People Magazine, Copyright 2004, Time, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Photos by Louise Gubb

Kristine Pearson stands under a large tree in a remote Rwandan village, patiently showing a circle of wide-eyed teens how to operate large cobalt blue radios. "Push this button," she tells the children, orphaned like 100,000 of their peers by the ethnic cleansing a decade ago or by disease and now heading households themselves. "Go!" Suddenly two dozen radios explode with the sound of music. Smiles break out all around. "I'm not Mother Teresa," Pearson says later. "But I have this tool and I can make a difference with it."

In fact, her radios have already improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of impoverished, largely illiterate children across Africa. Charged either by solar power or by a hand crank, the Crayola-bright devices can provide isolated orphans with schooling, news or potentially lifesaving advice on avoiding disease.

Since receiving his lifeline radio last year, "I have learned about AIDS and how I can stop from getting malaria by using mosquito netting," says Jonathan Macuni, 13, who lost his parents and seven of his 10 siblings to what he calls "illness."

So valuable are these radios - produced by the Freeplay Energy Group, the technology firm run by Pearson's husband, South African entrepreneur Rory Stear - that children elsewhere in Africa have eagerly traded weapons for them. "I?m in awe of the power and empowerment it represents," says Tom Hanks, one of the high profile fans of Pearson and the charitable Freeplay Foundation she heads. "The radio can change the world one life, one house, one village at a time."

The foundation has certainly transformed Pearson's life. "I probably would never have been hired for this job I created," admits the fortysomething Californian, who was working in Johannesburg as a bank executive when a mutual friend introduced her to husband-to-be Stear in 1993. Five years later, when he began setting up a foundation - "successful South Africans of my age have inherent guilt that needs to be worked through," says Stear, now 45 - he could not find the right person to run it. Pearson happened to be free, and let herself be talked into spending three months to get the nonprofit off the ground.

Resources

• Read about "Rwanda Radio Project for Child-Headed Households," a project on GlobalGiving
   
• Email Kristine Pearson with questions or comments about Freeplay

Building dignity through habitat development India is a project is based in Orissa, one of the poorest states in India. Since 1979, Joe Madiath and his staff at Gram Vikas have been working with the poorest people in rural communities, enabling them to break the cycle of poverty and lead a dignified life.

Now, through the GlobalGiving's new photo gallery feature, the images of Madiath's project are brought to your desktop for the first time.

"Building dignity through habitat development India" is one of a growing number of projects that are taking advantage of this opportunity to give donors a better idea of the realities of life in the developing world. High resolution photos show the progress made through the generous support of GlobalGiving donors and give you an idea of the people who benefit daily from the work of the Gram Vikas project.
 

Resources

• See more pictures from "Building dignity through habitat development India"
   
• Read more about "Building dignity through habitat development India"
   

ECLOF is the first of several new Project Sponsors that partnered with GlobalGiving for 2004. Over the coming weeks, we will be featuring each organization and give you a better idea of the work it does overseas.

Ecumenical Church Loan Fund (ECLOF) is a not-for-profit ecumenical organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland. ECLOF's mission is to provide fair credit for human development and sustainable communities, in witness to the Christian faith. ECLOF finances the construction of churches, schools and other community projects. Most of ECLOF committees today are in the South, and their lending activities are concentrated on grassroots development projects. For example:

Thirty members make up the New Hope Women's Association in the Villa Pompa de Sabana Perdida (Dominican Republic). As members, they receive training in health, home economics, and income generation. The association has received four ECLOF loans for a total of US $25,700, all of which have been fully repaid. Using part of the loans, the group purchased a piece of land for businesses and a medical centre. The women are now running small scale grocery stores, beauty salons, and jewelry and clothing stores.

ECLOF projects are coming soon.

Resources

• See ECLOF's Web site
   
• See other GlobalGiving Project Sponsors
   
• Tell GlobalGiving about an organization that would be a good Project Sponsor