The New PR Five Steps to a Press Release that Really Sells

THE NEW PR: FIVE STEPS TO A PRESS RELEASE THAT REALLY SELLS I recently attended a webinar featuring David Meerman Scott, author of the WebInkNow blog and World Wide Rave, the latest book on creating effective social media content that works. During the webinar, an interesting question popped up in the QA section: What’s the purpose of a press release – and how can it be used effectively? Scott suggested taking a new approach: instead of writing press releases that target media, why not target your buyers, the people that really matter to your bottom line? Journalists don’t sit around, waiting for your press release to float across their desks before they decide what they want to write about. If they want to write about you, they’ll search you out. Reaching out to journalists is important, but it’s not as important as reaching your clients. So here’s where we get into the new PR: instead of using your press release to grab the attention of journalists – who may or may not care about you – why not use your press release to sell? I’ve put together five steps here to target your press releases to potential clients and journalists alike: 1. Put it in the correct form. There’s a right way and a wrong way to write press releases. All of them need a title, a date, a city, and valid contact information (that’s an email address and a phone number). 2. Get rid of the nonsense. Remember, you’re writing for potential buyers, not necessarily â€Å"the media.† Use language that your target audience would use to describe your business or product. For example, do you know a whole lot of people who would describe Coca Cola as a â€Å"purveyor of artificially sweetened beverages†? Probably not Coca Cola is a soft drink company. Forget fancy words like â€Å"integral solutions. Speak the language your buyers speak. Once you think you’ve got that down, check out David Meerman Scott’s top 25 gobbledygook press release phrases. If you have any in your press release, delete them – pronto. 3. Optimize your press release. This goes hand-in-hand with No. 2. Make sure your press release is keyword rich, with phrases that can be easily searched on Google (you’ll want keyword-rich content for step No. 5 – read on). To get the best optimization on your press release, try to include at least two or three relevant links to different websites, either in the body or at the bottom of your press release. For example, if you write a press release about an award your company just won, include links to the website of the institution that gave you the award. These links are important to search engines, placing your press release higher in rankings. But only include links to quality, authoritative sites; linking to spammy sites will hurt your search engine ranking. 4. Put your press release to the test. Check out this awesome tool, courtesy of David Meerman Scott: The Gobbledygook Grader. All you need to do is cut and paste your press release, and the Gobbledygook Grader will automatically put your press release to the test, giving it a grade between 1 and 100. It automatically checks for any nonsense, filler phrases you may have missed, as well as making sure your press release is fully optimized. 5. Get it out on the web. Use a trusted press release distribution site, like PRWeb. This is important, because once your press release is on a distribution site, it’s guaranteed to hit Google, Yahoo, and other search engines. That means anyone who types in a keyword – a potential buyer or client – can access your press release. And the information there might just catch their attention, and then they’ll pass is on to a friend †¦ and eventually you could have a viral press release, or a phone ringing off the hook with new clients. And you know what? Journalists use search engines too – so using a distribution site is sure to get you the largest cross section of attention for your press release. Questions? I’m always here to help!

Overruled essays

Overruled essays Tonight I saw the play Overruled by George Bernard Shaw. It was absolutely charming! I was so impressed by the ascents they used and the dialect they developed for each of their characters. All of the actors seemed very well rehearsed and prepared for the roles they undertook. They all had direct actions and used the given circumstances to up the ante and increase the very funny dramatic tension. The one thing that I was struck with when I walked away for the theater was the fact that the actors had such chemistry with one another. They really were talking and listening to each other. It seemed as if every decision made, as characters, was for the first time. All the characters actually looked as if they were thinking on stage. As an audience member I was actually able to see each of the actors thought process on stage. It was amazing to see how the actors interacted with each other in such a comical yet serious way. I know that seems like an oxymoron but these actors were saying extremely humorous lines with such a straight face and with such dramatic tension. The whole play was ironic seeing that two couples, in the same predicament, fell in love with each others spouses. I really enjoyed the plot of the play and the way that tension was built and then released and then built again. I was also impressed by how Dennis Mosley played such a contrasting character from his role in Enrico. I was impressed by his versatility as an actor to switch dialect and actual type of play all together. I know that this is not a critique on Overruled but I was impressed to be able to see an actor switch into such a different and diverse role. It proved how acting really is based upon actions and trying to overcome certain objectives in the play. It also showed me that you really can put everything on the other person to achieve what you need and create a reachable action. I believe all the actors in th...

Facts About Author and Illustrator Patricia Polacco

Facts About Author and Illustrator Patricia Polacco Because so many of Patricia Polaccos childhood experiences have served as the inspiration for her children’s picture books, it’s particularly interesting to look at her life and her books together.   Dates: July 11, 1944 -   Also Known As: Patricia Barber Polacco Interesting Facts About Patricia Polaccos Life and Work 1. Patricia Polacco did not begin writing children’s books until she was 41 and by late 2013, had been writing children’s books for 28 years. Her first book, which based on childhood experience, was Meteor! 2. Patricia Polacco’s parents divorced when she was three years old. Since her parents moved back to their parents’ homes, and she went back and forth between those homes, her grandparents became a big influence on her life and later, in her writing. With a Russian and Ukrainian heritage on her mother’s side and Irish on her father’s, she was surrounded by storytellers and loved hearing family stories. 3.  Some of Polacco’s favorite books as a child included Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit, The Tall Mother Goose by Fedor Rojankovsky, Grimm’s Fairy Tales and Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss. Among the contemporary authors and illustrators, she admires are Jerry Pinkney, Gloria Jean Pinkney, Tomie dePaola, Alan Say, Virginia Hamilton, Jan Brett, and Lois Lowry. 4. A learning disability kept Polacco from learning to read until she was 14. Years later, she celebrated the assistance she received from a caring teacher her picture book Thank You, Mr. Falker.   The same kids who teased her about her poor reading skills praised Polacco’s artwork. Art was something she could do easily and in a 2013 presentation in Wichita, Kansas, Polacco said, â€Å"For me, art is like breathing.† 5.  Despite this rough start in school, Polacco went on to earn a Ph.D. in Art History, with an emphasis on iconography. In Oakland, she attended the California College of Arts and Crafts and Laney Community College. Polacco then went to Australia where she attended Monash University in a suburb of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 6. Patricia Polacco’s picture books, most of which are based on family and childhood experiences, emphasize diversity, a reflection of both her own multicultural family and what eight-year-old Patricia and her brother, Richard, found when they moved with their mother to Oakland, California where they spent the school year, spending summers with their father in rural Michigan. In reference to growing up in the Rockridge District of Oakland, Polacco said she loved the fact â€Å"†¦that all of my neighbors came in as many colors, ideas, and religions as there are people on the planet. How lucky I was to know so many people that were so different and yet so much alike.† 7.  After a brief first marriage that ended in divorce, Patricia Polacco married chef and cooking instructor Enzo Polacco. Their two children, now adults, are Traci Denise and Steven John. She wrote about Enzo in her children’s book In Enzos Splendid Gardens. 8.  The many awards that Patricia Polacco has received for her children’s picture books include the: 1988 Sydney Taylor Book Award for The Keeping Quilt, 1989 International Reading Association Award for Rechenka’s Eggs, 1992 Golden Kite Award for Illustration from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and a 1993 Jane Adams Peace Association and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom Honor Award for Mrs. Katz and Tush. 9.  For those interested in writing books, Polacco stresses the importance of taking the time to use (and listen to) your imagination and not get distracted by outside interruptions, like television.  In fact, she attributes her vivid imagination to all the storytelling in her family and the absence of a TV. 10.  Patricia Polacco never forgot the early years she spent on her grandparents’ farm in Union City, Michigan, and the stories her Babushka (grandmother) told.  After almost 37 years in Oakland, she moved back to Union City where she now has a home, a studio and many plans for writing workshops and storytelling events. More About Polaccos Work If your 7- to 12-year-olds are eager to learn more about Patricia Polacco and her books, a wonderful introduction to her work is  Firetalking, her brief autobiography for children, which features lots of color photographs and information about her family, her life, and her books. Sources 9/10/13 presentation by Patricia Polacco at Watermark Books, Wichita Kansas, â€Å"Meet Patricia Polacco.†Ã‚  Houghton Mifflin Reading. Polacco, Patricia. â€Å"Author Biography of Patricia Polacco.†Ã‚  Scholastic. â€Å"Transcript from an Interview with Patricia Polacco.†Ã‚  Reading Rockets, 12 Aug. 2013.

