I can't not

Just a little heads-up, dear readers. Justin and I have applications to be volunteers with Rohi. This program is sponsored by Cornerstone Fellowship in Livermore.

If all goes well, we will go with a group of volunteers to Nakuru, Kenya in February 2008. I did not choose Africa as my passion - it was chosen for me. It all started with Hotel Rwanda almost two years ago. That movie startled me and made me take a closer look at what goes on outside of our borders. In all honesty, I had not thought about what was going on in Africa since I was in high school, or possibly before that. Somehow, I let myself believe that AIDS was being taken care of and that the infection rate was not growing. The truth is so much worse that the opposite of what I thought. Not only is AIDS spreading, it's helping get rid of an entire population and generations are dying-off in unbelievable numbers. With the tragedy of genocide in places like Rwanda, comes a wake of rapidly-spreading AIDS through rape and pillaging. The same thing is happening in Darfur, right now - literally as you read this.

Aside from an economic destruction, this is also leaving behind millions of orphans. Children and adults are STARVING to death in a world of plenty. Some choose to sell themselves for food - likely getting themselves infected with HIV or AIDS. The cycle is seemingly unending. I have a book that starts out with a picture of an elderly woman in her 70s raising 11 of her grandchildren. She pleads for the author to pray for her - "Pray that I live long enough to take care of all of these children." She had lost all of her children to AIDS and was left to raise their children.

I cannot sit back, watch and do nothing. My heart breaks for this kind of devastation. I know that I am one person and one person makes a very little difference on his or her own, but I will not be idle when I can do something. I am tired of living a spoiled, privileged life where waste is more common than want. Please pray for our application process and our acceptance into the Rohi program.