Annual Report
You may view our 2007 annual report here.
Putting love into action, in our little corner of the world
Dear supporter of India Partners,
I confess to you. I am guilty of using the following phrases:
"You can save the world."
"By doing [fill in the blank], it will help save the world."
"Help us save the world by [fill in the blank]."
Although these can be wonderfully inspiring phrases, the pragmatist in me says this is impossible. Neither you, or I, or any group is going to "save" the world. And who or what are we saving the world from exactly? And how will we know when we have accomplished this lofty goal? It boggles the mind.
As a follower of Christ, I believe there is only One who can save the world (the same One who helped create it). And in fact, He has already saved the world--in the spiritual sense. But physically, the earth continues to groan with the weight of evil, war, and death. And as long as people remain imperfect, the world will continue to be in need of salvation.
I remember an episode of that wonderful '70s TV show MASH. Hawkeye Pierce and BJ Honeycut are trying to ground a helicopter pilot who has been "employing" Korean children to go into minefields and gather "items" for him to sell. When Hawkeye and BJ confront him, saying they will prevent him from flying again unless he stops his practice, he gives in. And then the pilot says, "Others will still be doing what I'm doing. You think you'll save the world?" And BJ replies, "No, just our little corner of it."
And in reality, maybe that is all we can do: help those folks we see, read about, and meet...those who are in our little corner of the world. BJ Honeycut's corner of the world was the area around his MASH unit in 1950s war-torn Korea; but with the advent of communication satellites and the Internet, the world is now a much smaller place. We can communicate with and see others instantly on the phone, television, or computer screen. Although we may physically live in the USA, our "little corner" of the world now encompasses the entire earth: including India. And so the weight of "saving the world" has now increased exponentially to over 6 billion souls, each with their own needs.
So I confess, I have given up on trying to save the world. It is just too big a task for me. And I am not the best qualified. I have enough trouble picking out matching clothes each morning. But, I have not given up hope for the world--far from it. Not having "save the world" on my To Do list has freed me up to do those little daily acts of love that I actually can accomplish.
Please read the Accomplishments section of this report. I am sad to say that in 2007 we did not save the world. But we did something just as important: we put our love into action. And for those tens of thousands of people in India we helped last year, maybe they would say this: we helped save their world.
In love and action,
Brent Hample
President
