What One Thing?

I have typed 3 paragraphs before writing this and scratched all of them. My heart cannot seem to wrap around the concept of FAMINE.

fam•ine
n.
1. A drastic, wide-reaching food shortage.
2. A drastic shortage; a dearth.
3. Severe hunger; starvation.
4. Archaic Extreme appetite.

I cannot wrap my brain around the fact that there are moms walking for days with their 8 kids trying to get to a camp where they "might" have food available to them or being that mom who has already lost one or more of her children already and is carrying another on the brink of death, just praying for a miracle to save her child.

I cannot grasp the concept of no food, no water, no nutrition. How often do I throw a few pieces of bread out because it's hard and moldy all because I had other options in my pantry to eat in the time it took that bread to go bad.

I cannot grasp the concept of not being able to run out and grab milk for Lydia because she just ran out and needs her "baba" in the morning.

My heart aches for these families, these children in desperate need of HELP! Help that we can send them.




John Warren/World Vision Photographer


$10 to us is a lunch out because we didn't have time to pack one. For instance, I went out this afternoon with a friend to Panera = $8.00 and then we ran to Starbucks for an afternoon pick me up = $4.00. I spent $13 in one small lunch break, I don't even think twice about this sometimes, especially with pay day hittin up my account this week. It could be giving this up for the rest of the week or maybe it's giving up the temptation to jump in your car and run to Target "just to browse", maybe it's drinking the work coffee in the morning instead of stopping by Starbucks for the 3rd time this week.

Whatever it might be for you, please join me in thinking before we spend this week and texting the word FAMINE to 20222 to make your $10 donation. Maybe you can give more, maybe you can donate $10 a day this week, making it $50. Search your heart, pray about how God might stretch you in this time to help others.

If you are a factual/number/percentages person, these are for you:
- 12.4 million are affected in the region
- More than 35% of all children in the region are now facing emergency levels of malnutrition
- Starvation is a real threat in famine-declared areas of Somalia
- Some 30,000 children have already lost their lives
- Worst drought in 60 years

Please help us raise awareness, if you are a social media nerd like me, please consider donating a tweet or a Facebook status with the link to World Vision's website so that others can read of how they can help, see where their money is going and read more about just how urgent this need is for our neighbors in the Horn of Africa.

Help us make "FAMINE NO MORE" a reality.