Primary Education Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Primary Education - Assignment Example The education system in the United Kingdom consist a handful of skilled teachers to provide meaningful support for the students with behaviour problems in the primary schools. Additionally, teachers who work in small groups with such students have a severe flow of problems for training them. Such strains occur due to the student's behavioural problem or their own intellectual demands to work with such students. "Far from being deranged and dangerous, [most UK children with problem behaviour] were tired, despairing underachieving, and invariably desperately sad about their circumstances...The same might be said about many of the staff who referred the pupils. They are expressed exhaustion, feelings of inadequacy, and a sense of alienation from the demands of an increasingly utilitarian education system." 1(1) Resources to overcome behavioural problems in the United Kingdom are very limited and should be invested to prevent such problems throughout the primary years of the student. Behaviour problem has an unbalanced influence on the positive way of learning and appropriate learning and behaviour are achieved through positive support of the teachers.2(2) However, such behavioural problems of the students in primary sections are mostly classified into habit disorders, psychosocial disorders, anxiety disorders and disruptive behaviour.3(3) Students with such problems have always been a part of the school population. To overcome such obstacles, psychopathology was intervened to assure normal progress of the students. On the other hand, in 1997 or 1998, a research proved about the student behaviour was to be good for around 80% in the primary schools and 2% percent of these were unsatisfactory. Schools with poor behaviour, often indulged in one year group, were extremely demanding for teacher's involvement. Although recently, the most widespread concern was in United Kingdom was about bullying. About 663 children, aged amid 2-9, were calculated for bullying experience, most of them were boys who were the victims. Though, according to a study, bullying by girls has been misjudged, excluding social relationships etc., girls can be aggressive like boys. Michele Elliot from one of the first charity established in United Kingdom, Kidscape, reported "Sexual bullying has almost become a way of asserting your power over others and for that reason it is disturbing." Recent figures by government illustrates over 280 of expulsions from the primary schools and in twenty of such cases, children of 5 years old were responsible.4(4) Like Kidscape, many other organizations are doing anti-bullying work in the United Kingdom such as sponsors from Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) and by the other voluntary organizations. The most inspiring campaign introduced in 1080s was the "DFE Funded Sheffield Anti-Bullying Project 1991-1993." As a result to this project, "The Pack Don't Suffer in Silence" (HMSO, 1994) was introduced which was requested by more then 19,000 schools in England. Apart from bullying, there has been a minor increase of the students for being permanently excluded from the school about 0.04% of the school population. According to Belfast School of England, there have been up to 3% of the students from the total population expelled due to their behaviour. Another most

Parkinson disease Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Parkinson disease - Research Paper Example Usually, the nerve cells that degenerate because of Parkinson’s diseases are those located in the basal ganglia. In addition, Parkinson’s disease contributes to the loss of nerve cells in the substantia nigra, which is a component of the brainstem (Carranza 2013, p. 67). Worth noting is the fact that the cells affected by Parkinson’s are responsible for the production of dopamine, which is a critical neurochemical messenger playing a key role in coordinating normal movement. Usually, dopamine forms the start of a circuit of messages responsible for the functionality of normal movement. Unfortunately, Parkinson’s disease affects nerve cells that produce dopamine reducing the level of stimulation in the receptors involved in the coordination of normal movement. More specifically, the receptors in the basal ganglia circuit fail to undergo active stimulation resulting in challenges in movement. Patients with this disease, suffer from movement with tremors, los s of balance, stiffness, as well as slow moving. This paper will describe the signs and symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, as well as the current treatments used in treating the disease. As highlighted above, Parkinson’s disease causes the degenerations of neurons. However, researchers have been unable to describe the specific reason or cause that triggers the degeneration of neurons. The degeneration of neurons remains to be an area of interest or many researchers who understand the social effects, as well as the economic implications of the disease. In addition, the progression of the diseases can be highly debilitating denying an individual the freedom to move around or have a proper body balance (Chaudhuri 2009, p. 78). Evidently, the past few years have seen many researchers make remarkable progress in understanding the disease. Acceleration of such understanding has helped manage the condition of many patients with the disease. Current

Libel Essay Example for Free

Libel Essay The civil liberties that the American people have are described as inalienable rights. One of the most important of these rights is the freedom of speech. Yet freedom of speech is not entirely protected; the First Amendment does not protect publishers of libel. Libel is defined as a false and malicious publication printed for the purpose of defaming a living person. The First Amendment provides a great deal of protection to the press in cases involving libel of public figures. This protection is considered necessary to ensure that the government will not restrict the flow of accurate information. The crime of libel has the following elements defamation, publication, the statement must be heard or seen by someone other than victim and source; identification, the statement must somehow identify its intended victim; falsity the statement must, and actual malice. Some of the significant court cases concerning libel are New York Times Co. v Sullivan (1964), Behrendt v. Times Mirror (1938), Pauling v. Globe Democrat (1967), Kervorkian v. American Medical Association (1999), Washington Post v. Kennedy (1924), and Hutchinson v. Proxmire (1979). Defamation is defined as â€Å"the act of injuring someone’s character or reputation by false statements. † [1] Cases of defamation are only considered attacks on if they are made in a vindictive or malicious manner. One of the most important Supreme Court decisions concerning libel of public officials took place in 1964. This case was New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. This case was about the alleged libel of L.B. Sullivan in the New York Times magazine. The magazine published an editorial advertisement entitled, â€Å"Heed Their Rising Voices† by the Committee to Defend Martin Luther King. [2] The full-page advertisement detailed abuses suffered by African American students by the police in Montgomery, Alabama. Even though he was not directly mentioned in the article, L. B. Sullivan, the city commissioner in charge of the police department sued the magazine and four African American individuals listed as officers of the committee. Sullivan demanded retraction from the paper; after not receiving a retraction he sued. At trial, Sullivan argued that advertisements are not protected by the First Amendment and after a brief deliberation, the jury decided in favor of Sullivan awarding him damages of 500,000. [3] The award was upheld by the Alabama Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court of the United States reversed the decision of the lower courts. The Court declared that, although commercial advertisements may not be protected under the First Amendment, editorial advertisements were. Additionally, the Court ruled that the First and 14th Amendments require a public official suing for defamation to prove that the allegedly defamatory comments were made with â€Å"actual malice that is, with knowledge that if was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not. †[4] With these words the Court added a new criterion to test whether a criticism was punishable. Not only did the words have to be false and cause damage to the person’s reputation, they also had to be made with the knowledge that they were false. The Sullivan decision was hailed as a victory for a free press. Ralph A. Behrend and R. Allen Behrendt both worked at same hospital; LA Times charged Dr. Behrendt with the theft of narcotics and accused him of being an addict until his health had become destroyed. [5] When actually it was Dr. Behrend, a resident doctor who committed the crime. Dr. Behrendt sued and won because the publication involved an attempted reference to an individual so vague that it could refer to more than one person[6] In early 1975, Senator William Proxmire implemented what he called the Golden Fleece Award of the Month. The award was given out to governmental agencies which sponsored programs and research that Proxmire found to be a waste of tax dollars. One Golden Fleece went to federal agencies sponsoring the research of Ronald Hutchinson, a behavioral scientist. Proxmire detailed the nonsense of Hutchinsons research on the floor of the Senate, in conferences with his staff, and in a newsletter sent to over 100,000 of his constituents. Hutchinson sued for libel, arguing that Proxmires statements defamed his character and caused him to endure financial loss and emotional anguish. This case explored the scope of protection afforded members of Congress by the Constitutions Speech and Debate Clause of the Constitution. The Court upheld the decision of the lower courts and held that Proxmires statements in his newsletters and press releases were not protected by the Speech and Debate Clause. However, in upholding this ruling, the Court also found that Proxmires statements were not made with actual malice and thus, were not libelous. Furthermore, the Court decided that Hutchinson was not a public figure since he only gained media attention because of Proxmires actions and did not personally seek it. Because of this, the standard established by New York Times v. Sullivan was not applicable. There are several important points established by this case, first, â€Å"absolute privilege has limits even when public officials utter defamatory statements as part of their perceived official duties, and individuals do not become public officials simply by virtue, nor can they be made public figures by the creation of controversy by someone else.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee :: essays research papers

Atticus Finch is a man who fought for what he believed in. He stood up for what he thought was right not what the rest of the town thought. Atticus was real brave for defending Tom Robinson in court, he knew a lot of people would get mad and try to hurt him, but Atticus stood up for what he believed in. Atticus had a lot of courage he was the only man in town that would fight for Tom Robinson, because he knew it was wrong to accuse him of something he did not do. I think Atticus knew that Tom Robinson did not have a great chance of wining the case, but he tried to do the best that he could to prove that Tom Robinson was innocent. I think that Atticus is in some way the town’s spokesmen, there is a lot of people in town that have the same views on racism as Atticus but, they were scared to admit it. The town knows that Atticus is right but no one wants to agree with him because they are scared for there own selves, that’s why I think Atticus is very courageous he is not scared in admitting that he is not a racist, and that he will try to prove that Tom Robinson is innocent. Atticus believed that everyone is equal. He believed that all races should be treated the same no matter what. I think that Atticus was real frustrated with the town’s racial beliefs. Atticus was a great man because, he could decide what was wrong and what’s right, something that the rest of the town had trouble doing. Atticus had convinced the jury that Tom Robinson was innocent, that’s why it took them so long to make there decision, but in the end there was no way that the jury was going to believe a black man over a white man. I think what Miss Maudie said was very correct â€Å" well, we’re making a step-it’s just a baby step, but it’s a step†,(216) that’s what she said after the trial, what she means is that the town will not start to except blacks overnight, but slowly the town is starting to understand that being black does not make you a bad person. The town new that the Ewell’s were a bunch of liars, but they couldn’t chose a black man over a whit man, so Miss Maudie is saying someday they will. â€Å"Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em but remember it’s a sin to kill a

