Letter

I believe there is nothing more important in life than family. Sometimes they are all you have. Recently I went to visit my grandparents. We had our typical Ricetta’s pizza lunch, it's as expected as a hug when I visit their home, and discussed what I've been doing in school. This is also fairly typical. I started discussing my blog with them, and they were very impressed, surprisingly. I didn't think this blog was that big of a deal to any one else other than me. Apparently they felt differently.

My grandfather wrote me a letter that I received at the end of last week that was very surprising and touching. This is what he said:

"I thought you might be interested in the enclosed as a source or future help and awareness of the terrible situation in Darfur. I'm spreading the word about your blog and your own financial aid project, and of course we're saving our change to add to your Valentine gift!"

I put that last sentence in there just because I think it shows how great my grandfather is and how willingly he gets involved in seemingly minor things in my life.

So what was enclosed? The picture above depicts my grandfather's letter and a letter that he received from UNICEF. The letter was requesting money for the situation in Darfur. I found the opening paragraph to be very moving.

"Right now, approximately 1.8 million children - including more than 500,000 young boys and girls under the age of five - face a massive humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of western Sudan. Due to the continuing security crisis, children constantly face violence, sever food shortages and threats from disease"

I will discuss tomorrow more about UNICEF. I thought that was a good place to leave off. Since I've discussed family and Darfur in this post, I think it's important to reflect on those two things combined. To think of our childhoods, we realize most of us never had to face ANY of those things. Definitely not to the same extent. I know growing up in my family my biggest fears were bedtime, disappointing my dad, and not being able to go out for recess.