ken atchity door to door: August 2014

The Liyuan Library, Jiaojiehe, China

Camouflaged into its surroundings, the library at Liyuan, two hours north of Beijing, has a facade of flexed twigs wedged between rusty steel rails. Inside, bookshelves are used as floor, stairs, seats and tables.Add caption

The Glasgow School of Art Library, Scotland

Every element in the library of the Glasgow School of Art (1909) was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who had taken evening classes in architecture at the university in 1883.

Mafra Palace Library, Mafra, Portugal

Since its opening in 1771, the Mafra Palace Library has been home to a colony of tiny bats; they roost behind the cases in winter, and in the orchard outside in the summer, swooping in during the night to eat insects which would otherwise damage the books.

Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, Paris, France

Constructed in the mid-19th century, the Sainte-Geneviève library's iron roof has echoes of the railway buildings of the time.

Biblioteca Joanina, Coimbra, Portugal

Portugal’s João the Magnanimous astonished the rector of the University of Coimbra by telling him that his request for help towards library facilities was too modest; the lavish result was financed with gold reserves that had been recently discovered in Brazil.

The man who lives in 1946 [via Nina Reznick]

Ben Sansum is 35. But he lives in 1946. His clothes, his house, the music he listens to - all come from an era before he was even born. He has always been interested the 1940s, but it is an interest that has grown over the years. He's gone from buying reproduction furniture for his house to tracking down the real thing. His 70-year-old carpet is his latest pride and joy. BBC News went to meet Ben at home in Cambridgeshire.

The Most Creative Sculptures And Statues From Around The World [Via Tom DeCoursey]

A BIRD'S TALE [via Nina Reznick]

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Word Crimes

Weird Al's latest video, "Word Crimes," offers viewers a humorous schooling in the correct usage of often misused words, and it's set to the unmistakable tune of Robin Thicke's much-maligned "Blurred Lines."

Gandhi and the Professor [via Mary Calhoun]

When Mahatma Gandhi was studying law at the University College of London, a white professor whose last name was Peters disliked him intensely and always displayed prejudice and animosity towards him. Also, because Gandhi never lowered his head when addressing him, as he expected.... there were always "arguments" and confrontations.

One day, Mr. Peters was having lunch in the dining room of the University, and Gandhi came along with his tray and sat next to the professor. The professor said, "Mr. Gandhi, you do not understand. A pig and a bird do not sit together to eat."

Gandhi looked at him as a parent would a rude child and calmly replied, "You do not worry professor. I'll fly away," and he went and sat at another table.

Mr. Peters, reddened with rage, decided to take revenge on the next test paper, but Gandhi responded brilliantly to all questions. Mr. Peters, unhappy and frustrated, asked him the following question: "Mr. Gandhi, if you were walking down the street and found a package, and within was a bag of wisdom and another bag with a lot of money, which one would you take?"

Without hesitating, Gandhi responded, "The one with the money, of course."

Mr. Peters, smiling sarcastically said, "I, in your place, would have taken the wisdom, don't you think?"

Gandhi shrugged indifferently and responded, "Each one takes what he doesn't have."

Mr. Peters, by this time, was fit to be tied. So great was his anger that he wrote on Gandhi's exam sheet the word "idiot" and gave it to Gandhi. Gandhi took the exam sheet and sat down at his desk trying very hard to remain calm while he contemplated his next move.

A few minutes later, Gandhi got up, went to the professor and said to him in a dignified but sarcastically polite tone, "Mr. Peters, you signed the sheet, but you did not give me the grade."

Yoga Gives Back August News Letter

For the cost of one yoga class, you can change a life.

The Impact of your Donation!!

With your support, YGB is funding more than 500 mothers and children in India this year. Read how your donation has made a real impact on the lives of mothers and children who first received "Sister Aid" direct funding program in 2011. The list of positive changes in many mothers' lives is truly exciting; "building a toilet," "opening a bank account," "adding a tutor for her daughter,' "supporting widowed mother," etc. Read their success stories and Impact Analysis here.

