Jill thought that the only thing that could save him was a blood transfusion that would provide the nutients that he couldn’t absorb through eating. I had the priviledge to give Rehok the transfusion necessary to keep him alive.

I shared the story in my post “a high holy moment in Old Fangak,” on November 27, 2011. Jill’s email I received yesterday completes the story.

Hi Ray!

its Jill – I think you remember Rehok – who I think has your blood?

Well we sent him to Leer – actually we sent him twice to Leer.  They were not able to solve the problem so I sent him to an American Mission hospital outside of Nairobi (Kijabe).  They did a huge surgery, to away some of his bowel, but have him all hooked up again!.  The doc there said that Rehok and his mom are all smiles.

What a lot of travel, money, time etc – but to have your stomach working together is really fantastic.

And your blood was surely key!

Thanks

I am certainly not deserving of thanks. I only did what all of us would do if given the chance.

The real thanks is due to a doctor who is so thoroughly dedicated and committed to the remote village she has adopted as her own that she will stop at nothing to provide them the absolutely best health care in her power.

I am truly humbled and honored to have Jill Seaman as a friend.

The photos which follow are ones from my original post which Mike Ward took the night of the transfusion and then two days later. And now, my “little brother” Rehok is “all hooked up again,” and well on his way to a full recovery and a healthy future.

The first two photos are from the panel discussion, and the other three are images from our display booth.

There are almost 35,000 Rotarians here from over 100 nations around the world. There is a fleet of over 600 buses in use to transport Rotarians to the Center, and still travel time averages between an hour and a half and two hours a day, and that is if you just go to and from the Center once a day. Several of us attended a special event after the last seeion yestereday and we spent another two and a half hours on buses.

From the time we get the the Rotary Action Group Against Hunger & Malnutrition booth we are answering question about meal packaging and describing our program nonstop.  We have made some wonderful contacts with interested Rotarians from across the US and in dozens of other countries, as well.

And other than Allen battling a little bit of food poisoning yesterday, the team is faring remarkably well. Thanks to the Cipro we are all carrying,Allen has come through ok, and is ready for our panel discussion this afternoon.

More to come, so stay tuned in…

The first photo isn’t a parking lot…it’s typical traffic in Kuala Lumpur.

Hunger is rampant and the needs are immense, yet there is the real possiblity of change for the better if the growing conflict along the border with Sudan does not contiune to escalate. But the expanding fighting is creating more tragedy every day, increasing the desperation and hunger of those trapped by the conflict.

The following article by William Lambers, reprinted in its entirity, is a powerful description of the current state of affairs.

Hunger grows from conflict between South Sudan and Sudan

Civilians living in the border areas between South Sudan and Sudan are caught in the deadly crossfire between two rival nations. Lives have been lost, families displaced from their homes and communities. And it could get much worse.

The UN World Food Programme’s (WFP) Sudan director Chris Nikoi says, “The food security situation in the border states was already precarious. Now the border clashes threaten to displace more people and disrupt already fragile livelihoods.”

WFP, which plans to feed at least 2.7 million people in South Sudan this year, is facing a more than 100 million dollar shortage for relief operations. The UN agency relies entirely on voluntary funding for hunger relief missions. Many more resources will be needed by WFP should the conflict continue to escalate. 

There is fear the two nations will start an all-out war, a return to the level of suffering during the two-decade conflict that ended in 2005.

President Obama said directly to both Sudan and South Sudan last month, “It doesn’t have to be this way. Conflict is not inevitable. You still have a choice.” 

South Sudan and Sudan can choose to implement the much needed “safe demilitarized border zone” which the UN Security Council is urging them to adopt. By pulling back their forces, they can stop the bloodshed, lower tensions and the risk of miscalculations by their forces, and allow humanitarian aid to flow more freely. There is tremendous hunger and poverty in this region.

Food, water, medicine, shelter, and education need to constitute the sole focus on both sides of the border. This can only happen once Sudan and South Sudan pull their armies back from the brink.

John Quincy Adams once said about a buildup of arms on the Great Lakes along the U.S. border with British-ruled Canada in 1816, “the moral and political tendency of such a system must be to war and not to peace.” The U.S. and Britain chose then to demilitarize rather than escalate, having had enough of conflict from previous years. Treaties followed rather than war.

Such diplomacy is the only answer to South Sudan and Sudan’s struggle too. For it can open the only road to peace for the two countries: dialogue and negotiation.

We have also gone through about a third of the over fifty resumes and CVs we have received for the SHN Malaysian Director position, and even have been able to set up two interviews while we are here. And later this evening we have a dinner meeting scheduled with the District Governor of Rotary International for Malaysia.

After being in Kuala Lumpur five times in the past year and a half, the three of us are already feeling like this is a little like home away from home. It is especially nice to be able to reconnect with our partners we have been working with during that time.

Tomorrow is our last day here and it is going to be another full day of meetings. Then on Saturday we will fly out early in the morning to Bangkok where we will take part in the Rotary International Convention.

We have been so busy since arriving here the time seems to have just disappeared. And I have a feeling the same thing is going to happen once we arrive at the Rotary International Convention in Bangkok.

Stay tuned. Hopefully there will be some photos in upcoming posts.

Chiniese traditions are quite distinct, with more of a direct focus on familial relationships, yet there is also a strong understanding about one’s obligation to help those in need it this tradition, as well. Our moral obligation to meet the needs of the poor is universal.

