Feel Good Friday - Bay Area Proud

We've spent the last few weeks out and about in the world so this Feel Good Friday we bring it home to the San Francisco Bay Area!

My goal for Inspiration Safari, and the Feel Good Friday series, is to share stories and videos of people making a positive difference in communities around the world. One NBC station is sharing similar stories with a local focus in a series called "Bay Area Proud".

"Each week NBC Bay Area's Garvin Thomas profiles the people, the groups, and the companies making the Bay Area, and the world, a better place to live. Bay Area Proud stories are success stories; inspiring profiles of those making a positive change in our communities."

Having just highlighted people cleaning up from the earthquake in Nepal last week, this story (and video) of a man who has been cleaning up the streets of Oakland for 36 years caught my eye.  36 years! Watch it here. 

You can learn about other members of our community who will make you proud by searching through the stories at this link: Bay Area Proud You don't need to own a TV to stay inspired by your neighbors! 

To make sure you always know what the latest and greatest story is, like the Facebook page and follow the reporter, Garvin Thomas on Twitter @garvinthomas. I wonder if he'll ever want a co-host...

Feel Good Friday - Women For Human Rights, Single Women Group - Nepal

It's been almost a week since the devastating 7.8 earthquake in Nepal. The death toll has risen to over 5,000 and an estimated 2.8 million Nepalese are displaced from their homes.

It's difficult to find a reason to feel good under these circumstances and yet, there's always hope. Today's Feel Good Friday is focused on Women for Human Rights, Single Women Group. Since last Saturday they have been mobilizing volunteers to distribute food in different areas of Nepal. While there is more need than this group can possible address, they are doing what they can and updating social media with calls to action tagged as #HelpInAnyWayPossible.

And what do they do when they are not providing earthquake relief? Provide support to widows in the country, both young and old. They refer to the widows as "single women" because the term widow has such a negative connotation in Nepal.

According to their website, "Discrimination against women in Nepal is prevalent, due to the structure of the society deeply rooted in Patriarchal thoughts. Women are constantly marginalized and single women (widows) are in a (sic) even worse state. Single woman are considered as symbols of ill-omen and the cause of the death of their husbands." You can hear more about this by watching this 5:49 minute video.

Their mission is a simple one, "To empower women economically, politically, socially and culturally in order to live dignified lives and enjoy the value of human rights."

To accomplish this they divide their areas of focus into five pillars, which you can read about in detail here. Briefly, they are as follows:

1. Create awareness of victims of cultural torture and provide a scholarship fund and school supplies for children of these single women.
2. Train women in the development of different kinds of income generating activities, provide micro loans and education on effective ways of saving money.
3. An advocacy campaign for the human rights of women as well as counseling and skills development to help conflict affected women recover from traumatic experiences and reintegrate back into society.
4. Improvement of single women groups to articulate demands to improve their situations by securing rights from their local bodies of government.
5. Building networks at the South Asian regional and global levels to increase awareness of the rights of single women.

Since the creation of WHR in 1994 they've changed laws ranging from increased property rights for single women to being able to get a passport without a male relative's approval. They now have a membership base of over 100,000 women in 73 districts!

To follow their progress on earthquake recovery and their work with single women, like their Facebook page and follow them on Twitter @WHRNepal.

Feel Good Friday - Sugar Empowerment Society

We've spent the last two weeks in the San Francisco Bay Area learning about organizations that help kids get on stage and get outdoors. Well, the pendulum is on the move and we spend this Feel Good Friday with a young woman working to prevent honor killings and child marriages in Pakistan. Hey, when it swings, it swings.

Khalida Broni founded the Sughar Empowerment Society in her native Pakistan to give women wings. Sughar translates into "skilled and confident women" and reflects the mission of the organization.

As explained on their website, "Sughar is a non profit social enterprise organization based in Pakistan. Operating in the most tribal and rural areas of Pakistan, Sughar provides socio-economic opportunities and empowerment to women by giving them trainings, resources and opportunities to grow as as leaders within their communities."

The goal of the empowerment programs is simple. "At Sughar Women Program we aim to create a society where women are not killed for honor, but are honored and given equal status." Offerings include a program to help women mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change as well as a one to help them buy land and learn how to generate income from that land. The most popular program is 6 months long and trains women on basic education, life skills, traditional embroidery and enterprise development.

Recent initiatives include creating a hub that houses the 6 month training program with other local non-profits, a fund to raise money to help the programs continue AND a fashion line called Nomads which sells the clothing that the women make. Your purchases will directly support the Sughar Empowerment Society which, to date, has worked with over 900 women!

Want to learn more? You can listen to Khalida Broni's recent 14 minute TED Talk, like Sughar's Facebook page for photos and updates and follow them on Twitter @SugharWomen.