Recent Posts

Ask a humanitarian… Tough questions answered!

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Carla Swanson Gawthrop in Child Sponsorship, Conversations

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...

Hunger, Jesus, Stalin, and Casey Anthony

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Lindsey Talerico-Hedren in Conversations

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...

5 days out: Background on Bolivia

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Lindsey Talerico-Hedren in Child Sponsorship

Less than one week to go before our team of 11 is in Bolivia, we’re printing our travel itineraries and making dinner and to-do lists to leave at home while we’re gone. In a team phone call last week, I shared a trip brief (thanks to the assistance of many of my esteemed colleagues) with our team that provides cultural and political context to the areas we’ll be visiting, photo and video guidelines, and key contact information. The portion below — with facts and info about World Vision’s work in Bolivia — we’re sharing with you as extended team members joining us (via our blogs and Twitter) in Bolivia, July 30-August 7. More to come later this week… BOLIVIA, officially...

What would you paddle 6,000 miles for?

Posted on July 23, 2011 by Lindsey Talerico-Hedren in Causes

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a... kayak? | World Vision Blog

About a week ago I got this great email from a colleague telling me all about this recent college graduate who is embarking on a 15-month adventure around the Great Loop. (I confess I didn’t know what the Great Loop is so I looked it up: The Great Loop is a continuous waterway around the eastern United States and Canada… The route ranges from 5,000 to 7,500 miles, passing through many states and several climate zones. Source: http://www.paddleforwells.com) So, needless, to say… the Great Loop is basically an extraordinary waterway that would be no easy or quick trip for anyone. And what’s more? Josh Tart is going to paddle the whole thing in his kayak. (This is where you and...

Tipping points: First famine of the 21st century in Somalia, East Africa

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Guest blogger in Disaster Relief

Editor’s note: Following yesterday’s UN declaration of famine in two regions of southern Somalia, Tristan Clements, country program manager with World Vision’s humanitarian emergency affairs team in Australia, comments on the complexities of drought and hunger, and their impact on vulnerable communities in East Africa. We hear the word “famine” a lot, particularly in reference to Africa and food-related problems. In fact, the word is often overused. Famine is a very specific event — a really, really terrible one — in which we see lots of people of all ages dying as a result of food shortages. For the United Nations, the word has a technical definition of two or more people out of 10,000 dying each day, and acute...