Village the Game: Play it. Love it. Live it.

In the roller coaster year of 2008, one of the lessons learned is to have measurable goals.  I hope the objective and examples below help clarify what Village the Game is going for. 

Imagine: A French college student that played Village, is studying abroad in rural Nigeria.  While visiting families  she tells one farmer about Kickstart irrigation pumps and he buys  a $100 pump.  In the first growing season, the farmer makes 10 times as much income  and brings his entire family out of poverty.  His neighbors copy his success and together they climb out of extreme poverty while producing more food for themselves and their community.

Imagine: An ESL teacher from Kansas that played Village is serving near the Thai/Burma border.  He notices that refugees are suffering from really basic illnesses and injuries.  One of his ESL students is a nurse that could not find work in the city. He encourages her to set up a CFWShops franchise in town that provides a combination medical clinic and pharmacy. She not only creates a job for herself, but also helps hundreds stay healthy and able to work and take care of their family.  

Imagine: A high school student in Japan discovers the power of microcredit in Village the Game. She decides to recruit 3 friends to become microlenders and through Kiva.org they lend $120 to an entrepreneur in Afghanistan who uses his loan to expand his bakery from 2 locations to 6 and creates 5 new jobs and now can finally afford to send his sons AND daughters to school. 

The mission of Village the Game is to spread social enterprise that already works.  Kickstart irrigation pumps have already transformed hundreds of thousands of lives in Kenya, Tanzania and other parts of Africa.  Lets help them expand to Papua New Guinea and Bolivia.  Ciudad Saludable already turns mounds of trash into jobs, recycleables, and organic fertilizers in Peru.  Lets help them spread to Honduras.