all i want for christmas is....

It's autumn. From my warm kitchen I watch the rain lashing down and the wind beating against anything standing in the way.

winter is looming, I think as I calmly turn on the tap and open my full fridge. My phone beeps and the book on the table lays ready to be picked up and read.

STOP.

Warmth
Shelter
Clean, fresh water
Food
A job
Education

It's nearly Christmas. How will I celebrate my Saviour's birth? Will I add to the already full shelves of my life or do I build shelves for someone without any?


Warmth: How often do I pass people selling the 'Big Issue' on Belfast's streets? Or the children busking on the corner with their accordions? How often have I handed them a warm cup of coffee and how often do I just walk by, irritated by their pleas for "Beeg Ishu"? How often have I handed them a scarf or hat, a cup of soup?


whatever you do unto the least of the people, you do it unto ME.


Shelter: There were 9,749 homeless people in Northern Ireland on the streets in 2006/07. More than 2 million people have been left homeless in Darfur, Sudan. That's 300,000 MORE than the population of Northern Ireland.

For £32 ($65) a family could have an emergency shelter - lasting at minimum, months. That's one meal out for two people - something that lasts roughly 2.5 hours.


Clean, Fresh Water: In Northern Ireland, water costs on average £160 per year, per household. For £72 ($149) I can give clean water to 100 people.

Every year 1.8 million people around the world die from drinking unclean water.

That
is the

ENTIRE

population of Northern Ireland.


Food: A mum with three boys my friend knows lives with nothing in their cupboards but bread, mayonnaise, and ketchup until my friend care enough to ask what she can do - and we all feed and clothe them with our excess.

It costs £3.05 for a latte at Starbucks - that's $6.30. With £17 ($35.25) I can feed 100 children for a day.


A Job: I work 5 days a week, get free health care, and education for my children. I work 37.5 hours per week. I get 25 days paid holiday plus 12 statutory holidays. There are at least 4 websites offering jobs to NI. Unemployment is less than 5%.

Unemployment in Mongolia is, obviously, decidedly linked to their high percentage of poverty. Of their population, 36% is below the poverty line and in that 36 percent, 52% are unemployed. South Africa, a country I would consider 2nd World, has an unemployment rate of 25%. For £40 ($83) I can help start a small business in a 3rd world country. My dad runs a small business, and he supported our entire family, and then some with it.


Education: If I walk into a shop and see a top I like for £10 ($20), I buy it.

I spent a year of studying at Queens University, Belfast. That year of study cost £7500 ($14,500).

For my £10 ($20) a child in Mongolia can go to school for a year. And not justt one child, but their siblings after them as well. My £10 buys them books, they learn to read, and education changes the cycle of poverty and unemployment.

whatever you do unto the least of the people, you do it unto ME.