21 days

I made it for 21 days.

I couldn’t even survive for a whole month.

$1.25

That’s it.  Not one penny more.

Did you know that 1.3 BILLION people in the world live in extreme poverty?  That’s the kind of number I can’t wrap my brain around.  So, I look at it like this…

26 % of the entire population of the world…

one-fourth of our planet’s people are dirt poor.

They live off less than $1.25 a day ~ every day.

Why did I never think about them before?

What was I busy doing?

What was I busy buying?

Eating?

Playing?

I just played a game.  An interesting, interactive online game.  Survive 125.  I read about a woman, Divya Patel, in India.  She has 4 children.  She… and her four babies… survive on $1.25 a day.  Every day.

I clicked Start Game… and I pretended… for just a moment… to be Divya.  The difference is…

I can eat, I can drink, I can sleep, I can read, I can write, I can provide for my children, I am safe, I am warm, I am dry…

I am on a compter… playing a game.

Divya is surviving ~ I pray ~ on $1.25 a day.

I only made it until day 21.  Then, my money ran out.  The game ended.

What happens when the real money runs out?  How does the reality end?

I read the stunning facts.  The haunting decisions that people in extreme poverty face every day.

Will I be able to pay for public school for my children?  I can’t teach them at home… because I can’t read

800 million people in the world are illiterate.  Two-thirds of these individuals are women.  I have two degrees… and hundreds of millions of people can’t read or write.  Have you ever thought about what you couldn’t do if you couldn’t read or write?  I just did.  I couldn’t do this.

Will I be able to provide my children with clean water?  With medications?  With food?

Every 6 seconds a child dies of hunger.  My eyes burn tears and my throat begins to close.

What did I throw in the trash after dinner tonight?

How many babies died while I cleaned my kitchen?

I am overcome.  What have I been doing?  Why didn’t I see?

I see now.

My eyes are wide open.

I throw my voice into the noise and utter a plea for the ones who can’t read or write… the ones who have never seen a computer… the ones who are barely surviving on $1.25 a day… every day.

I only made it 21 days.

58: Alliance is a global initiative to end extreme poverty by living out Isaiah 58.  Compassion is part of the 58: Alliance.  Sponsoring a child living in conditions of extreme poverty… being a sponsor provides a child with an opportunity to receive an education… to read and to write.  Sponsoring a child gives a child the opportunity to be healthy, through health monitoring, personal health and hygiene education, and provision of supplementary food when necessary.  Sponsoring a child gives the child a chance to participate in a local church-based program.  The child you sponsor will learn about Jesus!

For $38 per month, a child shackled by poverty… begins to break free ~ for the price of a new Wii game for my kids.

The compassion grows in my own little ones, who have been blessed with comfort.  I share what I have learned ~ their hearts long to share their own comfort…

take some of mine… share it with them…

Compassion.

What if my name were Divya Patel?  How long would I survive?

How long would you survive on $1.25 per day?  Try Survive 125.  Can you make it past 21 days?

Isaiah 58:7-9

Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?  Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.  Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.