A World Without Water Halts...

"In an age when man has forgotten his origins and is blind to even his most essential needs for survival, water along with other resources has become the victim of his indifference."--Rachel Carson

A few weeks ago, a town nearby us, Toccoa, experienced some heavy rainfall and storms, which led to most of the water supply being contaminated or cut off from the town's residents for a few days. The local grocery stores ran out of bottled water, businesses and schools closed down, and people had to migrate to friend's houses in neighboring towns to take showers, use a toilet that flushed, and get some clean drinking water. The old saying is true. Sometimes you don't know what you have until it's gone. Since we are fortunate Americans, this loss of water was mostly a temporary inconvenience. But for those few days, seeing people experience what life without access to clean water is like--namely our world coming to a screeching halt--left quite an impression on me.

A couple of weeks later, I attended Rob Bell's speaking tour, Drops Like Stars (which will be the topic of a future post), where something very exciting was introduced to me. He informed his listeners to a unique non-profit organization called Charity Water . The founder, JahSun, a former entertainment networker, got bored with the life of luxury and frivolity. So, he decided to dedicate his life to improving the quality of lives of the "least of these" around the world. The brilliance of this organization is that 100 percent of donations go the ground work of providing clean water for the poorest people in the world. All overhead costs are funded through separate donations, mostly from the immensely wealthy entertainers he befriended in his former life. The JahSun has decided to use his "celebrity capital" to raise awareness to this issue and implement solid solutions. The second stroke of genius comes from how EASY they've made it donate to their efforts. They struck up a deal with all the major cell phone companies, in which all donaters have to do is text the word "WATER" to 20222. They will receive a text asking if they wish to have ten dollars added to their next cell phone bill and the donater just has to text back the word "Yes." It's that simple. Every 500 donations of 10 bucks ensures an entire village with long term access to clean water. This is such a small amount and such an easy way to help meet the vital basic need of access to clean water. Between all our blogs and facebook friends, if we all pitch in, we can collectively give entire villages clean water. So donate and pass it on!




Water Charity is a nonprofit corporation, directed toward improving the human rights and dignity of individuals throughout the world by providing them with resources that impact upon their health and wellbeing. With all donations applied to projects in the field, we have become one of the highest-ranked water charities delivering global services.

Water Charity at Lake Titikaka Water Charity implements practical solutions to provide safe water, effective sanitation, and meaningful health education to those in need.

Water Charity, in concert with key partners, surveys the needs, drafts the plans, assembles the resources, implements and manages the projects, and evaluates the results.

We plan for the long term and intermediate future, implement in the present, and react in the short term to crisis situations.

Our core group contains people with decades of experience in engineering, community development, construction, education, and public health. Led by Jacqueline Chan, Dr.P.H., Averill Strasser, and JahSun, we have completed many water and sanitation projects throughout the world in the past year, all on schedule and within budget.

"To donate $10 Dollars, simply text the word "Water" to 20222. When you receive the confirmation text asking if you want to have $10 dollars added to your next cell phone bill, text back the word "Yes." And you're done!"

Uncomfortable Realities

I don't know about you, but after seeing that ad and then looking in my fridge filled with 5 gallons of bottled water and remembering the 20 minute hot shower I enjoyed this morning, I feel spoiled, selfish, over-privileged, and clueless to the unjust realities of how billions of people are living, or trying to live, around the world.

Note:

To turn off the automatic music playing on my site so you can actually hear the video, scroll down to the very bottom of the blog where you will find my playlist. Just click pause or stop and then continue on your merry way.

Worship Songs On American Idol

"God is with the vulnerable and the poor. God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunities and lives. And God is with us, if we are with them."-Bono

It's no secret that I am obsessed with American Idol. I watch every year, vote for my favorites, and then throw things at the television when my favorites are prematurely kicked off. Last year, when people were knocking of Idol Gives Back, I was up in arms! OK, or I just made a few snarky comments. But I actually admire American Idol going to the poorest places around the world and using their clout to bring attention to the poor. I know big corporations are probably in it for their own publication and indirect profit, but the actual participants (the hosts and past American Idol contestants) who physically visited these impoverished places, I KNOW it affected them and changed they way they view the world. I always think of Jeremiah 22:16:

"He defended the cause of the poor and needy, so all went well. Is that not what it means to know Me,' declares the Lord."

