Someone (a Coloured, Christian South African) once told me that the average household in the Coloured Community in South Africa earns R1800 per month (about $257 US). Many of the youth I know in America have that much money per month & they spend it on __________? I guarantee its not spent on rent or food or health-care for their family. I'm guessing its spent on luxuries & entertainment. I can only imagine what that money could do in aiding the spread of the Gospel in Africa, in feeding the hungry, in taking care of orphans, in providing clean water. The list could go on & on.
My passion for this topic is hot because I'm faced with hungry children & struggling families everyday here in South Africa. The article below affirmed my 'soap-box' & encouraged me in the efforts we're making on the ground at Living Hope!
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Can We Really Solve Poverty?
By Richard Stearns, President of World Vision
"Our world is increasingly divided between rich and poor. When I was born, the richest countries were 35 times as wealthy as the poorest. Half a century later, it stood at 75 to 1. The divide more than doubled on the watch of my generation—the one that vowed to end war and save the planet.
Today, 2.6 billion people—40 percent of the world's population—live on less than $2 a day. Americans, who make up less than 5 percent of the world's population, live on an average $105 a day. That means the typical American has more material wealth than 96 percent of the world's people. Even a student earning $105 a week is wealthier than 85 percent of the world.
But it's more than money. Poverty is about lack of essentials such as food, clean water, and basic health care. Poverty is about lack of hope for the future, because your children can't get an education—if they survive their first five years of life. Poverty is about not being able to find meaningful work. Poverty is about lack of dignity.
This is not how God intended the world to be. The apostle Paul spoke to the issue of disparity in 2 Corinthians, when he urged the wealthier Corinthian church to make a relief offering to the Christians in Jerusalem, who were in dire economic circumstances. "Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed," he wrote, "but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: 'The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little'" (8:13-15, TNIV).
The Bible is clear that God's people always had a responsibility to see that everyone in their society was cared for at a basic-needs level. Ruth was able to glean wheat from Boaz's field because God had instructed those who controlled the land to not harvest everything, so that there would be food for the poor.
For Christians, this is a justice issue or, stated more bluntly, a moral issue in which those of us who have plenty seem willing to allow others to have nothing. It is not our fault that people are poor, but it is our responsibility to do something about it.
But how?
People and churches that believe tackling poverty is easy probably have never tried it. Poverty, disease, ethnic hatred and injustice are the oldest plagues on the human race and when we tackle them, we must not underestimate the challenge. The truth is that the poor know much more about their own problems than we do.
We think we know their problems and have the answers even before we speak with them face to face. Walking with the poor requires a willingness to learn from them before attempting to help them. Tackling issues of health education or economic deprivation cross culturally is rocket science, and anyone who attempts it without appreciating its complexity will regret it."
Stearns goes on to tell of job-education & micro-loan theories. We, at Living Hope, continue to find this education the most effective way to help those who really want help! We must evaluate our standards of living and selflessly give to fulfill God's commands - to effectively serve others and live in love toward our fellow creation of God. To read the entire article:
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/mission/features/23810-can-we-really-solve-poverty
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