Recent Posts

Warnings of “a community with no food at all”

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Adel Sarkozi in Disaster Relief

The West Africa food crisis continues to intensify as drought tightens its grip on places like Mali. Could entire communities really be left without any food if action isn’t taken? The story of Zama and his family suggests that, indeed, they could....

Dealing with “First World Problems”

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Jonathan Lo in Conversations

My friends and I have a saying that we thought was unique — until we discovered that it already has a popular Twitter hashtag and YouTube video. “First World Problems.” At one time, we thought we’d create a blog based off the concept and make millions that we could donate to charities to save lives. But we weren’t the first to think of the idea. Woe is us. Maybe our disappoint is, in itself, a drop in the bucket of #firstworldproblems....

Q&A with our clean water expert in Uganda

Posted on March 10, 2012 by Rachael Dill Boyer in Causes

Leading up to World Water Day on March 22, we’re going to do a series of posts about our work in the area of water and sanitation, giving you some ideas of how to get involved. Back in November, I got to see some of our clean water programs in northern Uganda, a place that is still scarred by decades of brutal civil war with Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). I never knew how complex the solution to the problem of clean water could be — but I got to learn from some experts and ask a lot of questions. One of the most informative conversations I had was with John Steifel, World Vision’s Uganda water, sanitation, and hygiene...

Japan quake, one year later: Quiet persistence amid long recovery

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Hideaki Nakagawa in Disaster Relief

On March 11, 2011, the day of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan, Hideaki Nakagawa was being interviewed for a role at World Vision. Now an employee, he was a team leader for the meal preparation spaces established at evacuation centers for the disaster’s survivors. Here, he shares his thoughts and memories regarding the emergency response efforts of one year ago. * * * What I experienced on the afternoon of March 11, 2011, and in the days that followed, vividly come to mind as I write this — images of young students crying, while clinging to each other on the shaking patio of the World Vision office in downtown Tokyo; scenes of television news footage that showed...

Standing side-by-side with northern Uganda

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Nathaniel Hurd in Conversations

You may have noticed that there’s been a lot of talk recently about Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). That’s a good thing. Kony and the LRA terrorized northern Uganda for 20 years. They continue to terrorize the people of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan, and Central African Republic. It’s now time for you to harness your attention and passion: Act to do the most good for the children most hurt by Kony’s campaign of terror. The LRA continues to kill, maim, and abduct children in DRC, South Sudan, and Central African Republic. Mercifully, though, peace has come to northern Uganda. We now have the opportunity to join hand-in-hand with the people of this...