It is a mark of searching for God, when people take an interest in the poor by using their influence to obtain justice for them, giving of their own resources to provide for them, and personally interacting with the poor as fellow human beings of equal worth, who should not be left in the shadows to starve or die alone in their illness. I don't care how rich they are, how famous they are, how ludicrous they appear, when any person's heart is stirred with compassion and cries out for true justice for the poor, I truly believe that could be the beginning of their journey with God. After all, is that not what it means to know Him?

Anyway, as I watched both rich and poor be transformed through American Idol Gives Back, I was still surprised when this year's remaining American Idol contestants sang Shout to The Lord, not once, but twice! Even American Idol can recognize God's unrelenting heart for the poor. I hope we in the church see this as clearly, too.



Here are some other compelling moments.

This promo for Idol Gives Back 2008 showed some instances of transformation for both poor and rich. Interactions like these narrow the vast gap that usually keeps the rich isolated from a world of poverty and all it's ugly realities.


"If I am honest I'm rebelling against my own indifference. I am rebelling against the idea that the world is the way the world is and there's not a damned thing I can do about it. So I'm trying to do some damned thing."-Bono

Carrie Underwood covering "Praying For Time." These sharp lyrics cut right through me.



“The test of our progress is not whether we add to the abundance of those who have much. It is whether we provide enough to those who have little.”-Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Daughtry's Trip To Africa



Favorite Moments from Idol Gives Back 2007


NOTE: Since I now have music on my site that plays automatically, you won't be able to watch videos and HEAR them without first turning off the music. To do this, scroll DOWN to the very bottom of my blog. There, you will see my playlist. Just hit stop or pause. :)

How Could I Resist? It's Bono!

A montage of U2's live music, pictures, and Bono quotes on Jesus and Christianity.



And while I'm on a Bono kick...here's a link to the Bono speech that changed my life: National Prayer Breakfast 2006.

A Skeptic's Crash Course on Global Poverty

"Poor people die not only because of the world's indifference to the poor, but also because of the ineffective efforts of those who do care."--William Easterly

"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint, when I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist"--Helder Camara


The Skeptic's Guide To Global Poverty, compiled by Dale Hanson Bourke, is a must read introductory analysis of Global Poverty, articulately summing up all its many facets, taking on the toughest frequently asked questions by everyday people about this crisis--how bad it is, why so many people are poor, who's responsible to help, the misconceptions, how poverty happens, how it grows, what the contributing factors are, and how best to help. This pithy 100 page book provides a vast amount of overwhelming statistics and information on everything from third world poverty to American poverty, AIDS to Malaria/Tuberculousis, hunger to gluttony, debt relief to trade reform, governmental responsibility to private responsibility, capitalism at its best to capitalism at its worst, economic factors to environmental factors, and social factors to political factors.

Dale Hanson Bourke remarks:

Being poor, it turns out, is much more complicated than lack of money. Poverty runs deep into the family and community, robbing individuals and whole societies of life-saving information, health-care, food, and water. Poverty robs individuals not only of security and health, but also dignity. A poor person is often too busy surviving the present to spend much time thinking about the future. Yet, the poor have dreams--especially for their children--much like ours... But just as knowledge is power to the poor, it is also power to those of us who are relatively rich. We can make a difference, but we have to understand more. We need to be smarter about poverty.

This book provides an excellent beginning to the understanding of this dire complex issue, the kind of understanding that breeds focus, direction, and action.

The following are some of the statistics from the book that I found most revealing/shocking:

• Poverty and hunger claim 25,000 lives EVERY day
  
• Nearly HALF of the world's population live on LESS than $2 a day


• The combined economies of ALL 48 sub-Saharan African countries are about the same as the CITY of Chicago


• Over 80 percent of Americans believe the government gives 20% of the federal budget to foreign aid, when the US gives LESS than 1 percent and only a small part of that 1 percent goes to alleviate poverty


• The GDP of the poorest 48 NATIONS is less than the combined wealth of the world's three richest people!


