"but there are poor kids in America"

I hear that a lot. Why would I try and fix something this is going on half way around the world when "there are poor kids in America"? First of all the kids in Africa -- they're not "poor." They're about 20 notches below poor.

If you lose your parents here, or they can't take care of you, you can go live with family or in the worst case scenario you go to foster care. It might be horrible. It's still not as horrible as having to search the trash dump for your next meal -- and all of your meals thereafter. Or living with children your own age and having to survive all on your own. There is always somewhere in America that you can go to get help or food or shelter -- especially children. In Africa their own parents can't take care of them and they all die and 7-year-olds have to fend for themselves. They have to endure sexual abuse from whoever wants to mess with them. They have to endure unspeakable things that you and I could never imagine.

One of the biggest things that I took away from going to Africa was that this world isn't such a big place after all. I can get there on a short 15-hour plane ride. There are other issues in the world, of course. And everyone I think sometime in their life takes one of these issues up and tries to make it better. That's what Africa is for me. It will be my cause and what I fight for and work for forever, hopefully.

There's a song on a Heart for Africa you tube video that says, "I've seen what I've seen and I can't turn away." I CAN NOT turn away -- sounds sorta dramatic, but's it true, I can't. My brain won't let me count this as a one-time trip. I feel like I'm being pulled that way and I will try my best to do what I can for these sweet kids who deserve none of what they have to endure.