Support global peace on September 21 and everyday with PeaceJam

What if we could end violence worldwide, even for one day? What if wars stopped in their tracks and all countries laid down weapons? Unrealistic as it sounds, it’s real. Since 2001, the 192 member states of the United Nations have been honoring September 21 as a day of global ceasefire and non-violence.

Now, the International Day of Peace is celebrated by more than 27 million people in 200 countries, but it didn’t start there. Before he approached the UN, Peace One Day founder Jeremy Gilley approached dozens of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates to gain their support for UN legislation.

Those are the same laureates that pave the way for the youth of PeaceJam, one of the organizations that OneTribe.com is proud to support. Each year, PeaceJam recognizes the International Day of Peace with service projects and special speakers at sites across the country.

But to PeaceJam youth, the International Day of Peace happens every day of the year. Taking inspiration from Nobel laureates, youth across the nation create service projects centered around ten core issues, including “Breaking the Cycle of Violence” and “Controlling the Proliferation of Weapons.”

Help PeaceJam celebrate the progress they’ve made toward their dreams of a more peaceful world with a tee from OneTribe.com. As always, 50% of your purchase goes directly to help PeaceJam’s efforts.

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Swimming 981 miles to educate 44,000 girls

What would motivate you to swim 20 miles? What about 20 miles, six days in a row? What would it take to make you do that for eight weeks?

If you’re tired just from thinking about it, go talk to Mimi Hughes, who wrapped up her 981-mile swim down the entirety of the Ohio River on July 17. What motivates Mimi? She wants to educate and empower women and girls, and she’s hoping to bring greater awareness to organizations like the Central Asia Institute (CAI), OneTribe.com’s newest humanitarian partner.

Mimi knows, as a mother of four and a teacher/tutor of students with dyslexia and developmental disabilities, “the transformation that can take place in women and girls when they are given the appropriate educational opportunities, mentoring, and open doors.”

Greg Mortenson saw the transformational power of education in Afghanistan and Pakistan when he began working there in 1993. Since then, he has founded CAI, written a #1 New York Times bestselling book, and opened 131 schools with the primary goal of educating women and girls as a path to peace. His community-centered philosophies are now helping to turn the tide of U.S. military strategy in Afghanistan.

You don’t have to be a swimmer to help Mimi, Greg, and hundreds of middle eastern communities make education accessible to all. Check out the tees at OneTribe.com, where 50% of your purchase goes directly to fund CAI’s schools.

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Rebuilding Haiti by listening to children

When Child Helpline International (CHI) establishes new helplines, they target the most vulnerable countries in the world. In 2009, it was Albania, Maldives, Mozambique, Sri Lanka, and Togo. But their next endeavor may prove even more challenging: Haiti.

In June, CHI facilitated a meeting between Haitian police and a number of non-profits that aim to serve Haiti’s youth. Despite Haiti’s poor infrastructure and low governmental capacity in the midst of reconstruction from the January earthquake, CHI is operating on their most fundamental value: that everybody has a right to be heard.

Initially founded by a social worker in Bombay, Child Helpline International is an organization that fields 14.5 million calls annually from children in 134 countries. Helplines provide resources and support to children facing, most commonly, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and stigma, domestic violence, suicide, and bullying. Many in developing countries also face abuse, exploitation and discrimination.

To recognize the Indian roots of Helpline, the women’s tee depicts boys and girls faces (note the dot on the girls’ foreheads) arranged into a traditional Indian flower design. The faces are connected by the ears, and their hands join in the center to represent the supportive structure that’s created when understanding is coupled with community action. The men’s tee features a dial pad with a life-preserver on the bottom button.

Support the efforts of CHI in helping children help themselves by purchasing your own eco-friendly tee at OneTribe.com. As always, 50% of your purchase goes directly to support CHI’s programs.

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Celebrating 20 years of clean water with Water.org

As you sip cold lemonade at a Fourth of July barbecue, raise your glass to the incredible benefits of clean, safe water. Here at OneTribe.com, we’re not just celebrating our country’s birthday, but the birthday of our humanitarian partner, Water.org.

Water.org recently celebrated the completion of an 11-month well project in Guatincara, Honduras, where 80 percent of families have to walk to collect their water from contaminated wells and creeks.

