I’m turning into a junkie and I can’t help it. Really, I can’t. Just about everyday, I find myself consumed with books, blogs, and websites. Today, I was easily distracted for a solid 30 minutes. I wanted to hear her story, I wanted to learn her name, and I wanted to respond. I wanted to be reminded of the hope she found.
Because someone gave, her community will have clean water; free from bacteria & other disease causing organisms.
There is this deep need within me to fight for justice. I have fallen in love with people and organizations passionate to do the same. Do the (RED) thing and get on board with Gap, Hallmark, & Apple, who are creating products to help you help eliminate AIDS in Africa. Or, stand as ONE and help make poverty history.
Wells (or Boreholes as they call them in Mozambique) are not only providing clean water, but they’re saving lives. 
Community members and leaders are trained and educated on basic well equipment maintenance. People travel from all over to share the clean water. Community is created. Life is restored. I stood from a distance and watched a little girl pump the handle of the well. Clean, cool, crisp water poured into a bucket. She smiled. She’s been healthier since the deep well was drilled in her village. We climbed back into the vehicles and reached for our bottles of water. “It’s important to stay hydrated,” we were reminded. “Definitely,” I said, feeling guilty as I took a long drink to cool my body.
I was stuck in between Africa & America.
I learned a big lesson that day. Denying myself a drink from a water bottle wasn’t going to allow more people access to clean water. At the same rate, denying my ability to respond to a need that would allow more people access to clean water wouldn’t do any more good than feeling guilty as I tilted the bottle and drank some water in a country that lacks a basic survival necessity.
I’ve struggled this Christmas with exchanging gifts with friends and family. There really isn’t anything any of us need, so why don’t we forego the entire tradition? But then I remembered the lesson I learned one really hot day in Africa. There is nothing wrong with enjoying gift exchanges — but there is a way to make your gift more purposeful.
I stood at a boutique last week, talking with a lady from Uganda. I admitted I could easily spend the same amount of money (if not more) on a handbag at a department store — but it would be so much more meaningful if I knew my money was helping to make life a little less difficult for a family in Uganda. And so began my Christmas shopping; each dollar making a difference around Uganda, Rwanda, Mozambique, and China.
I’ve been stuck in between Africa and America since I’ve been back from Mozambique. Honestly, most days, I don’t know what to do about it. But today, I’ve found a way to make the season bright for my friends and family in Africa and in America, by steering this passion to “exercise kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight.”
Merry Christmas.
