Why Help Abroad?

“OUR OWN BACK YARD”

Perhaps you’re wondering how we can justify our focus on the villagers of Africa when we have plenty of need here at home. What about taking care of our own?

Our answer is two-fold: One philosophical, one statistical and reality-based.
Where exactly is our own backyard? Where does it begin and where does it end? Is it defined by political borders? Or physical borders like mountain ranges, rivers, or oceans?

Do race, religion, or other cultural variables help us pinpoint it? What about America’s commonwealths and Americans living overseas? How do resident aliens living in the U.S. figure in? They’re not really “our own”, are they? Are the citizens of Iraq our responsibility now that we’ve taken over their country, devastated their infrastructure and eliminated their ability to care for each other?

For Team Engeye, there are no borders. There is no “us” or “them”. There cannot be. If we honestly hope to someday bring peace and prosperity to this planet, we need to accept that, like even the tiniest branches on a giant oak, the diverse and distant civilizations on our earth are connected. We are, indeed all one. If one part of the organism is in jeopardy, if there are people on Earth who are dying needlessly, we all suffer.

We need to go where the need is greatest – Where hope for the future is all but lost.

The World Health Organization¹ reported in 2006 that the African continent bears 24% of the global burden of disease, but has only 3% of the healthcare workforce and 1% of the world’s financial resources.

A typical Ugandan villager has:

Lost one or both parents prematurely to AIDS or other disease
Never seen a doctor, dentist, or mental health worker
No idea what a bandage is – or an aspirin
Little or no knowledge about nutrition, STD prevention, birth control, or hygiene
No electricity or running water
No way to disinfect the parasite-infested well water that the children carry home on their heads in 5-gallon jerry cans
No bed, toothbrush, or shoes

The list is endless. And frightening.

There’s plenty of disparity here in America, no doubt. No lack of need. But the plight of the typical rural African citizen easily eclipses the very worst that we can find on our own soil.

That’s where the need is. And that’s where we’re prepared -- and determined -- to go.

References

World Health Organization. The world health report 2006 — working together for health. (http://www.who.int/whr/2006/en/index.html)