Recent Posts by Carla Swanson Gawthrop

Horn of Africa crisis: 14 strategies to make an impact

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Horn of Africa crisis: Strategies to make an impact
(Editor’s note: In an international campaign to raise awareness about the drought and famine in the Horn of Africa, World Vision offices around the world are coming together to tolerate #faminenomore. Will you join us?) Why help? Why raise awareness? What could I possibly do to make an impact for the 12.4 million affected by drought and famine in the Horn of Africa? [From the photo above] When the maize crop failed yet again this year, Hadija Hassan Abdi, 28, took her children and hitched rides for 8 days and nights until she reached the safety of Burtinle camp in Somalia. Along the way she begged for food for her children from strangers. She has been in the camp only...
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[Bolivia bloggers] Day 4: A world apart but the same at heart

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Day 4 | bolivia bloggers
The following was written last night, on day 4 of the Bolivia bloggers trip in Cochabamba. Tonight I got an email from a colleague with a note from Charles Owubah, World Vision’s regional leader in East Africa. All I could thinks was this: my mind has been consumed with the people we’ve met here in Bolivia. Now I’m reminded of the 11.5 million people there affected by the drought. Charles tells the story of one of them: Atabo. “Yesterday I was in Lokori, Turkana East, in North Eastern Kenya where I met Atabo Ekaale.  Atabo is one-year-old but looks like six months old because he has almost nothing to eat. His mother, Lorenyi, is desperate because she wants her son to...
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Ask a humanitarian… Tough questions answered!

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Ask a humanitarian... | World Vision Blog
At the end of last week, Rachel Held Evans, one of the fabulous bloggers headed with us to Bolivia, asked her readers what tough questions they had about child sponsorship, humanitarian work, and World Vision. I dug for answers to the questions they asked with the help of colleagues across our organization. Perhaps you or others you know have wondered what the answers are to these questions. And if you have any other questions for us, just ask! Writing next time from Bolivia, Carla Here’s a couple of my fave questions on Rachel’s blog… (The follow is an excerpt from Rachel Held Evans’ interview “Ask a humanitarian… (Carla responds)“) Question from Elizabeth: How does child sponsorship help the community at...
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A “mom” to walk beside me

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Carla with her daughter and her mother. Photo courtesy of Carla Swanson Gawthrop.
At 24, I moved across the country by myself for a new job. At the time, my parents, as empty-nesters, moved to London, making the distance between us much, much farther — six time zones away. Having recently graduated from college, with a big move and new job before me, I was asking myself the typical “20-something” questions: What did my faith mean? What was God’s plan for me? Would I ever get married?! As a beginning step to discovering those answers for my life, I started volunteering with my new church’s youth group. One of the girls’ parents, Kay and Sandy, invited me over for dinner. Through Kay and Sandy, I was given what seemed like the two greatest...
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