Category Archives: Causes

Fast facts: Hunger

Editor’s note: June is National Hunger Awareness Month. This weekend, more than 8,000 students across the country will participate in World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine. They’ll experience hunger firsthand, while raising funds to care for children who face this stark reality every day — going to bed hungry. In the past half-decade, global food prices have reached historic highs. The grocery store — and restaurants, when we can afford them — account for greater portions of our paychecks. Eating in or eating out costs more now than it did even seven or eight years ago. But where increasing food prices are merely a source of frustration for Americans, they can be devastating to people who live in poverty in other...
Share

All in a day’s work for caregiver volunteers

Editor’s note: This month is the five-year anniversary of the World Vision U.S. Caregiver Kits program — an initiative that equips volunteers with kits containing simple items that assist in caring for those affected by HIV and AIDS. To honor the outstanding difference this program has made in the lives of caregivers and their clients, we asked Miyon to describe how World Vision volunteer caregivers are an asset to their communities. The thing I love most about Zambia is the people. Sure, the landscape is beautiful — big open land dotted with crops and thatched roof huts, blue skies with fluffy clouds. The wildlife is fantastic — lions, giraffes, leopards, hippos. But it’s the spirit of the people who call...
Share

Fast facts: Malaria [infographic]

In honor of World Malaria Day, observed every year on April 25 as a day of awareness and recognition for global efforts to end malaria, we challenge you to educate yourself on the facts, raise awareness, and take action against this deadly but preventable disease. Malaria is a disease of massive proportions that disproportionately impacts children. Each year, approximately 780,000 people die from malaria, 85 percent of whom are children under 5. World Vision works in 62 countries affected by malaria, 23 of which are in Africa. Impact on children and families Malaria is the 4th leading cause of death for children globally. According to latest figures, globally 8% of under-five child deaths are attributable to malaria and in Africa...
Share

ACT:S to end malaria

Editor’s note: In lieu of World Malaria Day (Monday, April 25th), the following post was written for us by our friends at RELEVANT Magazine. Recently, the RELEVANT staff became aware of a problem. If you watch the news (who does that anymore?), or follow the news feed on Facebook or check in online with the media outlet of your choice, you know the world is in trouble. Our world’s issues have created issues that have created more issues that could lead one to believe the world, in its current state, is not right. How does one respond when the world seems to be on fire? Apathy is our worldview Some have chosen to bury their heads in the sand and...
Share

The valley

Editor’s note: Upon returning from her trip to Kenya earlier this month, Abby wrote the following reflection. Read also the prequel to this post, Modern times, ancient stories. I’ve never been in a place so desolate, so barren. Sand and scrubby trees stretched for miles. We drove for hours without seeing another person, save for one herdsman begging for water in 105-degree heat. When I stepped out of the car, the sand burned my feet through the soles of my shoes. Two weeks ago I traveled with a World Vision team to Turkana — a marginalized, isolated territory in northwest Kenya’s Rift Valley. When you arrive there, the locals tell you, “You’ve left Kenya.” They don’t consider themselves part of...
Share