Photo by Sung Kim, courtesy Pitchfork Media

If you watched the Super Bowl last night, you may have caught a glimpse of the Oxfam America logo at the end of the commercial featuring will.i.am’s remix of the Who’s “My Generation.”  All proceeds from this high-profile new single will go to support Oxfam’s relief and recovery work in Haiti.

And will.i.am isn’t the only musician supporting Oxfam these days. Lots of bands, from chart-toppers to the relatively unknown, are hosting benefit concerts, putting out compilation CDs, recording public service announcements, and encouraging fans to donate via text message. My colleague Bob Ferguson blogged about some of these efforts a couple of weeks ago, and since then he’s been working with many more artists who want to contribute.

As a sometime music blogger, it amazes me to see these two worlds—music and NGO—collide in such unexpected ways. Then again, my fellow music geeks (uh, fans) are really passionate about the bands we love, so it only seems fitting to link that energy and dedication to a worthy cause.

Take Radiohead’s concert a couple of weeks ago in Los Angeles, where the band raised $572,000 to benefit Oxfam’s Haiti relief work. Fans bid in special auctions for tickets, and according to the Huffington Post, they paid an average of $440 each to see Radiohead perform at a smaller venue. Now that’s dedication. (For those of us who missed the Radiohead show, there are some great photos posted on Pitchfork Media, including a shot of Oxfam staffers in action.)

In the meantime, keep an eye on our website for more Oxfam and music news.

Photo: Dario Arthur / Oxfam

In the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, Oxfam is working to distribute a variety of relief materials for the comfort and health of those forced to live in camp conditions. Sometimes this aid takes the form of what’s called “family kits”—but, we were wondering, what exactly does one of those kits contain?

The answer just came via email from Kenny Rae, one of our Boston-based colleagues currently in Haiti to help with the relief effort.

“I have one in front of me,” Kenny wrote. Its contents:

2 towels

4 bowls

4 plates

4 knives

4 forks

4 spoons

8 bars laundry soap

4 large cups

2 tubes toothpaste

8 bars soap (personal)

4 toothbrushes

2 hairbrushes

12 packets shampoo

8 packets conditioner

40 sanitary napkins

“The contents are modified for family size where practical,” he wrote, adding that each kit costs US $55 “with costs of assembling and delivery.” Right now, Oxfam is working on delivering 10,000 of these kits to displaced families.

As a writer, I’m the biggest word fan there is–but I also appreciate the power of photography as a means for making an instant emotional connection. Beginning with the stunning Rankin photos from the Democractic Republic of the Congo that we highlighted in the January 2009 issue of our magazine, OXFAMExchange, it seemed like photography really came to the forefront this year, especially as a way to tell stories about the people behind our work. On that note, here are a few (very subjective) picks for my favorite Oxfam images from the year.

Loko Dadacha photo by Eva-Lotta Jansson / Oxfam America

Many unforgettable images come to mind when I think of my trip to Ethiopia earlier this year, but I especially like this portrait of Loko Dadacha, one of the most extraordinary people I met during my visit. You can really sense the great strength–physical and emotional–of this widow and mother of six from Gutu Dobi, Ethiopia, who is helping to lead her community during a time of ongoing drought.

Saving circle, Mali. Photo by Rebecca Blackwell / Oxfam America

Women from the Banakoro, Mali, village Saving for Change group–dubbed Sabougnuma, or “good deed”–hold their weekly meeting. I like how this colorful photo really captures the community spirit of the savings groups, where women work together to help each other save money and start small businesses.

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Photo: Ainhoa Goma/Oxfam International

Last night the Oxfam “big heads” (last seen playing football at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh) arrived on the scene in Copenhagen to remind world leaders of the importance of negotiating a fair, ambitious, and binding global deal.

Check out the photo slideshow below:

Moey Newbold at the Copenhagen talks.

You’ve probably read about the giant, many-thousand-person march this weekend at the Copenhagen climate talks. One of those in the crowd was Moey Newbold, an Oxfam America CHANGE Leader and University of Oregon student who raised her own funds to attend the conference.

“I believe my generation has the unique opportunity to save the world. If no action is taken, the world will see catastrophic climate change within the next half century, the cost of which will be measured in human lives,” Newbold writes on her blog. “But at this pivotal moment, we have a window of opportunity. We can create the just, sustainable and prosperous future that we seek.”

Here’s her take on Saturday’s massive and colorful demonstration:

We began to walk with the march.  The crowd went on for days (or, rather ~4 miles I am told), and the general attitude was one of collective joy and determination.

My group was kind of moving through the crowd because we were trying to find the ‘youth’ section,’ so we saw the variety of the people involved.  There were people with communist flags, a party bus that was blaring techno music and shooting gold confetti, about 20 humans dressed as panda bears, a campfire on wheels (this was great because it was freezing out!), a group of people wearing green construction hats who every few minutes would stop then run forward, a life-sized marionette with people acting out the roles of world leaders being played by big business, several sails, an ark, and so much more. It was very easy to get separated from each other, and once we were separated, it was very hard to find each other again, but the instructions for how to meet were something like “meet me by the giant purple balloon next to the pandas with flames on their heads and after the dragon.”

You can keep up with her adventures here.

Photo by Ainhoa Goma/Oxfam International

Yesterday at the Copenhagen climate conference, demonstrators spoke out in solidarity with the people of Tuvalu. In this island nation, the 4th smallest country in the world, people have been forced to flee their homes due to rising sea levels caused by climate change–forcing them to become some of our century’s first “climate refugees.”

Hopefully, their dramatic story can help call attention to the human consequences of climate change… and the need for a fair, ambitious, and binding global deal that benefits everyone, in countries large and small.

You can check out more photos from the demonstration here.

I just wanted to share this striking photo from a slideshow related to The Cost of War, a new Oxfam report documenting the human cost of chronic conflict and disorder in Afghanistan. Taken by Travis Beard, it shows women shopping for new burqas in a bazaar in Herat.

At first glance, I thought it was a beautiful image, the stiff folds of fabric falling like drapes in a Renaissance painting. Then I read a little more about women’s experiences in Afghanistan under extremist rule, and the more haunting elements—the cold blue light, the claustrophobic space, the bent and faceless figures—came to the forefront.

When the Taliban came to power, most Afghan women were banned from work and not allowed to leave home without a male escort and a full-length burqa. These draconian laws left many women considering suicide.

“During the Taliban period, our life was bad, because we didn’t have the freedom to go outside,” said one Kandahar woman. According to the report, 42 percent of women surveyed in Kabul now meet the conditions for post-traumatic stress disorder.

More than 700 Afghan people spoke to Oxfam and partners about their experiences for the report. Check out more of their photos and stories in our new slideshow, Lives Interrupted.