From the Micah Challenge

On June 7, Bishop Desmond Tutu addressed the G8 leaders at Kirchentag, a big church festival in Germany right before a G8 meeting with African leaders. Here is a portion of his talk:

I am not an object of pity.
I am a man.
I was created in the image of God.
I am precious with a preciousness that cannot be measured.
I am a temple of the Holy Spirit.
I am redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ my Saviour.
...
You leaders ask me, what I need, what I want.
Well, I am asking you the same:
What do you need? What do you want?
I want the same!

Referring to Luke 16:19-31,

Yes, I may lie at your gate,
covered in the soil of poverty,
in the sores of HIV and AIDS,
in the sores of hunger,
in the sores of ignorance.
Remember Lazarus and the rich man
and what happened afterwards.
...
I am a child of God.
I am not a step-child of God.
I am an African.
I am your brother.

Duing Sept 2000, all 189 countries of the UN signed the Millenium Development, which broadly had a goal to end global poverty by 2015. July 7 marked the midpoint of the timeframe, and so far, we're going backwards. But here is one of the targets that we can help with:

Target 3: Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling

'The children most likely to drop out of school or to not attend at all are those from poorer households or living in rural areas. For example, nearly a third of children of primary school age in rural areas of the developing world are out of school, compared with 18 per cent of children in the same age group living in cities."

If you're wondering what you can do, take advantage of the Back to School sales and assemble some School Kits for World Vision. With BTS sales, I'm betting each kit costs under $2, yet will enable a child to attend school who otherwise might not be able to. It's kind of a "for lack of a nail the battle was lost"--except in this case it's a pencil. I'm going to send some out in August, and if you want me to send yours with mine, just let me know and I'll get a bigger box :)

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