Recent Posts

Food is an answer, but what’s the solution?

What if there was one nutrient that would take away feelings of constant fatigue, keep hearts beating regularly, and help kids to get better grades in school and reach their potential? What if this “magical” nutrient would prevent dizziness, provide strength and energy, protect against other diseases, keep mothers from dying during delivery, and keep babies alive past their fifth birthday? If you had access to that food, would you buy it for yourself? If you had it, would you give it away — even to someone halfway across the globe? In the world of global nutrition, that nutrient does exist. It is called iron. Iron is all over the place in America — beef, pork, chicken, seafood, beans, breads,...
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World Refugee Day: Highlighting a global crisis

Earlier this month, Collins Kaumba, a World Vision communicator in Zambia, shared his experience visiting a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sudan. His words were jarring: “Indelible memories of the suffering I saw in Darfur have followed me since the day I left Sudan…I have seen suffering and poverty in Zambia and other places in Africa — but not of the magnitude I saw when I visited Darfur’s camps…” A reader in Israel commented on the post and made note of the thousands of Sudanese refugees there who are watching the situation in their homeland as the South prepares for its independence in just a few weeks. Years of conflict in this African country have caused millions to...
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Fullness of life: A new father’s story

Editor’s note: In honor of Father’s Day, Pato Isquierdo, a communications officer in Ecuador (pictured above with his wife, Karly, and son, Matias), shares with us how becoming a new father has changed his perspective and lent new meaning to his work with World Vision. The bus was already entering Quito, Ecuador, at 9 p.m. I was fully loaded with cameras, a laptop, and back pain. But it was OK — I was finally arriving home. It was my first trip to a World Vision development community since I became a father. I just needed to get home and rest for the next day. But while riding the bus home, I found a whole new level of understanding of the...
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But I do not despair

Close your eyes and imagine this… Imagine if our culture was taken to the -nth degree, to its logical end. Maybe Lady Gaga is president. Maybe digital devices hang in front of our faces, precluding any unmediated communication. Maybe our nations war over water. Maybe norms about intimacy and privacy have melted. And maybe our speech has deteriorated into grunts, slang, and chuckles. If North American culture keeps it up, we could be in big trouble. Our culture is infatuated with stars like Justin Bieber, and our top TV show is even called “American Idol.” We revel in Charlie Sheen “winning.” Our king is LeBron. Chatroulette and PostSecret spotlight our basest tendencies and hidden shames. College grades are inflated. Polar...
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Here’s to the first 100 — and to the next

I’m the type of person who likes to celebrate everything — not just birthdays and major holidays. Other causes for celebration may include a work achievement (like a promotion or completing a project), a randomly special day of the week, or monthly anniversaries of a first date or first time trying a new food. You could say that I’m a believer that any reason to celebrate is a good reason to celebrate. And I’ve got a good reason to celebrate today: This marks the 100th post on the World Vision Blog! That’s 100 articles written by 44 different authors from all walks of life and faith — from Washington state to Washington, D.C., to Zambia to Japan. Our posts have...
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