A Sober Plea for Giving Tuesday

How giving to others is beneficial to helping ourselves

My husband and some village children outside their hut — Author’s photo

Fundraising sucks.

There, I said it. No one likes asking people for money, especially in tough economic times.

When I agreed to move to Guatemala with my husband I didn’t think I would spend much of my time writing, posting, sharing, and creating ways to ask other humans to give money to our charity.

But I do.

We all have problems, whether financial, emotional, mental, or vocational. There is no doubt in my mind that we all face the struggle. But after living in Guatemala for the past four and a half years I can honestly say, I’ve never seen anyone in a developed country in a level of poverty like I’ve seen here.

This isn’t to pull at your heartstrings, well, maybe a little.

Fact. I’ve seen babies and children on the brink of death, and many of them eventually die due to malnutrition. Guatemala has one of the highest mortality rates of children in the world.

I’ve spent countless hours in huts and shacks. These aren’t run-down, funky old apartments, but shacks. Buildings made of mud, or sheets of tin, or worse, a few cut-down tree branches holding up found pieces of plastic sheeting. None of these have a proper floor so…