YGBs's new program SHE (Scholarship for Higher Education) is also making a great progress in West Bengal and Karnataka states. 64 high school students are provided with a five-year scholarship to finish high school and advance to college level education. Read stories of the young students who are funded by Pure International here.

Donate at #Operation Girl before August 17th

We are at the 8th place now. Your donation will give YGB a chance to win bonus funding!!
With just $15 a month, a mother can start her own income-earning business in rural villages OR a young daughter can stay in school avoiding child labor and child marriage. Any amount of donation will make a real impact on many lives in India.

Exciting News:

"Thank You Mother India" Global Campaign Launched

Let's unite to express our gratitude to Mother India for the gift of YOGA. Host just ONE class or event between September 1st and January 31st, 2015. This annual global campaign raises the majority of YGB's funding to India each year! Pick a day and register today here. Your event will be listed and promoted at YGB's website and social media.

Watch this year's 1 minute PR video, you might be in it!! Music by DJ Drez (featuring Sheela Bringi), Edited by Robert Nakano

"Malibu Fundraiser"

Sat, September 20th, 6-9pm at Residence of Dr Amarjit Marwah

The Malibu Fundraiser is the annual flagship event of the global campaign "Thank You Mother India." A very special evening with peaceful chanting, cello ensemble music performance, raffle, live and silent auctions, YGB Films presentation, appetizers, a sit-down dinner, wine and more!!! Mingle with special guests. For more information click here. Early Bird Tickets $80 per person, $100 after August 15th. Gift Bag for everyone (worth $200)!

Welcome New Ambassadors and Team Members
YGB is delighted and honored to have these new and powerful members to our growing global family!!!

Ambassadors

Anri Shiga,
Hong Kong and Japan
Pure Yoga

Wendy Chan,
Singapore
Yoga Seeds

Swati

Denise DuBarry,

Palm Springs, California

Youth Ambassador

Elizabeth Stais
San Francisco, California

Representative

Meric Akay,
Milan, Italy

Yoga Meric Akay

Events

"Pilgrimage to the Heart of Yoga" Feb 22-March 1st, 2015 Bangalore, India

An exclusive Yoga Gives Back Retreat will be at the one of the finest yoga retreat Shreyas in Bangalore with authentic Ayurveda, Yoga, Meditation, Classical Indian Music, Rejuvenation Spa, as well as overnight trip to YGB partner Deenabandhu Trust Home where we are funding 21 orphaned children. This special retreat is designed by YGB Ambassador Mariko Hirakawa and packaged by Gateway to India Travel. Any questions, write to info@yogagivesback.org

Thank you for all these past events and sponsors!

July 27: Chama & Anri Charity Class@TokyoYoga, Japan
July 26: Rooftop Yoga by Wendy Chan@Serangoon Gardens in Singapore
July 13: Project Marshmallow with Ariel Tang in Hong Kong
July 11: Kino MacGregor Workshop@Pure Yoga New York
July 5: Kino MacGrerog Workshop@Breathe Los Gatos, California
June 27-29: Kino MacGregor Workshop@Moksha Yoga, Chicago
June 21: Fundraiser@RaYoga Studio, Costa Mesa, California
June 8: Monthly Donation Class@ Loose Yoga, Crowley, UK

Follow our YGB Blog, Twitter and Instagram for updated news from India and around the world!!

Thank you for all the past and future events,
which make a real difference one class at a time!!

Yoga Gives Back is a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization.

Question, comment, want to learn more?
Email info@yogagivesback.org.

www.yogagivesback.org

Pieces Of Street Art That Cleverly Interact With Their Surroundings

The Most Creative Sculptures And Statues From Around The World Via Tom DeCoursey

Expansion by Paige Bradley, New York, USA

The Monument Of An Anonymous Passerby, Wroclaw, Poland

People Of The River By Chong Fah Cheong, Singapore

Mustangs By Robert Glen, Las Colinas, Texas, USA

The Knotted Gun, Turtle Bay, New York, USA

Yoga Gives Back

Written by Kayoko Mitsumatsu

From Posture To Power: Microcredit Changes Lives On Both Sides of the Ocean

We can talk about making change. But affecting real change in the world comes from impacting the lives of individuals. It comes from empowering people to be independent and able to make a living on their own while at the same time being fully integrated in our interdependent global community. Sometimes it takes something that seems to be radical to make this change, but these shifts can be deceptively small. They can be even as small (or as large) as the cost of a Los Angeles Yoga class.