But this ribbon cutting also marks 20 years of clean water initiatives in Honduras. Since 1990, Water.org co-founder Gary White has now seen more than 40 communities and 11,000 people served in Honduras, where 63% of the population lives on less than a dollar a day.

White has been fighting for access to clean water for communities worldwide ever since. He co-founded WaterPartners International in 1993, which has since merged with H20 Africa, a similar organization co-founded by actor Matt Damon. This month marks the first official anniversary of Water.org, now a 3.5 million dollar operation.

The merger has since led to the growth of a new enterprise. The WaterCredit program is an innovative way to help remote communities fund their own water projects without relying on limited grant money. It provides fair access to affordable loans (around $130), so that communities don’t have to wait to address their needs. To date, more than 16,000 microloans have been granted and repaid in full.

Help Water.org celebrate 20 years of innovative water solutions in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, India, Kenya, Uganda, and more. Visit OneTribe.com, where 50% of each purchase goes directly to support Water.org.

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Excited for the World Cup? So is Grassroots Soccer.

Grassroots Soccer - Using the power of soccer in the fight against AIDS by providing African youth the knowledge, skills + support to live HIV free.

The founders of Grassroots Soccer were professional soccer players who knew that they could use soccer as a way to spread education about HIV to African youth. Now they're using the first World Cup ever held in Africa to reach their roots deeper and spread their branches wider than ever.

At OneTribe.com, we've created tees that support Grassroots soccer, and we've used the spirit of growth in the designs. By planting the seeds of peer education (program graduates educate their friends about HIV), Grassroots Soccer is cultivating a generation that's geared to overcome the AIDS crisis. Furthermore, the depiction of life and growth on these shirts is in direct opposition to the death and destruction caused by HIV/AIDS.

The women’s tee uses the seed metaphor literally, showing new growth and even a few soccer ball-seeds rolling away, ready to form new sprouts.

The men's tee features a soccer coach giving the red penalty card to AIDS. The soccer ball at his feet contains the continent of Africa, and behind him is a tribal African textile design.

Show your support and get your shirt in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa by visiting OneTribe.com. Remember: 50% of each purchase goes directly to support Grassroots Soccer.

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PeaceJam hosts Nobel Laureate José Ramos-Horta

At OneTribe.com, we like to spotlight some of the incredible ways that the organizations we support are making our world better. PeaceJam recently held a conference with José Ramos-Horta as its guest of honor – a Nobel Laureate whose young roots in peacemaking make him an ideal role model for the youth at PeaceJam.

At age 18, José Ramos-Horta was exiled from his home country of East Timor for questioning governmental policies around the poverty he saw. Repeatedly voicing opposition to Portugese militaristic rule, José was soon a young revolutionary. At 25 years old, he was the youngest person to address the United Nations, pleading for Timorese independence.

Now a Nobel Laureate and the President of his home country (no longer under Portuguese rule), José has been a champion for ending economic oppression worldwide. “Just remember that violence leads you nowhere. We have to learn not to be violent if we want to have power. Compassion, generosity, humility, tolerance are real power.”

At the PeaceJam conference on May 24-25, 2010, youth from all over Colorado participated in workshops, service projects, and even spoke out in poetry slams.

For one of their service projects, youth worked with Groundwork Denver, an organization that partners with local low-income neighborhoods to improve their physical environments. PeaceJam volunteers replaced hundreds of front porch lights with sustainable compact fluorescent light bulbs.

You can support PeaceJam’s local and international call to action by purchasing an eco-friendly t-shirt at OneTribe.com. As always, 50% of your purchase goes directly to PeaceJam’s efforts.

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Our Designers' Inspiration for Global Village of Beijing Tees

Global Village of Beijing - Working together to provide environmental insights for the future of China.

With these particular shirts, the designers at One Tribe wanted to convey the environmental mission of Global Village of Beijing.

The women’s T-shirt uses a plum tree as a design inspiration. Making up the plum tree are various Chinese characters, each with a special meaning. Among them are the words: vegetation, animals, environment, pure, saving, nature, forever, respect, progress, protect, responsibility, community, sustainable, reproduction, thriving, and organic. The image of the tree and the meaning of the characters come together to promote sustainable living.

The overall message on the shirt is that we have an important relationship with nature, and it is up to us to coexist in balance and harmony.

To purchase your eco-friendly tee, visit OneTribe.com.

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