What if you could make the world a better place just by going about your daily routine?
Thats the thinking behind Karma Exchange (KarmaExchange.com), a new Vancouver-based fundraising initiative supporting access to education and clean water for girls living in Northern Ghana.
While many charities spout a familiar line that for the price of a cup of coffee a day, donors can support children in the developing world, Karma Exchange takes out the middle work, allowing consumers to support the project through actual purchases of everyday items from local retailers, such as that cup of coffee, a bouquet of flowers or a canister of tea.
Founded by 29-year-old Shannon OBrian, Karma Exchange partners with local businesses which offer a portion of proceeds on select services and products to Create Change, OBrians non-profit development agency based in the West African country.
Rather than charities focusing on the less than one per cent [of disposable income] that people give on an annual basis to charity, were able to sort of get in on the rest of what people are spending their disposable incomes on on a daily basis, OBrian says, adding that dozens of businesses have signed on to the project. Products and services on offer range from clothing to spa treatments to a night out on the town.
Born and raised in Vancouver, OBrian founded Create Change five years ago, after spending several years working and volunteering with non-governtmental organizations in Cuba, Mongolia and various African countries. Frustrated at the slow pace of progress of some larger NGOs, she decided to start up a charity of her own in Ghana after being won over by the nations warm and caring people and witnessing firsthand how poverty in that country was preventing girls from gaining an education.
For me, it was the number of girls that were dropping out of school once it got to the high school level, so that was like at age 15. Everybody would stop school and be forced to get married and have kids at a very, very young age, OBrian says.
Societal pressure and gender discrimination contributed to the problem, but OBrian soon discovered a lack of infrastructure for delivering clean water to rural villages was also a major factor precluding girls education. In northern Ghana, where drought lasts for up to seven months, women traditionally spend their days hauling water during the dry season, she says. Theyll be held back from school because of this.
Other factors standing in the way of girls education are basic school supplies, clothing or moral support, all of which Create Change provides on a case-by-case basis tailored to individual needs, she adds. Often the monetary cost of sending a girl to school is as little as $200 a year, so small donations collected through Karma Exchange really add up to make a huge difference for Ghanaian girls.
This is really an opportunity for our purchases to go back and make a difference, OBrian says.
Since forming Create Change, she says her team of eight staff have helped more than 1,000 girls attend high school and several have gone on to university or vocational college. Theyve also orchestrated renovations or additions to seven schools in Ghana and given more than 23,000 people access to clean water.
Find out more about the project at KarmaExchange.com or CreateChangeNow.ca.
