I get asked all the time by my friends and family about what is going on in the world. There seems to be no shortage of crises and needs, and it’s hard to even keep up with all that is happening. As these conversations go on, one of the questions that inevitably comes up has to do with how one deals with it all without becoming jaded.
Even this weekend, I had a friend comment that just watching the news makes him feel callous. He looked me right in the eyes and said, “Be honest with me. Is it easier for you to just think of these things in terms of numbers and statistics?”
I had to think about that for a minute. I suppose it would be easier to think of the people we help simply as “beneficiaries” and to keep focused on the percentages and figures on a page. It would be simpler to de-humanize the people who are affected and afflicted around the world by just talking about the issues themselves. Hunger is easier to focus on than a specific person who is starving to death. It is much easier to think about Poverty as a concept rather than feeling the heartbreak of a child who is forced into prostitution because of it. And, if I am being honest, there are times when I do find myself looking at the “big picture” just so I can escape the emotional pain of individual portraits.
But that shell I retreat into is usually shattered every day – the moment I walk through my front door and my 6-year old daughter launches herself into my arms with gales of laughter and squeals of “daddy’s home!” You see, she is who I think of when I talk about our projects in Africa and Asia. It is her face I see when I think of children in poverty. When I know there are parents who wake up each day and have to tell their children that there is nothing to eat today, I imagine how I would feel if I had to say that to her. As I walk her to school each day, I consider all the children who won’t be educated because they have to work, or because they are too sick to attend or they simply don’t have the money to afford basic needs – much less a “luxury” like education.
She has become my anchor, my lens and my portrait. She grounds me, focuses me and makes me see the individuals rather than just the issues.
For instance, it was just a couple of months ago that conflict broke out in Ivory Coast on the west coast of Africa. This region is no stranger to bloodshed and violence – close neighbours Sierra Leone and Liberia have emerged from civil wars in the last decades that killed untold numbers of men, women and children. And it appeared that Ivory Coast was descending into similar violence and chaos. When the fighting began, thousands and thousands of families began fleeing their homes for safety. Neighbouring Liberia was inundated with people who had left everything and ran. Refugees piled in faster than we could imagine – men, women and children looking for a place to rest and be safe.
As people poured across the border, there were no refugee camps waiting - there was no place for them and no materials with which to construct them. It would be weeks before they could be set up. But the Liberians understood their plight. It was not that long ago that they had fled their homes and land – many of them into the safety of Ivory Coast. They saw themselves in the faces of these families. And they did what they had to – they opened up their homes and took in these refugees. They invited them in and did what they could to help.
And while that alone is admirable, there is something more to this that you should know. Liberia is a very poor country. It is considered “food insecure”. More than half the population of Liberia goes to sleep hungry every night. They don’t have enough food for themselves – and yet they willingly shared with those who had nothing. Simply put, the hungry were feeding the starving.
When I heard this, I had to ask myself, “if I could barely feed my daughter – my only child – would I take food away from her to help someone else?” I know what I want to think I would do. But these Liberian families know for sure what they would do – because they did it. Meal after meal. Day after day. Week after week. They shared with others from their “not enough”.
It didn’t take long for World Relief Canada and our partners – the Canadian Food Grains Bank, Tearfund UK and the Association of Evangelicals of Liberia – to take action to help out, and very quickly the Ivorian Refugees Assistance Project was born.
Just last week we received word that the first round of food distribution was completed and almost 270 metric tons of food was distributed to families in need. The food was distributed both to Ivorian refugees as well as Liberian families who had so generously given that they too were dealing with acute hunger. 5,500 families were supplied with food staples to ensure they would have the necessary nutrition. Over 3,700 of those were refugee families and some 1,700 were Liberian families whose communities were caring for the desperate Ivorians.
This food distribution is a good start to dealing with the situation. In fact, words cannot adequately describe the appreciation and thanks conveyed by the mothers and fathers whose children now have enough food to eat. However, this is not the end of the need. We will continue to work with these families to ensure they have food to eat for at least another three month period. Enough time for the families from Ivory Coast to be sure that it is safe to return to their homes and livelihoods. And sufficient food to ensure that the communities hosting them also have enough to eat while they are there.
Last week, my daughter came home from school telling us she was “starving”. I asked her if she had eaten her lunch. She said yes, but it wasn’t enough because one of her friends had forgotten to bring a lunch and she had to share hers. At that moment I was both proud and heartbroken. Proud that my daughter had stepped up and shared what she had with someone in need, and heartbroken to realize that too many people understand the reality of starvation in our world.
This month, we sent out a letter explaining more about Liberia and some of the other food projects that we have going on there. If you haven’t received in, you can read it on our website here. There are too many people hungry in this world. Too many parents having to comfort a child whose cries are the result of hunger pain. And yet, these same people willing share with those who have less. The hungry are feeding the starving.
Tonight my daughter and I are going to have a long conversation about how blessed we are to live in a country like Canada. Tonight, I am going to look into her eyes and thank God for two things: that she is willing to share what she has, and that she doesn’t have to starve to do it.
Eric Frans, CFRE
Director, Fund Development