WILLOW Magazine, Issue 1, 2007 Do Something by Valerie Bell Five things anyone can do right now to impact AIDS 1 Find a world issue that resonates with you. There’s a very good chance it’s AIDS related. Are you bothered by the numbers who are OVCs — i.e. AIDS’ orphans and vulnerable children? Does making antiretroviral drugs affordable appeal to you? Would you like to provide means for widows to support their families? Is education, including AIDS education, an important starting point in your thinking? Do community development projects — wells, medical clinics, and schools, sustainable food and micro-enterprises make sense to you? Would sponsoring a child infected or impacted by the AIDS pandemic be the kind of commitment your entire family could make? When your heart’s troubled by an injustice in the world, engage the pain, linger there, lean into it, don’t quickly dismiss it and move on. Follow that trail: Read more about it. Go on the Web. Cut out magazine articles. Do some research. Expose yourself to the truth. Live in the angst. Allow yourself to be increasingly disturbed. God may be speaking to you. Don’t short circuit that process. 2 Give. Earmark personal funds for your cause. Financing a cause is not a problem for some people. For others, it may be a struggle, but monies can be found. Consider both cutting back spending and increasing earnings. What habitual perks could you limit in order to shake out some funds for something more important to you? Think double lattes, salon services, magazine subscriptions, shopping/spending as entertainment, first-run movies, eating out, travel, holiday decorating, etc. As you wrestle with your spending, become an informed consumer. Weigh the financial difference between basic and luxury purchasing. Certain items like designer clothing, shoes, handbags, and luxury automobiles come with a built-in status tax. Whether the quality difference is perceived or real is a highly individualized decision, but one worth weighing with your purchasing power. Good stewardship trumps all. I was surprised to learn that the cosmetic surgery business alone in this country is a $15 billion industry, in which two-thirds of its customers are made up of people earning less than $50,000. I’m not sure how that math works. Actually, it doesn’t! I’m not saying cosmetic surgery is immoral, or that this is rampant among Christian women, or even that I’m immune to this pull to controlled aging; but developing a little distaste and distance from a culture that chooses Botox over antiretroviral treatments for dying children can’t be a bad thing in my thinking. Set up a “matching fund” for all cosmetic and personal upkeep spending — i.e. a dollar for me, a dollar for my cause, that sort of approach. Let your conscience guide you. Next, explore ways to make extra money. Set aside proceeds from garage sales, stock sales, or extra work assignments. Can you give lessons in an area of expertise? Perhaps cooking lessons, gardening consultations, woodworking projects, piano lessons, computer services, or specialized tutoring of any kind! Get creative — a Malawi bake sale, an Ethiopian garage sale ... whatever. I ran into a Gulu Walk in California recently. A young man organized this walk to raise awareness about the 25,000 kidnapped children of northern Uganda (Gulu) who have been brutally forced into becoming child soldiers. With 150 walkers’ pledges he also raised $15,000 for this cause. Such out-of-the-box thinking for great causes can go a long way. 3 Re-think “gifting.” Redeeming our giving patterns could release tons of money for better purposes. Here are a couple of examples: In a creative twist on giving recently, the Willow Creek Association’s Conference Operations Department decided not to “perk” their banquet guests, all ministry partners, with the usual Willow logo gifts — gym bags, tennis shirts, stadium blankets, mugs. Instead, they explained they had made an “executive decision” to use those budgeted monies in their guests’ name to scholarship a worthy Zambian college student. The money that would have been spent on Willow-branded “tchotchkes” for that one event alone was enough to send this young person through college! The 300 ministry partner guests warmly received and applauded this decision as an excellent choice and money well-spent. What if this “gifting” in someone’s name for a good cause, instead of typical business perks, caught on in the corporate world? It would be amazing! Corporate America, not-for-profit America, plus much of the personal giving in our country are generally untapped sources for creative giving. Another example: In 2004, a teenage girl facing a liver transplant asked that, in lieu of people giving her the usual teddy bears and gifts, people instead make a financial gift to her online charity.These gifts were then handed over to an organization working with AIDS orphans. Two liver transplants and an operation for complications later, this 13-year-old girl has raised approximately $50,000 for her cause. 4 Strengthen Empathy. While I was visiting in Kirindon, Kenya, the people we met kept saying, “Do not forget us.” I can only guess that with 1.6 million short-term missionaries visiting across the world every year, many of us do go home, get involved in our personal lives, and forget. I, too, felt the “fading” on my return. That’s why I began certain practices that simply help me remember and stay engaged. These empathy builders work whether you have ever crossed the ocean or not. AIDS, poverty and hunger are closely linked problems in our world. With that in mind, I set aside a day or two a month to experience hunger. I am not fasting, just waiting to eat until my stomach is knotted and growling. On these days, I am voluntarily remembering that for 34.6 million people hunger is a daily issue. When two or three of these hunger days are strung together, it’s really hard to wake up and face the hunger issue again. Yet, that is what so many experience daily. On the days when I am hungry, I am most prone to wonder if Maritha and her children have food. Hunger reminds me to pray. Prayer reminds me to act. Also, I am voluntarily going without. Instead of running to the mall to satisfy every urge, I am shopping in my own closet, finding resourceful clothing combinations and going without “new.” Instead of throwing money at a problem, I am discovering new ways to get a job done. I am speaking “Enough” into the part of me that says “More.” Why go to these places of voluntary need? To disengage certain strong holds on my life. But also to remember. To stir up feelings. To take on the struggles of other peoples’ lives. To keep me engaged and moved to act. I’ve discovered that I am much more apt to act on my feelings than on my thoughts alone. 5 Influence, Inspire, Organize. Can you gather a tribe around you of like-hearted people and find some extra resources? Talk about what you are learning. Model your giving openly. Let others be inspired by your life. Invite them to join. We can influence the usual streams of people — our families,our small groups, those in our church. But many in our lives are outside any kind of regular giving stream — our neighbors, our co-workers, our school, business, or corporate associates. The best exposure to spiritual life, the first step into faith, could be discovering what God is doing in the world. What if more businesses took on a cause all their employees could support? How deep the learning curve if entire schools of children were mobilized to make a difference in other places of the world. Wouldn’t that be a “hands on” education for American kids? What could your bunko group, your gardening club, or your book club members do? The only missing piece for many people to go from caring impotently to responding urgently is for someone to lead and inspire them. I’m convinced that someone could be you or me. Valerie Bell is a freelance writer,author and speaker. Her books include, A Well-Tended Soul, Made to Be Loved, and Getting Out of Your Kids’ Faces and into Their Hearts. Top