Irish in Sudan

I heard a talk last night by a few Irish people who are living in southern Sudan, helping to bring education, sanitation and medical care to the people. I was overwhelmed by the pictures and stories that were told of their experiences. But I was also encouraged by the commitment of people like them to use their skills and resources to help those who do not have even their basic needs of shelter, food and water. I exhort all of us to examine ourselves and our ability to aid our fellow human beings in such developing countries (formerly called "Third World" countries).

They also had many statistics that I found gripping, but of course I can't remember many of them--we've all seen them before but somehow we go on without taking much personal action. I did remember some stats, as the message was very clear: Europe spends $11 billion US dollars on ice cream each year, the US spends $8 billion on cosmetics, and $12 billion on perfumes in the US and Europe, while it would cost $9 billion to provide water and sanitation, $6 billion for education, and $13 for basic health and nutrition for all developing countries in the world. Basically, we spend so much on luxuries while two-thirds of the world is in poverty. This sort of thing compels me to do without some unnecessary expense and to be intentional about giving that money toward "adopting" a child in Africa or paying the tuition for a teenager to go to vocational school or some other worthy humanitarian relief. We've been blessed with so much and they don't deserve to be with so little. If each of us did our part, we could help that many more people...and if only we would make ourselves aware of what is going on in such places like Sudan, then we might be more inclined to do something about it...but sometimes we get consumed in our little bubble of "worries"...well, I'd better stop now before I get on my soap-box. :)

It reminded me of this brief video clip I saw a couple of years ago: http://www.ekincaglar.com/coin/flash.html