Night World : Secret Vampire Chapter 6

James moved fast. He picked up the plastic tumbler on the bedside table and handed it to Poppy. She understood. Feeling giddy and uncoordinated, she took a healthy swig of water and licked her lips to wash any traces of blood away. â€Å"What are you doing?† Phillip repeated, striding into the room. His eyes were fixed on James, which was good, because Poppy was trying to position herself to hide the side of her neck that James had bitten. â€Å"None of your business,† she said, and in the same instant she knew it was a mistake. Phillip, whose middle name was Stability, was looking distinctly unstable tonight. Mom told him, Poppy thought.†I mean, we aren't doing anything, † she amended. It didn't help. Phil was clearly in a mood to see everything in the world as a threat to his sister. And Poppy couldn't really blame him-he'd walked in on the two of them in a strange embrace on a rumpled hospital bed. â€Å"James was comforting me because I was scared,† she said. She didn't even try to explain why James had been cradling her head to his arm. But she glanced at James's arm surreptitiously and saw that the wound there was already closed, the mark fading. â€Å"Everything's all right, you know,† James said, standing to fix a mesmerizing silver gaze on Phillip. But Phil hardly gave him a glance. He was staring at Poppy. It's not working, Poppy thought. Maybe Phil's too mad to be hypnotized. Or too stubborn. She looked a question at James, which he answered with a barely discernable shake of his head. He didn't know what the problem was, either. They both knew what it meant. James was going to have to leave. Poppy felt cheated and frustrated. All she wanted was to talk with James, to revel in their new discovery of each other-and she couldn't. Not with Phil here. â€Å"I drove Mom here. You know she doesn't like driving at night. And I brought this.† He swung her boom box up onto the bedside table. â€Å"And these.† He put a black CD case beside it. â€Å"All your favorite music.† Poppy felt her anger draining away. â€Å"That was sweet,† she said. She was touched, especially since Phil hadn't said â€Å"All your favorite weird music,† which was usually how he referred to it. â€Å"Thank you.† Phil shrugged, shooting a glare at James. Poor Phil, Poppy thought. Her brother actually looked disheveled. And his eyes were swollen. â€Å"Where's Mom?† she was starting to say, when her mother walked in. â€Å"I'm back, sweetie,† her mother said, with a very creditable cheery smile. Then she looked surprised. â€Å"James-it was nice of you to come.† â€Å"Yeah, but he was just leaving,† Phil said significantly. â€Å"I'll show him the way out.† James didn't waste energy on a fight he couldn't win. He turned to Poppy and said, â€Å"I'll see you tomorrow.† There was a look in his gray eyes-gray, not silver now-that was just for her. A look that had never been there before in all the years she'd known him. â€Å"Goodbye, James,† she said softly. â€Å"And-thank you.† She knew he understood what she meant. It wasn't until he was out the door, with Phillip on his heels like a bouncer after a rowdy customer, that a thought occurred to her. James had said that she would be in danger if she didn't get enough of his blood. But they'd gotten interrupted almost immediately after that. Had Poppy gotten enough? And what would happen if she hadn't? She herself had no idea, and there was no way to ask James. Phil stayed right behind James all the way out of the hospital. Not tonight, James thought. He just couldn't deal with Phillip North tonight. His patience was gone, and his mind was occupied in calculating whether Poppy had taken enough of his blood to be safe. He thought she had-but the sooner she got more, the better. â€Å"You'll ‘see her tomorrow'-well, you're not going to see her tomorrow,† Phil said abruptly as they walked into the garage. â€Å"Phil, give me a break.† Instead, Phillip stepped in front of him and stopped dead, forcing James to stop, too. Phillip was breathing quickly, his green eyes burning. â€Å"Okay, bud, † he said. â€Å"I don't know what you think you're doing with Poppy-but it's all over now. From now on you stay away from her. Understand?† Visions of breaking Phillip's neck like a new pencil danced in James's head. But Phil was Poppy's brother, and his green eyes were surprisingly like hers. â€Å"I would never hurt Poppy,† he said wearily. â€Å"Give me a break. Are you going to stand there and tell me you don't want to move in on her?† James couldn't come up with an answer immediately. Yesterday he could have truthfully said no, he didn't want to move in on Poppy. Because it would have meant a death sentence for him and Poppy both. It was only when Poppy had received a death sentence of her own that he'd allowed himself to look at his feelings. And now †¦ now he'd been close to Poppy. He'd touched her mind, and had found that she was even braver and more gallant than he'd thought; even more compassionate-and more vulnerable. He wanted to be that close to Poppy again. He cared about her in a way that made his throat ache. He belonged with Poppy. He also realized that that might not be enough. Sharing blood forged a powerful bond between two people. It would be wrong of him to take advantage of that bond-or of Poppy's gratitude to him. Until he was sure that Poppy's mind was clear and her decisions were her own, he should keep a little distance. It was the only honorable thing to do. â€Å"The last thing I want to do is hurt her,† he repeated. â€Å"Why can't you believe that?† He made a half-hearted attempt to capture Phil's gaze as he said it. It failed, just as it had in the hospital. Phillip seemed to be one of those rare humans who couldn't be influenced by mind control. â€Å"Why can't I believe it? Because I know you. You and your-girlfriends.† Phil managed to make the word sound like a curse. â€Å"You go through six or seven a year-and when you're through with them, you dump them like trash.† James was distracted briefly by amusement, because Phil was dead on. He needed six girlfriends a year. After two months the bond between them became dangerously strong. â€Å"Poppy's not my girlfriend and I'm not going to dump her,† he said, pleased at his own cleverness. He'd avoided an outright lie-Poppy wasn't his girl friend in any normal sense. They'd merged their souls, that was all-they hadn't talked about dating or anything. â€Å"So you are telling me you're not gonna try to put the moves on her. Is that it? Because you'd better be sure.† As he spoke, Phil did what was probably the most dangerous thing he'd ever done in his life. He grabbed James by the front of the shirt. You stupid human, James thought. He briefly co sidered breaking every bone in Phil's hand. Or picking Phil up and throwing him across the garage into somebody's windshield. Or †¦ â€Å"You're Poppy's brother,† he said through histeeth. â€Å"So I'm going to give you a chance to let go.† Phil stared into his face a moment, then let go,looking slightly shaken. But not shaken enough to keep quiet. â€Å"You have to leave her alone,† he said. â€Å"You don'tunderstand. This disease she's got it's serious. She doesn't need anything messing up her life right now.She just needs . . .† He stopped and swallowed. Suddenly James felt very tired. He couldn't blame Phil for being upset-Phil's mind was full of crystal clear pictures of Poppy dying. Usually James got only general images about what humans were thinking, but Phillip was broadcasting so loud it nearly deafened him. Half-truths and evasions hadn't worked. It was time for Outright Lies. Anything to satisfy Phil and get James away from this. â€Å"I know that what Poppy has is serious,† he said. â€Å"I found an article about it on the Net. That's why I was here, okay? I feel sorry for her. I'm not interested in Poppy except as a friend, but it makes her feel better if I pretend that I like her.† Phillip hesitated, looking at him hard and suspiciously. Then he shook his head slowly. â€Å"Being friends is one thing, but it's wrong to mix her up. In the end, pretending isn't going to do her any good. I don't even think it makes her feel better now-she looked pretty bad in there.† â€Å"Bad?† â€Å"Pale and shaky. You know Poppy; you know how she gets overexcited about things. You shouldn't be fooling around with her emotions.† He narrowed his eyes and said, â€Å"So maybe you'd better stay away from her for a while. Just to make sure she hasn't got the wrong idea.† â€Å"Whatever,† James said. He wasn't really listening. â€Å"Okay,† Phillip said. â€Å"We have a deal. But I'm warning you, if you break it, you're in trouble.† James wasn't listening to that, either. Which wasa mistake. In the darkened hospital room Poppy lay and listened to her mother's breathing. You're not asleep, she thought, and I'm not asleep. And you know I'm not, and I know you're not†¦ But they couldn't talk. Poppy wanted desperately to let her mother know that everything was going to be all right-but how? She couldn't betray James's secret. And even if she could, her mother wouldn't believe her. I have to find a way, Poppy thought. I have to. And then a great wave of drowsiness overtook her. It had been the longest day in her life, and she was full of alien blood already working its strange magic in her. She couldn't †¦ she just couldn't †¦ keep her eyes open. Several times during the night a nurse came in to take her vital signs, but Poppy never really woke up. For the first time in weeks, no pain interrupted her dreams. She opened her eyes the next morning feeling con fused and weak. Black dots swarmed through her vision when she sat up. â€Å"Hungry?† her mother asked. â€Å"They left this breakfast tray for you.† The smell of hospital eggs made Poppy feel nauseated. But because her mother was watching her anxiously, she played with the food on the tray before she went to wash up. In the bathroom mirror she examined the side of her neck. Amazing-there was no trace of a mark. When she came out of the bathroom, her mother was crying. Not floods of tears, not sobbing. Just dabbing her eyes on a Kleenex. But Poppy couldn't stand it. â€Å"Mom, if you're worried about telling me †¦ I know.† The whole sentence was out before Poppy could even think about it. Her mother's head jerked up in horror. She stared at Poppy with more tears spilling. â€Å"Sweetheart-you know †¦ ?