• 20 percent of the population in the developed world consumes 86 percent of the world's goods. America makes up 6 percent of the world's population and consumes 43 percent of the world's resources!


• 6 million children under the age of five die every year of malnutrition

There are more than 2,000 verses in scripture that deal with caring for the poor. As imitators of Christ, it is imperative to educate ourselves on global poverty, so we can commit ourselves to the most effective methods to alleviate needless suffering and death among our fellow human beings. I recommend this book because it is a small starting line to the long marathon ahead of us as a people of faith, as the living body of Christ.

"'He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?' declares the LORD."--Jeremiah 22:16

A Faith That Bleeds

"The state of emergency lies within the church--it lies within us. It's our problem. We can't leave Africa's children lying by the side of the road as we pass on by."--Tom Davis



The Red letters: Living A Faith That Bleeds by Tom Davis is great little book that lays the foundation of how to live out the teachings of Jesus in the context of today's culture, in light of our own generation's struggles, tests of faith, circumstances, and moral dilemmas. Davis briefly, but compellingly depicts the current state of affairs within the world and the myriad of practical, yet revolutionary ways the church could respond: focusing primarily on the world's poor and the AIDS pandemic in Africa.

Davis begins with an apology on behalf of the church's shamefully slow response to the AIDS pandemic and ends with a hopeful, redemptive blue-print for how the church can rise to be the hands and feet of Jesus to our suffering world. Davis' mixture of harsh statistical facts and retelling of real-life people's heart-wrenching stories breathe life into Jesus' call to care for the least, the lost, and the last of this world, as found in those controversial red-letters. The overwhelming rate of disease, extreme poverty, starvation, malnutrition, and the spread of AIDS both inform and rouse righteous anger over the injustice befallen God's beloved people. Hopefully, it spurs the kind of moral outrage that transcends vocal condemnation and leads to compassionate action.

The Red Letters provides a vast wealth of information on dozens of organizations that everyday people can easily get involved with, support, and work along side. Plus, just by purchasing the book, you feed an orphan for an entire month! The proceeds are donated to compassion international to provide the needs of an orphan. This quick read jump starts our vision for the church to rise above rigid institutionalism, and become transformed into the radical, revolutionary living organism that Jesus calls it to be.

"Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence only encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."--Elie Wiesel

So Many Beautiful, Invisible Faces

It is a poverty that a child must die, so you may live as you wish"--Mother Teresa

"Invisible Children" is a compelling documentary that has sparked a youth movement across America and has served as an alarm clock to awaken the many of us asleep in the comforts of our freedoms. This documentary tells the story of the displaced children, trapped in the middle of a vicious 20 year civil war. Not only are these children starving, sick, separated from their families, and bombarded by death, but they live in constant fear of being captured by the rebel armies, who will either force these children to become soldiers or kill them. The rebel groups kidnap children as young as five and torture, threaten, and brainwash them until they do the rebels' bidding of stealing, killing, and terrorizing. If these children resist, the rebels kill them. If the children escape, their names are put on a list and hunted by name for the rest of their lives.

The unique aspect of this documentary is that it is kind of a fluke. The filmmakers, three boys in their late-teens/early twenties, kind of spontaneously traveled to Africa with a camera purchased on E-Bay, hoping to find a story. Three kids, who haven't even graduated college or have any professional experience, have sparked a massive grassroots movement for peace in Uganda and have raised the money and awareness to get African children the help they so desperately need. In a world where everyone told these naive and semi-goofy boys that their endeavor was impossible, they have achieved more than they ever dreamed of, simply because they were willing. Their lives have been forever changed by tending to the poorest and most vulnerable. After the documentary was released, they started a non-profit organization, also called Invisible Children, to raise money for Ugandan children. I do not know whether these guys are Christians or have become Christians, but I do know that they have encountered Jesus in the least, the lost, and the last.

