Think Bigg

In case you’ve already worn out your (Product) RED t-shirt, check out this new t-shirt alternative from Charity:. (Yes, the colon is there on purpose!)

According to their website, Charity: is a nonprofit organization stimulating greater global awareness about extreme poverty, educating the public, and provoking compassionate and intelligent giving. They appear to be working on water distribution and well-drilling in the remote regions of Africa.

For just $20, plus $4 shipping and handling, this fashion t-shirt (generously donated by Banana Republic) could be yours! And unlike the (Product) RED line, 100% of these t-shirt sales go to charity.

Check out their water donation options as well — buying a just single virtual bottle of water could provide clean water to someone who needs it for 15 years!

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I just spent the past 12 hours attending the 2006 Global Summit on AIDS at the Saddleback Church campus in Lake Forest, California.

Only halfway through the conference, and without the benefit of more than a sixty minute stretch to digest what has been a deluge of information about the disease, its effects, its victims, its transmission and its prevention, I thought I’d pass along some initial thoughts.

For any who read this who are not part of the faith community, I hope you’ll indulge the blatently personal nature of this post. It was just that kind of day.

First, it’s perhaps the expected response after attending a seminar like this one, but I left the building this evening with one overwhelming thought: that our country, our society, our churches are not doing nearly enough to stop the rampage of this pandemic. I have not done nearly enough.

Dr. Robert Redfield, University of Maryland professor and the co-founder of the Institute for Human Virology, made a powerful statement when he told us that HIV is not an easy disease to contract. There are essentially only three reasons why anyone on this planet has HIV/AIDS — sexual transmission, intravenous drug use or mother-child transmission. With just three known causes that are so easily preventable, why are there so many people on this planet dead or dying because of it? Why do they leave behind so many innocent and unprotected children? Why do we not do more to stop this from happening?

Second, it is a horrible irony that this disease that has done so much to tear apart families, that leaves behind greiving, desperate and perhaps also infected loved ones, that this disease is often contracted in the most intimate and sacred relationships we as human beings know. In relationships between husbands and wives. Between mothers and children. And maybe for this reason it seems especially cruel.

Third, as Dr. Edward Green, a Harvard University anthropologist and AIDS prevention authority, reminded us, people contract this virus because they engage in high risk behaviors. But who will best empower individuals with the tools to change those behaviors? Business groups will not likely change people’s behavior patterns. Governments will not likely change people’s behavior patterns. But faith-based organizations are uniquely positioned to realign the moral compass that guides people’s behavior choices. If churches do not step up to address this crisis, the third prong of the three-legged stool — business, government, and church — will have failed of its essential purpose.

Finally, I am reminded and convicted the Church is Us. That Christians cannot call themselves Christians without truly modeling the love Christ showed to the poor and the needy, to the sick and the dying, to the widow and the orphan. You cannot read through the gospels without being confronted on every page with Jesus’ care and concern for “the least of these.” You cannot say you know the God of Love without loving your neighbor. Who is my neighbor? When Jesus was asked this question, He told the story of the Good Samaritan.

My prayer today was simply this: Dear God, please break the heart of your church until compassion flows from every wounded pore. The world is so desperate for it.

I look forward to see what tomorrow’s sessions hold!

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Think of it as the developing world’s dirty little secret: the growing water and sanitation crisis around the world is responsible for the deaths of two million people, mostly children under five, each year.

According to the NY Times,

…more than a third of the world’s people — 2.6 billion — have no decent place to go to the bathroom, while more than a billion get water for drinking, washing and cooking from sources polluted by human and animal feces.

At any time, almost half the people in developing countries have one or more of the main illnesses associated with inadequate water and sanitation and fill half the hospital beds, the report said. They are plagued by diarrhea, cholera, typhoid, trachoma and parasitic worms.

Contrary to popular assumption, according to the recently released United Nations Human Development Report, poverty, unequal access, wars, migration and unsustainable consumption patterns are the leading causes of the water crisis rather than just scarcity of freshwater resources.

The report estimates that less than half of what rich countries spend on bottled water — $10 billion a year — would be enough to halve the percentage of people without access to safe drinking water and to provide them with simple pit latrines.

How can you help? Global Giving, a nonprofit organization founded by two former World Bank executives, is offering you the chance to provide clean water to places like Mozambique, India, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Ethiopia. Your donation, in contribution with others, can directly fund the sanitation projects in areas that need it most.

Why not take the $50 a month you spend on Starbucks, and give someone else the gift of clean water?

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Despite the Millenium Development Goal to halve the proportion of underfed people in the world by 2015, the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization reports that the actual number of hungry people in the world is actually increasing.

According to BBC News,

Some 820m people in the developing world were hungry in 2001-2003, only 3m fewer than 1990-1992, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said.

Although the overall proportion of hungry people in the world has fallen, that is only down to population growth.

FAO head Jacques Diouf said the “sad reality” was that little had been done.

While the number of hungry people has fallen in most parts of the world, sub-Saharan Africa will increasingly bear the burden of the world’s hunger. The FAO now predicts that by 2015, sub-Saharan Africa will be home to 30% of the world’s hungry, compared with 20% in 1990-1992.

On a positive note, however, the FAO report also states that big population increases mean the world is, at least, on track to reach the first Millennium Development Goal on hunger. While one in five people were malnourished in 1990-1992, FAO projections suggest it could fall to 10% by 2015.

How can you help? Check out the Friends of the World Food Program and take action to meet the first Millenium Development Goal!

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How much do I wish I were in Chicago yesterday? Check out my two biggest heros, Bono and Oprah, shopping together to benefit (PRODUCT)RED:

What is (PRODUCT) RED?

(RED) was created by Bono and Bobby Shriver, Chairman of DATA, to raise awareness and money for The Global Fund by teaming up with the world’s most iconic brands to produce (PRODUCT) RED-branded products. A percentage of each (PRODUCT) RED product sold is given to The Global Fund. The money helps women and children with HIV/AIDS in Africa.

The best part? (RED) is not a charity; it’s a business model. Read the (RED) Manifesto:

So go shopping! And watch today’s Oprah Show for more details on how you can get involved.

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