Just Imagine…
You are sleeping in bed when suddenly an
ear-splitting blast rocks your home. You look out your window and see airplanes
bombing your neighbourhood. Bombs are pounding everywhere, and every time you
hear another airplane coming, your stomach turns, and you fear the sound of the
next bomb may be the last thing you and your family ever hear on this earth.
After
somehow making it through to the next day, you take your three children—the
oldest of whom is seven and the youngest two—and head for the safety of the
border. None of your children have shoes to protect their feet from the rocky
desert roads. Mile after mile, you carry the youngest one in your arms, close
to your heart. But the feet of the other two are cracked and bleeding, and
their faces are caked with dust and tears.
When you
arrive at the Pakistani border, your heart sinks: It’s closed. You look around
and see dozens of other families languishing on the side of the road without
food or water. You have come so far, only to share their fate.
After a few days, a refugee camp forms, and all you
can do is wait.
Eventually,
winter comes and freezing temperatures move like a ghost from tent to tent,
snatching 20 children every night. As you sleep, you hold your two-year-old son
close, praying that he will not die from exposure like so many others. The cold
bites like daggers into your feet, but your only concern is for your children.
Three
months pass, and finally someone says it’s safe to return to your village.
Everyone starts the hard journey home with the hope of peace in his or her
heart. Along the way, these hopes are challenged by the sight of burned-out
cars and buildings everywhere, which bear testimony to the danger that has only
recently passed.
Finally,
you arrive at your village. You turn a corner and suddenly all hope turns to
despair as you see the burned-out walls that are all that remains of your home.
All of your clothes, your dishes, your tools and your memories are gone. How
are you going to survive? Where will you find clean water? Where will you get
your next meal?
This is the reality faced by 2-3 million
Afghan families who left everything they had, fleeing war and drought when the
US launched its attack last year against Al-Qaeda fighters based in
Afghanistan. But they are not the only people group to suffer such a fate. Far
from it.
A Grim Picture
Every day, millions of refugees and displaced persons around the world
seek shelter, food and refuge. Poverty in developing nations continues at
unimaginable levels. Epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted
diseases, cholera and influenza challenge the already overburdened global
health care system. Child mortality rates are increasing in many regions
of the world. The United Nations estimates that ten million children will die
from starvation in the next ten years. AIDS alone will create 40 million
orphans by the year 2020!
While these statistics paint a grim
picture of the future, the opportunity for action has never been
greater. Prosperity in the West has brought abundant resources. Unity
among various elements of the society has created working relationships
unthinkable a couple years ago. Modern technology, transportation systems, communication
networks and available resources enable us to reach new levels of effectiveness
in bringing hope to the world’s needy.
A Ray of
Hope
Global Hope Network (GHN), a
subsidiary of Campus Crusade for Christ, International, is one relief agency
that is taking advantage of these new efficiencies to improve the way aid is
delivered to needy people around the world. GHN is a compassionate humanitarian
organization that provides resources, personnel and services to relief efforts,
development projects, agencies and communities worldwide. By partnering
with other organizations and plugging into an already established network of
over 600,000 volunteers around the world, they efficiently provide resources
and manpower to help alleviate the world’s needs. Their main areas of focus at
the moment include Africa and the Middle East.
“We’re dealing with desperate people,” says International Director Hal
Jones. “They’re literally worried about where they’re going to get their next
meal, not where they’re going to go to school next year.”
GHN’s efforts are divided among the
following areas:
- Emergency Rapid Response Relief
- Natural Disaster Relief
- Disease and Poverty mediation, without
creating ongoing dependency - Recruiting short-term volunteer teams for
existing agencies - Networking community leaders and
organizations for effective application of resources to existing problems
You Can Get Involved
Each one of these areas requires the efforts of dozens short and long-term
volunteers to make them happen. Jones says people with medical, agricultural
and ESL skills are in particular demand right now. But GHN is able to use
anyone who is willing to help.
“People who are retired or who have taken early retirement from their
work are ideal candidates to help out with GHN,” says Jones. “They have the
skills, and they also have the time to put them to work in a third-world
setting.”
But you don’t have to go overseas to get involved. GHN needs plenty of
people at home raising funds, supporting volunteers and getting their churches
involved in relief efforts. One way to do this is through GHN’s Friendship
Box program, which offers “hope from home to home” by having people in
North America provide people in Afghanistan with a box of essential items, such
as clothing and school supplies. These can be packed and sent overseas by
individuals or churches. Jones says GHN is also looking for churches that can
help raise money to ship millions of dollars of food, medicine and other gifts
in kind overseas.
Anyone interested in finding out more about how they can get involved
with GHN should visit their web site at www.globalhopenetwork.org or
e-mail Hal Jones at rephjones@aol.com