The Difference Between Africa and America

Yesterday I was previewing videos for a youth event called the 30 Hour Famine. It's World Vision's way of mobilizing Christian teens to raise awareness and money for starving children around the globe.

One video profiled a family in Kenya facing severe drought. The last good crop they produced was in 1998. That's 9 years ago! There was no water to be found anywhere.

No water = no crops = mass starvation!

At Christmas we visited Rhonda's parents. I took Bethany on a walk down through the woods and to the creek. In years past there were places where the creek was 3-4 feet deep and had fish that would swim upstream from the Mississippi river. This year it was bone dry - not even a puddle. It's been that way for at least a couple of years. Rhonda's parents have no explanation. It's just dry.

Rhonda's parent's lives are nearly unaffected.

As one of the 30 Hour Famine videos puts it (to the best of my memory):
"A drought in Africa means children die. A drought in America means we stop watering our yards."