How could this be? In the practice of microcredit, lending seemingly small amounts of money to small-scale entrepreneurs allows them to succeed and change their circumstances. This is the fundamental basis of microcredit’s transformative power; it’s a revolutionary concept in finance. This practice shifts the emphasis from financial transactions being focused only about large loans and large scale businesses, which are out of reach of many one-person operations, institutions and organizations – to lending practices that actually make a positive difference in a person’s life. Microcredit practices based on social justice and empowerment operate through a combination of small-scale loans based on trust and community support, with structured repayment plans and programs that encourage savings. In these situations, people actually have the opportunity to solidify long-term change in their lives.

Dr. Muhammad Yunus and the Yoga Gives Back Team: Joel Bender, Leslie Hendry, Dr. Muhammad Yunus and Kayoko Mitsumatsu (left-right)

In 2006, economist Dr. Muhammad Yunus and the institution he founded, the Grameen Bank, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This award was in recognition of their revolutionary efforts to create this micro-credit model, support sustainable economic practices, and provide an alternative to what were exploitive norms. When a person is caught in a cycle of poverty, they may become trapped in the system, particularly since large banking institutions have historically ignored people without assets or credit histories, who are just starting out and who may not have already proven themselves. Most banks prefer to lend large sums of money that represent a greater profit margin and are set up only for large loans in order to make a profit themselves. And even making it more challenging, people at the bottom of the economic scale worldwide have had to rely on moneylenders charging usurious terms and interest rates to obtain funds to plant the next crop, buy inventory of new equipment, or upgrade a business in any way. Institutions such as the Grameen Bank and their affiliates are offering another approach. It’s one that has significantly impacted millions of people.

As Dr. Yunus described in an exclusive interview with Yoga Gives Back in May, 2009, “We started in 1976, and today within Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, eight million people borrow micro loans, ninety-seven percent of them women.” This represents an enormous potential for change and empowerment that just did not exist on a large scale in this form prior to 1976.

There is a social cycle in economics, and Dr. Yunus explained this: “Poverty is not inside the person. Poverty is forced from outside. Poor people are as capable [a] human being as anybody else. They have the same power and energy, same potential. But they are denied such facilities. They cannot express themselves. Money is one of the most important items missing in their lives. You need a dollar to catch a dollar. You cannot catch a dollar with an empty hand. So, that first dollar, nobody has given to her. So she remains dependent on someone else. She has to be hired, to slave; she has to work to make food available on the table. What we have done, we have put that first dollar into her hands as a banking proposition. Conventional banks never come to the poor people. They go to rich people to make more money. The person who does not have a dollar – she cannot get it. So we did it. We did it in a way that is affordable to her. Because we do not insist on collateral. There is no collateral.”

While that may seem like a radical concept, the Grameen Bank has proven that their success is much more than ideological. Dr Yunus cited statistics for us, “The repayment rate is almost 100%, without collateral or anything. This is the strength of microcredit which is now spread all over the world. There are by now at least 150 million borrowers in the world today. Bu it is still very small comparing to the need. We need more microcredit organizations in the world so that more people can be reached.”

Yoga Gives Back is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization begun in LA, with the goal to provide a way for Western Yoga practitioners to give back to India, the birthplace of Yoga, which has given us so much. We’re heeding Dr. Yunus’ call to reach more people through expanded opportunities for and awareness of microcredit and have targeted India and Indian families, women, and would-be entrepreneurs, who would be otherwise stuck in the cycle of poverty that Dr. Yunus described. Yoga Gives Back supports microfinancing operations in India, through the Grameen Foundation, headquartered in Washington, DC. Donations go directly to Grameen Koota, Bangalore, South India and our YGB awareness campaign focuses on the real stories of how poor women are changing their lives with small loans from Grameen Koota.

