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RSSDo Not Despair
by The Rev. Barbara Cawthorne Crafton
8/7/2005
But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" -- Matthew 14:31
The frightening news of bombings in London, just four weeks ago, came in the midst of the G8 conference in Scotland and drowned out most of the news from there. But there was also good news to hear, including the most sustained and serious attention to Africa the G8 has ever offered. Significant segments of crushing African debt were forgiven, with the expectation that more might be forthcoming. There was much discussion of responses to famine in Africa, and of the AIDS pandemic that grips the entire continent. Amid the shock and fear of the terrorist attack and the emerging death count from London, representatives left Scotland in a hopeful mood.
Workers in Episcopal Relief and Development's African programs are delighted to hear anything that suggests that the prosperous nations might bring their resources to bear on Africa's problems. They are problems so enormous that the temptation is to turn away in despair from what looks like a lost cause. But in the meantime, there is urgent work to be done.
There will be no harvest at all in Zimbabwe, where more than 700,000 citizens have lost their homes or their businesses through the misguided urban renewal plans of their own government. More than 2.4 million people will be in need of food support. In Niger, years of drought have been followed, this year, by a devastating locust infestation. 150,000 children are in immediate danger of starving to death, and 3.6 million people will need food support, as well as feed for those cattle which have survived. The subsistence farmers of rural northern Ghana are overwhelmed by an unusually long dry season this year and consistent low rainfall which has crippled the harvest for the past several years. 2.5 million people are malnourished.
Peter got out of the boat and made a brave beginning. But then he saw what he was up against, and he lost heart and began to sink. Jesus was there, though, and reached out his hand, so that Peter could regain his confidence. Jesus was with him. He was not alone.
We do not face the problems of the world alone in front of our television sets. We have each other. Episcopal Relief and Development never works alone in its response to monumental human suffering, but reaches out a hand to the church and ecumenical service agencies already on the ground to respond together. Food aid and agricultural help is already on the way to Ghana, to Zimbabwe, to Niger and throughout Africa. We have not forgotten them, and we do not know the meaning of the word "despair."