Mencius, commonly regarded to be the most authoritative interpreter of Confucius, lived about 300 years before the Christian era. In one of his works he describes a meeting with King Hui of Liang. Mencius writes that he told the king:

There are people dying from famine on the roads, and you do not issue the stores of your granaries for them. When people die, you say” It is not owing to me; it is owing to the year.” In what does this differ from stabbing a man and killing him, and then saying, “It was not I, it was the weapon?”

Our responsiblity for taking care of each other is not new. We know that to whom much has been given, much is required. We just need to begin realizing that we have far more required of us than we have been willing to accept.

Like King Hui of Liang, most of us have personal granaries overflowing at a time when there are children dying from lack of food. I think the knife is in our hand…

Getting up at 3:30 makes for a long day, and this especially true when you know there are 30 plus hours of international travel ahead of you before you get to stop. Nevertheless, Allen, Dominic and I are all excited about this Souteast Asia trip.

First, it will be good to visit with all our Malaysian partners, and continue our work on opening our first Asian office. Then we get to meet Lee Warren in Bangkok where we will all attend the Rotary International Convention. Again, we will be speaking and spreading the word about the expansion of our meal packaging program to Rotarians from around the world.

After that, the three of us will travel to Vietnam where will be monitoring one of our longtime partners, Children of Vietnam. It will be my second visit to Ben Wilson’s program based in the Danang area of Vietnam. This is extremely meaningful for me personally as this was the area of Vietnam where I served as a Marine in 1968–69 during the Vietnam War.

After we leave Children of Vietnam I will travel to Singapore where I have several visits with Stop Hunger Now donors and friends. Allen and Dominic will head back to Thailand where they will begin a well-deserved week of vacation.

The journey has officially begun, and for the next three weeks we will be working hard to help create the global movement to end hunger in our lifetime. Stay tuned for updates and photos of the trip.

But, “working together we can end hunger in our lifetime” is more than just a catchy tag line or an oft repeated mantra. It is a crucial strategy in the fight against the unspeakable horror of global hunger.

What none of us could hope to accomplish working alone is completely achievable when we all work together.Every single one of us can play a critical role in ending the obscenity of hunger. And all of us working together can make an impact large enough to change the world forever. This is the vision of Stop Hunger Now.

Making a life-saving diffference is simple. We just have to care enough to take action. We don’t have to make superhuman efforts or travel to far-flung lands. We just need to be aware that our daily decisions impact the lives of those in chronic hunger and poverty.

Let me give you an example taken from Peter Singer’s book, THE LIFE YOU CAN SAVE. In the preface, Dr. Singer writes that something as seemingly inconsequential as the water we choose to drink could help save a life. And he is right.

Most of us have perfectly safe tap water readily available 24 hours a day (an unimaginable luxury for most of our human family). Yet, how many of us make the conscious decision to buy bottled water costing over a dollar a bottle?

That small decision means we spend more on one unnecessary bottle of water than billions of people have to live on for an entire day. Their children die from lack of basic health care they cannot afford, and they are constantly stalked by hunger.

Just by making the simple (I would suggest “no brainer”) decision to drink free water, each of us could free up money that would save countless lives. Simple, isn’t it?

Working together we can end hunger in our lifetime. It’s all about the decisions we make. It’s all about caring.

From my perspective, as limited as it admittedly is, Peter Singer is a voice of reason with a message that needs a far wider audience. Using rational argument and the power of pure ethics, Singer shows us how our response to world poverty and hunger is not only completely insufficient, but morally indefensible.

Singer knows that compassion is not enough to end the ravages of poverty. I am currently reading THE LIFE YOU CAN SAVE. In it Singer uses ethical arguments, case studies, and examples to demonstrate how each of us could help change the world forever.

The LIFE YOU CAN SAVE has been described by THE NEW YORK TIMES as “part rational argument, part stinging manifesto, part handbook.” I haven’t finished reading it yet, but I think THE TIMES has nailed it.

This is a “must read book” for all of us who are serious about our relationship with the least of these among us. It is one of those inspiring reads which will challenge how you think about what you give and do to help the poor. “Powerful and clarifying…Singer sets up a demanding ethical compass for human behavior.” states the SUNDAY STAR LEDGER

THE LIFE YOU CAN SAVE: How to DO Your Part to End World Poverty 
by Peter Singer

Random House Trade Paperback. 2010
ISBN 978–0–8129–8156–8
$15.00

One reason, in fact an important reason, for voting early is that I wanted to have a say in the kind of community in which I live. I think that is important, and if I didn’t vote then I would be abdicating my right to help influence such decisions.

I have always believed that the Christian gospel can be boiled down to one word: love. Jesus spoke about the entire law being reduced down to love. He said that the greatest commandment was to love God with all our heart and mind and soul…and the second greatest commandment was like the first, to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Later in the New Testament the writer of the First Letter of John wrote that “perfect love casts out fear.” I truly believe in the truth of that statement.

I voted so that I could live in a community based on love, not the fear of different lifestyles and different preferences than my own. God is love, and the gospel in one word is love. And because that love completely transcends my understanding, I do not have to be the abitrator of the choices others might make.

My hope is that all of those so fearful of those living differently than themselves would just rest in the love that surrounds us, and allow the unmerited grace of God to take care of everything else.

Our time and our efforts could much better be spent in advocating and working on behalf of our family that lives in constant fear of starvation than to preach fear of alternative lifestyles. That’s why I voted early. And that’s why I cast my vote for love.