† â€Å"I know what I've got and I know how bad it is,† Poppy said. If this was the wrong strategy, it was too late now. â€Å"I listened when you and Cliff were talking to the doctors.† â€Å"Oh, my Lord.† What can I say? Poppy wondered. It's okay, Mom, because I'm not going to die; I'm going to become a vampire. I hope. I can't be sure, because sometimes you don't make it through the transformation. But with any luck, I should be sucking blood in a few weeks. Come to think of it, she hadn't asked James exactly how long it would take to change her. Her mother was taking deep, calming breaths. â€Å"Poppy, I want you to know how much I love you. Cliff and I will do anything-anything-we can to help you. Right now he's looking into some clinical protocols-those are experimental studies where they test new ways of treating people. If we can just .. . buy time †¦ until a cure . ‘ ..† Poppy couldn't stand it. She could feel her mother's pain. Literally. It carried in palpable waves that seemed to echo through her bloodstream, making her dizzy. It's that blood, she thought. It's doing something to me-changing me. Even as she thought it, she went to her mother. She wanted to hug her, and she needed help standing up. â€Å"Mom, I'm not scared,† she said, muffled against her mother's shoulder. â€Å"I can't explain, but I'm not scared. And I don't want you to be unhappy over me.† Her mother just held on fiercely, as if Death might try to snatch Poppy out of her arms that minute. She was crying. Poppy cried, too. Real tears, because even if she wasn't going to die truly, she was going to lose so much. Her old life, her family, everything familiar. It felt good to cry over it; it was something she needed to do. But when it was done, she tried again. â€Å"The one thing I don't want is for you to be unhappy or worry,† she said, and looked up at her mother. â€Å"So could you just try not to? For my sake?† Oh, God, I'm coming off like Beth in Little Women, she thought. Saint Poppy. And the truth is, if I were really dying, I'd go kicking and screaming all the way. Still, she'd managed to comfort her mother, who drew back looking tearstained but quietly proud. â€Å"You're really something, Poppet,† was all she said, but her lips trembled. Saint Poppy looked away, horribly embarrassed until another wave of dizziness saved her. She allowed her mother to help her back into bed. And it was then that she finally found a way to pose the question she needed to ask. â€Å"Mom,† she said slowly, â€Å"what if there was a cure for me somewhere-like in some other country or something-and I could go there and get better, but they wouldn't ever let me come back? I mean, you'd know I was okay, but you wouldn't ever be able to see me again.† She looked at her mother intently. â€Å"Would you want me to do it?† Her mother answered instantly. â€Å"Sweetheart, I'd want you cured if you had to go to the moon. As long as you were happy.† She had to pause a moment, then resumed steadily. â€Å"But, honey, there isn't such a place. I wish there were.† â€Å"I know.† Poppy patted her arm gently. â€Å"I was just asking. I love you, Mom.† Later that morning Dr. Franklin and Dr. Loftus came by. Facing them wasn't as horrible as Poppy expected, but she felt like a hypocrite when they marvelled over her â€Å"wonderful attitude.† They talked about quality time, and the fact that no two cases of cancer were the same, and about people they'd known who'd beaten the percentages. Saint Poppy squirmed inside, but she listened and nodded-until they began to talk about more tests. â€Å"We'd like to do an angiogram and a laparotomy,† Dr. Loftus said. â€Å"Now an angiogram is-â€Å" Everyone looked startled. Then Dr. Loftus gave a rueful smile. â€Å"Sounds like you've been reading up on it.† â€Å"No, I just-I guess I remember it from somewhere,† Poppy said. She knew where she was getting the images-from Dr. Loftus's head. And she probably should cover her tracks instead of talking any more, but she was too distressed. â€Å"And a laparotomy's an operation, right?† Dr. Loftus and Dr. Franklin exchanged glances. â€Å"An exploratory operation, yes,† Dr. Franklin said. â€Å"But I don't need those tests, do I? I mean, you already know what I've got. And the tests hurt.† â€Å"Poppy,† her mother said gently. But Dr. Loftus was answering slowly. â€Å"Well, sometimes we need the tests to confirm a diagnosis. But in your case †¦ no, Poppy. We don't really need them. We're already sure.† â€Å"Then I don't see why I have to have them,† Poppy said simply. â€Å"I'd rather go home.† The doctors looked at each. other, then at Poppy's mother. Then, without even trying to be subtle about it, the three adults went out into the corridor to deliberate. When they came back, Poppy knew she'd won. â€Å"You can go home, Poppy,† Dr. Franklin said quietly. â€Å"At least until you develop any further symptoms. The nurse will tell your mother what to look out for.† The first thing Poppy did was call James. He answered on the first ring and said, â€Å"How do you feel?† â€Å"Dizzy. But pretty good,† Poppy said, whispering because her mother was outside talking to a nurse. â€Å"I'm coming home.† â€Å"I'll come over this afternoon,† James said. â€Å"Call me when you think you'll have an hour or so alone. And, Poppy †¦ don't tell Phil I'm coming.† â€Å"Why not?† â€Å"I'll explain later.† When she actually got home, it was strange. Cliff and Phil were there. Everybody was unusually nice to her, while still trying to pretend that nothing unusual was going on. (Poppy had heard the nurse tell her mother that it was good to try and maintain a normal routine.) It's like my birthday, Poppy thought dazedly. Like some terribly important birthday and graduation rolled into one. Every few minutes the doorbell would ring as another flower arrangement arrived. Poppy's bedroom looked like a garden. She felt badly for Phil. He looked so stricken-and so brave. She wanted to comfort him the way she'd comforted her mother-but how? â€Å"Come here,† she ordered, opting for direct action. And when he obeyed, she hugged him tightly. â€Å"You'll beat this thing,† he whispered. â€Å"I know you will. Nobody's ever had as much will to live as you do. And nobody's ever, ever been as stubborn.† It was then that Poppy realized just how terribly she was going to miss him. When she let go, she felt light-headed. â€Å"Maybe you'd better lie down,† Cliff said gently. And Poppy's mother helped her to the bedroom. â€Å"Does Dad know?† she asked as her mother moved around the bedroom, straightening things. â€Å"I tried to get hold of him yesterday, but the people at the station said he'd moved to somewhere in Vermont. They don't know where.† Poppy nodded. It sounded like her dad always on the move. He was a DJ-when he wasn't being an artist or a stage magician. He'd split up with her mom because he wasn't very good at being any of those things-or at least not good enough to get paid much. Cliff was everything Poppy's father wasn't: responsible, disciplined, hardworking. He fit in perfectly with Poppy's mom and Phil. So perfectly that sometimes Poppy felt like the odd one out in her own family. â€Å"I miss Dad,† Poppy said softly. â€Å"I know. Sometimes I do, too,† her mother said, surprising her. Then she said firmly, â€Å"We'll find him, Poppy. As soon as he hears, he'll want to come.† Poppy hoped so. She didn't suppose she'd get a chance to see him-after. It wasn't until an hour or so before dinnertime, when Phil and Cliff were out doing errands, and her mother was taking a nap, that Poppy got the chance to call James. â€Å"I'll come right over,† he said. â€Å"I'll let myself in.† Ten minutes later he walked into Poppy's bedroom. Poppy felt strangely shy. Things had changed between her and James. They weren't simply best friends anymore. They didn't even say â€Å"Hi† to each other. As soon as he came in, their eyes caught and met. And then, for an endless moment, they just looked at each other. This time, when Poppy felt the quick pang in her chest that always came when she saw James, it was a throb of pure sweetness. He cared about her. She could see it in his eyes. Wait a minute, hang on, her mind whispered. Don't jump the gun here. He cares about you, yes, but he didn't say he was in love with you. There's a difference. Shut up, Poppy told her brain soberly. Aloud, she said, â€Å"How come you didn't want Phil to know you were here?†James threw his light windbreaker over a chair and sat down on Poppy's bed. â€Å"Well-I just' didn't want to be interrupted,† he said with a gesture of dismissal. â€Å"How's the pain?† â€Å"It's gone,† Poppy said. â€Å"Isn't that weird? It didn't wake me up at all last night. And there's something else. I think I'm starting to-well, read people's thoughts.† James smiled slightly, just one corner of his mouth up. â€Å"That's good. 1 was worried-† He broke off and went to turn Poppy's CD player on. Plaintive Bantu wailing's emerged. â€Å"I was worried you didn't get enough blood last night,† James said quietly, resuming his seat. â€Å"You'll have to take more this time-and so will I.† Poppy felt something tremble inside her. Her revulsion was gone. She was still afraid, but that was only because of the consequences of what they were going to do. It wasn't just a way to get closer or to feed James. They were doing it to change Poppy. â€Å"The only thing I don't understand is why you never bit me before.† Her tone was light, but as she spoke the words, she realized that there was a serious question behind them. â€Å"I mean,† she said slowly, â€Å"you did it with Michaela and Jacklyn, didn't you? And with other girls?† He looked away but answered steadily. â€Å"I didn't exchange blood with them. But I fed on them, yes.† But not me.† â€Å"No. How can I explain?† He looked up at her. â€Å"Poppy, taking blood can be a lot of different things-and the Elders don't want it to be anything but feeding. They say all you should feel is the joy of the hunt. And that's all I ever have felt before.† Poppy nodded, trying to feel satisfied with this. She didn't ask who the Elders were. â€Å"Besides, it can be dangerous, † James said. â€Å"It can be done with hatred, and it can kill. Kill permanently, I mean.† Poppy was almost amused by this. â€Å"You wouldn't kill.† James stared at her. Outside, it was cloudy and the light in Poppy's bedroom was pale. It made James's face look pale, too, and his eyes silver. â€Å"But I have,† James said. His voice was flat and bleak. â€Å"I've killed without exchanging enough blood, so the person didn't come back as a vampire.†

