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.

Be Part of The Solution

Today is World AIDS Day. AIDS is truly the leprosy of our age. The stigma attached to AIDS has made many victims of this merciless disease stereotyped, outcasted, and belittled, even to the point of being deemed "deserving" of AIDS. The uncontrolled spread of AIDS is devastating much of Africa, Asia, and even parts of America. Here are some statistics from DATA (Debt AIDS, and TRADE for AFRICA) about AIDS and POVERTY in Africa and some practical ways we can help prevent the further spread of AIDS and treat, minister, and bless the ones who have already contracted it. Whatever we do unto the least of these, we do unto Jesus...If we bless, uplift, extend compassion, and sacrifice, we have done so for our brethren and our Lord. If we scoff, rationalize, blame, condemn, or ignore, we forsake our brethren and betray our Lord.




Africa has been hit harder by HIV/AIDS than any other region in the world. Over two-thirds of people living with HIV and over three-quarters of HIV-associated deaths are in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2007, some 1.7 million Africans were newly infected with HIV, bringing the region’s total to 22.5 million.

11.4 million African children have already lost one or both parents to AIDS. The disease is not limited to adults- 2.2 million children in sub- Saharan Africa are living with HIV, accounting for 90% of global HIV pediatric cases. Most of these children are infected by their mothers during childbirth because few HIV-infected pregnant women have access to antiretroviral medication that can drastically reduce mother-to-child transmission. Once born with the disease, only 13% of these children have access to HIV treatment. Beyond the risk to themselves and their families, millions of children are losing their teachers, nurses and friends too. Businesses are losing their workers, governments are losing their civil servants, families are losing their breadwinners. As a result, entire communities are devastated and economies that are already crippled by poverty, debts and unfair trade policies are further compromised.

Africa is the region most in need of life-saving anti-AIDS drugs, accounting for 4.8 million of the 7.1 million people worldwide in need of ARVs.


"Don't Give Up" by Alicia Keys and Bono


The "Lazarus Effect"

Here are some organizations you could consider supporting to combat AIDS and extreme poverty:

The One Campaign: To Make Poverty History. Visit the link below for more information and to sign the One Campaign Petition.
http://www.one.org/

The One Hit Wonder Campaign (an experiment in collecting just $1 from participants to see how everyday people sacrificing next to nothing can change countless lives if we would just band together).
http://www.onehitwonder.org/

The Red Campaign (businesses have partnered up with the Global Fund, selling an array of (RED) products, the profits from which are donated to the Global Fund. $50 million dollars thus far!
http://joinred.com/

To educate yourself on the AIDS pandemic visit: http://www.data.org/ for up to date statistics and news events.

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

Bono's Speech at The National Prayer Breakfast

Words that changed my life....

More Than A Cause

At the risk of sounding like a naive Miss America Contestant or a Sally Struthers commercial, I'm going to address the AIDS pandemic devastating regions engulfed in extreme poverty, namely Africa. But why should Americans care about Africa? Well in an age where a "global community" is no longer a far-fetched concept, American citizens representing freedom, justice, and equality, should care a great deal.

I, as many, am guilty of fitting the bill of an "ignorant American," too complacent and comfortable in the bubble of my freedoms to grasp the dire injustices of the outside world. But change is calling.

Africa is a continent suffering from the most deadly health threat since the bubonic plague. Everyday 6500 Africans die from AIDS, another 8500 are infected, 1400 of whom are children. According to Jeffrey Sachs, a Harvard Economist, "there are currently 12 million orphans in Africa who have lost their parents to AIDS, there will 20 million by the year 2010 in Sub-Saharan Africa alone." Three generation old interest-clad debts sustain Africa's poverty and prevent governments from establishing capable health care and education systems.

All kinds of causes exist, important causes deserving attention, support, and action. The AIDS crisis is more than a cause, it is an emergency. However, we would never know it since the issue is consistently absent from the front lines of the news. Thousands of lives lost daily to a preventable, treatable disease for lack of money is a price that our integrity and humanity cannot afford.

How do we combat AIDS then? With an endless string of fundraisers and celebrity telethons? The 1980's Live Aid concerts raised an unprecedented $200 million for Africa. However, the rude awakening was that African countries pay that amount every five days in debt service payments! Obviously charity alone will not suffice.

But what is sufficient? Recently, a new approach emerged to solve the pandemic. Bi-partisan organizations like Jubilee 2000, Drop the Debt, DATA, and The One Campaign broadened political horizons past the scope of charity and incorporated justice into the equation of social economic issues. They petition The World Bank and wealthy countries to cancel the debts of the poorest countries. In 2005, the G-8 Summit canceled over $40 billion of debt as a result of such organizations. The One Campaign, in particular, does not ask for money from the public, but only their voice. I am more than willing to devote my voice to this emergency. The equality America symbolizes, idealizes, and aspires to must travel beyond our borders and cross the seas to our suffering African brethren. To lend your voice to demand social justice, go to www.one.org and sign the One Campaign petition. To find out more information about the African crisis go to www.data.org. I want to be part of a generation attempting to wipe out the spread of AIDS and extreme poverty. I hope you do as well.