FreePoverty http://www.freepoverty.com/ is another site much like the aforementioned FreeRice & FreeFlour sites. The founder of FreePoverty is Chung-Guk Kim, a college student in Rome, Italy who at the tender age of 19 came up with this amazing idea of creating a website that features a game that allows the users to donate cups of clean water in exchange for testing the geographical knowledge of the website visitors. He collaborated with one Rubina Singhsachathet, the writer and spokesperson for the project, in order to get this project going, gaining other sponsors & collaberators on their way. Kim & collaborators openly accept that the inspiration for this project was derived from the very popular (and formerly mentioned on this blog) site: www.freerice.com.
In this sense, there seems to be a sound and reliable team of people behind this website, but the problem lies in who the site donates to. Apparently, formerly, the revenues generated from the website were donated to organizations such as UNICEF or WaterAid, who wouldl then donate the water on FreePoverty.com’s behalf. However, now the site (in it's FAQ section) states that due to "unforeseen issues" with previous organizations, they are now searching for other reliable organizations to affiliate with.
To me, this is not so much a cause for concern, because at the end of the day, the project (like its predecessor) is a good one, with a noble cause. We all can agree that clean water is a staple, a must that every human being should (but doesn't) have access to.
FreePoverty tests the user's savvy on the world map (world map/geography enthusiasts rejoice!), it displays a place at the top (for example: Islamabad, Pakistan) and you have to locate that geographical location on the map. The more accurate your answer, the more cups of water you donate per question. A perfectly accurate answer will result in a donation of 10 cups of water; a less accurate yields 9 cups of water, so forth and so on; the further away you are from the actual location you are, the less cups of water donated on your behalf, and if you're entirely wrong - then no cups of water will be donated. However, you can be wrong in your answers six times before the game is over (which you can play again with new locations, new questions) etc. Also, the game features three levels of difficulty (Easy, Medium & Hard), and the hard level usually asks you to find locations that are not commonly known.
It's a relatively fun game, and it challenges you, which is a point I really like. Once I began playing (and realized how rusty my skills were) I just kept playing and playing. I thoroughly enjoy this site, and it really has helped improve my knowledge of the World Map! Plus, I love the fact that it donates water, which is a MUST along with foodstuff, to eradicate malnourishment and hunger! :)
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