Jayne Cravens

I have finally gotten hold of the Tech4Good Subreddit!
www.reddit.com/r/Tech4Good/

I'm quoted in this story!

PassBlue Investigates:
A PassBlue investigation into the English-language Wikipedia pages of each candidate, now numbering eight, reveals changes to their respective public bios that have been made in the last year and a half.

Pictured: The UN General Assembly debate with candidates campaigning for secretary-general, July 23, 2026.

Work with volunteers?
Want to talk about it?
Or rant about it?
Or ask questions to help you in this work?
Or get tips on effective volunteer management?
Check out the volunteerism discussion group (subreddit) on Reddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Volunteerism/

Read PassBlue's recap of the two latest Secretary-General candidates' public dialogues of the General Assembly. Olara Otunnu of Uganda met with the GA on August 19; Ivonne A-Baki, who holds dual Ecuadorian and Lebanese citizenship, met with the Assembly on August 20.

https://passblue.com/2026/08/20/the-latest-two-nominees-for-un-boss-state-their-visions-for-the-organization/

One of the best things I've read is this post to BlueSky: "I cannot begin to count the amount of technology tools I have been told in the last 20 years that I need to teach my students how to use because they were the future.
95% of them are gone.
A tool is a tool."
So many tech tools have come and gone. And, yet, I'm still here...

Another week of debunking things Afghan friends have heard that they think will get them out of Afghanistan (scholarships, visas, asylum programs, on and on).
No amount of teaching seems to help my friends understand how to investigate this stuff themselves.
Desperation interferes with judgement. And it is desperation. Things are so, so bad...

Volunteering with children, when those kids are under 16, is NOT easy: most nonprofits don't have the resources to accommodate such young volunteers.
I do my best to keep a list of ideas for adults-with-children volunteering up to date. Additions welcomed:
Family Volunteer - Volunteering by Families with Children
(Also Good Ideas for Groups That Include Children under 16).

Family Volunteer - Volunteering by Families with Children Most traditional volunteering activities have been suspended or completely curtailed because of the current pandemic. Please see Volunteering in the time of the novel coronavirus/COVID-19: how to find opportunities and how to stay safe, and keep others safe, while volunteering.

It's . Some humanitarians are professionals. Some are volunteers. All are doing vital things to not just keep people alive, but to help people access what they need to thrive.
Humanitarians are expected to do some incredibly difficult work without complaining, without needing a break, without stumbling. Often, they won't ask for help from themselves, for fear of endangering their reputation or their job standing.
The are NOT super heroes - they are humans, with all the same fragilities and imperfections as everyone else.
I'm grateful to have been able to serve in the humanitarian field. It's been an honor. But it's also been difficult, and not all memories are good ones.
All that said: please ask your elected officials to continue to fund foreign aid and aid to local programs that address critical human needs in your own community.