Where is local?

We should focus our efforts here at home!

This statement may ring true for water conservation or just in general for caring for the poor. But at Grow Missions we try to take a larger global view and really understand the critical needs and struggles of poor people here and in remote parts of the world.

In recent news reports we are amazed to read that nearly two thirds of the world population still do not have access to clean drinking water and that this is not a priority in our global fight for hunger or elimination of HIV/Aids. So, where do we put our focus, or our funds to make the biggest change? We look for where each dollar can make the largest impact in changing a life and a community in such a way that these problems are eliminated for good.

This is why Grow Missions focuses our efforts in the remote parts of Kenya and Burundi. These areas struggle with basic survival. The day in the life of women and children is centered around where to get water before it is too dirty or gone. Women and children walk miles and then carry heavy buckets of water on their backs up hills and home. Focused only on survival these children have no time for school and the women deal with constant pains. As we sit here and talk about where we can make the largest difference in the lives of people in need, the poor of this world, we are constantly drawn back to these women and children. Yes, there is a struggle here at home; yes, we have hungry and poor around us here; But these children do not even have clean water to drink. And, it will be years before the governments in these countries can even start to resolve this crisis. So, as the Grow Missions staff meets, we agree that we must go where the need is great and the results are amazing.

We choose to work in Kenya and Burundi because we can make a great impact and save a great many lives for a relatively small cost. There are few places where we can spend just a little and change the lives of so many so quickly and permanently.

So in a time when many are focusing efforts here at home, we continue to look at home in the larger context. We are all one on this earth and we need to care for each other and make sure that everyone has at least the basics needed to survive. Water in Africa is a project that is far away, but for us it feels like home.