A few months ago, I tried to explain to my five-year-old son what’s happening right now in Syria.
“What if you couldn’t sleep at night because we didn’t have a home? What if you couldn’t go outside because there were bullets and explosions everywhere? What if something happened to mommy, or you, or me and we were separated and couldn’t find each other?”
This is real. But go to any news outlet and you’ll read or hear almost nothing about the crisis.
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On September 8th, I’ll be embarking on a personal adventure – something I choose to do, something I want to do, something I pay to do.
I’ll begin The Tahoe 200 – a 200-mile foot race circumnavigating Lake Tahoe with 80,000′ of elevation change over four days. I’ll enjoy the luxury of aid stations stocked with water, food, medical help and and sleeping quarters. I’ll have a crew to help me with trivial problems like blisters and lack of sleep. Long slow climbs up to 9000′ peaks will reward me with postcard vistas of late summer in the alpines.
Even with this support and these rewards, there will be times when I won’t want to go on or feel like I can’t go on. I have that choice.
But millions of people in Syria right now do not have a choice. They have to keep moving. They have to keep running. They have to keep searching for shelter and safety.
CLICK HERE to learn how you can help us.
Imagine fleeing your home with only the clothes on your back, fearing for your life as you journey to the border, and arrive in a foreign country. You have no idea where you will live or what you will eat.
That’s the reality for millions of Syrians, half of them under 18, who are fleeing the violent civil war in their country.
The scale of Syria’s humanitarian crisis is astonishing — 11 million people, half of the country’s pre-war population, have been forced from their homes and 250,000 have died since the war began in 2011. They need our help to get through the worst humanitarian crisis of our time.
Every dollar we contribute makes a powerful difference in the lives of these courageous children and families. Now, and for the future. Please join me by making a gift today — Syrians are counting on our support.
Mercy Corps has been on the ground working since August 2012 and has one of the largest humanitarian operations inside Syria. Their staff put their lives in danger every day to deliver lifesaving food and relief to children and families trapped inside Syria, but supplies are quickly dwindling.
In surrounding countries, they are also distributing emergency food and supplies, improving access to clean water, providing activities and counseling to help children feel safe again, and helping refugees and host communities learn how to work together. And they’ll be there until families can safely return home.
- $11 can provide a family of 6 with a month’s supply of bread
- $30 can help give 50 families access to clean water
- $75 helps provide two refugees with an emergency food kit containing bread, spices, oil, meat and vegetables
- $210 provides an emergency kit for a Syrian family that includes blankets, hygiene supplies, water and cooking tools
Together, we can help families survive this terrible crisis.
CLICK HERE to learn how you can help us.
Thank you!
Then when I get home, I’m usually hungry for dinner, which means I’m moody and impatient which is unfair to Lena and Benjamin, and then I devour whatever quick fixes I can find in the fridge before dinner – usually cheese. This stems my appetite right away, but the dairy has lactose, which is a sugar, so in effect I’m injecting carbohydrates into my system on an empty stomach, exasperating the problem.
Then I decided to begin again. I did what I could – pushups from my knees because my arms couldn’t support my body weight, a few kettle bell swings and sit-ups. Soon my breath got heavy and my forehead beaded with sweat. I remembered the process. I remembered how this made me feel. I remembered why I chose to begin again.
