A Humble Walk

by Karalyn Colopy 

When I was a child preparing for the CROP Walk, I walked up and down my street knocking on doors.  I told my neighbors I was raising money to help end hunger and that I was hoping to walk 6 miles.  Would they sponsor me for 10 cents a mile?  I was trained to solicit sponsorships on a per-mile basis, so if I only made it 4 or 5 miles, folks wouldn't be on the hook for the whole 60 cents.  

That was a long time ago.  The donations I'll collect today might be bigger.  No matter how generous, they'll still seem like too little.  

"If all 36.2 million Americans faced with food insecurity stood in line at a food pantry in New York City, the line would stretch to Los Angeles and back. Twice."

"Each day almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes - one every five seconds"

I can become easily discouraged by the basic facts of hunger.  The problem is so overwhelming, so complicated.  My possible contribution is so insignificant.  It's instinctive for me to put such big, distant problems into the mental bucket of "nothing I can do about that one."  And then stop thinking about it.  Move on.  Put my energy towards something productive.

"We poor people are invisible to others - just as blind people cannot see, they cannot see us."  Pakistan

"Being poor is being always tired."  Kenya

"When you are hungry you can't think about anything else."  USA

Simply having energy is a way of life I take for granted.  Having many choices about how to spend my energy... a given.  But naturally I want to make the best choices.  Our mission theme this year invites me to reflect: "What does the Lord require of us but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8).   

"We've had to stop buying milk for our two-year-old baby.  What we earn now isn't enough to feed ourselves properly or buy medicines."  Guatemala

"Lack of work worries me.  My children were hungry and I told them the rice was cooking, until they fell asleep from hunger."  Egypt

"It wasn't my turn."  Response of a US child who had fallen asleep at school when asked if he had eaten breakfast that morning.

What a wake up call.  Is it possible to hear such words and know of an opportunity - the CROP Walk, for example - and yet do nothing?  The message is so simple.  Forget the calculations - will I succeed? will I make a big difference? is it worth my time? - and just DO it!  Walking humbly may be dealing with a problem that has no easy solution, that requires a prolonged effort, that swallows all you give and demands more.  

"The lives of millions of children can be saved each year, at low cost, with vaccines and micronutrient supplementation.  Almost every child can be reached with vaccines and supplements, even under the most difficult circumstances." 

"In South Asia alone, it is estimated that if women and men had equal status, there would be 13.4 million fewer malnourished small children."

"Climate change adaptation programs are helping growing numbers of poor, smallholder farmers reduce the vulnerability of their crops to increasing climatic uncertainties. "

The end of the hunger may not be in sight.  The CROP Walk is not about sprinting to the finish, with trophies for the winners.  It's a humble walk.  After the crowd has finished the 4.8 miles, many in Durham and around the world will still be hungry and tired.  But maybe a few will have a little more hope.  And next year, we'll walk again.

If you would like to make a donation to the CROP Walk on behalf of the Duke Memorial walking team, please see: http://hunger.cwsglobal.org/site/TR?team_id=78929&fr_id=16528&pg=team

Durham CROP Hunger Walk
Sunday, March 17, 2013
@ Duke Chapel

1:30 Registration

2:30 Walk

For sources of "Quotes" above, see Church World Service: http://hunger.cwsglobal.org/PDFs/Resources/Hunger.pdf