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thinking globally
Nov. 20th, 2009 12:34 pmI've said before just how moved I was by the NYC marathon experience. And it wasn't just the runners, but also talking with the UNICEF staffers about what we can accomplish. Sometimes this stuff may seem somewhat abstract. The I Believe in Zero campaign aims to reduce the number of kids who die each day from preventable causes from 24,000 to 0. That's each day. Multiply that by 365 days a year, that's nearly 9 million dead children who shouldn't have died.
Peter Wingfield blogged about how deeply the whole experience was for him. (http://web.me.com/peterwingfield/Peters_NY_Marathon_Blog/Blog/Entries/2009/11/11_Nothing_Less.html) and this was great because, in a way, it validated that I wasn't alone in feeling like I was on the edge of something very big and very important.
This morning I was talking to our tech guy at work. We first talked about Kenyans in the marathon since he grew up in Kenya and used to run track. Then we talked about kids and UNICEF. He knows on a very familiar level just how deep the problem is for children in undeveloped nations. His family served as missionaries in Africa for most of his childhood. Our conversation turned to simple things, like how the lack of a good well and clean drinking water was very common in many areas. In the US we just take it for granted that when our kids are thirsty we can just turn on the tap and give them a drink. We don't have to hike down to a spring, that may or may not be contaminated, and haul the water back to the house. That's not even talking about dearth of medical professionals, medicines, etc.
So, what am I going to do about it? I don't know. Certainly continue to donate to Project Edan. But I would like to think about expanding this more. Something to think about.
Peter Wingfield blogged about how deeply the whole experience was for him. (http://web.me.com/peterwingfield/Peters_NY_Marathon_Blog/Blog/Entries/2009/11/11_Nothing_Less.html) and this was great because, in a way, it validated that I wasn't alone in feeling like I was on the edge of something very big and very important.
This morning I was talking to our tech guy at work. We first talked about Kenyans in the marathon since he grew up in Kenya and used to run track. Then we talked about kids and UNICEF. He knows on a very familiar level just how deep the problem is for children in undeveloped nations. His family served as missionaries in Africa for most of his childhood. Our conversation turned to simple things, like how the lack of a good well and clean drinking water was very common in many areas. In the US we just take it for granted that when our kids are thirsty we can just turn on the tap and give them a drink. We don't have to hike down to a spring, that may or may not be contaminated, and haul the water back to the house. That's not even talking about dearth of medical professionals, medicines, etc.
So, what am I going to do about it? I don't know. Certainly continue to donate to Project Edan. But I would like to think about expanding this more. Something to think about.