An Exit Strategy From Poverty: Sustainable Comprehensive Humanitarian Assistance and Planning in the developing and under-developed world

Humanitarian aid to the developing and under-developed world has been a hotly debated issue around the globe for decades, with the focus being on how these poor nations can be given aid and if the aid is only creating more barriers than it is breaking them down. The prevalent belief now is that previous models of humanitarian aid have been band-aid fixes for an enduring, wide-scale problem. There appears to be a sea change occurring with humanitarian aid, however, spurred by economic and social reforms to previous aid models. This change, examined at the most simple level is influenced by the proverb â€Å"give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. † An organization at the head of the tide of this sea change is Sustainable Comprehensive Humanitarian Assistance and Planning (SCHAP). SCHAP represents a movement away from aid from nation states and NGOs to more independent work by non-profit organizations – with a different economic sense than before. This new sense focuses aid not on the previous ‘head-above-water’ emergency temporary fixes, but rather on the development of the poor nations and their people, to get them out of the water altogether. It is the sustainable and comprehensive on which SCHAP endeavors itself, seeing it not just as part of the name of their organization, but as the name of a â€Å"new humanitarian ideology† (SCHAP 1) where assistance and planning are critical to the creation of a self empowering infrastructure based on the thinking and development of the suffering regions and communities (SCHAP 1). It is this focus on sustainability and providing aid in a comprehensive manner that SCHAP shares with the organizations it works with and takes inspiration from, like the revolutionary Grameen Bank. What SCHAP brings to poor nations is a unique aid perspective from a business-sense, where entrepreneurship and lending reforms are paramount. SCHAP’s vision is that this sea change will see developing and under-developed nations become truly profitable in not only an economic sense, but also socially, culturally and politically. SCHAP, in other words, does not wish to provide the fish, but rather to help create a nation of fishermen. 2. SCHAP’s HUMANITARIAN AID PLATFORM SCHAP is a non-profit organization working in poor nations, and their mission is two-pronged: to bring sustainable solutions to humans living with extreme disadvantages in an effort to empower them with tools, resources, information and vision requisite for development and an increased quality of life, while also teaching the correct principles of sustainable and comprehensive humanitarian work to aspiring philanthropists. SCHAP 1) SCHAP brings an approach that focuses on internal development rather than external fixes or influences. With access to developmental skills and tools and proper education, SCHAP states that change will come from the spread of principles, technology and information from within communities (1). SCHAP’s non-profit status means that it can devote the entirety of its resources and donations to the communit ies of poor nations. Founder and President Cory Glazier emphasizes that every dollar that goes to SCHAP goes into the cost of their projects, and that with a fully volunteer staff, they can grow unabated by the freedom from the need for funds (KPBS 1). An aspect of SCHAP that has garnered it not only success in its application in villages like Matoso, Kenya, but also global attention, is from its focus on planning that examines the issues at the heart of the communities and builds aid from those issues in a way that respects the local cultural and social integrity. Glazier maintains that by looking at the roots of an issue rather than just the implications of those issues (which includes speaking with people in the villages), a better understanding is gained as to how these people’s circumstances got to be the way they are and what must be done (SCHAP 1) to promote development to cross the poverty line. By better understanding the circumstances that led to and that propagate the conditions the people of poor nations face, SCHAP is uniquely equipped with the knowledge to create a plan that implements a comprehensive multi-dimensional platform to create permanent solutions. Paul Polak sees this sort of planning as being â€Å"routine for large businesses or for any entrepreneur seeking to start-up venture capital, but it is rare for development organizations† (18). Polak’s wealth of experience with humanitarian aid has given him an exclusive perspective on what is needed in order to end poverty in the poor nations, and he sees learning from a real-life context from those who are suffering and not ignoring the obvious as leading to creation of world-changing ideas (18). SCHAP’s focus on the internal development rather than the external addresses what Jeffrey Sachs sees as the influence of the developed world and how the poor nations must break the barriers that have beset them as well as the barriers that foreign aid has unwittingly erected. Sach’s identification that â€Å"a country’s fate is crucially determined by its specific linkages to the rest of the world† (128) is one that SCHAP recognizes and looks to fix with promoting the internal development of communities to unwrap themselves from the more burdensome linkages, such as crippling terms of debt or the inability to gain credit. Sach carries forward on his premise of the effect of specific linkages with the rest of the world, suggesting two remedies that SCHAP champions, which are the concept of economic transformation of a broad-based sense and the possibilities of a practical nature that arise from conceptual thinking on a large-scale (128). The true promising potential of SCHAP is seen in how its fundamentals mirror what a United States Institute of Peace symposium in October 1995 outlined as to what was needed to create a more positive impact by NGOs on foreign aid, which were improved planning, more accurate assessment of needs, providing aid with the longest term benefit to specifically targeted groups and empowering local institutions (Smock 1). With SCHAP focusing on sustainable and comprehensive planning, it is operating within a new framework that is given a freedom as a result from working independently of governments and International bodies that have been heavily involved in foreign aid that has largely been ineffectual. Operating in this manner, SCHAP is not guilty of what David Smock admonishes NGOs for, which is functioning merely as agents for the implementation of foreign aid from governments and the United Nations (2). The most unique aspect of SCHAP is its local approach regarding aid. By focusing on a community, not only is the task less daunting for a smaller organization such as SCHAP, but it also plays to the organization’s strength of knowing the root of local issues. This knowledge entails a respect for the social and cultural identity of these communities and the importance that the sphere of a community is to the larger cultural and social national identity. It is tribalism mixed with 21st century economics, and it is this ‘best of both worlds’ framework which SCHAP is hoping to use to bring the people of poor nations out of poverty – for good. To evaluate the work that SCHAP is doing, its potential for long term developmental benefits and the support it has from other institutions that assist it or provide a parallel framework, three key areas that SCHAP is focused on should be examined. Firstly is SCHAP’s focus on providing the people of poor nations with an exit strategy from poverty by a business-oriented tilt towards entrepreneurship and the formation of a solid financial foundation from micro-credit. Another key area of concern for SCHAP is attention towards education, which will not only raise the quality of life for the people in the communities, but a focus on the development of children will lead to long-lasting benefits that will carry on for generations. Lastly, SCHAP is obviously promoting improvements in the health of the people of poor nations with such necessities as clean water and access to and knowledge of better nutrition. These three key areas of concern are part of the building blocks of the comprehensive vision that SCHAP holds of bringing an end to poverty for the people of poor nations – on their terms. . Providing an Exit Strategy from Poverty Foreign aid has largely been stopgap measures in emergency situations, with money and manpower being poured into poor areas to provide food and resources without addressing the causes of the problems that plague poor nations. This aid has managed to staunch some of the bleeding that poverty steadily provides, but it is only by giving the poor nations an independence from foreign aid and providing the tools and knowledge needed to ascend beyond poverty that these nations and, more importantly, their people will prosper. What SCHAP endeavors to provide the people of communities like Matoso, Kenya is an exit strategy from poverty that focuses on providing the means for not only self-sustainment but also profit. It is from Glazier that SCHAP’s unique foundation is formed, as he has a background business, which he uses to his advantage and to the advantage of his organization and the people they help escape poverty. To use Matoso as a case study, Glazier and SCHAP put together what he calls a â€Å"business plan for the village† (KPBS 1), which focuses on what is needed to increase the quality of life for the village as a whole and for families and individuals that live within it by promoting their own development. Glazier sees the inherent barriers that a cashless community faces in trying to interact with a cash community (1), such as a financial institution or a financially supportive NGO or nation state. SCHAP’s business plan is to break those barriers. SCHAP’s exit strategy from poverty for the people of poor nations involves teaching the principles of entrepreneurship, how to optimize businesses and the benefits of microcredit (SCHAP 1). The passing of this knowledge is intended to create sustainable rural development promoted by the entrepreneurship of local members of the community, which would create a market environment within the community (SCHAP 1). SCHAP recognizes that the potential of local entrepreneurs by to be business leaders and wishes to empower them with training and assistance to reach this potential. Implementation of this strategy includes business development workshops in the communities, teaching those in the communities to develop business plans and how to qualify for microcredit and to train and hire members of the community to serve as business development leaders to carry on the initiatives set out by SCHAP (SHAP 1). Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Prize winner for creating the ‘grandfather’ institution of micro-credit, the Grameen Bank, acknowledges the capabilities of the people of poor nations to be successful entrepreneurs and that the support of organizations with the objectives of SCHAP can create stepping stones out of poverty. Yunus sees entrepreneurship as a universal ability that allows people to choose to work for themselves rather than waiting for jobs to be created for them (54). Yunus likens the business development by local entrepreneurs to the growth of healthy bonsai trees, as the seed of a tall tree planted in a shallow pot will grow to resemble a tall tree but will be stunted; the seed is fine, but the soil needs to be adequate to promote proper growth (54). The ‘seed’ that foreign aid has provided in the past was well intended but the framework was inadequate to create real change to the situation of poverty. The business-driven initiatives of SCHAP look to create deep, fertile soil to promote the ascension beyond poverty. Another aspect of SCHAP’s exit strategy from poverty involves the access to microcredit in order to bring the impoverished into the financial sphere. Not only will microcredit allow for entrepreneurial growth, but it will also promote financial stability for future inevitabilities of families well beyond business. By providing microcredit and supportive training to qualified members of the communities, sustainable financial situations can be created and maintained. SCHAP looks to achieve this not only with access to microcredit, but by also working with the local entrepreneurs with developing a business plan and to achieve the qualifications for credit (SCHAP 1). This is a long-term initiative that looks to empowering the people of poor nations and breaking down the barriers that traditional financial institutions have erected by marginalizing – and even entirely dismissing – the people of poor nations. Breaking these barriers is what motivated Yunus to create the Grameen Bank to serve as a financial institution to the poor. Yunus’ evaluation of the treatment of the people of poor nations led him to the realization that banks considered the poor as unworthy of credit and as a result, the poor were prevented from entering into – and profiting from – the financial system, and from this broken system Yunus sought to create a financial institution that would worthy of the people (49). In the traditional financial system, the people of the poor nations are non-entities. Traditional financial institutions are concerned with making money, and providing funds to risky ventures is not in those banks best interests. Without credit, the poor cannot create a foundation to develop a long-term self-sustaining life and save money. The conditions that have created and perpetuated poverty in developing and under-developed nations are not the only obstacle that the poor must overcome in order to escape poverty. The barriers created by the traditional financial institutions hold back the development that the poor are capable of achieving given they are allowed access to what the rest of the world has had for decades. Turning up a nose to the people of poor nations’ need for credit is a hypocritical stance that ignores the realities of the markets in the Western World. Credit is arguably how the middle class in the West survives, and when that bubble bursts, the effects show how pervasive credit is in the economy of these countries. Look no further than the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States and the resulting economic instability for an example of the vast need for credit inherent in the developed world. To deny the developing and under-developed world credit is to deny their potential and their rights. Yunus created the Grameen Bank to allow access to credit for the poor to generate self-employment and income for them (Yunus 54). The Grameen Bank operates under Yunus’ principles of microcredit, which does enforce on the poor the rules and laws of traditional banks, but rather recognizes them upon their own worth (49). Microcredit provides microloans – small loans with small interest rates – to those without collateral or previous credit. Microcredit, and the other facets of microfinance promote entrepreneurship and the ability to develop the stability needed for long-term sustainability above the poverty line. The Grameen Bank’s use of microcredit and its unique lending terms allow for the challenging of what Yunus calls the â€Å"financial apartheid† (51), as traditional lending terms, especially interest rates, are entirely unreasonable for the people of poor nations. While the average person in the Western World is around 20 to 25 per cent, poor people, who are ‘graciously allowed’ to be burdened by traditional banks with payday loans, are facing annual interest rates around 250 per cent (51). Yunus faced widespread criticism from those appalled at his disregard for the low-risk activity of traditional financial institutions and willingness to apparently throw money away without any chance of seeing any sort of return. Yunus was literally banking on the potential he saw in the people of poor nations, and his work not only yielded financial returns, but also allowed for the economic development of poor communities. The success of the Grameen Bank and its microcredit platform is seen in the over 2500 branches that currently provide loans to over seven million poor, totaling six Billion Dollars (51) since the Banks’ inception in 1983. The repayment rate on those loans stands at 98. 6 per cent – a blow to critics of microcredit and the Grameen Bank – and most importantly, 64 per cent of borrowers that have been involved with the Bank for five or more years have risen above the poverty line (52). SCHAP utilizes microcredit to promote development in communities because it allows for flexibility and growth that is within the reach of poor entrepreneurs. A study by Daryl Collins et al. howed that when given access to loans, the poor members of communities acted in a responsible manner that promoted sustainability, with savings being contributed to the bank weekly, and withdrawals being made only between two or three times in a financial quarter (161). The study also found that ease of use brought about increased development, as the introduction of the passbook savings account saw a dramatic rise in savings made by the poor members of the communities (162). The efficacy of the Grameen Bank and microcredit, then, can be seen in the quantitative evidence, but the true human impact can be seen on the quality of life of those borrowers. In these communities, the priority of families if of course the children, to not only provide them with the essentials for a healthy, productive life, but also to be given the tools and skills to continue the entrepreneurial activities. The Grameen Pension Savings (GPS) is a facet of the microcredit initiatives that greatly benefit children with the long-term stability of saving profits. The GPS offers a low interest rate to borrowers in exchange for the promise of a regular savings of at least one dollar per month for the term of the loan, which is either five or 10 years. The plan is not restricted to retirement resources, as it promotes the saving of funds for the social, cultural and familial inevitabilities, such as children’s schooling and weddings (168). While the structure of the GPS promotes savings discipline, it also is freeing in terms of its end-of-term options, as at the end of a GPS term, savings can be transferred into a deposit account at the bank and a new GPS can be started (168). Programs such as the GPS promote the sort of sustainable development that SCHAP is initiating in these communities, which will allow for the people to pick themselves up out of the hole of poverty and propagate the economic, social and cultural integrity of the community, the region and the nation at large. The Asia-Pacific Review highlighted the advantages of microcredit to organizations such as SCHAP and their initiatives: micro-credit is a dream come true for donors and non-governmental organizations†¦loans are invested in pre-existing survival skills, enabling the poorest to be magically transformed into entrepreneurs. That way, micro-credit’s supporters claim, lending to the poor shows that capitalism can benefit all, not just the rich. (xii) It is not magic that will transform the people of these communities into entrepreneurs, but the hard work of organizations like SCHAP and, more importantly, the hard work and dedication of the local members of the communities. One aspect of entrepreneurialism that SCHAP is channeling that hard work and resources into is the ensuring of ongoing regional economic development through a focus on agriculture (SCHAP 1). Polak has studied such agricultural reform with great attention, and has found that foreign aid to poor communities has provided only enough knowledge of farming to barely keep their heads above water. His experience in these communities found that the focus of agriculture was on the products and means of producing such that provided only enough to eat, but not near enough to reach a surplus on which money could be made on the market. Polak found that the difficulties of such practices come from two sources: an ingrained traditional in the culture of these communities and the propagation of such practices by government agricultural aid agents that applied Western knowledge of crop production for sustenance (84). Polak saw the potential for the economic benefits and an increase in quality of life in agricultural reforms, specifically in small-acreage farms. This potential arose from the ideals of the Green Revolution, for which its creator Norman Borlaug received a Nobel Prize. The Green Revolution refers to the sustainable change in food production, with a focus on small-acreage farmers, which would create an increase in food supply, new jobs and reasonable income from the selling of surplus food products (85). What agricultural reforms like the Green Revolution provide for small-acreage subsistence farmers is the opportunity to not to just live hand-to-mouth and remain reliant upon foreign aid donations, but to operate in a profitable manner that will allow them to be active members of the marketplace and to have the ability to purchase the food and resources they need. This is the sustainability that SCHAP endeavors to help provide, hence their attention to agriculture as a means for entrepreneurial success. The means for this success suggested by Polak concerning agricultural reform are teaching small-acreage farmers green revolution strategies, including using high yield varieties of crops already being produced, the use of fertilizers and proper irrigation to increase the yield of their food crops to enter the marketplace (84). SCHAP has used a business plan approach to agriculture to create cash flow in the village of Matoso. They took a plot of land and created – with the help of those in the community – a large garden. This garden served to not only get the economic ball rolling in the community to combat poverty, but also served as an example for the local members of the community as to how to develop a marketplace to benefit them by creating capital. In order to gain access to such healthcare products such as malaria medication or contraceptives, members of the communities could work in the garden and farm area in exchange for the medications, which SCHAP would provide. They did this, not to undermine the economy of the community, but to promote the knowledge and skills of producing time, effort and product into money (KPBS 1). By promoting entrepreneurship in this manner, SCHAP created a cycle of cash flow by purchasing medications and providing those medications to the community and then selling back the produce from the garden and farm area, (KPBS 1) in hopes of overcoming the stagnation of poverty with a new engine of commerce. This promotion of commerce with agriculture is not only an access point for local members of the community to qualify for microcredit, but also the creation of a sustainable way of life that promotes the growth beyond poverty. Lisa Avery points out that microcredit has gained recognition on the world stage as an effective mechanism for the empowerment of the people of poor nations in an economic and social sense (224), but her work also shows the importance of SCHAP’s comprehensive focus on battling poverty. The need for effective aid is to be multi-dimensional, and Avery recognizes this factor in the relationship between entrepreneurial pursuits and the support of microcredit and education and health, as she discovered that the children of borrowers from microcredit institutions like the Grameen Bank had much higher rates of enrollment in schools and that their medical needs were more likely to be met (209). 