MDG’s and Us

It’s hot outside, but what am I going to do about it?  I could lower the thermostat just a notch; I could open my refrigerator and get a cold drink; I could reach in the freezer for some ice cream; I could go outside and pretend to be a child again and run through the sprinkler; or I could fill a glass with ice, turn on the faucet and have iced water, or even stick my head under and let cold water soak my warm forehead.  In the amount of time that it has taken me to put these thoughts into words, 100 children under the age of 5 have died for lack of clean drinking water. 

There are many, many reasons why our Church – you and I – has made a commitment to eradicate global extreme poverty through support of the Millenium Development Goals, but the arrow that pierced my own heart was this one statistic:  every three seconds, a child dies from lack of clean water – that clear, tasteless liquid that we so take for granted.  Each of these children is as much a child of God as I am, as you are, and that means that a member of our “family” perishes every 3 seconds from lack of clean water.  That is unacceptable – but there is  hope.  The “family” seems to be pulling together.

Many of our parishes in DUSC are involved in various projects to support one or more of the MDG’s.  It would be uplifting and encouraging to us all to hear about those projects and ideas.  One of the most successful mission projects in The Episcopal Church is our own Partnership Cange, formed long before the MDG’s were articulated, and multiple parishes have joined together to adopt villages in Haiti.  We have parishes doing mission work in Peru and in Africa and, probably, in other places that we are not hearing about.  Together, the “family” is going to make a difference.  Please share your good works and your good news – and let’s all share our blessings with others. – Angela Daniel, MDG Contact for DUSC