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By Cathleen O’Grady

As vital as it is to provide promising young students in developing countries with educational opportunities, it can sometimes have an unwelcome and unintended effect: brain drain. Young, bright students with good qualifications may see foreign countries as holding better opportunities for themselves and their families, and – understandably – put their education to use building a life for themselves elsewhere.

Brain drain is a serious problem in Latin America, and has many negative consequences. It limits the number of skilled professionals available in the home country, who could be invaluable in helping to build the economy, provide training, and develop a solid skills base. However, it can also be detrimental to migrant workers, who often end up in jobs not commensurate with their education levels. Combatting brain drain is largely a matter of creating attractive opportunities for skilled workers, which may encourage them to remain in their home country.

Roots and Wings International, FBB’s Q4 Education beneficiary, recognizes the problem of brain drain and is committed to finding ways to encourage its scholarship recipients to remain in Guatemala. By employing only Guatemalan people on the board of the organization’s Guatemalan counterpart, RWI is creating jobs and providing job experience and training, while simultaneously ensuring that its policies and practices are in line with what is most needed in the country.

Recipients of educational funding from RWI are encouraged in many ways to reinvest their skills to build a stronger and more stable Guatemalan economy. Scholarship winners study at universities near their home villages so that they can remain vested in their home communities, and all winners make a commitment to use their education to promote community development. Students are also encouraged to maintain some type of employment throughout their studies, contributing to the local economy while gaining the skills to help it grow even further.

RWI recognizes that the essential work of promoting education in a developing country also requires careful thought about how to ensure that this work benefits the country in the long term, and is committed to emphasizing the importance of community investment. It is constantly working toward new programs that will combat brain drain in Guatemala, and that will help investment in education to sow local benefits.

For more information about Roots and Wings International, take a look at their website, or keep up with them on Facebook, YouTube, or their blog.

Since the earthquake in 2010, many people in Haiti have been living in temporary camps unable to withstand Hurricane Sandy, and so the storm brought widespread devastation. More than 200,000 people have been displaced, and the death toll is currently sitting at 54. The most extensive damage is in the south and southwest, with bridges swept away and the main hospital in Les Cayes flooded.

The greatest needs in Haiti are for shelter, health, sanitation, and non-food supplies. While the number of cholera cases is unconfirmed and is suspected to be in the region of 335, there have been eleven reported cholera-related deaths. International Medical Corps, one of Foundation Beyond Belief’s Humanist Crisis Response beneficiaries, has been operating in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake and is adding two mobile medical units to its existing presence in the hard-hit south. They plan to provide 50 temporary shelters with hygiene, shelter, and kitchen kits, addressing the needs of approximately 10,000 people.

In an impoverished country with a high level of malnutrition, long-term food stability is an important concern: There has been extensive damage to agriculture and livestock as well as to the country’s fisheries. This necessitates long-term plans as well as immediate relief, and IMC plans to assist in providing this by helping to develop the country’s medical structure and disaster preparedness. Training and sustainable development are seen as vital in assisting Haiti to return to self-reliance, and donations to IMC will continue to develop Haiti’s infrastructure long after the initial rush of disaster relief.

Click here to send a donation to International Medical Corps, or click here to learn about our current Humanist Crisis Response program to benefit communities recovering from Sandy.

Superstorm Sandy has created havoc in communities and people’s lives across the eastern United States and islands in the Caribbean. Foundation Beyond Belief, through our Humanist Crisis Response program, has chosen to support two organizations helping to alleviate the suffering from this storm:

In the United States, Team Rubicon has deployed 11 teams over three regions and has created a 24-hour central command to support local disaster relief personnel in the Northeast. Joanne Dennis from Team Rubicon says, “We’re in the process of organizing a large recovery operation. We’re aiming for 1,000 veteran volunteers over 10 days starting November 7. Right now we’re assessing the areas that need our support. Thank you so much for your help—we really appreciate it!” To request direct assistance for cleanup relief from Team Rubicon, fill out this form. NBC News has this news report about some of Team Rubicon’s efforts. Click here to send a donation to Team Rubicon.

And in the Caribbean, International Medical Corps has mobilized two mobile medical units to deal with severe medical situations and is providing help to almost 10,000 newly displaced people due to the storms in Haiti. According to IMC, “The storm caused at least 52 deaths in Haiti, as well as flooding and extensive damage across the island nation, where 370,000 people still live in flimsy shelter and tent camps following the 2010 earthquake. More than 200,000 people were left homeless by the storm, which damaged 84 displacement camps.” Click here to send a donation to IMC.

We hope that our effort in supporting these organizations through our crisis response program can further their activities in the afflicted areas and help more people in a timely manner.

AJ Chalom
Humanist Giving Program Coordinator

We are thrilled to be joining the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) in their efforts to help people with blood cancers by becoming a Special Friend for their Light the Night (LTN) Walks. Our goal is to unite freethinkers all over the world to raise one million U.S. dollars in 2012. If we do, we will be the first team in LLS history to raise more than $1 million in their first year. Leading the effort is philanthropist Todd Stiefel, whose family has pledged to match the first $500,000 raised by local teams.

In addition to helping people with cancer and contributing to research on cancer treatment and prevention, this effort provides a focus for compassionate humanism working for a better world. We might not share the same beliefs with our neighbors, but everyone can unite against cancer.

To achieve this goal, we need local freethought, atheist, and secular humanist groups to form teams and help fund-raise. If your team is in the U.S. or Canada, you can create a team and join an existing walk site from our international team page. Check out the how-to here. If your group is located outside the U.S. or Canada, or if your group is not near an existing walk site, please contact Breanna Baer and she will help you get registered. If you aren’t a member of a group or you live far away from a walk, you can join the FBB virtual walker team. Another way to help is by donating directly to our team.

For much more information about this project and how to help, please check out our website. If you have questions, please send them to Brittany Shoots-Reinhard.

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First-quarter education beneficiary Roots & Wings International gave us this report about how they are using the funds contributed by members of Foundation Beyond Belief.

Thanks to our partnership with Foundation Beyond Belief, Roots & Wings International received $3,390 in donations during the first quarter of 2011. This money will go a long way toward providing higher education to the children of indigenous Guatemalan coffee farmers. For these families, most of whom subsist on about $2 a day, providing a college education for their children under normal circumstances would be nearly impossible. Now, we’ll be able to make the impossible possible. Not only will we be able to provide scholarships to new students but continue to support those students currently in our scholarship program as well. Here are just a few of our current scholars:

• Manuela Tambriz Ixtos is currently studying pedagogy at university and hopes to become a teacher at the RWI university preparatory school, which we hope to have open by 2012.
• Pascual Marroquín Guarchaj is studying social work, in the hope of returning home and working with the youth of his community to curb the rise of gang activity.
• Miguel Lomberto Sohom wants to become the first indigenous nurse in his village, which has been historically staffed by nurses from large cities. Miguel is currently studying at university to achieve this goal.

Roots and Wings International is grateful for the support of Foundation Beyond Belief. As Epictetus once said, “Only the educated are free.” Roots and Wings International is committed to helping Guatemala’s indigenous youth attain freedom from poverty through education, and we could not do it without your help.

Erik Swanson
Executive Director and Founder
Roots & Wings International