"'He plead the cause of the afflicted and needy; Then it was well. Is this not that what it means to know Me?' declares the LORD. " Jeremiah 22:16

The following video is a trailer for the documentary and the second video is a montage of some of the success stories of the children who have been helped by the Invisible Children organization. To find out more information or to get involved visit: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/

FOR ANYONE CLINGING TO THE SPARKS OF HOPE FOR CHANGE

"God's Politics: Why The Right Gets It Wrong and The Left Doesn't Get It" by Jim Wallis, the editor of Sojourner Magazine, is possibly the best book ever written concerning the current state of polarized politics, how it compares to the "politics" of the Bible, and presenting a "third way" for Christians to deal with ALL the pressing issues of our time without aligning with either the democrats' or republicans' SELECTIVE moral issues.
This is an excerpt from the book outlining its premise:

"God is not partisan; God is not a Republican or Democrat. When either party tries to politicize God, or co-opt religious communities for their political agendas, they make a terrible mistake. The best contribution of religion is precisely NOT to be ideologically predictable nor loyally partisan. Faith must be free to challenge BOTH right and left from a consistent moral ground."

The most refreshing thing about this book is that it is NOT merely a protest or complaint, but it's an ALTERNATIVE. Instead of just pointing the finger, illuminating what's wrong with everyone else, it provides well thought out, well researched, biblical solutions as an alternative to the OLD, ABUSED, and whittled down compromised choices of just "left" and "right" politics. The topics covered in this book include: abortion, family breakdown, poverty, wealth, accountability, private, individual, and social responsibility, gay marriage, capital punishment, war, peace, nonviolence, the environment, stewardship, moral economics, biblical politics, new vision, imperialism, nationalism, social reform, justice, the dangers of empire, and POWER.

This is an excerpt from the chapter analyzing political responses to poverty:

"I am always amazed at the debate about poverty, with one side citing the need for change in personal behavior and the other citing the need for better social programs, as if the two were mutually exclusive. Obviously both personal and social responsibility are necessary for overcoming poverty... The conservatives are right when they say that cultural and moral issues of family breakdown, personal responsibility, sexual promiscuity, and substance abuse are prime reasons for entrenched domestic poverty. The liberals are right when they point to the critical need for adequate nutrition, health care, education, housing, and good paying jobs as keys to overcoming endemic poverty."

Without sugar-coating, Jim Wallis lays out and analyzes the fundamental assertions, goals, and ideologies of both Democrats and Republicans, critiquing each party's falsehoods, hypocrisies, and weaknesses, as well as praising each party's moral truths and strengths. He compellingly challenges the misguided, narrow, and extreme passions of the far-left and far-right and the resulting indifference-laced cynicism consuming politically-moderate Christians that are stripped of hope for real change by the abundance of irrelevant and ineffective political rhetoric.

This is an excerpt from a chapter encouraging hope for the cynics:

"Cynicism is the place of retreat for the smart, critical, dissenting and formerly idealistic people who are now trying to protect themselves. They are not naive. They tend to see things as they are, they know what is wrong, and they are generally opposed to what they see. These are not the people viewing the world through rose-colored glasses...But ultimately cynicism protects you from commitment...Perhaps the only people in the world who view the world realistically are the cynics and the saints. The only difference between the cynics and the saints is the presence, power, and possibility hope."

My belief in Christ is deeply rooted in hope: hope for salvation, hope for growth, hope for the poor, hope for justice, hope for strength, hope for guidance, and hope for CHANGE. Whether Jesus comes back tomorrow or in a hundred years, I refuse to let any end-times defeatist mentality rob me of the hope for the Body of Christ to rise up and change the world in concordance with loving our neighbors as ourselves. I highly recommend this book for people who desire to be active bridge-builders, justice-seekers, and peacemakers in an effective, realistic, fair, and biblical way.

My New Heroes

The men serving in SONrise Missions are committing themselves to preaching the gospel AND bettering the quality of life for the people in North Uganda. It's a beautiful endeavor for beautiful people who have far too long lived under the debris of war, disease, poverty, hunger, and tyranny.

This is a link to a full article about them and how you, if you feel so inclined, can support them. :)

http://ems.gmnews.com/news/2007/0627/Front_page/030.html

American Idol Gives Back

These are my two favorite montages from American Idol Gives Back (the huge fundraiser concert that raised over $70 million dollars for AIDS and Malaria victims in Africa).

