according to feedburner, there are about 700 more subscribers to this blog than there was when i went to africa back in february with compassion international. so, if you are new, i really encourage you to read about that trip (it’s in reverse chronological order).
what was amazing was the opportunity to meet linet, one of the children chris and i sponsor. she is beautiful. shy. smirky. and the smartest girl in her class.
it has been a little over six months since i returned, yet my heart has only grown heavier for children living in poverty, and especially those in uganda. just last week, chris and i watched a documentary about orphans in uganda. i freaking cried during the whole thing. sometimes they were happy tears. sometimes they were tears of longing to be back there. sometimes they were tears because i was devastated by the unfairness of it all.
i got an email today about the global food crisis. we all know it’s affected places like haiti and ethiopia and india. but my email today talked about the crisis affecting uganda.
it’s affecting our little girl there.
so i just wanted to give you this link this weekend…if you can donate anything at all to the global food crisis fund. it’s in an emergency state. any amount will help. $5. $10. $50. just click here.
thank you.
Anne,
I received my first letter from my Compassion lovie today…she colored an outline of her hand and foot for me; she’s too young to write her own letters yet and I wondered EVERYTHING about her. After seeing Shaun’s DR videos yesterday, I thought about the contrast between her environment and the “plush” environment I live in. To think about her…Linet….and countless others going without the basics? Breaks my heart, especially as I look into the healthy–and well fed–faces of my own babies.
I’m so thankful for your readership and that through your words, you’re making a difference in the lives of many; releasing both the wealthy and the desperate from their own poverties.
“Just clicking here” now….:)
Anne, we got a letter about our child in Haiti as well. I had wondered when I read your post on the price of food in Haiti if they would be having problems and they are, so we will be sending help. It amazes me that I could eat so much so easily and there is a food shortage anywhere in the world. Thanks for sharing the word.
Thanks for posting this, Anne… I got an email like this a couple days ago only without my kids’ specific names, which I think would have made me act faster… I meant to give and then went off to work that morning and forgot about it until now… I have more than one sponsored child so I guess that’s why mine just said “affecint your sponsored children” instead of naming them and talking about the country like yours did, which I think would have made me act faster. I have two that are in Uganda, and I recently got a thank-you note for a family gift from my little girl there listing out everything they got with it. It was almost all food. Since I know the Compassion projects work with the families on those gifts in helping them determine the best way to spend the money, and it’s usually an income-generating project, I realized the family’s need for food must be dire indeed.
As I sit here eating dinner, my third full meal of the day, I wonder if my little ones in Uganda, Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Mexico are going to bed hungry tonight. :(
thanks for sharing this. it’s just not right that poverty exist like this.
as i was reading your post an infomercial came on my tv. selling green zip lock type bags that keep your veggies crisp longer. $19.95.
makes me sick to think of how much money is spent on a product like that or other silly things like “Billy The Singing Bass” when people could use that $ to save a life.
priorities so out of whack. i’m trying to remove the excess from my life so i can bless the lives of others.
How exciting to get to meet your child. Our family has been sponsoring children for years..our latest through Compassion…we love them!!! We would love to go as a family and visit our child! God Bless
i also posted about this tonight because i sponsored a little girl, naomi, from the compassion blogging trip. and it breaks my heart too that they don’t have enough for food. i just donated tonight … i hope everyone does anything they can to help!
Hey. So yes this is true. In South Africa as well. I don’t know what the deal is, but rice is a staple we feed everyone with and in the last three months it has doubled for some reason and continues to rise in price…so we have had to remove it from our child sponsorship program. Please really think about where you give your money and how you spend it, because there is NOTHING more rewarding or selfless then feeding kids. Compassion rocks. Thanks Anne.
Anne,
I love seeing your heart continually revealed for the kids you sponsor…it’s inspiring. I have an off subject question. I live in a developing North African nation and my passion is creativity….my background is music and I’m currently using photography alot. Do you or anyone else reading know of any ministry or organization like compassion that works to use creativity to get into people’s lives?
Thanks!
Camel Rider
Done.
