When I was a child, the adults in my life encouraged me to "join the clean plate club." I was told to remember the starving children of (fill in the blank with China, India, Africa, Armenia...) if I did not want to join the club. I was not nervy enough to retort, "So, send this to them." I don't even remember imagining sending my food to someone else as an option.
In 1975, I traveled outside the U.S. for the first time. In Bogotá, Colombia, I saw little children selling Chiclets gum. Then I saw those children going home for the night. Home was a large cardboard carton, carefully folded and stashed during the day, set up on the sidewalk as shelter from the mountain air during the night. Maybe mom or dad was the adult with them, I just assumed it was. In Cali, Colombia, I came face-to-face with the starving children my family threatened me with when I didn't clean my plate. Beautiful children, with big brown eyes, thrust their hands through the fence of the outdoor restaurant wanting my left-overs. The children in Colombia have haunted my dreams for years.
The summer of 2000 was my first mission trip to the Dominican Republic. There, I have been privileged to become friends with beautiful, brown-eyed children - children who do not have the expectations of three meals per day or a decent and free education. These children do not haunt my dreams, they enrich my life with their love. They also challenge me to do more than "join the clean plate club."The United Nations Millennium Summit, held in 2000, developed eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). World leaders from 189 countries pledged to meet the goals by 2015. This link goes to the UN site explaining the MDGs and how you can help: End Poverty
Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation has this invitation:
In solidarity with people of faith throughout the world and in response to the Anglican Communion's call, Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation invites you to commit on Thursday, September 25 to:
+Pray. Say prayers with special intention for the extreme poor throughout the world.
+Fast. Skip at least one meal in solidarity with the nearly 1 billion people who go to bed hungry each night. (As possible depending on health ... consult your doctor if in doubt)
+Witness. Participate in an online advocacy action promoting our government's fulfilling its promises to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
The motto of EGR is "What One Can Do." Will YOU be one more? The goals are clear:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
2. Achieve universal primary education.
3. Promote gender equality and empower women.
4. Reduce child mortality.
5. Improve maternal health.
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
7. Ensure environmental sustainability.
8. Create a global partnership for development with targets for aid, trade and debt relief.
Isn't this what Christ called us to do for each other?
From Micah 6:8 we read:
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
I thank God for my young Dominican friends and how they have helped me walk more humbly with my God. I believe that using the MDGs as a framework will help me do more justice in this world.
1 comment:
Hello. I'm visiting some of the MDG blogsites today, and I just wanted to comment on yours. It is beautifully written, and I resonated with so much of it. You did a great job on this post. Thanks.
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