I Thought I Had Seen Poverty ...

Chris' time in Kenya is almost done. He'll be home in three days. To be honest, I've never looked forward to something so much in my life. Thursday couldn't come soon enough. Having him gone has been extremely difficult this time around.

I have no idea why. Perhaps my fragile emotional state has something to do with being pregnant.

But when I saw the pictures and read the stories of where they went today, I knew that God had put him on this trip for a purpose. I've traveled with Compassion before and seen poverty, but I've never in my life seen anything like what he saw today.

I'm not sure how I would have reacted to what they experienced today if I had been there. (Especially considering how easily I cry these days.) But I'm so thankful that he was there. Because seeing those photos is heartbreaking. But seeing my husband in that place brings it so much closer to home.

The Mathare Valley should not be real. But it is. Chris was there.

My Broken Heart

I wrote a post on Compassion's blog today about Slumdog Millionaire. I meant everything I wrote in it, but to be honest, I wrote it from an emotionally detached place.

I'd encourage you to go read it before you read the rest of the this post ...

Did you read it?

What do you think about the question at the end? See, I'm really wrestling with this idea of poverty tourism. Where exactly is the line between educating ourselves about poverty and exploiting the poor?

A warning about the following video: It will break your heart. It will take guts to watch it. I truthfully have never seen a video that broke my heart so completely as this one.

I'm not posting it to be emotionally manipulative. I don't want to evoke your pity or guilt. What I want to do is help you understand what poverty looks like.



You will not see videos or photographs like this from Compassion. I didn't post this as an employee of Compassion. I posted it because it helped me to emotionally connect with the work I do every day.

If during this video your heart was broken for the poor, please don't ignore that.

Do something about it.

Poverty

“It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.”

~Mother Teresa

Bailout

"It’s extraordinary to me that the United States can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can’t find $25 billion dollars to saved 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases."

- Bono

My Heart for Haiti

As if a severe food shortage isn't enough, Haiti is literally drowning. See for yourself. Tropical Storm Ike is headed towards the island (after they've already been hit by Fay, Gustav and Hanna.) And we're only halfway through the hurricane season.

I wrote a few weeks ago about the rain we'd been getting here. Now I feel like a jerk.

My first trip with Compassion was to Haiti in 2003. I went to visit Youvens, the boy I sponsor.

On that trip, God tore me apart. I saw a broken and desperate part of the world that is rarely shown on the news. I saw poverty so deep that I could barely comprehend it. I couldn't even journal for a week after the trip because I was having trouble processing the experience. It was so far beyond anything I had ever imagined.

Remember what Hurricane Katrina did to New Orleans? That was devastating, but that was in a developed country where there are organizations and relief structures and safety nets. I've heard Haiti called a "fourth world country" because the situation there is so much worse than that in "third world countries."

I know God is in control, but sometimes when I read stuff like this, it feels like He has temporarily forsaken part of His creation.

Will you pray with me for Haiti?

Global Food Crisis

As I learn more about the Global Food Crisis, I become increasingly convinced that THIS is our opportunity to live out Proverbs 3:27-28.

Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act. Do not say to your neighbor, "Come back later; I'll give it tomorrow" — when you now have it with you.

What will you do?

He Knows Your Name

Want to see what Compassion looks like lived out?

This is one of our artists from Compassion Netherlands meeting his sponsored boy.

Get your kleenex ready ...



Sponsor a child.

Dreams Really Do Come True

One of my all time favorite songs.
Done by Jason Castro.
This song makes me cry.


Also ... Idol Gives Back tonight. Will you be watching?

Take a Poverty Quiz

A few of you have asked what I do at Compassion. Things are always changing here, so that's hard to answer, but for the past couple years I've been working on the Advocacy team. Our job is to educate people in the U.S. about children in poverty.

I wrote this quiz. Take it and let me know how you do!
Then post it on your blog!

Get this widget!

Now THIS is seriously cool.

