Choosing To Hope

It was at my desk in my office in a multi-million dollar building when I first heard the news via Twitter.

It was a shocking image. A visual picture that my Americanized, middle-class mind wanted to quickly erase. It seemed more like an image from a Hollywood movie than an actual reality.

Were mothers really arriving at the border between Somalia and Kenya, after a journey that took weeks, with their dead babies strapped to their backs?

Was this really happening? Today? In 2011?

It was. And it still is.

An entire world away from my comfortable life in Anchorage, Alaska there are millions of people that are starving and dying because of the worst famine the world has seen in years

Millions? How can that be? My entire state doesn't even have a million people, yet there are SEVERAL million people? Starving? And dying?

There are reports that the roads to the borders are lined with people that have died on the journey, people that just wanted something that few of us here in America ever think twice about: food and water.

The more I read about this situation the more that I knew that I had to help. But how? How can someone in Anchorage, Alaska, nearly 8,000 miles away, help? How can anything I do even begin to make a difference?

And that's when it hit me. If I do nothing, it is guaranteed that I will have no impact. However, if I do something, no matter how insignificant it may seem, there is always the hope that change will occur.

I am choosing to hope. Will you do the same?
____________________________________________

2 Ways 2 Help:

Spread The Word: Use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and blogs to get the word out. There are far too many people that are unaware of the severity of this situation.

Give: Here is a list of organizations that you can give to that are making a difference in Somalia today.

Oxfam: A $50 donation will provide 200 people a day's supply of clean water.
Oxfam Website

One Day’s Wages: ODW has recently launched a “Horn of Africa Relief Fund” to provide immediate humanitarian response.
One Day's Wages Website

World Vision International: Has been working to fight hunger in this region for a long time and is positioned to make an immediate impact.
World Vision Website

Mercy Corps: Mercy Corps has teams in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya.
Mercy Corps Website