why Africa?

-15,000 Africans are dying each day of preventable diseases such as malaria, TB, and HIV. That's a death every 6 seconds! For malaria, that's a death one $10 bed net can prevent!!

-1 in 4 children are chronically malnourished and underweight. That's 25% that don't know when their next meal is.

-In Sub-Sahara Africa, HIV/AIDS has orphaned 12 million children. That's TWELVE MILLION children without a momma or daddy to tuck them in at night, or tell them they are loved, or wipe their tears.

-Child mortality in Africa is 16% with some countries, like Sierra Leone, exceeding 28%. This means that 1 in 4 children will die before the age of 5!! In the US, the rate is 2 out of 1000 children. This is horribly wrong.

-Many have little to no access to clean water (In Sierra Leone, not one hospital has running water!!).  Dirty, contaminated water is used for cooking and drinking. This in turn leads to disease. And without access to medical care, this can ultimately lead to death. 

(Stats from Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns.)

These are only five of too many...

.this. breaks. my. heart.