FROM THE EDITORS September 12, 2005 Issue

THE MOST POWERFUL AID

ACCORDING TO World Vision's website, "... in Niger, West Africa, an estimated 3.6 million people are in critical need of food, including 800,000 children under the age of five who are at risk of starvation" (see donate.wvus.org/OA).

And according to the BBC, in Ethiopia, "...the failure of two successive rainy seasons and the resulting food shortfall mean that six million people are already in dire need of assistance with another eight to nine million at risk in the coming months" (see news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa).

Along with Niger and Ethiopia, the countries of Eritrea, Mauritania, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, and Swaziland also face drought and encroaching famine. And while these countries and those affected by the crises may seem worlds away from the relatively insulated lives of most people living in fully industrialized countries, as Christians, we recognize that no person anywhere is outside the global family circle, no matter what their nationality, religion, or race.

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