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3.12.2008

This one hurts a little

These are orphans and malnourished children in Abeka. They are being led in a song of Peace before they eat. The singing is a gambit and celebration both. You see before each child a small plastic cup. In in is a cup of liquid fortified corn porridge. The song keeps them busy while the man at the left fills each cup. No one starts till everyone has theirs. I assure you these children are HUNGRY. This may be their meal for the day. Their restraint is amazing, and very African.

The flickr caption says that they are being supported by small donations from an American group. I shall see if I can find out who they are. We are told that when there are donations there is a feeding program. When there is no money there is no porridge.

Enjoy your lunch today!


Comments:
Thanks for helping these young lives speak to us here. I hope you can find the American group, and tell us about them, also.
 
So here I sit, crying again at the needless suffering of children while we spend THREE TRILLION DOLLARS on a war of aggression.

I'll check back regularly to see if you've found a "donation" link; this needs our attention.
 
I am also moved, and I agree that giving to this specific group would be helpful. However, I don't believe that addresses the core problem with a true solution at all. Without a strategy to get the people out of survival mode, through self-sustainment and into abundance - they will remain in the place of need and hunger until they die. How is that accomplished? Four pillars: food & water (provide for the basic needs of the body to get out of the survival mode), education and microlending (through self-sustainment into ongoing abundance) - an oft' over-used cliche, "give a man a fish... teach a man to fish..." brings us to the ongoing solution.
Education and Microlending:
When a deeply impoverished woman receives a microloan, the first thing she does is get her children back from indentured servant-hood.

Can this be done in a way that is not a one-way-drain on current resources? Absolutely. There are new companies rising to the surface with a "for-benefit business model" (instead of for-profit, or non-profit... they are commercial operations with a humanitarian support structure). They create a recurring-revenue engine for global-humanitarian change :-) Woo Hoo! http://info.hubhub.org/
 
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