echurch

written by Stephan Joubert

The recent earthquake in Haiti leaves one at a complete loss for words. How terrible isn’t it be to be dumped into such despair in one fleeting instant. Still, it is captivating to see how governments, aid organizations, and churches from across the globe opens their hearts and their hands with acts of assistance. Our world is truly flat. We are all interrelated even though we live on separate continents and islands. That’s why we can’t look away when people elsewhere on earth are hurting. That counts from Zimbabwe to Haiti. We should pray together when tragedies of nature strike elsewhere. We should stand up when injustice is victorious in neighboring countries. Each of us should do what we can in the Name of God. We need to pray, talk, protest, give… or report somewhere for duty.

written by Stephan Joubert

Did you know only about $20 billion is needed to substantially help the poorest of the poor throughout Africa and to stimulate sustainable economic growth? Is it really that difficult for the world to extend grace to their neighbors in a not too distant continent? While people in the US spend about $72 billion annually on diet foods, half of the world population has to survive on less than $2 per day. About $17 billion is spent on pet food annually in the United States, $50 billion on tobacco products in Europe and a chilling $105 billion on alcohol by European countries.

For crying out loud, people even spend more on ice cream in the United States every year than the meager $20 billion needed to gracefully alleviate Africa’s most basic needs. Anup Shah (3 July 2007, http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Poverty.asp) writes the following:

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