By bus, train, and car this summer, I visited medical clinics in a dozen cities, then walked the neighborhoods around the clinics.
The first stop was small - Zarephath, N.J., 43 miles from New York City, with a downtown home to half a dozen Mexican and Honduran restaurants. Pawn shops, public notaries, and money transfer stores pepper the street.
In 2002 an Ecuadorian showed up in a hospital emergency room in Charlotte, N.C. In broken English he tried to describe the chest pains he was experiencing. At that time, the hospital didn't have an interpreter. In frustration the man went home and called his uncle, who spoke good English. The uncle drove to his nephew's house to take him back to the hospital, but found the nephew dead of a massive heart attack.
While Invisible Children's recent Kony 2012 video aimed to bring attention to Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, who had abducted 30,000 children as child soldiers, the controversy surrounding the viral video also exposed serious problems about modern charity.
One hundred years ago, most charitable acts would take place in one's hometown or church congregation. There one would naturally have a greater understanding about the problem and the necessary solutions.
Hope Awards | The coronavirus challenged compassion-providing ministries in new ways
