Little girl crushing rocks, Nepal; children playing in sand, Laguna Beach: How lucky we are

Reposted from Stu News Laguna by LYNETTE BRASFIELD.  Original Article can be found here

The sweet, loving soul that is Laguna Beach’s Rosalind Russell, founder of the nonprofit R Star Foundation, sent Stu News this photo of a four-year-old girl in a rural village in Nepal. She’s at work crushing rocks for road construction, and will likely never know a life of anything other than labor.

Four-year-old girl in Nepal at work crushing rocks

I pondered whether to publish this photo with Rosalind’s plea for funds to help this family. After all, there are many people in need in Laguna Beach, in California, in the States. So many causes deserving of generosity. Only so much all of us can afford to give at any one time.

And Stu News is a hyperlocal publication. We’re strictly Laguna Beach.

Yes, because of Rosalind, there’s a Laguna angle. But more than a hundred nonprofits are registered here. A number of them exist to help people in countries all over the world, from Kenya to Mexico. We can’t possibly cover them all. Can’t possibly tell the thousands of stories around the world that cry out for our compassion.

And who can speak to degrees of misery and need?

One of life’s great conundrums

This is one of life’s great conundrums. How do we measure out charity for the most impact? Do we keep to our own, our hyperlocal circles, or do we reach out to a little girl thousands of miles away whose needs may exceed anything we can possibly do?

I have no answers.

But I do believe in serendipity. This photo popped up on my screen. It made me sad. It made me realize again how very, very lucky I am to live in Laguna Beach and live the life I’m living.

So I’m going to send a check for $50 to R Star Foundation. It’s not much, but it’s something.

If anyone else wishes to do so, please contact Rosalind Russell at PO Box 4183 Laguna Beach, CA 92652. Donations can be made via PayPal [on this website]. In creative ways – by providing goats and/or education and/or helping build greenhouses – R-Star Foundation helps people in the poorest parts of rural Nepal learn how to support themselves financially, women in particular.

Or maybe just write a check to the charity of your choice, if you have the means at this time. We do what we can.

Photo by Mary Hurlbut 

Children playing in the sand, Laguna Beach: How lucky we are!