Tweet
As always, I have to put the "this is from the desnews" disclaimer out there, but this is a really good two part series on the LDS Charities response to the famine in Africa.
Praying for Rain: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7...st-Africa.html
Building Hope: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7...ught.html?pg=1
There's a lot of good stuff in these articles and some really incredible stories.
Praying for Rain: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7...st-Africa.html
Building Hope: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7...ught.html?pg=1
Largely unknown, even to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, LDS Charities began in response to another famine in this same region of Africa. That crisis marked the beginning of a new kind of global consciousness — that when disaster strikes, people in wealthy nations have a responsibility to help.
The effort in East Africa was one of 111 disasters the LDS Church responded to in 2011 through its welfare arm. For the LDS Church, these projects have little to do with proselytizing, which is why for so long they've gone unnoticed.
In the Horn of Africa, for example, there are about 1,000 church members, and none where the church is doing disaster relief work. In fact, there isn't a chapel within hundreds of miles of where Amina lives in the Melkadida camp, or a single missionary. She's never heard of the Mormon church, and unless she leaves this camp, she probably never will.
"The church does these projects because it believes that's the right thing to do, the Christian thing to do," says Lynn Samsel of LDS Charities. "There is no quid pro quo. It's simply about trying to do good in the world."
"The church does these projects because it believes that's the right thing to do, the Christian thing to do," says Lynn Samsel of LDS Charities. "There is no quid pro quo. It's simply about trying to do good in the world."
Comment