The Leprosy of Our Age

The Following are two articles from two of my favorite people: Tony Campolo and Bono, about the aWAKE Project which aims to raise awareness and action to the AIDS PANDEMIC and EXTREME POVERTY that are consuming Africa:

While the HIV/AIDS issue in America continues to be a threat to our nation, the virus in Africa and other regions has become a pandemic. In Africa, thirty-four million people have been infected with HIV; thirteen million are orphans. Every minute two people contract the HIV virus; and 90 percent of those people are children. The number one mode of transmission is not through homosexual activity but from mother to infant. This is indeed the "new plague" of our times. Yet, a BARNA Research poll shows that evangelical Christians are the least likely group to help AIDS victims in Africa—less than 3 percent said they would financially help a Christian organization minister to an AIDS orphan.

The aWAKE Project: Uniting against the Global AIDS Crisis is the first book of its kind to target a general audience: AIDS: Working toward Awareness, Knowledge, and Engagement. We want the citizens of the world to wake up to this devastating disease that is killing our brothers and sisters across the nations. Upon awareness, we mourn the loss of these fellow human beings in a global wake, or funeral, for life itself. And, finally, we hope a wake of emotional and intellectual response follows worldwide by spreading knowledge for the sake of action.
- Jenny Eaton and Kate Etue, Editors

INTRODUCTION
Indifferent Christians and the African Crisis
By Tony Campolo

I need not go into the agony that Africa is enduring under the impact of the AIDS epidemic. I wish you could see what I saw with my own eyes as I visited South Africa and Zimbabwe. The suffering I witnessed led me to get together the resources to start a program for the orphans of those who have died from AIDS. You meet them almost everywhere you go in those countries. Many of these children have AIDS themselves. Our program is designed to provide them with some loving care and sustenance. No child should be abandoned to the streets, covered with the body sores that accompany AIDS. No child should die alone without knowing that he or she is loved.

The social impact of AIDS is horrendous. In two of the schools I visited, there was a shortage of teachers because several of those who had held teaching positions had been victimized by the disease and were gone. I learned that schools throughout Africa are enduring this same loss of crucial personnel. The very people that Africa needs to emerge out of economic privation are being liquidated by this dreaded disease.

I believe that too often the Christian response to the AIDS epidemic has been abominable. In many instances there is a tendency to write off those who are suffering from AIDS on the grounds that this disease is some kind of punishment from God meted out to those who have been sexually promiscuous. The logic behind such a conclusion is beyond my comprehension. Consider the fact that a huge number of those who are HIV positive are women who have been infected, not because of any immoral behavior on their part, but because their husbands gave them the disease. Are they to be condemned and ignored because of what their husbands have done? And what about the children who are infected? Children constitute a significant proportion of those who are facing the possibility of AIDS-related death through no fault of their own.

The church must recognize that AIDS very much parallels the disease of leprosy that we read about in the New Testament. In Biblical times, those who had leprosy were deemed spiritually unclean, and others would not get near them or touch them for fear of contamination that would be both physically harmful and spiritually defiling. Leprosy was seen to have a spiritual dimension to it and those who had the disease were looked upon as being especially cursed by God. Given those realities about people who had leprosy back then, it is easy to understand why comparisons can be made to those who are infected by AIDS in our contemporary world.

It is important for us to note that Jesus had a special spot in his heart for the lepers. He embraced them. He touched them. He reached out to them in love. All of this was contrary to the legalistic pietism of religious leaders in his day. Jesus' condemnation of such religionists was harsh. He always reached out to the lepers to make them whole, in spite of the fact that touching them would render him ceremoniously unclean to the custodians of the temple religion.

The Jesus who we find in Scripture calls upon us to look for him in the eyes of the poor and the oppressed. He tells us in Matthew 25 that what we do "to the least of them" we do to him. The Christ of Scripture refuses to be an abstraction in the sky. Instead, he chooses to be incarnated in the last, the least, and the lost of this world. I contend that he is especially present in those who suffer from AIDS. Sacramentally, the resurrected Jesus waits to be loved in each of them. Mother Teresa once said, "Whenever I look into the eyes of someone dying of AIDS, I have an eerie awareness that Jesus is staring back at me." Indeed, that is the case. No one can say that he or she loves Jesus without embracing Jesus in those who have this torturous disease.

