Life in Balance: Amit D. Chaudhary’s Blog
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Frugal, writer of the blog My 1st Million At 33 wrote Help in Finding a Good Charity

So, here are some Charities we donated to over the past few years. I check all for fund misuse, percent spent on actual charity, etc.
Local (Used to be WA) & USA

• Youth For Understanding USA: a US -International student exchange program.
• Special Olympics of Washington
• HopeLink
• First Book: give books to poor kids
• PBS: The informative TV station with programs for Kids and Adults.

India

• Association for India’s Development
• Multiple ones through Giveworld, a charity exchange:
1. Atma Nirbhar: Sponsor a years education for a disadvantaged workers child for $60
2. Vikahar Paribar Bikash Kendra: Sponsor a destitute child’s education for one year $33
3. PREED: Sponsor 1 child in a Balwadi Rate $24
4. Sahara: Adopt a destitute Aged for one month $13
5. Sai Kripa: Education fund
• Asha for Education. You can also donate to Asha through these Extreme Runners.

I do not recommended the ones below, primarily due to the spam (email, phone, mail) they start sending after a donation, Unicef though in particular is a good organization. IRC was an exploration on my part on trying out indirect help.
Global

• U.S. Fund for UNICEF, UNICEF Programs
• International Rescue Committee, Darfur

Somehow long trips have appealed to me, the chance of seeing new places, meeting people, really have deep, new and different experiences.

Aha, what an idea.

I will blog over the next few days about some from other people’s lives that stood out.

Around the World… with kids, 28 countries in one year

The Highams, a Silicon Valley based family traveled with their two children, aged 8 and 11 in 2005-2006 around the world. The trip was one year in duration, 10 years in planning, with a minimal budget of U$120,000.

The Countries they visited: Iceland, England, France, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Dubai, U.A.E, Tanzania, Mauritius, Singapore, Japan, China, Thailand, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Panama, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Belize. The children kept up with their school work during the trip.

The above link is to the San Jose Mercury News article, the Highams also have an informative website called Armageddon Pills which includes an FAQ, Some stories, Pictures in a gallery or on a map, How to plan your own trip and the book they are writing.

Here are some pictures from their trip:

I have added a small widget to the left of this blog which contains links I recommend worth reading and is under the section, Articles worth reading. Most tend to be technology or personal development.

You can also directly read these in a single page or subscribe to the feed as they are shared from Google Reader using this link: Amit’s Link Blog.