“It is the obvious first step to release people from dire poverty. Clean water must come first.” – Doug Pitt
Human rights is about equal water flow, equal food distribution, equal access to knowledge and technology and medicine. It is about having spirit to allow these things to happen freely, fairly, humanely and with equality in our hearts to give willingly to our brothers and sisters of the world–Horiwood 2010′s.
I notice today that Doug Pitt’s Africa 6000 International charity’s website is on the blink. Doug Pitt.Org isn’t any more helpful, so perhaps the brother needs some attention today from Hollywood.
REWIND – 2009 PRESS. Celebitchy reported – “When Doug Pitt’s name came up as a Republican nominee candidate for the Missouri State, Brad Pitt apparently convinced his little brother not to run. This is according to the National Enquirer - they claim Brad has “big plans” for the work he and Doug will be doing together, and they wouldn‘t be able to do their work if Doug ran for Congress. Just in the last six months, Doug and Brad (and Angelina Jolie, through the Jolie-Pitt Foundation) have given away more than $2.5 million to Missouri-based charities and causes. There was the just before Christmas last year; then the $600,000 to Drury University for environmental technology (in the name of their father); and just a couple of weeks ago there was the $1 million donation to a pediatric cancer ward in honor of Jane Pitt. It seems Brad has successfully convinced Doug that there are better ways to help people rather than running for Congress.”
In April 2010, Just Jared website reported, “Doug Pitt is honored for his humanitarian work and named Goodwill Ambassador of the United Republic of Tanzania by President Jakaya Kikwete at NYC’s Essex House on Monday (April 19). His older brother, actor Brad Pitt, was supposed to attend the tribute dinner but he was grounded due to the volcanic ash from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano. Doug’s wife Lisa Pitt was in attendance. FYI: Doug is a professional photojournalist. His charity helps supply fresh water in Africa.”
In a photojournalistic essay, Doug wrote an article called The Water Project. It went something like this: “The Maasai live in northern Tanzania and Kenya and since the 17th or 18th century have made their livelihood as pastoralists—that is, with livestock free to graze this flat, big-sky landscape. During the past 40 years, the Maasai have been making a transition to cultivated agriculture. There are a lot of reasons for this, partly because private and government interests have taken over Maasai land, sometimes in the name of environmental conservation, sometimes for tourism. Less room for Maasai livestock to graze, and difficulty joining the money economy, are just two economic problems that fuel the villages’ lack of clean water.
Pitt says two out of five children in the Maasai community he visited with WorldServe don’t live to the age of five. There were a lot of aspects of Maasai life that were shocking, he says, including the fact of life that kids die from highly preventable diseases. “But at the same time, it’s like, ‘Back off, Western guy, we like where we’re at,’” Pitt explains.
“Doug has such a gift for connecting with people,” says John Bongiorno, president of WorldServe International, Read the rest of this entry »