I’m very excited about learning more about these children and their crisis. I’m feeling urged to do more. I want to be in the middle of those children in a massive way. I hope I can someday. Thanks Anne. I still haven’t met you….maybe I will at the volunteer party. : )
I do not directly sposor a child as you sweet people do – bless you that do and applesauce and camel rider (the two i know of) that are actually out there sweating, working, feeding and loving – gee, sounds like something Christ would do, huh?
but you know what? i kinda’ have a feeling i can find some bucks in my wallet today and since it’s saturday – typically BBQ day at Cousin’s – we will just have to take a couple of children with us out to eat through Compassion!
now, i know it’s early, but after all of those comments this week about wealth, riches, money, feeding the poor, consumerism, materialsim, nice cars, big fancy (and not so fancy) air conditioned buildings they, for some reason, call a church – (this topic not open for discussion today unless anne asks the question)
so let me challenge all 700 (minus the missionaries) of you that love to read this blog and pour well deserved words on anne bout her heart’s aching to actually hear what she is saying so nicely – not just say that’s sweet and move on. let me paraphrase in tony language (here comes another blog demerit):
get off your butt, push the button and give a measly 5 bucks to a hungry precious child of God who was not, for reasons i don’t understand, born in this richer than crap self centered nation we so proudly call the USA. I am – will you?
when you guys give the first $300 – don’t be shy about posting it on here – we know you’re not being a jerk (that’s my job) – i will match it
so there – do it, and do it for God and these kids
gotta go – i have my 3 blog demerits already and it’ only 8:41 am – sheesh
and no – i don’t bother with spellcheck – “sponsor”
Thanks for pointing this out to us, Anne. I haven’t heard how my sponsored children have been affected by the global food crisis (yet — maybe the e-mail is on its way), but I’m sure that it is affecting them in some way. And that is heartbreaking. Thank you for once again sounding the call for us to try to help in some way.
I have been curious about whether sending a family gift would help my sponsored children directly with buying food, so I’m glad to see that Prairie Rose mentioned it. I’m still going to donate to the Global Food Crisis fund too, though.
When I read the first few lines of your post and saw the picture of Linet, I was afraid you were going to have even worse news than this. :( In addition to donating, I think we all need to be in prayer daily for our own sponsored children, and all of the Compassion children.
Anne, I spent a summer in Uganda. I visited the orphanages before the worlds eyes were focused there. I was there when AIDS was a “bad word” and no one talked about it. I talked with the President’s wife and she shared her heart with me about her nation and her heartbreak over the disease that was (and is still) so rampant.
Whenever I hear about that nation, my heart skips a beat. It was one of the most amazing times in my life, living there. The beauty of the land and the poverty contrasting it is something that is forever in my heart.
I’m glad you care. I am glad you have made so many others aware. It’s what my life is all about.
Thank you so much for what you are doing to help others know.
Love
Michelle
Anne- I just recently started reading your blog. Forgive me if I’m asking a question that’s already been answered along the way… I haven’t read each and every one of your blogs :P I would love to sponsor a child… what organization do you recommend? Compassion International? I’m looking for ways for my connectedness to the world via technology to pertain to the kingdom of God. So far, it’s led me to start a web based bible study for women. Our world has changed so much in the last 100-150 years and I don’t think we know all of the ramifications for those changes yet. One thing we’ve done, which has really been on my heart, is isolated ourselves into these little pods, family pods that are self-sufficient and don’t need anyone. We also have so much exposure to media and things going on the world that it’s easy to turn a blind eye simply by changing the channel on our tv. I don’t want to live this way! Thanks for your blog and loving all the children of the world, and for showing us how we can help, even if we can’t physically be there.
@ everyone – i am checking about the family gifts right now and will let you guys know.
I clicked there. And I’m telling you not to say ‘how great I am’ – ‘coz I’m not, and I’m posting this as anonymously as I can – but to let you know that your request made a difference. God bless.
Anne,
I just had someone donate $4000 to my org. It was the first donation ever and I literally had tears in my eyes. This money will go to support 64 orphans in Zimbabwe.
I pray God will continue to use you and your blog to spread the news that we can help and make a difference.
Anne,
Yay! You make it so easy. I too have a few sponsor children and had this in my “to do” pile for this weekend and bada bing, bada boom, you have it set up where giving to this crisis is only a click away. Giving away money on line viva credit cards is so much sexier than writing checks and licking envelopes. So thanks!! And you can add my contribution to your tally.
And as I’m getting more familiar with your blog I’m starting to be suspect that we were friends in a former life. Thanks for caring and making it easy and accessible for others to do the same. As my favorite poet William Stafford says, “Awake people must stay awake. The darkness around us is deep.”
Hi Anne,
I’m finding myself in the unique position these days of looking for ways to give more, and more often. Not only was it painless ponying up my smallish contribution of 10 bucks, it was quite pleasant. Thanks to you for that, and Tony also, whoever he/she is.
Anne, thanks so much for checking into the family gift information. That was really nice of you.
this didn’t come through my blog reader until now so i had to no idea your global food fund drive was going toward something like YOUR little girl specifically. wow. God is so good. I can’t even fathom Him.
the picture says it all!
Anne, you can add $10 from me to your tally. Our family sponsors two children through Compassion and it breaks my heart to think they may not be getting enough to eat. Thank you for what you do for these children!