20 Years to Now

It's funny the things that we remember. From the start of stumbling into the Ethiopia program it has felt like the right fit. I've talked about how I felt an immediate spiritual connection to the children and how learning about their lives in Ethiopia has touched me.

This isn't the first time. A few weeks ago I remembered that I had written a poem about the children in Ethiopia almost 20 years ago. I found the poem in a notebook of poetry that has been sitting on a shelf next to my bed since I moved into this house in 1996. I vividly remember the night that I wrote it. It was a late night and the show that I was watching talked about the famine that was devastating the country.

I couldn't get the image of the children out of my head and the next day I wrote this poem:

Please Don't Let Me Die:
A Humble Plea from Starving Children in Africa

Blistering heat on a barren land.
Dry, parched lips on desert sand.
Managing only one feeble cry,
"Please dear world don't let me die..."

In Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan,
The worst human disaster known to man.
The darkest hour, the faintest cry,
"Please dear world don't let me die..."

Don't let me die.
p l e a s e, d o n 't l e t m e d i e