Humanity in action

Children International, an organization that assists poor children all over the world, has recently opened a new center in Zambia. They invited the Vice President of Zambia, Rupiah Banda, to say a few words during the inauguration ceremony.

To me, this is true humanity in action – sharing what we have with other human beings we may never see, not expecting anything in return – and this action is well aligned with the idea and mission of being a Gardener of Peace, connecting at the most basic level: human beingness - heart to heart. We need more “humanity in action” to make this world the place it ought to be for all of us.

Here are Rupiah’s words:

“The burden of poverty has put an enormous strain on the government’s limited resources to assist the vulnerable children. These, coupled with the HIV/AIDS epidemic and other reasons, have resulted in very sad scenarios where some children are wasting their lives away at street corners begging for alms and abusing drugs in an effort to alleviate the pain of living in the streets.

Government therefore feels reassured that in spite of this, there are cooperating partners like Children International willing to supplement the government’s efforts to ease the burden and help improve the quality of life of the most vulnerable people in our society, the children.

I’m informed that this center will cater at least 5,000 children within Chibolya, providing them with free health and educational assistance. I’m also informed that the center has an outpatient clinic with one full-time doctor and one full-time nurse, a dental clinic and a pharmacy.

I wish to place on record the government’s gratitude to Children International for making a real difference in the lives of children who would otherwise not have had the opportunity to go to school or have at least one decent meal a day. The people of Zambia shall forever remain grateful for this very rare demonstration of love and care for humanity.

Ladies and gentlemen, the funds Children International uses come from ordinary people.

Let us ask ourselves, have we ever thought of doing what these people have come to do here from a long way…who have no relationship other than that they are human beings like ourselves? How many of us have so many clothes in our houses, have so many things that we don’t need, that we’ve spent and we don’t even have space for them, but we’re just piling them up in the houses or in the garages or in the kitchens? Have we ever thought that we also can make a difference to our children?

I would like myself to see a situation where we emulate these brothers and sisters. I believe if Zambians could make generous donations to organizations such as Children International-Zambia to further their work, we would be able to achieve a lot more. Let me promise in front of you all here that Children International, as an organization, has the doors of my office and my home open for them at all times.