Those of us who are in the church must use what moral authority we have to speak against those political and economic structures that the Bible refers to as the "principalities and powers" that rule our age. We must raise our voice against those pharmaceutical corporations that overprice the cocktail drugs that could slow down the effects of the HIV virus in those who are infected. We must call the corporate community to account for their apparent tendency to put profits far above people.

We must also speak out against a government that spends trillions of dollars to build up a military machine, but provides only a pittance to deal with the AIDS crisis that is destroying Africa. As we wage war on terrorism, we must be aware that terrorism cannot be eliminated until we deal with the economic imbalances and the social injustices that breed terrorism. We do not get rid of malaria by killing mosquitoes. Instead, we must destroy the swamps in which the mosquitoes breed. So it is that we will not get rid of terrorism by killing individual terrorists. In the end, we must get rid of the conditions that breed terrorists. We must attack the poverty and the oppression that nurtures such extremism. Enlightened self-interest should lead us to assume that unless we, who live in the richest nation on the face of the earth, respond to the AIDS crisis in Africa, there will be dire consequences.

But, in the end, we who call ourselves followers of Jesus have a higher calling than our own self-interest. If Christ is a reality in our lives, then our hearts will be broken by the things that break the heart of Jesus. There can be no doubt that the heart of our Lord is broken by what is happening in Africa, even now. If nothing else, our hearts should burn within us as we face the fact that thirteen million children in Africa have been orphaned because of AIDS, and that for each of them Jesus sheds His tears.

On Judgment Day, we will not be asked theological questions. Instead, we will be asked, as it says in Matthew 25, how we responded to those who were poor, diseased, downhearted, and alone. Jesus will ask us on that day if we reached out to the stranger in need with loving care and if we treated the sick with true compassion. It is not that theological convictions are unimportant, but rather that true commitment to the beliefs we espouse will be manifested in compassionate action on behalf of those who are writhing in the agonies of AIDS, even now.
Written for The aWAKE Project,
Copyright © 2002 by Tony Campolo.

Transcript of Video Message Recorded for Christian Music Festivals:
BONO
Recording Artist

I went to Africa recently and came back with some facts I'd like to share with you.
Twenty-five million people in Africa now have HIV. Think about that—twenty-five million people in Africa are HIV positive. Thirteen million children are orphans because their parents have died from AIDS—and this figure is expected to double by the end of the decade.

Today—in the next twenty-four hours—5,500 Africans will die of AIDS. Today in childbirth 1,400 African mothers will pass on HIV to their newborns.

If this isn't an emergency, what is? In the Scriptures we are not advised to love our neighbor, we are commanded. The Church needs to lead the way here, not drag its heels. The government needs guidance. We discuss; we debate; we put our hands in our pockets. We are generous even. But, I tell you, God is not looking for alms; God is looking for action. He is not just looking for our loose change—he's looking for a tighter contract between us and our neighbor.

Africa is America's neighbor. Africa is Europe's neighbor. We are daily standing by while millions of people die for the stupidest reason of all: money.

There is a growing movement for Jubilee in the United States. I love that word Jubilee—it suggests joy in a new beginning free from the bondage of slavery of any kind. In this instance, economic slavery. Let's not forget that redemption is an economic term. We need to drop the debt and end the ridiculous situation where today's generations in the poorest countries have to spend what little they have paying back old loans rather than investing in health, education, and clean water. We need to make trade rules more fair. If we're serious, we need to let these countries put their products on our shelves and stop refusing them what we demand for ourselves—autonomy in managing their own markets.

And finally, all rich countries need to increase development assistance to fight AIDS and poverty in Africa. This is not about throwing money away but about using our national wealth to improve the lives of the poorest people in the world. At the moment, of the twenty-two richest countries, the U.S. is at the bottom of the list when you look at how much the government is planning to give to foreign assistance as a proportion of overall wealth: 0.15 percent of GDP. And almost half of this goes to middle income countries. The UK and Ireland are at 0.32 percent. All countries need to get the level of the Scandinavians: 0.7 percent. Americans are generous people. Their personal giving is in line with everyone else.

