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Project Sunshine

Project Sunshine is a micro project that I have initiated for providing aid to underprivileged, extended family groups in Indonesia. Funding for projects in the developing world, often don’t take into account local family structures when providing aid. Many Indonesian families rely on extended family members for mutual aid when trying to meet expenses in connection with education and medical care. This can have the positive effect of providing an informal social security net when emergencies such as unemployment or sickness, arise.

Unfortunately, since the Asian economic crises of 1998 and the political turmoil that followed the overthrow of president Suharto, jobs have often been few and far between for the underprivileged. Almost 50% of the population live on less than two dollars per day. This has put an immense social strain on extended families. In many cases, only one member of an extended family has employment. It is not unusual for entire families to be without a reliable source of income. Extended family members are often unable to develop competencies that would empower them to contribute to the economic well being of the family as a whole. Instead, families are often forced into untenable debt relationships. This is unlikely to change with the current economic crises.

I have started the website Pixels For Aid in the hopes of raising money for this and other humanitarian projects. Pixels For Aid raises money for humanitarian aid and development projects, by renting website space per pixel to individuals and companies that are concerned about the plight of the world’s poor and disadvantaged.