環(huán)球英語 — 419：World Challenge: Your Vote Matters

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Voice 1

Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Ryan Geertsma.

Voice 2

And I'm Robin Basselin. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

Voice 3

"And the winner is...the Hashoo Foundation's Plan Bee Project... for their work to empower women in Northern Pakistan through the making and selling of sweet honey."

Voice 1

Last December, the organization Hashoo Foundation won a competition called World Challenge. World Challenge honours special small businesses. These businesses help their local communities economically, socially and environmentally. The competition is supported and managed by the BBC, Newsweek magazine and the energy and oil company Shell. The winning prize is worth 20,000 dollars. The winner can use this money to invest in and develop their business.

Voice 2

You may remember another Spotlight program on World Challenge. That program told about the competition and last year's winner - The Hashoo Foundation. Today's Spotlight program will look at three of the 2009 World Challenge finalists. We will also tell you how you can be a part of the competition by voting for your favourite business.

Voice 1

2009 is World Challenge's fifth year of competition. This year the final entries are better than ever. The judges have narrowed the hundreds of entries to twelve finalists. But this does not make it much easier to choose a favourite. All twelve small businesses are doing amazing, creative and responsible work around the world.

Voice 2

One of this year's exciting finalists is a project called Patterns of Change. Patterns of Change is the project of an organization called Afghan Hands. This organization was started by a native Afghan named Matin Maulawizada. Today, Matin is famous in the world of fashion and film. He works with many Hollywood film stars and clothes models. He is very successful. However, his success has not made him forget the people in his home country. He knows that many people there still suffer from poverty and a lack of education.

Voice 1

After years of war in Afghanistan, there are many war widows - women whose husbands have been killed in the fighting. These widows often have little education. They also have limited ways to earn money. Matin knew he wanted to help these Afghan widows. So, he began Afghan Hands.

Voice 2

Afghan Hands pays women to make beautiful clothes and bags using traditional Afghan designs and methods. Matin helps sell these products internationally. He uses the money earned to pay the women for their work. And he uses it to pay for their educations. Through this project, the women from Afghan Hands are able to earn a good living and increase their education?????. And the beautiful products of Afghanistan are being worn and used all over the world.

Voice 1

Another World Challenge finalist is a project called "No Beating Around the Bush." This is a project of an international non-governmental organization called Bushblok. Bushblok works to protect cheetahs in the South Africa country of Namibia.

Voice 2

Cheetahs are a large member of the cat family. They are known for their great speed and for the round, black marks on their body hair. Cheetahs are strong animals, but they are in danger of dying out completely. This is because people are slowly destroying their natural living environment.

Voice 1

Cheetahs live in grassland areas. However, too much animal farming, over hunting and fires have killed much of Namibia's grasslands. Today, these once grassy areas are filled with large, sharp thornbush plants. These thornbush plants are not native to Namibia's grasslands. They are an invasive species - a not native plant that grows and spreads out of control.

Voice 2

Bushblok has created an interesting product to reduce the amount of this thornbush. They harvest the thornbush. Then they use the harvested material to make a clean burning product. This is Bushblok.

Voice 1

Bushblok can be burned like coal to cook, and heat or even power homes and buildings. But unlike coal, the Bushblok does not pollute the air. This locally made product has many advantages. It provides local jobs. It creates a cleaner kind of energy. And it also repairs the local grasslands. This is helpful both to the cheetah population and farmers wanting to grow crops.

Voice 2

Danamon Go Green is the last finalist we will look at in today's program. The Danamon Bank of Indonesia started the Danamon Foundation. This organization builds on-going, community based social programs. Danamon's World Challenge project is called Nothing Wasted. And this project is built around two of the most important social and economic industries in Indonesia - the local market and farming.

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Danamon says that every day Indonesia's markets produce thousands of tons of food waste. They also say that 70 to 90 percent of that waste can be made into natural fertilizer. Such fertilizer provides much needed minerals for farmland. It also improves the quality of crops.

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So, Danamon Go Green and local governments work together on the Nothing Wasted project. Together they collect and sort waste from the local markets. And Danamon uses the waste to produce high quality fertilizer for local farmers.

Voice 1

Danamon also works with people who live and work in the local markets. They teach people how to keep living spaces cleaner and improve their health. They also teach how getting rid of waste in responsible ways helps projects like Danamon Go Green use waste to help others.

Voice 2

Afghan Hands, Bushblok and Danamon Go Green are only three of the twelve amazing World Challenge 2009 finalists. Other finalists include many different kinds of programs - energy, poverty, health and environmental. These programs are also from countries all over the world like Thailand, Israel, Haiti, the United States, the United Kingdom, Sri Lanka and Kenya. One of the finalists is even a project recently reported on by Spotlight Radio - the African women engineers trained at Barefoot College in India.

Voice 1

Each of these small businesses has a creative and wonderful story about how they are helping their local communities. Spotlight encourages you to visit the World Challenge website to learn more about each finalist.

Voice 2

You will find the stories of these companies encouraging, and you can also be part of the competition by voting. Online voting for the 2009 World Challenge begins September 28th. Visitors can vote once for their favorite finalist. And voting ends November 13th. The winner of the two thousand nine World Challenge will be announced on December fifth. For complete competition details, visit the World Challenge website.

Voice 1

By voting in this year's World Challenge competition, you could help a small business serve its local community in big ways. And you can make a positive difference just by clicking your computer mouse.

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A leader in the Shell company, named Roxanne Decyk, explains well the importance of taking part in the competition,

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"In today's difficult times, it is more important than ever that people feel empowered and encouraged to make a positive difference in the world, and World Challenge does just that."