5 minutes of caring
I Want to Help Africa
Do you really? You'll hear a lot of folks talking about wanting to help Africa in some way. But what does this really mean? Before you go telling your friends that you want to 'help Africa,' how about learning a thing or two about the continent first? After all, the needs of eastern Africa are different than those of the southern part. Diseases and economics that affect one part may not be an issue in another. Today, spend 5 minutes investigating the specific needs of an African country so you'll be more informed the next time you announce your own humanitarian efforts.
CommentsMichael commented, on June 30, 2008 at 10:49 p.m.: Great point. Any step in the right direction is a step in the right direction! I started with a little bit of heart and a mission trip. Today we are working hand in hand with nationals and are dramatically changing lives. What began as a challenge to go, became a first shipment, then a medical trip, and today is a unique sustainable approach to fundamentally changing an entire sub-sector of an economy. It's so true that the regions of Africa have unique problems. The answer is NOT the UN, or the World Bank, or social programs. It is hands on engagement, hands on investment, the sharing of life, and the persistence to do so for a lifetime. It does work. It really does. I join Livingstone who said, "May God's blessing richly flow to any person, American, British or Turk, who heals this open wound of the world." If you truly want to help... leap and learn. Post a commentYou must be a registered user to post comments. |
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Kathy commented, on May 8, 2008 at 6:38 a.m.:
There's a great book _A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier_ by Ishmeal Beah. He was taken by the government of Sierra Leone at the age of 13, forced to be a soldier, and he survived. The book is a first-person account of his experience in that Civil war, which ran from about 1990-2004. The movie "Blood Diamond" depicts a child's being taken by the rebels, but that's a movie. This is a book that my son has read for his 9th grade World History class, and I'm reading it now. Beah ended up in the US and graduated from Oberlin in 2004. He is now about 27-28 years old.