Matt Damon on Ellen today

I just happened to sit down on the couch for a minute this afternoon and tuned in to watch the Ellen DeGeneres Show.  Matt Damon was on promoting his new movie, but what I found really interesting is a charity he co-founded:  Water.org.  He went into how it got started and what they do - a donation of just $25 can give one person water for their lifetime.  There are about 1 billion people drinking water that's not clean.  That's billion with a B.  Some of the statistics they provide:

The health and economic impacts of today’s global water crisis are staggering.

• More than 3.5 million people die each year from water-related disease; 84 percent are children. Nearly all deaths, 98 percent, occur in the developing world.
• Lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills children at a rate equivalent of a jumbo jet crashing every four hours.
• Lack of sanitation is the world’s biggest cause of infection.
• Millions of women and children spend several hours each day collecting water from distant, often polluted sources. This is time not spent working at an income-generating job, caring for family members, or attending school.
• 443 million school days are lost each year due to water-related illness.

Apparently, you get a reusable water bottle when you make a contribution of $25 or more. Ellen gave one to everyone in her audience today. Cool.  I'm going to have to get one now :)

Famine in the Horn of Africa: How to help

Just saw on MSNBC that 29,000 children under the age of 5 have died over the last 3 months in Somalia. So incredibly sad. There's so little we can do, but here's an article on where to send money.
Famine in the Horn of Africa: How to help

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I think I am going to fast tomorrow in sort of a solidarity with these poor people - at the very least, I will offer up my almost inconsequential suffering for their enormous suffering. I just don't know what else to do.  We have got to get others aware and involved.  Many, many others. 

God, help those people in such great need and in such horrible suffering.  Please help us know what to do to help them.  Amen.