Category Archives: Conversations

[Bolivia bloggers] Day 5: Social justice exhaustion

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Social justice exhaustion | World Vision Blog
The following is one piece of a blog written last night, on day 5 of the Bolivia bloggers trip in Cochabamba. Can I be honest? I think many of us who are engaged in the blogging world (Christian or otherwise) are suffering from a disease. Not a disease like HIV or diabetes. Maybe it’s not even a disease. Maybe it’s a disorder or a mental or emotional illness. Perhaps it’s some sort of spiritual discrepancy. Or maybe it’s something like boredom. We’re overstimulated perhaps. Whatever category it should be listed under, a whole bunch of us are suffering from something called social justice exhaustion. Other people refer to it as poverty overload....
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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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Hunger, Jesus, Stalin, and Casey Anthony

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Drought in East Africa | World Vision Blog
Consider these recent headlines: Situation in Horn of Africa set to get worse for millions of children UN declares famine in two regions of southern Somalia First famine of the 21st century in Somalia, East Africa 10 million at risk from East Africa drought UN: Nearly 17 million need food in Horn of Africa Now, consider this: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink …” –Matthew 25:35-36 And this: As Christians, what responsibility do we have to care for the world’s poor? And, lastly, this: “For I was hungry, while you had all you needed. I was thirsty, but you drank bottled water.” The following is an excerpt from Rich...
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‘We may be poor, but we’re not stupid’ — the reality of life in Africa

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The reality of life in Africa | World VIsion Blog
Stories are powerful. They can bring hope, or despair. Laughter, or sorrow. And, as we who work for World Vision and other humanitarian agencies know very, very well, stories can educate and enlighten people. They can help achieve a lot of good. One woman whose story last week received a lot of accolades and criticism is Zimbabwean writer NoViolet Bulawayo. Her book, “Hitting Budapest,” has won what many consider to be Africa’s top award for literature, the Caine Prize. “The language of ‘Hitting Budapest’ crackles,” the prize’s leading judge commented to CNN. “Here we encounter…a gang reminiscent of ‘Clockwork Orange.’ But these are children, poor and violated and hungry. This is a story with moral power and weight [that] has...
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Rich Stearns on Independence, God, and South Sudan

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Pre-independence celebrations in Juba. ©2011 Abraham Nhial/World Vision
God wasn’t the first thing on my mind on Monday, the Fourth of July. Truthfully, the only credit I can give myself is that I was thanking God for the three-day weekend. It’s not far-fetched to say that most Americans likely think of Independence Day as more of an outdoor show than an obvious reason to thank and honor God. That’s why articles like Rich Stearns’ in the Huffington Post are kind of a divine challenge for me — a reminder that peace and freedom are reasons to thank God, and that with Independence there is struggle, but also hope. May South Sudan’s first Independence Day be that of the latter. And may Rich’s article challenge you as it has...
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