For the rest of my life I willnever forget the images of the three year ethiopian girl named Birhan who was dying of starvation. It has changed me in a way I can't yet understand. I want to share this with everyone because I beleive it to be so important.
I was watching Oprah this afternoon, and the story of Birhan broke my heart. In the heart of the Ethiopian famine in 1983, this girl was hours, if not minutes away from death. Canadian reporter Brian Stewart came across the tragic sight that changed his life forever. When the nurse announced that there was nothing they could do for her, Brian sadly carried on with the filming in the village. Five hours later, they went back to where the had left Birhan and her father, expecting to witness a funeral.
But a miracle occured...
The nurse had given Birhan a shot, and somehow, Birhan seemed to be doing better. The nurse was hopeful. If you can beleive it, 20 years later Birhan is alive and well, and through sponsorship, she is attending college. I look at her now and see the depth of her beauty and know there is something very special about her.
The show continued on with other stories of children who have changed the world. I encourage you to check out this link and (even though its Oprah) read about and see these amazing stories.
http://www.oprah.com/tows/slide/200412/20041202/slide_20041202_102.jhtml
The other story that touched me was about the baby girls in China who are abandoned because they were not born male. You should read about them too.
Suffice to say, I cried and I cried. I'm not sure what I am going to do with these stories now, but I don know that I will never ever forget the image of the poor child dying in such a horrible way.
I couldn't find the origninal image of Birhan (you can see a recent one of her on the Oprah link), but if you check this link, the idea is there.
http://www.swissinfo.org/xobix_media/images/sri/2002/sriimg20021223_1533003_0.jpg
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