"Nope, have you?" I replied. He is always the first one up on weekends in our house.
"No, do you want to have breakfast with me?"
"I sure do. What should we have?"
"Pancakes!"
A sideways look from me. Rick is the only one who makes pancakes in our house. Rick and the kids are the only ones who eat them. I'm not a pancake person. I can, however, eat a waffle on occasion. And yes, there is a big difference.
"I want hard boiled eggs," he said with that smile that makes me feel all is right in my world. I might have made him pancakes if he kept smiling at me like that. Fortunately, hard boiled eggs are super easy to make. Bring eggs in water to a boil, then cover and remove from the heat for 20 minutes - this keeps the yolks from getting that freaky greenish tint that comes with long rapid boiling.
I'm not a nutritionist so I have no official basis to say this. (But I am a researcher and a foodie passionate about good nutrition!) I think a significant part of what keeps the third world the third world is the lack of nutrition and protein in their diets. Yes, I know they also need clean water, medicines, stable governments, education, a reliable economy, etc. But good nutrition from birth could make a tangible impact.
Enter the One Egg project.
Tom Phillips, CEO of Diversified Conveyors, Inc., says he noticed in his trips abroad a great need for protein in the diet of the children in Rwanda. Protein is essential for proper brain development in children. Yet protein is in short supply there. Beef is too expensive, and if there is a chicken available, the custom is that the man gets to eat it—all of it—leaving nothing for the women and children. Uh, yeah.
So Tom put his engineering background to work and came up with a profitable, sustainable way to get protein to African children. They unite sponsors, local businesses, various churches and non-governmental organizations to create jobs, empower African nationals and provide protein to their malnourished children.
Here's how ...
They build hen houses. This creates jobs for the locals in construction, business, farming, transportation and animal care. They also provide skill training for each of these jobs. Once the egg production begins, approximately half of the eggs are sent to local markets to provide affordable sources of protein for the community. Which, in turn, provides income for the locals operating the hen house.
The remaining eggs are designated to be purchased by OneEgg sponsors (that could be you) to be distributed at OneEgg sites. Official OneEgg sites include schools, orphanages, hospital wards, and daycare centers.
For one gift of $60 (or $5 per month) to the project, you can supply a child with eggs for an entire year.
This project combines three of my passions: food, good nutrition and serving others because Christ has served me. So I'm pretty jazzed about it.
I'm also inspired by how one guy, Tom, saw a need in the world and set out to meet it. What a good egg he is. What could you do from where you are at today?
We can all do something right where we are...If not $5 a month, we can pray-it's FREE :)
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