I was working last night... We had our Girls Brigade and because one of the leaders wasn't going to be there, I offered to put together a wee presentation about the earthquake in Haiti... not necessarily about all the facts that the girls would have heard about through the media, but just helping them to realise that it is happening to real people. People like you and me...
In order to do this I had spent yesterday afternoon doing some research... did you know that Haiti is a grand total of 4,322 miles away from Glasgow?
It seems a long way away doesn't it? BUt at the same time, for a short period the media brings it into our living room. the pain, the anguish. But it is only for a short period. In a few weeks time we may not have forgotten about Haiti, but we won't be confronted with images of the destruction everyday... and lets be honest, most people will forget. But for the families who were broken on that awful day, they'll be remembering for a long time yet.
But yeh, the GB have been doing a general theme of 'Same but different' this year... So i did the presentation bringing questions etc into it which helped them to realise how the people in Haiti were the same as us, but what was different. I showed them a Video by Tearfund at the end of the presentation (it wasn't that long), and at the end of the video the person appealed for people not to underestimate what they could do to help with the disaster in Haiti....
...so after the video I posed the question 'So what can we do?' to the girls...
Now I asked that question wanting more than anything for them all to realise that if nothing else, at least they could pray (which they did)... But last night the girls (as part of their service badge) had been asked to take along cakes etc which they had made in order to sell to the other sections, leader and parents in order to raise some money for the GB and BB folk going to LUWERO in Uganda later in the year... But one of the girls said 'Why don't we send the money we raise tonight to help in Haiti'... and that was a moment I will remember for a while. Yes I had considered asking the girls if they would like to do that, Yes I could have suggested it to them... But for them to realise that Haiti is currently a bigger need and that we could do something else in the future for the group going to luwero just showed me that they understood.
There are so many things seeking out money. But sometimes, you just need to give to those who need it even more.
There was a Haitian lady on the news the other day... she'd come across some bodies in a dumping pit after the earthquake which had obviously been dumped there, and although none of them were her family we was upset.. she said to the reporter...
"But they are all our brothers and sisters. We are all made by the one God."
Amen. May we act and respond in such a way that demonstrates that fact =)
ps Haiti... just over £60 coming your way... a big achievement for the girls =) - hope it helps!Labels: fundraising, GB, Haiti, LUWERO |
