Today, and for every Thursday in the month of June, Ann Marie (the founder of Giving Back To Africa) is Giving Up food. Not only is this a sacrificial means of Giving Up, it is also a purposeful way to Give Up in solidarity with the extreme poverty that many Congolese find themselves living in.
In Ann Marie's own words...
"There is nothing more concrete than food. I would like to Give Up what I would normally spend on food each Thursday in solidarity with the children in Congo whose parents frequently face the daily reality of "delestage" (black out); this term is often used in Kinshasa to describe the choice I, as a parent must often face -- choosing who will not eat today (delestage) so that someone else in the family may eat. Today, my two older children will face "delestage" so my two younger children can eat...In Giving Up food each Thursday and practicing mindfulness, I hope I will be able to not only support Giving Back to Africa's investment in the children of Congo but also I hope this Giving Up will make me more mindful and thankful for the many blessings in my life as I become more mindful of the children in Congo I have come to deeply love."
Delestage is a real way of life for so many Congolese families (click here to read the NY Times article about the realities of poverty and hunger and delestage in the Congo). Surely some of us, in solidarity with the children Giving Back To Africa serves, can also Give Up a meal, or a day of meals, just once or maybe several times. Will you join Ann Marie and Giving Back To Africa and the Congolese children hungry not just for food, but for hope?
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