www.nothingbutnets.net This amazing organization sends out nets all over Africa to fight against malaria...the number 1 killer of children in Africa. Why not give a net in someone's name for a birthday gift this year...
Rent or better yet buy this movie to help support fistula work in Africa. This is an amazing story of 5 Ethiopian women and their journey to be whole again. I bought it and am sharing it with friends so that we can be informed and learn about the struggles of women like us...and then do something about it...
www.one.org Great hip T-shirts with a cause. These are designed by Bono's wife for EDUN. The proceeds go to fight hunger in Africa. I bought one for myself and one for Christine's birthday present...it's a great conversation starter (although Tess' presence is too) to raise awareness that there are great organizations out there making it easy for us to do our part...even in a small t-shirt- kind-of-way!!
Life is so blessed for us and we are all so well taken care of that it's easy to forget what is happening out there. I live with the reminder everyday in Tess's beautiful face. The what-if's that I think about for her...keep the African plight very much on my mind. I have not forgotten the faces of the street kids we met and I continue to read books about their struggles (currently reading: SAY YOU'RE ONE OF THEM by Uwem Akpan. A series of short stories about the struggles of survival of African children).I am in the process of trying to figure out how to put a mission trip together for next summer to go back and help in Ethiopia. I really want to take a small group of teens over. I saw a great program about some kids who went over for 3 weeks and built a schoolhouse for a small village in Ethiopia. I tivoed it and made the boys watch it. When it was over both of them said they wanted to do it. My parents said they would sponsor the boys to go...see...if you plant the seed, it grows!! There are so many organizations out there. I'm doing my research trying to decide who to pair up with. One of our local churches..Saddleback Church (Rick Warren) has been sending groups to Rwanda as part of the global P.E.A.C.E. plan. I was thinking Ethiopia but maybe thats not where we're being called to work. I'll keep praying about it. In the meantime, we can do our small part in supporting these companies that are selling products to help Africa...so, buy a t-shirt!!
1 comment:
Liz,
My church, Celebration Church (celebration.org), goes on mission trips to Swaziland, a couple times a year. We've also opened a church in Zimbabwe and sent one of our lead pastors, Mike Pier, to stay there with Pastor Dixon (Zimbabwe's campus pastor) permanently. There's a huge civil war going on over there and we actually had to "smuggle" Pastor Mike INTO the country of Zimbabwe! I plan on going on one next year; a friend of mine is leaving this Friday for a mission trip to Costa Rica. (There are needs everywhere!) I think it's awesome how much you're trying to get the word out about the problems abroad. A song that's become my anthem lately is "Give Me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath. Keep up the Faith by spreading The Word!
Lora Christl
GBI East
Post a Comment