Posted on 05/04/2011 4:43:43 PM PDT by blam
There are a couple of children of day-laborers whose education through school (from age 8-16) we sponsor at Aashray. It sounds very noble of me, but you know how much it costs? For 9 years of school at a "good school" ?(namely one that will teach them English, a tool to help them escape poverty -- on a side note, they are the children of Tamil day laborers -- Tamil is a different language from the language of the state of Bombay, Marathi and from the Indian national languages, Hindi/English. These people are the lowest caste and no one in their family has ever been literate)
It only costs $3,000 --> not annually, but for the entire 9 years, plus giving them clothes, buying them books and stationary and school materials. What is $3,000 to most of us? Nothing. Yet it can help break the cycle of poverty.
There are a couple of children of day-laborers whose education through school (from age 8-16) we sponsor at Aashray. It sounds very noble of me, but you know how much it costs? For 9 years of school at a "good school" ?(namely one that will teach them English, a tool to help them escape poverty -- on a side note, they are the children of Tamil day laborers -- Tamil is a different language from the language of the state of Bombay, Marathi and from the Indian national languages, Hindi/English. These people are the lowest caste and no one in their family has ever been literate)
It only costs $3,000 --> not annually, but for the entire 9 years, plus giving them clothes, buying them books and stationary and school materials. What is $3,000 to most of us? Nothing. Yet it can help break the cycle of poverty.
One man I met in Jersey (he must be 30 something now) had a similar background, only worse -- the son of lowest caste illiterate day laborers, he was blinded at the age of 6.
He was lucky that a priest from St. Xavier's was helping there and took him to St. Xavier's school at Fort, Bombay.
the boy was smart and studied his way and church charities sponsored his education through until 21. Then he got a scholarship to a uni in the US and now he's doing pretty well for himself. He's brought his parents out of the slums, educated his brothers and sisters and set them out of poverty. The family is middle-class now and has a house and pride -- and he did it on his own.
These people need our help to give them the opportunity to help themselves.
What is agonizing is not their poverty but how little it takes to help them step OUT of generations of poverty.
BTW, there are a few closed loop solar radiant heat systems here, but very few (mostly boiler fired, with the pex tubing right in the top inch of floors!). The closed loop systems have little (monoslab foundations) to no (crawlspace) thermal mass. ...stainless heat exchangers. ...high pressure, too much collector efficiency (too hot for parts), they’re a high cost disaster. Here’s one that I like (Gary’s, with a few modifications, like larger concrete tank in shed w/ frost-protected foundation). ...pex for radiant in the bottom of a frost-protected, concrete slab as per the federal guide for FPSFs, of course.
The Solar Shed — Using Solar Collectors Mounted on an Outbuilding for House Heating
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/SolarShed/solarshed.htm
But for cloudier, higher latitude places, I don’t know. ...would need very large, insulate subterranean tanks in insulated sheds or houses at least, and with backup (maybe inline water heaters at least).
Southern Iowa is great. I lived in rural northern MO long ago and liked it, too—smart, civilized, independent folks (including some of my own), extremely arable land and far better weather than here.
I’m 47 years old 5 foot 10 and 165 lbs and very active despite junk knees. I wander the woods and fields and have become very familiar with my surroundings.
I have no intent on defending my little town all by myself. Any aggressive defense would likely fall to younger men while the older people would take on other tasks.
Not this HOA. Nazis.
I have friends who say that if you know how many guns you have, then you don't have enough.
That's my belief too. I'm old but I have resources that can/will be shared with younger people who 'man the guns' during a crisis.(That includes stored food, etc.)
No. Ever dealt with one? They are typically run by the fat a$$ed real estate agent or soccer mom that thinks they have a political future.
The CEO of Smithfield Farms, the largest pork producer in the US. Among other things he said:
"And we’re going to be seeing food shortages in the US in the coming months."
Alarmist....maybe?
“You are a real city slicker, aren’t you, if you think that we rural folk only have small arms.”
Sorry, haven’t seen too many people with crew served weapons like howitzers, 50 cal machine guns, etc. And no I grew up in the country so I know what it’s like and what the people are like.
And you're saying urbanites have those when rural folks don't?
I don't think so.
I also grew up in a city and the only people who had guns were cops and bad guys, and the only ones who were supposed to have guns were the cops. City folk still meltdown about the thought of guns. No way that urbanites and city folk are armed with howitzers, 50 cal machine guns, etc.
Do zombies taste like chicken?
Reminds me of the U of TX professor Pianka who feels the world would be better off with 90% killed off by ebola.
we belong to a volunteer group that works for bettering wildlife lands and recreational lands....
in involves fencing, fixing fences,planting,building guslers,fishing ramps,etc.....IOWS....physical work....
the average age of this group has got to be 55.....
let me tell you....the old guys are the BEST...
.they know how to work....you can tell the old guys from the young guys by looking at their shoes while working on a project.
..the old guys wear BOOTS and the young guys wear sneakers....
a young fit guy can overtake an older guy who is a little overweight in a man on man battle...but the older guy has the advantage of KNOWLEDGE and WISDOM ....he knows how to get things done and he'll keep at it til its finished....
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