We are all searching for something.
Some of us spend countless hours working for a company, only to never be recognized as more than just another worker. Others of us continue to go through our day to day routine hoping that eventually something will change that will give our life a new found purpose. There are even some of us who have realized that life is more than just taking it easy and watching countless seasons of our favorite shows on Netflix.
Source - Flickr - https://flic.kr/p/5fddH1
So what is it we are all searching for? The ever elusive component of our life that always seems to be beyond our grasp. Is it fame? Fortune? Comfort?
As unsurprising as this may sound, we are all hoping to just make a difference in this world. Every single person, somewhere deep in their being, realizes that there is more to this life than just satisfying our wants. Every one of us wants to leave this world a better place than we first discovered it. It just seems that between the day to day grind of work, raising a family, and making time to relax, most of us have forgotten what we really want to achieve with our lives.
What if I told you that your life doesn’t have to feel like you are just going through the motions? What if there was a way live life in such a way that every day you live is a day in which you are making a significant difference in the world? If you could take steps today to make not only your life but every person’s life you come into contact with better, would you do it?
What I am suggesting is volunteering, something that almost everybody has done at some point in their life. But more specifically, I am suggesting volunteering in an area in which the people you are serving will probably never be able to pay you back. Taking time out of your busy (or not so busy) life to put the skills you have learned to use by building communities and relationships that will last a lifetime. An area that has been underdeveloped and relatively ignored by the general public in America for many years now. What I am suggesting is to volunteer any way you can to help the citizens in Africa.
Immediately, many of you reading this have many thoughts flowing through your minds right now. Why Africa? Why not help the people in the area around me? How can I help people who are halfway around the world? Well to answer this, let’s look at a few stats of what makes Africa much different than where we live at today.
- Over 75% of the world’s poorest countries are located in Africa. For example, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa’s second largest country, has a gross domestic product per capita of only $392.25 per year. Compare this with the United States gross domestic product per capita of $53,042 per year.
- Over 589 million people live without electricity in sub-Saharan Africa. As a result from this 80 percent of the population in this area relies on biomass products (wood, charcoal, and dung) in order to cook their meals.
- Nearly 275 million people in sub-Saharan Africa have no access to clean water, which results in more than 50% of the population having water-related illnesses such as cholera. Along with this, the average female in some areas will walk 2 hours a day to obtain drinking water for herself and her family.
- Over 400 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live in extreme poverty, which is less than $1.25 a day.
- Finally, fewer than 20 percent of African women have access to education. Due to this, these women are twice as likely to contract AIDS and are more likely to remain in extreme poverty for the entirety of their life.
Though there is a lot of brokenness in certain areas of the United States, nothing here stateside can compare with the tragedy that is happening on this continent.
So what can you do to help? Well, overall there are three main functions that you can serve in to make a difference in these people’s lives.
First, spend 5 to 10 minutes looking up organizations in your region that are actively tackling issues in these areas. After finding one that is making a difference, reach out and contact them! I guarantee you every single one of these organizations are short staffed and could use any help they can get. Whether it is helping them develop their web pages, promoting awareness for the cause, or organizing supplies to send overseas, there is sure to be a way to get you started in helping this area.
The second way you can make a difference is to become financially and emotionally involved with the cause. Sometimes our family and careers just don’t allow us much time to spend volunteering. In this case, I suggest blocking out a portion of your income to sponsor a child in this area. This sponsorship will allow this child to obtain an education that will help them break the cycle of poverty and oppression that the majority of their citizens has undergone.
The final way you can make a difference is a bit bolder, but it definitely makes the most impact of the options available. This is to dedicate a period of your life to go overseas and serve these people with the talents and skills you have. Whether you are a computer scientist, to a financial analyst, a construction worker, or even just a student making their way through college, there is sure to be major work that you can do in this area. What this area needs is more than just money thrown at it. It needs people willing to spend time getting their hands dirty, devoting their life to something greater than themselves, and willing to love those who need it the most.
What I am asking is that you actually do what you want to achieve in this life. I am asking for you to make a commitment to something much greater than yourself. What I am asking, is for you to be the change that this area desperately needs to see.
Author: Roman Welden
