Ask 5 for 5: A Hungry Child Can't Wait - A Guest Post

Today I'm going to introduce you to Sarah.  Well, actually, I'm going to let her introduce herself.  But thanks to my friend Lindsay for connecting us.  Please read her heartfelt words!

Guest Blogger: Sarah Lenssen from #Ask5for5

Family photos by Mike Fiechtner Photography

Thank you Krista and nearly 150 other bloggers from around the world for allowing me to share a story with you today, during Social Media Week.

A hungry child in East Africa can't wait. Her hunger consumes her while we decide if we'll respond and save her life. In Somalia, children are stumbling along for days, even weeks, on dangerous roads and with empty stomachs in search of food and water. Their crops failed for the third year in a row. All their animals died. They lost everything. Thousands are dying along the road before they find help in refugee camps. 

At my house, when my three children are hungry, they wait minutes for food, maybe an hour if dinner is approaching. Children affected by the food crisis in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia aren't so lucky. Did you know that the worst drought in 60 years is ravaging whole countries right now, as you read this? Famine, a term not used lightly, has been declared in Somalia. This is the world's first famine in 20 years. 12.4 million people are in need of emergency assistance and over 29,000 children have died in the last three months alone. A child is dying every 5 minutes. It it estimated that 750,000 people could die before this famine is over. Take a moment and let that settle in.

The media plays a major role in disasters. They have the power to draw the attention of society to respond--or not. Unfortunately, this horrific disaster has become merely a footnote in most national media outlets. News of the U.S. national debt squabble and the latest celebrity's baby bump dominate headlines. That is why I am thrilled that nearly 150 bloggers from all over the world are joining together today to use the power of social media to make their own headlines; to share the urgent need of the almost forgotten with their blog readers. Humans have the capacity to care deeply for those who are suffering, but in a situation like this when the numbers are too huge to grasp and the people so far away, we often feel like the little we can do will be a drop in the ocean, and don't do anything at all.

When news of the famine first hit the news in late July, I selfishly avoided it. I didn't want to read about it or hear about it because I knew I would feel overwhelmed and uncomfortable. I wanted to protect myself. I knew I would need to do something if I knew what was really happening. You see, this food crisis is personal. I have a 4-year-old son and a 1 yr-old daughter who were adopted from Ethiopia and born in regions now affected by the drought. If my children still lived in their home villages, they would be two of the 12.4 million. My children: extremely hungry and malnourished? Gulp. I think any one of us would do anything we could for our hungry child. But would you do something for another mother's hungry child?

My friend and World Vision staffer, Jon Warren, was recently in Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya--the largest refugee camp in the world with over 400,000 people. He told me the story of Isnino Siyat, 22, a mother who walked for 10 days and nights with her husband, 1 yr-old-baby, Suleiman, and 4 yr.-old son Adan Hussein, fleeing the drought in Somalia. When she arrived at Dadaab, she built the family a shelter with borrowed materials while carrying her baby on her back. Even her dress is borrowed. As she sat in the shelter on her second night in camp she told Jon, "I left because of hunger. It is a very horrible drought which finished both our livestock and our farm." The family lost their 5 cows and 10 goats one by one over 3 months, as grazing lands dried up. "We don't have enough food now...our food is finished. I am really worried about the future of my children and myself if the situation continues."

Will you help a child like Baby Suleiman? Ask5for5 is a dream built upon the belief that you will.

That something I knew I would need to do became a campaign called #Ask5for5 to raise awareness and funds for famine and drought victims. The concept is simple, give $5 and ask five of your friends to give $5, and then they each ask five of their friends to give $5 and so on--in nine generations of 5x5x5...we could raise $2.4 Million! In one month, over 750 people have donated over $25,000! I set up a fundraiser at See Your Impact and 100% of the funds will go to World Vision, an organization that has been fighting hunger in the Horn of Africa for decades and will continue long after this famine has ended. Donations can multiply up to 5 times in impact by government grants to help provide emergency food, clean water, agricultural support,
healthcare, and other vital assistance to children and families suffering in the Horn.

I need you to help me save lives. It's so so simple; here's what you need to do:

1. Donate $5 or more on this page (http://seeyourimpact.org/members/ask5for5)
2. Send an email to your friends and ask them to join us.
3. Share #Ask5for5 on Facebook and Twitter!

I'm looking for another 100 bloggers to share this post on their blogs throughout Social Media Week. Email me at ask5for5@gmail.com if you're interested in participating this week.

A hungry child doesn't wait. She doesn't wait for us to finish the other things on our to-do list, or get to it next month when we might have a little more money to give. She doesn't wait for us to decide if she's important enough to deserve a response. She will only wait as long as her weakened little body will hold on...please respond now and help save her life. Ask 5 for 5.

Thank you on behalf of all of those who will be helped--you are saving lives and changing history.

p.s. Please don't move on to the next website before you donate and email your friends right now. It only takes 5 minutes and just $5, and if you're life is busy like mine, you probably won't get back to it later. Let's not be a generation that ignores hundreds of thousands of starving people, instead let's leave a legacy of compassion. You have the opportunity to save a life today!

Thanks Sarah, for sharing about this so that it makes us think.

Gifts of Compassion

Since Christmas is really about Jesus birthday we want Cory to grow up knowing the real meaning of the season, not thinking it's about Santa bringing him gifts.

When I was a kid we made a birthday cake for Jesus and sang to him.  We'll be doing that this year, but what about the gifts part?

I've heard lots of ideas recently about how you can give Jesus a gift.  Write something down that you want to work on in your own life and give it to him, etc.  But I think for a 3 year old perhaps something more tangible is needed!

