Reach One More . . .

My thoughts:
Now, I didn't know a lot about this whole G8 thing until extremely recently. I'm talkin' last Thursday here. And from what I've learned, seen on TV, heard, etc, this is a huge deal. I mean, I've always known that that there has been poverty in Africa and that AIDS is a big deal over there that is very much out of hand. But I've never had the desire or concern about it until now. Maybe it's because Ginger is going over there, she's taking a present action. But knowing that there has been stuff our nation has been able to do for so long, but we haven't is really frustrating. I mean, if we gave only 1% of our government budget to Africa to help with poverty and AIDS, that's a really large amount of money!! My question is why have we waited? What's the deal? I mean, yeah, it was important to free the Iraqians from tyranny and to help with the tsunami and we wanted revenge on Bin Laden, so that's why we chased him... but Africa has been in poverty for hundreds of years!!!!! Ugh.. Let's just keep praying that our President and the rest of the leaders involved in the G8 make some good decisions that will help the entire continent of Africa and the millions (or billions?) of people who live there.

Some facts: (these just kill me)
- Around the world, 104 million children do not go to school because of poverty.
- Each day more than 8,000 people die of AIDS.
- 15 million children have already lost one or both parents to AIDS. Unless more is done, there will be 25 million of these children around the world by 2010.
- ONE person in seven goes to bed hungry each night.
- ONE person in seven lacks access to clean water for drinking, cooking or washing.
- ONE in five people has to survive on less than $1 a day

If we gave an additional ONE percent of our national budget to fight world poverty and AIDS, we can help: (**This is what we want Pres Bush to pull for!**)
Prevent 10 million children from becoming AIDS orphans
Send 104 million children to grade school
Provide clean water to almost 900 million people around the globe
Save almost 6.5 million children under 5 from dying of diseases that could be prevented with low-cost measures like vaccinations or a well for clean water

(All facts from www.worldvision.org)

This is what else the ONE Campaign (www.one.org) is calling for:
*Trade Justice: Reform trade rules so poor countries can earn sustainable incomes.
*Drop the Debt: Cancel 100 percent of the debts owed by the poorest countries.
*More and Better Aid: Help the poorest people of the world fight poverty, AIDS and hunger at a cost equal to just ONE percent more of the U.S. budget, on a clear timetable.

And here are a few things of what GOD says about what we should be doing...

Proverbs 31:8 "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute."

Luke 3:11 "John answered, 'the man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.'"

James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

If you want to know what you can pray for specifically, click on the following link (PDF)
http://worldvision.sitestream.com/ONE/prayerpoints.pdf