Are You Willing? - Akshaya Patra

Every day at a traffic light in Bangalore, a little girl contorts her body through a hoop about a foot wide, to the sound of drums played by her brother. After a 45 second performance, she goes around the vehicles, begging for a few rupees. This is repeated every 3 minutes, from morning till evening.

There are 143 million orphans in the world today. 143 million. AIDS orphans more than 6000 children every day.

218 million children cannot go to school, simply because their parents cannot afford to send them. They become child laborers, are sold into trafficking and in some cases, become child soldiers.

Robbed of their childhood, bereft of a future.

When you go back to your heated, comfortable apartment today, think about the children who do not have a roof over their heads, who do not have food to eat, who do not go to school.

You will feel both blessed and grateful. Because you do not suffer like they do.

I hope you will also feel compassion.

Compassion is defined as awareness of suffering, coupled with the wish to relieve it. As future business leaders, I hope you will want to make a difference.

So what can we do now?

For as little as 12 dollars a month, you can feed a child for an entire school year. Not only will you be feeding the little girl at a traffic light, but you will also be ensuring that she gets an education because she doesn't have to work in order to feed herself.

So many people think these problems are insurmountable, and they do nothing. They do nothing, and the number of children affected continues to grow.

In Mark 1, a man with leprosy came to Jesus and begged of him, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing, Be clean” he said.

The power of one is the power to do something. Anything!

You have the power to make a world of difference for one child.

The question is: Are you willing?

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My original post adapted for Akshaya Patra.