Statistics

Africa has always been a continent with statistics that are pretty awful. The widespread effect of HIV/AIDS, the short lifespan of adults, the staggering infant mortality rate, the orphan epidemic, hunger, starvation, and the list can go on and on. I am going to apologize in advance for this comment, but Africa was easier as a statistic. Our family gave money to help with Aids research, orphan care centers, sponsored a child from Kenya for 12 years, and gave to charities helping to provide clean water, however it was all so far away and it did not change the way we lived or did things.

Now those jobless, hopeless adults live outside my fence, the orphans are both inside and outside my fence, AIDS is everywhere with 1:3 infected, and hunger is everywhere I go. It is not a statistic anymore, it is our reality. I think it has hit me very hard as I watched our friend rushing back and forth from the hospital for 5 days. His 10 month old daughter was very ill and she took a bad turn to the point that the doctors told her parents there was no hope. He woke me up at 6:10 that morning and needed a car to get to the hospital so I gave him our car keys. He was shaking because of the bad news. I prayed so hard for her and thankfully God provided her healing. I KNOW what the stats are for infants in this country, but they are my friends and I didn’t want them to be one of those statistics. It was so hard to see them worried and praying with all their might and being forced to go to the worst hospital I have ever seen because it was all they could afford. God got them through it, but it made my heart anxious because life is not kind to those living in 3rd world countries, but these are my friends and I love them.

I hope that my first paragraph did not seem heartless to you but I think there are those who can relate. We hear of AIDS, starvation and other horrible things, but until you face it, it is not so personal. I cared but they were not my friends and were not like Aunts and Uncles to my kids. They are people just like you and me and trying desperately every day to make enough money to feed their families and to keep their kids healthy. Trying to offer their kids the best education they can. I am not sure how I could have been so blind before and not seen how much they are like me and my family. Just because they were on the other side of the world did not mean they should have just been a statistic. I have learned my lesson and God has blessed me with new friends and please pray with me that they will be healthy, happy, employed, and go to bed with full stomachs each night.
God Bless You,
Anita