Is the Christian Community at Multnomah concerned enough about the disasters taking place in the world around us? Should it be? On Oct. 28, when many students were waking up for classes on a Monday morning, thousands of people saw light for the last time as a hurricane spread its wings across Central America.

The giant whirlwind caused river and ocean to converge into a single body of water. Tidal waves accompanied violent wind and rain, causing the most deadly Atlantic storm in 200 years. Hurricane Mitch killed 10,000 people. Another 19,000 are still reported missing. About 3 million people are now homeless, and many more lives have been devastated.

Many students begin to think of these casualties as unimportant simply because they took place somewhere else and are not directly related to their lives. But we could have just as easily been part of those statistics. Our responsibility is to get involved, whether through donating money, offering up prayer, or volunteering aid.

Volunteers are now helping all over the world to bring hope to Central America. This Sunday, stars from Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, and other plays and musicals, will take part in a special performance to raise money to buy feeding kits for children under 5 and other emergency equipment. The performance is expected to raise around $60,000. Though this is little compared to the $4 billion of damage done to Central America, it is a start. People are doing what they can.

Another example is a group of volunteers in downtown Portland who were loading trucks and transporting food and supplies for the Christian organization, World Vision. People worked frantically, as if they were delivering food to their own children. Ruth Nottingham, the regional director of World Vision, told about one 77-year-old man who volunteered for four hours. He worked just as hard as everyone else did in spite of his age.

Like the 77-year-old volunteer for World Vision, we need to be willing to help out in our community and our world in spite of our own weaknesses. Through helping others, not only will we save lives, but also we will be a witness to the world.

The missions conference planning committee has given Multnomah a goal of raising $10,000 by Feb. 19. In addition, the post office has given Multmah students an opportunity to donate to Northwest Medical Teams for disaster relief. Multnomah has already reached $189.25, and Stugo has promised to match what students give. All this is a good start.

But let us not forget that the problems in Central America are only getting worse. The Honduran Public Health Minister has said that the number of people affected is growing by the day. Doctors say the health conditions will get worse before they get better. The fact that Hurricane Mitch is no longer headline news does not mean that the troubles are over.