravenSeptember 29, 2009 at 9:54 AM

    Cool! We're happy to have you participating!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)