Hurting in Africa

I have been bombarded with Africa this week.

On Tuesday, Paul Rusesabegina came and spoke at WSU about the atrocities in Rwanda and how the same killing and slaughter is now going on in Darfur, Sudan.

On Thursday, I listened to a speech given by Bono to the President about the suffering in Africa as a continent. AIDS is hugely prevalent and speading like mad. Innocent people suffer from this disease there, not just those who are sexualy promiscuous.

On Friday, I watched a video talking about the huge outbreaks of malaria. In the particular part of Africa that the video was being filmed, there were only 6 doctors for the 100,000 people living in the area. Malaria can be prevented by such simple methods such as hanging a mosquito net around their bed. Yet several thousand people die from this disease for lack of supplies and medicine.

On Friday I also watched a video about refugees returning to their homeland of Angola after a war. Some had been born in the refugee camps and were going home for the first time. Yet when they finally arrived after a long journey, they discovered that land mines had been planted all over the country, even in their back yards.

This morning, Sunday, my pastor mentioned more grief in Africa. Beautiful little girls as young as 5 years old are subjected to female circumcision. Because of the primitave methods in which this "operation" is performed, the process is sometimes fatal. A popular legend in Africa is that a man can be cured of AIDS if he sleeps with a virgin. You can see where that is going...

All this is to say that there is so much hurt and pain in Africa right now, so much of which is preventable.

Bono said that 6500 people die every day in Africa.

Please pray for this sick and hurting place and consider ways to get involved in relieving the suffering in Africa.

Matthew 25:31-46