Can it be all about me for just a moment? Good, thanks. I hate to shop. I really do. I walk into a mall or department store and immediately feel like the life has been sucked out of me. My husband thinks it’s great. My friends think I’m weird. Of course, they are my friends, so my weirdness is no surprise to any of them.

I’m also not a huge fan of Oprah. I really can’t decide why that is. Maybe she was just too popular in my early teen years, so I decided to dislike her on principle. I feel the same way about General Hospital.

I admire and greatly love courageous women. I survived an abusive marriage and managed to get out, not before my children were born, but before they learned that life as “normal”. I can’t overstate how hard that was and how much courage and strength of will it took for me to get out and not go back. I look back on that time and, I have to say, I was amazing. But, I had friends who would help me, a family I could turn to, employable talents with which I could earn a living, etc. But, what about women who don’t have anything, and still refuse to be treated worse than dogs? What about the women who face imprisonment or even death for refusing to allow their husbands to beat them, rape them or mutilate their daughters? The women who escape those situations are truly courageous. You can read about a community of such women, the Umoja village in Kenya, here and here.

What does this have to do with Macy’s and Clean Water? I’m glad you asked. Oprah spotlighted the Umoja village and their problems with drinking water in her May 2008 edition of O The Oprah Magazine . She and Macy’s are fundraising for these amazing women. Macy’s is selling bracelets and 10% of the proceeds will go to the Umoja village to help bring drinking water wells to women who currently walk miles each day, facing attacks by animals and men, sickness and injury in order to get enough water to survive.

I wish it was 100%. Or 50%. But, it is 10% more than other stores will be donating. Mother’s Day is coming. Graduation is not far away. Christmas comes every year. If you have gifts to buy for a woman, check this out. Recommend it to your friends and family. If you’d normally be spending money anyway…and I just can’t believe some of you think that’s FUN!!!…then this is a way to make some of your spending count a little bit more.

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