Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Africa update

Today's picture is terrible, but I feel compelled to explain myself. Last night I got an email from a pastor I met while in Africa. He actually prophesied about me and the orphans in Kalomo, Zambia. Anyway, I raised some money before Christmas to send to them and I asked him to use it for the orphans' most important needs. In my classic, western civilized brain, I was thinking it would be used for clothing, shelter, or medication. In last night's email, he told me that all the money had to go for food. Wow, I was just blown away. I know how much people are starving in Africa, but I didn't know that food was such a problem for all those beautiful kids that I met. It truly broke my heart once more. As I was eating today, I decided to take a picture of my meager lunch, just some cheese and cold cuts. But I am so much more grateful for this lunch today after what I have realized...and so much more dedicated to my Zambian "children". I wish I could take care of everyone of them. I wish more people were aware of the problem and the statistics:

*Every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger.
*3 billion people in the world today struggle to survive on US$2/day.
*Every year 15 million children die of hunger.
*For the price of one missile, a school full of hungry children could eat lunch every day for 5
years

5 comments:

Bridget said...

staggering,heartbreaking statistics!
a much needed reminder of all we have to be thankful for.
a much needed reminder of all that do without!

Linda said...

Awesome post today. Great object lesson.

philmary said...

President elect Obama has asked the American people to give a humanitarian service this weekend Do you have any suggestions to help hungry and undernourished people in the world?

trishalyn said...

Your comment "Today's picture is terrible" is SO not true!!! The only terrible thing are those statistics. Wow...what an eye-opener. I'm feeling guilty sitting here eating my lunch. If you decide to take up another collection for those poor children, please let me know!

Framing Images and Memories said...

Powerful statistics. I sure feel fortunate to have all that I do. The world is so "uneven" and you are doing a wonderful job of educating people about the plight of others.

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