Life in Africa is quite challenging for any African, much less for someone from a different culture or back round! When I went on my first mission trip to Uganda Africa last September, I was flabbergasted by the starvation, extreme poverty, very poor living conditions, lack of clean water and medical care, number of orphans, and lack of education, etc. I saw.
Even places in America, that we deem as "poverty stricken," are nothing compared to what I saw there!!!! It took me about 3 days to "gather myself emotionally" because of the shock I felt going on inside of me! It had such a dramatic affect on my life that I came back feeling that God was calling me to make a difference!!! None of us may be called to be another Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, or someone great, BUT WE ARE ALL CALLED TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES, ESPECIALLY THE POOR AND NEEDY. According to Matthew 25:31-46, we will even be judged by God for what we did for those in need.
About two weeks after I returned home from my trip, I had a dream that I was standing on a platform at a very busy intersection in a large city and I was telling everyone who would listen to me about the needs in Africa. That is the goal of this blog! I feel that God has called me to be a voice that cries out for needs of the poor and needy people in Africa!
For many of us it is easy for us to turn our heads when we see someone who is homeless or in need or to turn the TV channel when we see a Christian based ministry that sponsors needy children, showing little boys and girls with bloated belly's, flies crawling on their faces, little bodies so thin they look like toothpicks, or unbathed children with tattered clothing, but what you see in those advertisements is exactly what life really looks like in Africa! It is not only the way of life for scores and scores of African children, but also for most adults!!
I like something I heard Max Lucado say in his "Outlive Your Life" Bible Study when he said that when we do not like something, we put this big clam shell up around us, so that we really do not feel, see, or hear what people are going through. It is too painful, so we tune it out! I was one of the worst of them! I thought "I am only one person. How can one person make a difference!" I put the clam shell up around me, so it did not hurt so bad when I saw them. I was guilty of turning the TV channel, because I could not hold back the tears and the pain! It was not the fact that I did not reach out and do anything for the poor and needy, but I felt that I was paralyzed from really reaching out to make much of an impact.
So I guess the word to all of us, including myself, is to not let that be said of us!!!! In the upcoming blogs, I will be sharing with you about some of the work we have done in Africa and the difference we are making there, what we are planning to do, the challenges Africans face, health and education issues they face, orphans without the proper care/provision or parental care they need, lack of proper medical care, etc.
Please stay tuned! The best is yet to come!!!
God bless,
Mary