4. SCHAP’s Focus on Education. SCHAP’s comprehensive focus is supported by the Asia & Pacific Review, whose study findings led them to suggest that unless microcredit is couple with sufficient support in other areas, the poor borrowers, especially women, will find their capacity to generate income in decline (xii). A focus of SCHAP in addition to entrepreneurship is education, which speaks as much to sustainable development within these communities just as much as economic activity. SCHAP operates with heavy attention on primary education by introducing school buildings and the tools and skills to provide the educational framework within them. Yunus exemplifies the authoritative voice of support for SCHAP’s initiatives, arguing that â€Å"the first and foremost task of development is to turn on the engine of creativity inside each person† (56). Yunus also looks to the next generation of the members of these communities to be the focus of reducing or eliminating poverty, and maintains that any program directed towards children should be considered a prime development program, just as important, if not more so, than the development of infrastructure (55). In terms of the comprehensive approach to battling poverty, Yunus agrees this approach must be taken, as he argues that economic development must include the exploration of creative potential of the individual which, when enabled, will prove more important than any quantitative economic factor (56). This sense of education leading to economic growth not only shows the efficacy of the comprehensive approach of organizations like SCHAP, but also highlights the focus on the long-term sustainability of these communities and their people. By focusing attention and resources on children at a prime stage of development, the impressions made will last beyond their generation, as they will be passed on for many more to come. SCHAP’s primary education goals are to create schools and to create activities that foster learning and creative exploration for the children, as many of these communities have no formal primary educational programs and the education institutions that do exist are highly ineffective, which has resulted in high illiteracy rates and basic learning skills, especially in children under nine years of age (SCHAP 1). Construction of school buildings are repairs to existing structures is an example of a hands-on fix, while SCHAP looks to empower the community to provide education by providing training and jobs for local teachers as well as needed resources (1). Sustainability of these programs is addressed with the covering of overhead with small school fees, which are made possible by the economic reforms within these communities with entrepreneurship and access to marketplace due to agricultural reforms. The multitude of benefits from this focus on primary education is due in no small part to the role that poor education plays in the derailment of any long-term attempts at ending poverty in these communities. Lisa Avery found that children that do not receive schooling during their critical formative years will only serve to continue the cycle of the illiterate and uneducated in the communities, and that low levels of education contribute to the continuation of poverty, as a result of higher birth rates and those children competing in the families for resources already stretched too thin and they are left out of the workplace (212) due to lack of skills. The Academy for Education Development looks to primary education programs such as those of SCHAP as promoting the learning of skills and the articulation of ideas that promote the acquisition of knowledge and the means for development, but also in the acquisition of the processes and habits of reasoning that promote lifelong learning and the development of the community as a result of learning. An important aspect of SCHAP’s focus on education within the context of a community is that with local education there is also an instilling of cultural value systems. These value systems are just as important as the knowledge of the world around the students, as an understanding of where they come from and what it means to belong to that community, regional and national culture promotes the continuation of those cultural traditions and values to future generations. This is an empowering facet of the nature of these communities, not only to preserve the culture, but to also serve as a sense of independence from nations and cultures that they previously relied so heavily upon. In this way, every member of the community can be a teacher, and there is much to be learnt from them by the children. SCHAP recognizes this and involves parents and other elder members of communities within the educational programs to promote cultural learning. This is essential for not only the children, but also for the other members of the community to reinforce the cultural value and belief systems. The Academy for Education Development regards this activity as highly effective in doing so, recommending that for the success of such primary educational programs, parental involvement should be encouraged, not just as guests or family members but as contributing members of the community (23). Having parents and members of the community involved in primary school programs as SCHAP does promotes linkage between school and the community and home, where what is learned from each sphere can be transferred and shared between members. While the positive aspects of learning within a community are emphasized by SCHAP, so to are initiatives to overcome the aspects of the community that may impede learning. One such initiative is the creation of a â€Å"micro library† consisting of a collection of approximately 1,000 books on a wide variety of topics, along with providing assistance for studying the materials (SCHAP 1). What SCHAP is trying to do with these libraries is not just to provide another centre for learning, but also to combat the â€Å"closed system of information† (1) that communities become. Making new knowledge, skills and resources available to the community promotes an increase in development (1) in the economic, social, cultural and political spheres of the local region. Education works in tandem with business development to create a foundation from which to rise above poverty, but another issue that must be addressed before work can be done or learning is to be made, and that is the health of those in the communities. . SCHAP’s Focus on Health Health is obviously an important issue in the lives of people in poor nations and foreign aid’s attempt at solving. Unfortunately a large amount of funds and manpower has been put into emergency situations regarding health, but very little has been done to address the roots of health issues that are simplistic and relativ ely cheap in comparison to wide-spread relief efforts of the past. A health focus that comes from SCHAP’s knowledge of the fundamental roots of issues in these communities involves the access to clean water. The conditions of water in developing and under-developed nations is dangerously poor due to contamination from agricultural run-off, ineffective or non-existent waste management and illness-causing pathogens. By creating a clean water system in these communities, SCHAP is producing a permanent fix to the root health issue by providing a â€Å"sustainable, maintainable, expandable and replicable† (1) resource. One initiative to achieve this system is with the building and installation of a water filtration system that is simplistic and requires low maintenance, so that the members of the community can maintain existing systems and build and install more elsewhere. An IDRC study by Blanca Jimenez et al. recommends such simple filtration systems for communities such as these, with filtration removing dangerous particulate matter and illness-causing pathogens from the water (3). The IDRC also sees the benefit of access and propagation of these basic systems, as they are infinitely more cost effective than wider-spread regional programs that require significant funds and resources, such as the installation of water treatment plants (3). Another health focus of SCHAP that not only addresses a fundamental issue of poor health of the impoverished but also illuminates how health is linked with education and work in creating an escape from poverty is nutrition. The plan for improved nutrition involves the education of the community, particularly children, as to what is necessary in terms of food to keep them healthy, but also an education as to what agricultural output is most nutritional (SCHAP 1). While medications can be costly and difficult to obtain because of limited supply, addressing a health concern such as nutrition gets to the origins of issues before they can multiply or become fatal. Many people in poor nations die from illnesses that would be easily preventable with basic education and forethought into such things as nutrition. Engle et al. has examined the linkage between nutrition and child development, finding that illnesses that come from poor nutrition, such as anemia, impede such development (230). The prevention of childhood development that malnutrition causes is caused by a disruption of neural circuitry that can lead to permanent difficulties with cognitive skills (230). Early intervention in the form of nutritional education and agricultural reform is shown to combat this development impediment. To use anemia as an example, it occurs because of an iron deficiency. SCHAP initiatives would include the promoting of the growth of iron rich plants, which the IDRC has found to have positive effects on the childhood development of motor-skills, emotional maturity and language and other social skills (Jimenez 2). The initiatives of SCHAP in this context once again present a comprehensive approach to combating poverty, by promoting a healthy lifestyle and the means to achieve it, which can be passed down for generations to come. . Conclusion While only touching on a few of SCHAP’s initiatives for communities in poor nations, what is made clear is that a reformed, comprehensive approach that focuses on sustainable long-term results has the great potential for creating an exit strategy from poverty for these nations and to untie these nations from the cumbersome umbilical cord of foreign aid. What SCHAP is doing by setting up programs and initiatives in these communities is not a hand out, but a helping hand. By giving the tools and the means to create their own resources to these communities, SCHAP is contributing to the fight against poverty in ways that are far-reaching and long lasting. The emphasis made by Cory Glazier on listening to the members of these communities shows a simplistic approach to revolutionary, life-changing ideas. It implies the communication with and involvement of the people of these communities who not only have a right to have say in foreign aid that is given to them, but who also have a responsibility to create the changes that will end poverty in their nations. While SCHAP has shown great potential and has made great improvements in villages such as Matoso, the reality is that there must be hundreds more organizations like SCHAP to join the battle. It is not a battle that these organizations, such as SCHAP or their supporting institutions such as the Grameen Bank, can win, but it is in arming the people of these poor nations that the battle can indeed be won.