Enter Gifts of Compassion.  Some of you may have heard, seen, or perhaps used the World Vision gift catalog.  This one is very similar, but since we chose to support Compassion this is the one we will use.  Basically you can give a gift to a family that will help them significantly.  Anything from chickens and cows to soccer balls and small business start-up money.  There's something for every budget from $10 on up.

As a family we'll sit down on Christmas or Christmas Eve and decide what fits our budget and what we would like to give.  In this time of year when it seems all about getting or at the very least reciprocal giving, this is a great way to remember the One who actually gave His all for us.

Another idea: Do you have anyone in your life who seems to have it all?  Or is just really hard to buy for?  Perhaps you could buy a Compassion gift in their name.  Find a token that represents that gift or even have your kids draw a picture and present it to them in a card.  I flaked out on that this year, but I'm definitely keeping it in mind for next year!

No, our child is not deprived of presents either, but we chose to have them come from his family rather than Santa.  St. Nicholas visited his shoes on the 6th of December, a German tradition, with a real story behind it.

Foster?

Quick, what's the first thing you think of when someone mentions foster care?

Kids with no parents?  An overworked system?  Kids getting shuffled from home to home?  All of the above?

May is deemed National Foster Care Month and AdoptUSKids would like to share some stats with us about the foster care system.

Did you know it would take less than 1% of the U.S. population to provide a family for every child in foster care? 

May is National Foster Care Month and there has never been a greater need to bring attention to children waiting for forever homes.  More than 463,000 children are currently in foster care and 123,000 children are waiting to be adopted. 

Children in foster care are loving children.  They are children like Shaquane and Edlina and Albert.  Every child deserves to have a home with caring and supportive parents. 

Help us spread the message this month to reach all Americans and teach them about the love and joy that foster care adoption can bring to your life.

Visit www.adoptuskids.org to learn more about fostering and adopting. You can also join our online communities on Facebook and Twitter. 

I know it takes a commitment to be a foster family and right now I don't think our family is in the right place to do that.  But it simply blows my mind that if less than 1% of people would consider being foster families then every child in the system would have a permanent home.

What can you do today to spread the word about foster care and adoption?  Check out this website for more ideas!

Count Your Kids!

So, have you heard about the census coming up this month? Did you know it's only taken once every 10 years?

You should be receiving a census form by the end of March and guess what? It's super important that you fill it out! Not only for you, but for your kids sake.

Want to know why?

The US Government uses the number of kids counted on the census to determine where federal dollars go for many of your local programs. If your kids aren't counted then your state and city/county won't get money for your kid for things like Education Grants and Children's Health Insurance - among many other programs.

As a (stay-home) teacher with a husband who's a teacher I know that money comes in to our schools depending on the number of kids who live in the school district boundary. Direct funding for your school might not depend on census numbers, but many of the special programs and grants do use these numbers!

Children can't fill out their own forms and in the last census it was estimated that 1 million children under 10 went uncounted. Don't let your kid be one of these!

Fill out your census form and return it as soon as you can... so it doesn't get lost in the shuffle and neither do your kids!

This information was provided by the network Global Influence as a public service.

Listen Up!

I'm a big fan of hearing. Aren't we all? We need our hearing for a million different things. For me, music is important as I'm a musician. But I like hearing nature as well and sometimes that requires super fine hearing.

In our world today we are constantly bombarded by more and more gadgets that make noise. Some of those we can control the volume on, some we can't. Here's some info on protecting our, and especially our kid's, hearing.

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Did you know that when MP3 players are purchased as gifts, the majority of purchasers are moms? That finding emerged at the Mommy Tech summit at the recently concluded Consumer Electronics Show.

But do you know about the potential risks? Kids often don't know how to use audio technology safely and they can harm their hearing as a result. In fact, hearing loss among young people is reported to be on the rise and there are strong concerns that a generation of young people could end up with prevalent hearing loss.

"For some time, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) has warned that hearing loss in the United States could rise significantly due to the misuse of personal audio technology," ASHA President Tommie L. Robinson, Jr. explains. "Unfortunately, a report released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation cites some alarming trends about excessive entertainment media consumption among our nation's children, indirectly supporting ASHA's concerns. This should be a warning to parents that they must regulate children's exposure and fully understand the potential health threats associated with misuse and over exposure to such technologies."

"ASHA will continue to bring these issues to the forefront and appreciates the Kaiser Family Foundation's contributions to the national dialogue," Robinson adds.

According to a 2004 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, children were reported as being exposed to 6 hours and 21 minutes of media (TV, music, internet, etc) per day. By 2009, this statistic had increased dramatically to 7 hours and 38 minutes per day. When media multitasking is taken into account, this leaps to 10 hours and 45 minutes per day. This massive consumption of media has led to decreased grades in school and ASHA contends it puts kids at an increased risk of hearing loss.

One thing that is clear from the study is that parents can be very positive influencers on how their children use entertainment media.

How You Can Help

Whether your child received an MP3 player, gaming device, cell phone, laptop, or any other device with headphones, don't overlook the important health threat of hearing loss. Now is the time to reach out to other parents about the importance of hearing loss prevention, the damaging effects of excessive media consumption, and the resources available to them through ASHA.

Here are two simple ways to protect your children's - and your own - hearing.

· Keep the volume down. A good guide is half volume.

· Limit listening time. Give your hearing 'quiet breaks'.


Find more information and statistics at ASHA's website. You can also follow their Twitter feed or fan them on Facebook to get real time updates on their work.

Content of this post is provided by the Global Influence Network.