Thoughts on Privilege and A Call to Action..

Much excitement has gone down since my last post. I’ll fill you all in… I promise! Right now, though, I’m wrapping up my coverage of the 2008 U.S. Africa Agribusiness Forum for AgWired.com. I’ve been hanging out with Africans from Mozambique, to Swaziland to South Africa for the better part of the week, listening to what they need in order to modernize their continent. It’s been incredibly interesting. You can find my coverage on the AgWired Website. But in case you don’t go check it out, I do want you to chew on what I reported earlier today:

The poorest of Africa spend 70 percent of their income on food. That’s the reality the Deputy Assistant Administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development Africa Bureau put before the 300 attendees of the 2008 U.S. Africa Agribusiness Forum this week. That’s the reality that Franklin Moore wants the public and private sectors in the U.S. and Africa to face. Franklin says Africa’s food problems are a part of a worldwide problem.

“The world’s in the midst of a global food crisis unlike any other food crisis,” Franklin said. He says the poorest one billion are living on just one dollar a day, while nations around the globe are experiencing high food prices. That means, he says, the poor are having to choose between food, health care and school. Franklin says a significant part of the global population is spending more than half their income on food. Again, in Africa, he says, the poorest are spending 70 percent of their income on food.

Can you imagine spending seventy percent of your income on food?? Forget about high gas prices. You wouldn’t have a car. You wouldn’t have electricity. In fact, you most likely wouldn’t have much of a house. Perhaps a shack? Forget those Coach purses and those Bebe dresses. Forget your iPod or your cell. Heck forget anything that’s more than a couple days’ worth of clothes. You wouldn’t have books. You wouldn’t be able to read them anyway because you would be uneducated. You wouldn’t have health care. No ib profen for those aches, pains or cramps. No simple antibiotics that can transform a deadly flu into just your average health hiccup. You live to eat and you eat to live.

All this, not because you’re any less than anyone else, not because you don’t have natural talents, not because you’re unintelligent. Simply because you were born in a place where people have not. In America, we have. We have everything we want. Yet, we want more… and more… and more. We want and want and want… while one billion people are living off a single freaking dollar a day.

I beg you. Stop. For one second, just stop. Really think about what this means. Try, just try, to imagine what life would be like if you lived off one dollar a day. You can’t, can you? These are not just intangible facts. These are realities for people all over the world.

Just think, if you saved one dollar a day and gave it to one of these people… you would be doubling their income.

I can’t think about my life of privilege without it screaming back at me. Screaming back to use my advantages to help those who have none. If I’ve managed to inspire you, hop onto the wonderful website of Change.org to find a charity and make a donation. How about $365? That’s one dollar for each day this year. We can all certainly spare that. Each and every one of us.

And, this gives me an idea. I’m thinking I should start the “Dollar a Day” Charity. It would be a charity that would simply suggest a donation of $365, or one dollar for every day of the year. Then, as I travel the world, I can donate the money raised to charities and organizations I come in contact with – either by giving them the cash or using the money to purchase supplies they need, etc… I would then chronicle the contribution on this blog, getting pictures, video, audio and testimony from the people who are actually benefiting from the contributions. One hundred percent of the proceeds would go to the charity. I would chronicle every donation on this blog.

I understand it’s difficult to contribute when you’re uncertain about where your money is going exactly. But how cool would it be if I collected audio and video of the actual donation? You would see exactly what happened to your donation.

I’ve actually been thinking about doing this for a while now. So, I’m going to do it. Be prepared for some solicitation in the near future. ; ) I’m going to do this grassroots style. And just as an affirmation, I’m going to let God deliver my first charity. I’m jetting all over the place and I have confidence that God will reveal a need. When he delivers, I’ll visit the charity, get some audio and video of what they need and see if I can get anyone to respond. And, just as a security net. I’m putting aside $365 right now. So, I’ll have at least that much to offer at least. And, if $365 is a little much for you… start a collection from your friends. Ten here, twenty there will add up. Make it a group donation. Start a donation cooperative. ; ) Whatever it takes.

This is exciting!! I can’t wait to see where this goes…

In the meantime, check out GoodSearch.com. It’s a search engine that donates money every time you search for a charity. Yup, you don’t even have to part with your hard earned cash on this one. Just make a quick search!

GoodSearch claims:
“61,000+ nonprofits are now on-board and 100 more are joining daily!”

Popularity: 4% [?]

This entry was posted on Friday, June 27th, 2008 at 6:54 pm. It is filed under Inspirational, Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.