PARSON TO PERSON:  “A Sharing Opportunity”

The other evening I was reading the September/October issue of World Ark, the magazine put out by Heifer International. (Heifer International is an organization dedicated to ending hunger and saving the earth, largely by providing animals to families in developing countries).   Page four (4) stopped me in my tracks.  It contained some facts and figures that were shocking to say the least.  Here they are:

Ø      93,000,000 school-age children didn’t go to school in 2006

Ø      1 in 5 adults in the world can’t read

Ø      1.3% of total worldwide gross domestic product is spent on primary education.

Ø      1 in 3 children will never set foot in a school.      

Ø      14% of school-age children live in sub-Saharan Africa, but only 2.4% of the world’s public education budget is spent there.

Ø      Children from rural households are 4.5 times less likely to attend primary school than their urban counterparts.

Ø      33% of primary students in Niger are female.

Ø      67:1 is the pupil to teacher ratio in Mozambique primary schools.  Cambodia, 50:1, El Salvador 40:1; U.S. 14:1; Sweden 10:1 

Ø      #2 on the list of the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals is: “Achieve universal primary education.”

These stats focus on education, and it’s just one of the many needs in our nation and world.  October is the month we will participate in “The One Great Hour of Sharing” sponsored by Church World Service.  Informational materials and “hands-on” opportunities to help support the projects of the  “One Great Hour of Sharing” will be presented to you. 

    I hope you will become involved in this annual effort.  The needs around us can be so overwhelming that they stop us for doing anything.  But many people, each doing a little bit, accomplishes great good.