“OUR OWN BACK YARD”Perhaps you’re wondering how we can justify our focus on the villagers of Africa when we have plenty of need here at home. What about taking care of our own? Our answer is two-fold: One philosophical, one statistical and reality-based. Where exactly is our own backyard? Where does it begin and where does it end? Is it defined by political borders? Or physical borders like mountain ranges, rivers, or oceans? Do race, religion, or other cultural variables help us pinpoint it? What about America’s commonwealths and Americans living overseas? How do resident aliens living in the U.S. figure in? They’re not really “our own”, are they? For Team Engeye, there are no borders. There is no “us” or “them”. There cannot be. If we honestly hope to someday bring peace and prosperity to this planet, we need to accept that, like even the tiniest branches on a giant oak, the diverse and distant civilizations on our earth are connected. We are, indeed all one. If one part of the organism is in jeopardy, if there are people on Earth who are dying needlessly, we all suffer. We need to go where the need is greatest – Where hope for the future is all but lost.  Countries with a critical shortage of healthcare workers.1 The World Health Organization2 reported in 2006 that the African continent bears 24% of the global burden of disease, but has only 3% of the healthcare workforce and 1% of the world’s financial resources. A typical Ugandan villager has:
There’s plenty of disparity here in America, no doubt. No lack of need. But the plight of the typical rural African citizen easily eclipses the very worst that we can find on our own soil. That’s where the need is. And that’s where we’re prepared -- and determined -- to go. |
