The Gift is you...

The gift really is you. Your time. Your experience. Your self. These simple things are what you have to give to the world. Through years working in the poorest areas of the US and now in the orphanages of South Africa, I reflect on how simple actions have incredible impact on the profound problems of our world. Be inspired by the people challenged by the incredible obstacles of poverty, disease and injustice as their simple actions entwined with our own create a more hopeful tomorrow.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

An Homage to the Dead

Every day, in common conversation, you hear people talking about the dead.

So many die. So many are sick. I stop myself from asking, "Why did she die?". The answer is painfully obvious.

A few of the Net Buddies gather to look at photos of themselves and their friends on my computer. I ask, "How is Boitumelo?". The children look down. I ask, "Where is Thabo?" The children look away. I don't need to ask why.

The sudden quiet, the turning of the head, the staring at the wall...that is the answer to my question.

HIV/AIDS is so pervasive. So many are sick. So many die.

The millions of dead are a silent explosion. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is a bomb-burst of trauma. It is an all pervasive, threatening specter of disease that eclipses the children's current happiness as well as their hoped-for futures.

So, I stop myself from asking.

The silence we share is an homage to the dead.