The Difference Between Emigrate and Immigrate

The Difference Between Emigrate and Immigrate These two verbs have similar meanings, but they differ in point of view.Emigrate means to leave one country to settle in another. Immigrate means to settle in a country where one isnt a native. ​Emigrate stresses leaving; ​immigrate stresses arriving. For example, from the point of view of the British, you emigrate when you leave England to settle in Canada. From the point of view of the Canadians, you have immigrated to Canada and are considered an immigrant. Emigrate describes the move relative to the place of departure. Immigrate describes it relative to the place of arrival. Examples The film Amreeka tells the story of a Palestinian mother and son who emigrate from the West Bank to Illinois.The modern American Christmas tree originated with German Lutherans and spread to Pennsylvania after they began to immigrate here in the 18th century. Practice Understanding the Difference (a) When my grandparents decided to _____ to the U.S., there was no one waiting for them here.(b) At the end of the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, thousands  of people were compelled to _____  from  Asia Minor to Greece. Answers (a) When my grandparents decided to  immigrate  to the U.S., there was no one waiting for them here.(b) At the end of the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, thousands  of people were compelled to  emigrate  from  Asia Minor to Greece.

The Aztec Triple Alliance

The Aztec Triple Alliance The Triple Alliance (1428-1521) was a military and political pact among three city-states who shared lands in the Basin of Mexico (what is essentially Mexico City today): Tenochtitlan, settled by the Mexica/Aztec; Texcoco, home of the Acolhua; and Tlacopan, home of the Tepaneca. That accord formed the basis of what was to become the Aztec Empire that ruled Central Mexico and eventually most of Mesoamerica when the Spanish arrived at the very end of the Postclassic period. We know quite a bit about the Aztec Triple Alliance because histories were compiled at the time of the Spanish conquest in 1519. Many of the native historical traditions collected by the Spanish or preserved in the towns contain detailed information about the dynastic leaders of the Triple Alliance, and economic, demographic, and social information comes from the archaeological record. The Rise of the Triple Alliance During the late Postclassic or Aztec Period (AD 1350-1520) in the Basin of Mexico, there was a rapid centralization of political authority. By 1350, the basin was divided into several small city-states (called Altepetl in the Nahuatl language), each of which was ruled by a petty king (Tlatoani). Each altepetl included an urban administrative center and a surrounding territory of dependent villages and hamlets. Some of the city-state relationships were hostile and plagued by nearly constant wars. Others were friendlier but still competed with one another for local prominence. Alliances between them were built and sustained through a vital trade network and a commonly shared set of symbols and art styles. By the late 14th century, two dominant confederations emerged. One was led by the Tepaneca on the western side of the Basin  and the other by the Acolhua on the eastern side. In 1418, the Tepaneca based at Azcapotzalco came to control most of the Basin. Increased tribute demands and exploitation under the Azcapotzalco Tepaneca led to a revolt by the Mexica in 1428. Expansion and the Aztec Empire The 1428 revolt became a fierce battle for regional domination between Azcapotzalco and the combined forces from Tenochtitlan and Texcoco. After several victories, the ethnic Tepaneca city-state of Tlacopan joined them, and the combined forces overthrew Azcapotzalco. After that, the Triple Alliance moved quickly to subdue other city-states in the basin. The south was conquered by 1432, the west by 1435, and the east by 1440. Some longer holdouts in the basin include Chalco, conquered in 1465, and Tlatelolco in 1473. These expansionist battles were not ethnically-based: the bitterest were waged against the related polities in the Puebla Valley. In most cases, the  annexation of communities simply meant the establishment of an additional layer of leadership and a tribute system. However, in some cases such as the Otomi capital of Xaltocan, archaeological evidence indicates that the Triple Alliance replaced some of the population, perhaps because the elites and commoner people fled. An Unequal Alliance The three city-states sometimes operated independently and sometimes together. By 1431, each capital controlled certain city-states, with Tenochtitlan to the south, Texcoco to the northeast and Tlacopan to the northwest. Each of the partners was politically autonomous. Each ruler king acted as the head of a separate domain. But the three partners were not equals, a division that increased over the 90 years of the Aztec Empire. The Triple Alliance divided booty recovered from their wars separately. 2/5 went to Tenochtitlan, 2/5 to Texcoco, and 1/5 (as the latecomer) to Tlacopan. Each leader of the alliance divided his resources among the ruler himself, his relatives, allied and dependent rulers, nobles, meritorious warriors, and to local community governments. Although Texcoco and Tenochtitlan began on a relatively equal footing, Tenochtitlan became preeminent in the military sphere, while Texcoco retained prominence in law, engineering, and the arts. Records do not include reference to Tlacopans specialties. Benefits of the Triple Alliance The Triple Alliance partners were a formidable military force, but they were also an economic force. Their strategy was to build on pre-existing trade relations, expanding them to new heights with state support. They also focused on urban development, dividing the areas into quarters and neighborhoods and encouraging an influx of immigrants into their capitals. They established political legitimacy and fostered social and political interactions through alliances and elite marriages within the three partners and throughout their empire. Archaeologist Michael E. Smith argues that the economic system was taxation, and not tribute since there were regular, routinized payments to the Empire from the subject states. This guaranteed the three cities a consistent flow of products coming in from different environmental and cultural regions, increasing their power and prestige. They also provided a relatively stable political environment, where commerce and marketplaces could flourish. Domination and Disintegration The king of Tenochtitln soon emerged as the supreme military commander of the alliance  and made the final decision on all military actions. Eventually, Tenochtitln began to erode the independence of first Tlacopn, then that of Texcoco. Of the two, Texcoco remained fairly powerful, appointing its colonial city-states and able to fend off Tenochtitlns attempt to intervene in Texcocan dynastic succession right up until the Spanish conquest. Most scholars believe that Tenochtitln was dominant throughout most of the period, but the effective union of the alliance remained intact through political, social, and economic means. Each controlled their territorial domain as dependent city-states and their military forces. They shared the expansionist goals of the empire, and their highest-status individuals maintained individual sovereignty by inter-marriages, feasting, markets and tribute sharing across alliance borders. But hostilities among the Triple Alliance persisted, and it was with the help of Texcocos forces that Hernan Cortes was able to overthrow Tenochtitln in 1591.

Action Plan Development for Administration of Medicine Essay

Action Plan Development for Administration of Medicine - Essay Example The preparation of an action plan is quite vital in ensuring student and practicing nurses achieve their objectives. Thus, instead of worrying about the future, it pays to start planning for it through action plans. The main steps in the drafting of an action plan include the identification of objectives, the setting of achievable and measurable objectives, prioritisation of tasks and the identification of the necessary steps to achieving goals. The other steps include being able to effectively work under pressure and complete tasks in time. By writing down objectives, one’s goals and dreams are turned into plans, provided the plan is thought out, acted on and reflected upon. Importantly, a timetable would ensure a nurse’s action plan is effective, has clear-set goals and defined steps. This action plan on administration of medicine explores the areas in which I have tangible and sufficient coverage, knowledge and skills and the areas that need improvement. Moreover, th e action plan covers the strategies, interventions and the timetable by which the improvements will be achieved. Achievements in Drug Administration At this level of my nursing course, I have covered quite a vast area as far as medication administration is concerned. Most important in the areas covered are the general implications and principles of medication administrations. Although a common practice among nurses, medicine administration is a rather crucial clinical procedure, which refers to the manner in which medicine is delivered and controlled. In fact, the manner in which medicine is administered determines the probability of a patient gaining any clinical benefits or suffering diverse effects of medication (Doerr-MacEwen & Haight, 2006). Among the major areas of medication administration so far covered include the factors affecting drug bioavailability, types/routes of drug administration, and NMC’s guide for administration of medicines among other areas. Drug bioava ilability refers to the proportion of an administered medication, which actually reaches a patient’s systemic circulation and is distributed to the intended action site using the different routes of administration result that result in different levels of bioavailability. This is an important knowledge on medicine administration given that nurses should understand the best route that would yield the most bioavailability for a drug. For instance, drugs delivered through direct IV injection supposedly have 100% bioavailability. In addition, certain types of drugs are absorbed best in certain organs or systems of the body. For example, if administered so that they are absorbed by the gastrointestinal mucosa, certain medicines could end up having bioavailability comparable to that of an IV injected drugs. Unfortunately, many drugs lack the level of bioavailability by the oral route, implying that they their oral dosage is usually higher than if given parenterally, which refers to the administration of a medication into the body via routes other than the gastro-intestinal tract (Miller &Miller, 2011). These routes could be infusion, injection or implantation. Routes of Administration Routes of administration are the other concepts of administration of medicine that I have covered well so far. There are numerous routes by which medicine may be delivered into the systemic circulation of a patient, each with its strengths and weaknesses. It is thus imperative that nurses understand these routes’ implications, effectiveness, weaknesses, strengths, and patient experience.