A few years ago I had this idea.

I was working out on the elliptical machine at the gym and thinking about all the energy that I was using to do a 30 minute workout. According to the little electronic calorie counter, it was roughly 300 calories. And almost every machine in the room was being used. There were thousands (or maybe even millions) of calories being burned!

I thought about how much I hear in the news about finding new sources of energy. And I wondered why someone hasn't come up with a line of cardio machines that can collect the energy used to operate them and convert it into a power source. If this was possible, then a gym could basically power itself. No electric bill. They simply store up the energy collected from the cardio machines and use that to power their lights or computers or air conditioners or whatever.

Now obviously I have no idea about whether or not this is even scientifically possible. Someone smarter than me should definitely weigh in here. Can a calorie be converted into a kilowat? If so, someone should invent this and patent it. (And then when you make millions, if you want to share a small portion with me, I wouldn't mind.)

I always thought of this as a silly dream made up in Beckyland.

Apparently not.

A guy I work with forwarded an article to me this morning. It is about an awesome organization called PlayPumps International.

Basically this guy invented a water pump that is also a merry-go-round for kids. As they play on it, the wheel turns, which operates the pump and stores the clean water in a tank. Then families in the community can draw water from the tank.

Currently there are nearly 900 pumps throughout South Africa and a few other countries in southern Africa. But doesn't this sound like something that could be used all over the world? You can find out more about this organization through their presence on many social networking sites.

Aren't you pumped? (Sorry.)

Rice is Nice

Here's an easy way to make a difference in the world.
(AND as a bonus, you learn stuff too!)

www.freerice.com

According to their web site,

FreeRice has two goals:

1. Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

I got up to 240 grains of rice (which is probably only, like, an eighth of a cup) but every little bit helps!

Mmmmm ... coffee.

I love coffee.

I grew up with parents who don't ever drink coffee. In fact, I didn't even have my first drink of coffee until I was 20 years old. But when I lived in Europe in college, I acquired the taste. It's hard not to, actually. People drink it like they breathe oxygen over there.

My daily coffee ritual has become a cherished part of my morning routine.

Over the 10 years of coffee consumption, although I hate to admit it, I've become a bit of a coffee snob. (This is in no small part thanks to my sister-in-law, Valeen.) I used to be fine drinking Folgers or any other generic, cheap, store-brand coffee. I would buy a big tub of ground coffee for under $10 that would last me several months. However, the more I drank expensive, brandname coffee, the more I could taste the difference between the The Best Part of Waking Up and the $10-per-half-pound kind. Slowly, my coffee purchasing habit changed from buying cheap to expensive coffee. I now regularly spend $10 on a half pound of coffee beans that last me for about two weeks.

Recently, I became aware of an organization called 963 Missions. This organization is helping people to understand the true meaning of missions. How it's more than just a trip ... it's a lifestyle. This sentiment is one that I agree with whole-heartedly, and is the reason I take issue with the whole idea of short term missions. (But that's a blog post for another time.)

Getting back to the subject at hand ... 963 Missions has a program called Monthly Obsession. The idea behind this movement is to give people the opportunity to help coffee farmers to get out of poverty by paying them a fair wage for their beans. When you sign up for the Monthly Obsession you get a bag of fresh roasted coffee delivered to your door every month. It's just $15 a month, or $10 for any additional bags you buy. According to their web site:

963 Coffee is freshly-roasted specialty coffee unlike the majority of coffee that sits on shelves for almost a year. This means you're getting an amazing cup of organic Arabica coffee every time you brew a pot.

We also believe our coffee should provide a fair wage for the farmers who work hard to harvest it. Because of your choice to purchase 963 Coffee, farmers can put their kids in school, put food on the table for their families, and afford health care. Every bag - every cup - of 963 Coffee is making a lasting impact with coffee farming families around the world.

Do you drink coffee regularly? Where do you buy it? Would you consider switching to a company that sells fair trade coffee?