Ms. Vinatha M Reddy

Grameen Koota was started by visionary teacher and philanthropist, Ms. Vinatha M Reddy (pictured, above) in 1999, who learned about Nobel Peace Recipient Dr Muhammad Yunus’ microfinancing and immediately began exploring ways of replicating his work in her hometown. In 2000, she started providing small microcredit loans, averaging $25.00 a month, to fifty local women. Today, Grameen Koota’s work is reaching out to over 280,000 women in Bangalore, Mysore and many areas of Karnataka state, in South India, making real impact on these women’s lives as well as on the local economy.

Yoga Gives Back

The Los Angeles-based Yoga Gives Back has a worldwide reach and began out of the inspiration and dedication of my Yoga mentor Joel Bender and me. Our group has suddenly started growing almost daily and our mission is shared by a quickly expanding and loving Yoga community.

When I was growing up in Japan, which is a very middle-class society, I had never experienced or seen any real poverty, especially growing up in Tokyo in 1960s and 1970s, when Japan's post-war economic miracle was taking place. Then, I had a chance to live in Brazil in the late 1970s for two years, where as a teenager, I saw the divide between poverty and wealth, the reality of the real slums, kids on the streets begging every time you stopped the car at the traffic light, all very much like India. Social injustice hit me hard.

Once I started Yoga practice and feeling my life being so enriched by it , I felt a need to use my resources to help others. I was producing a documentary on Social Entrepreneurship and learned about microfinancing. I shared this information with Joel [featured in the teacher profile in this month’s issue of LA YOGA] who had been looking for the way he could give back to India since his first visit there – so we teamed up.

When I think about the growth of Yoga Gives Back thus far, I give a lot of credit to the entrepreneurship and volunteer spirit of Americans, willing to embrace and support a new grass roots campaign like ours.

Kayoko Mitsumatsu, co-founder of Yoga Gives Back, is a documentary filmmaker whose films deal with social justice issues, including First They Killed My Father a memoir of a Cambodia’s Killing Fields’ survivor.

A Life Changing Story of Microcredit: Jayashree

Jayashree

Jayashree lives in the suburbs of Bangalore and is married and the mother of two children. We visited her at her humble dirt floor one room home for the first time in 2007. We were touched by her warm smile and most generous hospitality, serving us hot tea and cookies.

Jayashree was born into a very poor family in Bangalore. When she was a child, her family’s financial situation became so severe that she had to drop out of school and work at a garment factory. She toiled throughout her childhood and after she got married at fifteen, her meager earnings had to support her ailing in-laws. She had two children. Her husband’s rickshaw business was not enough to pay her sons’ education or secure food for the family.

In 2007, Jayashree learned from her neighbors about Grameen Koota’s microcredit program and applied for her first loan. She was granted a first loan of 7,000 rupees ($175), and immediately bought her husband’s auto rickshaw. Owning their own rickshaw business increased their income significantly.

Jayashree was able to pay back her entire loan in one year and became eligible for her second loan in 2008. Having proven her diligence, her second loan amount doubled to 15,000 rupees ($375). This time, she bought a sewing machine and started stitching bags. The family’s earnings have now tripled and she is earning 150 rupees ($3.75) a day. In addition, she opened a small shop next to her house to sell her products which is earning her an additional 100 rupees ($2.50) a day.

She is sending her elder son to a medical school. Her son dreams of becoming a doctor and thanks his mother’s business for providing his education, their own home and daily food.

To participate in a Yoga practice where the proceeds support Yoga Gives Back and directly impact the transformation of not only your own life, but that of someone in India, start your Thanksgiving week at Yogaglo, Sunday, November 22, 10:00 A.M. - 12 noon. Some of the teachers include John Sahakian, Felicia Tomasko, Alexandra Aiken and Ally Hamilton; more to be announced. Yogaglo.com; yogagivesback.com.

For more information on Yoga Gives Back or to host a Yoga Gives Back class at your own studio or location, visit: yogagivesback.org or contact yogagivesback@earthlink.net.

Napa Earthquake 2014 Quadcopter Test Video [via Nina Reznick]

Shifting into 4th at 160 mph [via Cacciatore]

Not for the Indie Reader [via Nina Reznick]