Ahh...you understand...

It is so encouraging to talk with others who understand the sorts of things you deal with on a day to day basis.  It is amazing that talking with people who work in Africa or other places aroun the world on similar issues, we all have similar stories, frustrations, and joys.  Through some work here, I found out about World Concern, who also does development work, but with a slightly different focus.  As I was reading over their website to find out more about what they do, I felt really encouraged by a particular section that talks about Understanding the Core Issues, namely poverty.  Poverty is one of those big issues that we deal with on a day to day basis, and everyone asks us about it.  I honestly don´t have all the answers sorted out in my head, but it is something Drew and I have thought about quite a bit.  Reading this article, I was very much encouraged by the experiences and reflections shared by this particular person who has worked at World Concern.

So, I would like to share what I found on this website. These are just snippets of the article, the link is below if you would like to read the whole thing.

http://www.worldconcern.org/issues/
Digging at Poverty´s Roots: An Interview

Poverty is a type of prison in the developing world—a cycle that entraps. The door to the outside? Opportunity.

Dr. Meredith Long understands poverty well as our Senior Director for International Programs. His experience includes 14 years of living in and developing communities in Kenya and Bangladesh, and over ten years of working with churches around the issue of AIDS.

Now he works with our staff as they confront poverty in some of the most desperate, underserved places on Earth. It’s a mission of hope, executed strategically.

In this interview, he exposes some of the root causes of poverty and how we can respond.

Interview with community development expert, Dr. Meredith Long:

What are some of the root causes of poverty?

"Poverty is often rooted in injustice. 'A poor man’s field may produce abundant food, but injustice sweeps it away,' says Proverbs 13:23. And that injustice can be expressed in different ways.

"Poverty is also cyclical in that those who have been poor learn to be helpless. When you try to make progress again and again and any improvement you make is taken away from you, you learn to be dependent on others with no control over your own environment—you learn to not try.”

How do you break the cycle of poverty and helplessness?

“Coming to be at peace with God makes a big difference. People who turn to Christ gain a sense of dignity and a community of support through churches.

"They grasp their ability to change their environment, and they understand righteous living—not spending money uselessly. We see people stop beating wives and children. They begin to move out of poverty.”

What’s the most appropriate Christian response to poverty?

“After the war in Sri Lanka, we interviewed people we’ve helped. They talked about physical benefits like food, and the way we’ve helped advocate for them. But they also said, “You’ve entered into relationship with us—you talk to us as if we really matter, not just as professionals dropping off food and then leaving.”

“Treating people with dignity is important.

“There are different responses people have to the poor. The story of the prodigal son is excellent for talking about poverty.

• After the famine started and the son lost his money, his friends became apathetic to him. They fled. Their support was based on a sense of having enough to share and to give to each other. When that wealth disappeared, there wasn’t enough to hold them together.
• The farmer hired the young man—kind of—and left him to eat what was given to the pigs. His main thought was, “Here’s a person to exploit.”
• The brother was moved by duty, and didn’t want him to starve, but he was also jealous and didn’t want to see his brother restored. He was bound by duty but lacked compassion.
• Then the father, who is the character of Jesus, compassionately received his son—moving him not only out of poverty but also into a relationship of compassion.

“So apathy, taking advantage, duty and compassion are responses people have to the poor. The response of compassion is what we in the Church are to have.”

When do you know you’re making a difference for a family or community?

“You look for external changes. They’re easier to measure, and without external changes you don’t have transformation.

“But internal change is also needed for transformation–building relationships with God and others, building community support systems, reducing conflict and helping individuals experience dignity as they understand their value.”

Do we ever come across people we can’t help? Why?

“Yes. Some you’re simply too late to help—a starving child, or someone who will be permanently disabled.

“The poor can reject life just as the rich can. They can choose to not respond to help. Or they might be so trapped in sinful behavior that it’s hard to reach in.

“When you see the poor rejecting life, you realize apart from the Holy Spirit, there’s little you can do to move them out of poverty.

“But early on when I was living in Bangladesh, I was going by a river where obviously malnourished kids were playing happily in the water—there was something universal about it. The vast majority of people are not beyond hope. It takes a conscious decision to turn from darkness and most choose that.”

This sounds like long-term work. How do you stay encouraged when serving the poorest?

“You don’t always stay encouraged. It’s tough for people to move out of poverty and it takes a long time.

“Remaining optimistic and hopeful really comes down to my faith. I think one of the keys is that in the end, the work with the poor is an act of worship to God. It’s my relationship with God and the ability consistently to offer my work to Him as an act of worship that enable me to work through discouragement with the poor.

“In the midst of that, there are many encouraging things. You seetransformation taking place. When you begin an income generation program or a community health program,you walk in and have your initial work with volunteers and participants. And there’s no light or energy about them. They don’t believe deep inside them that anything can change.

“So you do the program, and then you see the light go on in the eyes. The looking down and the lack of engagement are replaced as they discover their own dignity and that they can make a difference in their own lives.”

What can American Christians do to make the biggest difference for the poor?

“Begin somehow to engage. It’s discomforting to be faced with poverty—it makes you feel uneasy. It challenges us, even makes us feel guilty.

“I remember once listening to an anthropologist talk about the “veils” we wear when looking at Scripture:

• There’s the veil of humanity: there are some things we can’t comprehend about God and humanity. Christ helped overcome this when He came; He says “When you have seen me, you have seen the Father.”
• There’s the veil of our own sinfulness: we tend to warp our picture of God to fit own self-interest.
• There’s a veil of our culture: prosperity theology is a cultural expression of our understanding of poverty—it has an inkling of truth but does not capture a comprehensive understanding of what God is doing in the world and people’s lives.
• There’s a veil of individual experience in our culture that affects our ability to see God.

“For most middle-class Americans, “veils” tend to keep us from seeing the poor and responding to them. It ends up that the poor are images on the television screen and no longer exist if you can eliminate them from your experience

“Seek engagement with the poor through your church, in your communities, by responding internationally—once the poor have a face in your mind it’s no longer an abstract thing you’re dealing with.

“Engagement begins to lead to prayer, compassion, giving—all as we see beyond the veils we put in front of us that obscure the poor from our view.”