Explore Kroo Bay

This is not an advertisement for a new tourist attraction in Florida. It is a call to help the children.

When I read the line, “Explore Kroo Bay,” I was struck with a sense of irony. How often do we hear just such a phrase? I hear it quite a bit if I am watching TV. Commercials blast me with tantalizing images of clear water, white sandy beaches, sunshine, and maybe even a Corona with lime next to my beach chair. I would love to explore that bay! But I am much more reticent to want to explore the other bay, Kroo Bay.

Kroo Bay is a slum in Freetown, Sierra Leon where thousands of children die because of things like fever, dirty water or diarrhoea. Want to keep reading? I don’t. It’s not fun. There’s dirt instead of sand, and I wouldn’t go near that water with a ten foot pole. But this is reality for millions around the world, not just in Kroo Bay.

I am not writing this to make you feel bad about your vacation to the beach (trust me, I love vacations at the beach!) I am writing this as a challenge to myself just as much as to you. Take some time to explore Kroo Bay. Take some time to explore poverty in general, and then think about justice. Even better, think about justice in the Bible. Whether or not you are a Christian, that book is a great place to look to see a story about a God who LOVES justice. And, let me know what some of your thoughts are.

Here are some links:

http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/kroobay/index.php The Kroo Bay Website. I think this is a UK thing since I found out about it on BBC, but there are thousands of resources like this.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7295403.stm A BBC webpage dedicated to workers at a clinic in Kroo Bay. You can go here to read their stories (it is pretty amazing!)

Something interesting from Compassion International: Did you know that “the combined wealth of the world’s three richest people is greater than the combined GDP of the world’s poorest 48 nations?”