be HOPE to her!!!!

My shoulders, neck, and back ache as I type this, but my SOUL is elated with excitement about the possibilities!

Today at 11:00, a big group of us gathered at the Student Speech Zone for Be Hope to Her, an event that has happened this week (mostly today) at 10 other campuses across the nation. The event was hosted by Nuru International, which is a sweet organization that is devoted to ending extreme poverty in the world, one community at a time. Be Hope To Her has the same mission--the money raised for this event is going to build 4 wells in Africa, so the women who live in those places will no longer have to spend their entire days fetching water. So we walked for them with heavy buckets of water (but by far lighter than their loads)...

But let me back up a bit!

We were each given the option of buying a "kanga" (a long piece of cloth that you wrap and put on your head) to place under our buckets of water, or using a t-shirt to serve as a kanga. After an awesome motivational talk about exactly WHY we are doing this, we headed out on our walks of solidarity. Each girl received a big yellow bucket to carry down to the river, while the guys held signs that told people about what we were doing.

Trekking down to the river, even with an empty bucket, was hard work. I really couldn't imagine having to make the journey down to the river (but ten times the distance), in scorching heat, barefoot, 2-3 times a day EVERY day. Moreover, we had people encouraging us along the way, telling us "awesome job!" and asking if we needed their help to readjust our kangas...it hit me that women in Africa have no encouragement or help from the men of their villages...it's just what they do. Day in, day out. They don't have time for education or any of the luxuries we can experience because we have TIME. Also, many times these women are fetching water that will in turn make them and their families sick. What an incredibly broken world.

We stopped down by the amphitheater to fill our buckets. We filled them using empty milk containers. Most of us chose to fill them up the whole way at first, wanting to truly feel the weight that the women of Africa feel...this proved to be really really difficult, though. As soon as the bucket was on my head, my neck started shaking under the weight. My steps were short and unsure, and I was totally going against what my arms were telling me by keeping them up on the bucket--they were screaming at me!! It was sooo awesome, though, to be walking with other gals. We encouraged each other with the phrase, "Tuko Pamoja," which means "We are together." I think it's Swahili? Anyway, the water sloshed out uncontrollably, and we had to stop a few times here and there to empty our buckets a little...a choice that African women don't have. At one point, my bucket was so heavy that I ran into a telephone pole! I felt incredibly weak, but God and the girls around me were just so loving through the process...and though my body was extremely tired(I realized what a weakling I am today!), my heart was strengthened by His presence and the purpose for all of this.

As Carli (the girl I was walking with) and I neared our destination, my bucket fell off my head. Thankfully, Carli (who is so incredibly sweet!) was willing to share some of her load, but we couldn't figure out how to get the buckets back on our heads! We asked some guys if they would help us, and I'm sure they were in a hurry and didn't understand what was going on, but their response really surprised us. They said, "Nah, you guys look like you're having enough fun." I don't know where their hearts are, and this encounter was maybe one of those "wrong time wrong place" type of deals, but it reminded me of how America treats the issue of extreme poverty....these people are desperate, and we have what they need...

"There isn't enough for everyone's greed, but there is more than enough for everyone's need."

...but we just pretend that this problem doesn't exist. We have the mindset that places like Africa are over there, so there's nothing we can do. Wrong! Today, we made a difference, and made the lights of this world to shine just a little brighter by our efforts...you can too!!

We rounded the corner into Woodburn Circle where everyone was waiting to take our buckets and give us fresh drinking water. What would it look like if "What if" were met with "Why not?" Let's not wait around for opportunities to act in love, because they are everywhere.

I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened before


TUKO PAMOJA!!!!!!