"It is the responsibility of the international community, of the global civil society, to come and take care and assist the transformation of Syria, in collaboration with the Syrian civil society," says the exiled leader of the Deir Mar Musa monastery near Damascus.

"Drought does not need to mean famine," according to Niger's president, who adds that the country is tired of needing help and not being able to feed its own people. "We need to escape from emergency aid. We need to help our population produce and provide for itself."

It is a painful rite of passage for girls in many African and Middle Eastern countries. But in Senegal there has been a remarkably successful campaign to change people's attitudes towards female circumcision in an effort to eliminate the practice altogether.

Does the US have a duty to act in Syria? Is it possible to somehow intervene and still do more good than harm? "Nothing is certain in human affairs," says this political and moral philosopher.

"For weeks the newspapers have included articles about the mounting deaths and suffering of ordinary Syrians. These articles implicitly pronounce a familiar imperative: something must be done. But in the face of this imperative, we are compelled by another: force is justified only where there is reasonable hope of doing more good than harm."

“It doesn’t take a lot of misfortune to be on the street these days. I think everybody in America knows that right now,” says Ann Miller of Helena, Montana, where she and her husband, Wayne, opened God’s Love, an emergency homeless shelter and soup kitchen.

"We’re a nation based on moral values, and when we express those values to communities around the world, we’re showing them an America…with whom they want to partner and not fight."

Working with communities of faith means “helping millions of Americans connect to the opportunity to serve vulnerable populations abroad.”

"What’s wrong with this picture: 50 miles north of here is possibly the worst human rights situation, including Christian persecution in the entire world, and here we are in South Korea living a lifestyle that’s probably on par with the United States and Europe," says pastor Tim Peters, a missionary in South Korea.

The congregation of St. Paul's Episcopal in New Orleans, hard-hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, is now helping handicapped children in Haiti, survivors of the earthquake there. "It was clear right away the connection between New Orleans and Haiti," says Rev. Scott Albergate.