Was My Starbucks Coffee This Morning Worth It?

Nabakoza died this weekend. I posted about her last week. This is her. She died from starvation. When I first found her story, I had prayed that she would be saved. Renee did everything she could to save Nabakoza, but more importantly during Nabakoza's last few days, Renee loved her. She showed Nabakoza Christ's love by feeding her, giving her water, cleaning up her puke, and loving on her. I found out through Renee's blog that Nabakoza was starved by her family because she had a disability.

"Sweet Nabakoza lived a life full of incredible pain, and suffering; she lived a life of neglect. A life of abuse. She grew up in a home where because of her disability she was denied the right to eat food, wear clothes, and go to school; she was even denied the right to be loved by her own mother. Can you even begin to imagine what that would be like?"

I know we aren't all called to move to Africa or some foreign country, but we are supposed to do something about this starvation, physical abuse, poverty, lack of education, sexual abuse, sickness...should I keep going? There are so many great organizations out there that provide education to these countries, medical help, food, and job education for women and men. No, we cant all be over there, but we can support these kinds of organizations, and as believers (or just good people who care about others, but if you are not a believer....I highly recommend it:)) we are supposed to!

I got a Starbucks coffee this morning. It has become an addiction of mine. It costs about $4 every time I get one, and I get one at least three times a week. Besides the calories (which kill me) it is a huge waste of money. If I stopped getting my Starbucks three times a week, I would be able to give an extra $48 a month. That could easily feed Nabakoza's entire family for about half a year! (plus it would help me lose weight, which is a win/win situation.)

Here are some great organizations that John and I have given to or have heard great things about. World Concern My brother Mark and sister in law Erin are both currently working for World Concern. They are based in Seattle and go to the most poverty stricken countries and meet that country's biggest need. (for example, they work with children in sex slave trafficking over in Asia, provide jobs for people in Haittie by paying them to build back their own town, de-worm kids over in Africa (only $44 de-worms 100 people) etc..)It is a great organization and I'm really happy to have learned about it even if it did steal one of my favorite families away from me and move them across the country...

Then there is Compassion . This is also a great program. You get to choose a child from any of their countries and sponsor that child. We have a few over in Africa and are able to write letters back and forth just by logging onto our Compassion account and clicking on our child's name (so fun!). By sponsoring them you are providing them an education, clean water, food, medical care, and important life-skills training. You can sponsor one child for only $38 a month. You can also send them birthday money, Christmas money, or a family gift. One of our kids bought a goat and sent us picture of his goat which was awesome!

There is Amazima Ministries which is Katie's ministry. I have written about her a ton! I love her. Amazima Ministries operates a sponsorship program for 400 orphaned children. These children are provided an education, school supplies,
3 meals a day, and medical care. They are also provided with spiritual encouragement and attend a weekly Bible study/fellowship program. Another aspect of Amazima Ministries, is the feeding program provided to the displaced Karamojong people of the Masese community. These people are Uganda's poorest and often considered
outcasts. A lunch meal is served to over 1,200 children Monday - Friday and a plate of food is sent home for dinner. This allows the children to attend school and not go to the street in town to beg. Also provided is basic medical care, Bible study and general health training.

And finally, I will give you Renee's organization Serving His Children . She is the one who took in Nabakoza and fed and cared for her. She, along with Katie, provides food for over 1200 children M-F. She also brings in starving children and adults, cleans up their throw up (without complaining I hear) and nourishes them back to health (or in Nabakoza's case, loves on them and cares for them until the Lord takes them home).

Any of these organizations would be a great place to donate money to and I encourage you to take that step and find ways that you can stop spending money and start giving it to people who are in need. We have to start waking up every morning and realizing that everything is NOT okay. We might be over here in our comfy little suburbs, but in other countries (and even here to an extent...but don't get me started on Medicaid, food stamps, and welfare, or I'll never stop. Come work at a non profit organization, deal with my clients, and then tell me we need to provide more help for them...its crap man...) people are dying of starvation or being trafficked into sex slavery, and it's not ok!

I want to leave you with part of a note that Renee wrote to Nabakoza after she died. Its so sweet and because I'm a dork, it brought me to tears...in bed..while John was sleeping...seriously, I was like a blubbering idiot.

"You should know that thousands of people are praying for you and your family. I know your Mom is feeling so sad about the past 23 years; I told her you forgave her. My heart hurts for the hard life you had to live, but your pain was not in vain my friend. Because of you hearts are being stirred, God is calling out a people who desire to bring about change in this world. You made a difference in this world, Nabakoza! You matter. It’s a privilege and an honor to call you my friend, my sister. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your life even for a short time. Thank you for forever changing mine. I love and miss you. See you at the golden gates… "

So, was my Starbucks worth it this morning? Nope.