Change by Doing Explore the world of volunteering and service

If you know me and we’ve discussed books, or if you’ve followed the blog for a while, you already know I am a pretty rabid fan of Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. I hope to write like this some day. It is one of the best examples I know of light-a-fire-under-you, rocket-you-out-of-your-comfort-zone-and-into-action writing. If you haven’t yet read it, stop everything now and get to it–really.

Launching today, is Half the Sky Movement–the Game on Facebook. This is a computer game appropriate for most ages, where you take on the character of a woman in crisis (I just played for a while as a mother in India trying to get life-saving medication for her sick daughter…later levels help procure books for the local school, and more) and navigate your virtual world to accomplish tasks that help you, and help others along the way. The colorful, animated, not heavy at all playing environment gets important messages through in fun ways, with puzzles and challenges interspersed with dialogues with other characters. Learning the art of negotiating and advocating get you further along, and at regular stops along your way, you have the opportunity to turn game play into real life action (For example: click a button to buy life-saving vaccines for actual youth around the world). It is a nice blend of intentions that I think can go a long way toward educating and entertaining…I certainly hope so. Go play for a while, the very act of playing can trigger actual donations from sponsors, so you really can make a difference just by engaging. Win/WIN!