I should be preaching to the converted here. There are 2,100 verses of Scripture pertaining to the poor. History will judge us on how we deal with this crisis. God will judge us even harder.

Look, sometimes we've just got to do what we're told. The children of God have to listen to their Father in Heaven. It's easy to think that Africa's problems are caused by natural calamity and corruption and have nothing to do with us. That's part of the problem, but the truth is also that the relationship between the developed and the developing world has been so wrong so for long—corrupt actually.

It's the start of the twenty-first century; it's time to put this right. Charity alone will not work. We need a new partnership based on justice and equality. We need to remind ourselves that God will not accept our acceptance of lives made wretched by a geographical accident of latitude and longitude.

We must wake up the sleeping giant of the Church; we must set alarm clocks to rouse our politicians who also slumber. The choice is there before each and every one of us: to stop and tend to the distant pilgrim sick on the side of the road, or, a nervous glance, and we turn away . . . away from the pilgrim, away from God's grace.

Written for The aWAKE Project,
Copyright © 2002 by Bono.

Another Plea For Involvement in The One Campaign: To Make Poverty History

I just wanted to post these videos about The One Campaign: To Make Poverty History. I believe it is one of the most revolutionary and noble efforts ever contrived to combat extreme poverty and AIDS. Broadening political horizons past the scope of charity into the realm of justice for the poor and oppressed, The One Campaign aims to revamp foreign aid, cancel the insatiable debts of third world countries, and create fairer trade laws to equip poverty-stricken lands with the tools to earn their own way out of poverty.

At the end of the day, at the end of time on Judgment Day, Jesus will not ask us a list of theological questions. He will not ask if we had that glass of wine with dinner or dropped "the F-bomb" when we stubbed our toes. He will not ask if we were at church every Sunday. He will not even ask if we stopped all the gays (to the disappointment of some). But He will surely ask how we treated the least, the lost, and the last of this world. Did you feed Me when I was hungry? Did you give Me drink when I was thirsty? Did you clothe Me when I was naked? Did you visit Me prison? For whatever you did to the least of these my brethren, you did it unto Me (paraphrase Matt. 25: 36-45).

The One Campaign is an amazing beginning to start living out this call to the oppressed and poor of this world. I want to be part of a generation attempting to wipe out extreme poverty...I hope you do, too.

Visit:

WWW.ONE.ORG

Volunteers Without Borders

We've all seen it. Usually we've seen it during sleepless nights at three in the morning, hunkered down on our couches in front of the TV. I'm referring to the images of starving children, wounded souls, and devastated countries while a host pleads with his late night audience to donate 30 cents a day to support the afflicted lingering in the background. Maybe we listened, maybe it made us uncomfortable, or maybe we changed the channel to catch some of that marathon of Punk'd on MTV. Regardless of our reaction, we've all seen it.

On April 5, Nobel Peace Price winner Mary Lightfine gave a lecture entitled "Nurse without Borders" to GSC students in the Performing Arts Building about her work with Doctors without Borders. The students' first introduction to Lightfine was a projected photograph of her holding the hands of middle-eastern children. Many of the slides to follow were pictures akin to the ones on our late night TV screens. She gave a name to those faces and told the stories behind their suffering.
This woman has dedicated more than 10 years of her life living in countries ravaged by war, famine, diseases, and poverty, providing medical treatment to soldiers, civilians, and everyone in between. She has been shot at, threatened, and robbed. Regardless, she still sees the beauty in these places and cultures and the desperate need to aid them.

Lightfine reveals the character that pricked her curiosity about the world existing outside of America. She recalls, "Ever since the first time I saw Tarzan swing across my TV set, he planted a seed of curiosity in my brain. That seed grew and grew until after 16 years as a nurse, I woke up one day in Africa."

Behind her personal experience and pictures, there lies a serious message. The message that has become quite clichéd, but it could not contain more truth, that one person can make a difference. She told the students about a deadly worm that develops as a result of drinking dirty water in many of these poverty-stricken countries. But because of one person inventing a simple plastic tube with a cotton filter the problem has nearly been eradicated. A problem that was plaguing millions is nearly defeated by one person. That's powerful.

