Their World

 The broken glass on which my thoughts
Go slowly and bleeds, memories of a life
That may have been
I feels the shards in my bones

Black wounds that seethe and twist
My soul. Let me go let me go
Back from whence I came
Into the desert of the worlds
Never ceasing to inflame
The minds as they whirl through
Canyons of despair clutching
At your spirit, struggling to break free
Of the mindless terror of the fear
Of some who will remain aloof
To the world and those who need peace.

Children of the night
Go forth like rats
Leaving a ship in danger of sinking
Into the desert, running from the terror
Of the demons with four legs
Who slice and cut their way
Into the midst of chaos
That is already a thing of life.

I look into the eyes of old who are just born
Seeing the ache of a hunger not appeased
Nothing on which to feed nothing on which to sup
Misery the constant companion
Rape a daily thing and death
of a night too oft is ours to which
We will never accept as norm.


Written by Sue Bookman 03/09/10

When You Wake

You wake in the morning to the sound of the alarm clock. You groan and want just five more minutes, snuggling into the depths of your warm bed. You finally get up and pop into the shower letting the hot steamy water roll over you as you pour you new body wash by Elizabeth Arden and lather the scent over you. You rinse and jump out to wrap in a big fluffy forty dollar towel. Run downstairs and pour a cup of espresso and hurry and drink your juice and gobble your pastry. Run and put on your designer dress and put on your makeup and put the hot rollers in your hair. You enjoy the sound of Vivaldi  that softly comes from the speakers. You brush out your hair and spray it and out the door to jump in your Lexus and head to work, where you enjoy your office with it’s 125,00 dollar view.

You wake in the morning to the sound of your child, whimpering in her sleep. You know the bad dreams she has from running from the soldiers and watching her Daddy being taken and beaten in front of her. You know she is also hungry and has only had a small handful of leaves, and some Mukheit berries that had soaked for three days in a little bit of water to remove the toxicity. Today, you must wake your child and prepare to search for  more leaves and hopefully some wild grass to at least make a little flour. You will try to get water without being shot or raped. Without life giving water you cannot eat the Mukheit berry or make flour into bread. You look out at the barren desert in front of you. You adjust the cloth about your face tighter to shield yourself from the scorching sun. Hopefully you can make a few more miles toward your goal of a refugee camp. If only you make it with yours and your child’s life.


The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people that are evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.

                                            Albert Einstein

Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.
                                             Albert Einstein

Education Can Make a Difference

Benin
In Benin the average income is $1 per day, life expectancy is 55 years and less than 35% of Benin’s adult population can read.

Burkina Faso
In Burkina, 44% of children suffer with stunted or delayed growth from malnutrition. Malaria is endemic, average income is $1 per day and school enrollment -especially for girls- is very low. The Aids epidemic has already orphaned 120,000 children in Burkina.

Ecuador
Ecuador is often called ‘heaven on earth“ for it‘s spectacular scenery. In many areas poverty is still common especially in the rural areas.

Honduras
Almost three quarters of Honduras’ population is rural and 68% of those are considered below Honduras’ poverty line.

India
In India, nearly half of all children under the age of 5 suffer from malnutrition. Though this is a country of progress and potential, it is also a land of significant poverty. Picture the entire United States living below the poverty level and you will know how many people in India are starving.

Madagascar
In Madagascar 48% of children suffer from some form of chronic hunger and more than 10% are acutely malnourished.

Mali
In this West African nation, chronic hunger and poverty are common. In fact 218 children out of 1,000 die before the age of 5. Compare this to the United States where 7 per 1,000 die.

Mexico
Mexico remains a country of significant poverty. 24 million Mexicans live in extreme poverty, with the majority living in rural areas.

Peru
Child poverty is of special concern in Peru. More than 60% of Peru’s children live below this country’s poverty line.

Senegal
The average income is less than $1per day…..the equivalent of just $350 U.S. per year.

There is a way these countries can and are being reached. Not only with food, but more importantly education! Freedom from Hunger is doing just that. Reaching people through education. Starting in 1988, Freedom from Hunger launched “ Credit with Education”. They and their local partners give small groups of women access to small loans and offers them a safe place to save a little money.
These loans are called micro loans and with them these woman become entrepreneurs who run a home based business selling crafts and food.. These women generate a regular income, along with a sense of purpose and self worth.

When these women gather to pay back the loans they learn about health, nutrition, family planning and sound business practices.

To learn more about what Freedom from Hunger is doing in every one of these countries and more please visit this site. It is only a click away.
Freedomfromhunger