And this was precisely her point and her motivation for speaking around the country. This was the reason she started the organization "Volunteers without Boundaries," which provides the opportunity for people to serve the outside world and find their own calling.

Lightfine reminded that we, the students, "are the future leaders and inventors." She encouraged the involvement of GSC students in making a better world for the less fortunate, however that may take shape. Whether it's becoming a doctor, a nurse, a teacher, an inventor, or just pledging 30 cents a day before switching the channel to MTV. We can make a difference, and it is people like Mary Lightfine who prove it and remind others of it.

The Plight of Darfur

The nationally acclaimed documentary, “The Darfur Diaries,” was shown on the GSC campus on Feb. 26, followed by a panel discussion with Douglas Ealey, a professor of political science and religion, Amin Al-Midani, a Fulbright scholar and expert on Islamic Law, and Basmat Ahmed, a teenage Darfur refugee. The Black Student Association and Students for a Progressive Society sponsored the event in honor or Black History Month.

The people of Darfur have been plagued by warfare, bombings, air raids, rape, torture and pillaging that have resulted in over 2 million refugees dispersed throughout the neighboring country of Chad, the annihilation of over 2 thousand villages and the genocide of over 400,000 Darfur citizens.

During the panel discussion, each guest expounded on the dire situation in Darfur and how Americans can be part of the solution.

“The problem with Americans is that we do not know what is going on beyond our borders. We become prejudice and uncaring out of our ignorance,” said Ealey.

Ealey clearly expressed his view that America is indeed a great nation but also addressed the misconception that America gives the most foreign aid.

“While the U.S. considers itself a humanitarian-oriented nation, the U.S. gives more raw dollars than all countries, but gives the least percentage wise out of the wealthiest countries in the world,” explained Ealey.

Al-Midani tackled the inconsistencies existing between the corrupt government professing the Islamic faith, who are wreaking havoc upon the people of Darfur, and the actual Islamic faith.

“There is a contradiction between the Sudanese government and the Arab tradition. The regimes are driven by political agendas, not Muslim or Arab philosophies,” explained Al-Midani.

An emotionally-moved Ahmed recalled her beloved homeland now consumed in the chaos of war and oppression.

“Darfur was a wonderful, beautiful, friendly place before the war. The people are overcome because they are weak, without education and weapons,” said Ahmed. She desperately wanted to arouse involvement from the 45 listening people in the CE auditorium.

“This is the first time for me to speak about my hope. I hope everyone here could connect with another people from another place. My hope is that different people will rise up in one voice to demand the end of this war and oppression. It’s not just about talk and movies, we need action,” she stressed.

The documentary itself chronicled the plight of Darfur civilians terrorized by the corrupt rebel group Janjawid, who are equipped with weapons and money by the Sudanese government.
The documentary showed interviews with surviving refugees, most separated from their families, steeped in extreme poverty, without any options to harvest food or incomes. They live out their days in a sort of limbo, waiting to live or die. Food is scarce, malnutrition and disease run rampant, and shelter is a little more than tents consisting of sheets and sticks. Bugs make their homes on the crevices of children’s faces. Vivid nightmares make nights sleepless for many survivors. Children draw pictures of war and murder, the images that haunt them at night.
Once members of productive families, communities and tribes, Darfur refugees have been reduced to wandering nomads. Their only goal is avoiding exploitation and death in the constant crossfire of demented rebel groups and corrupt regimes.

After surviving the uprooting and dislocation, many refugee camps are determined to provide protection for the people. The Darfur Diaries follow members of the Sudan Liberation Army, a group assembled to combat the rebel group Janjawid and the Sudanese government.

“We are compelled to fight against the government for our survival,” explained one human rights leader in the Sudan Liberation Army.

An effort to revive education is also underway in many refugee camps. Classes are conducted within half-walls constructed from mud and water, often operating without textbooks or writing utensils. However, the lack of supplies does not impugn their will.

“There is no life without education,” said one refugee.

Darfur Diaries has been shown on college campuses across the nation. It was created to provide a window into another place and culture that is crumbling under the reign of injustice. To find out more information about this crisis and how to get involved in a solution go to: www.darfurdiaries.org.