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Category: poverty

the horror

the horror

the horror is mothers contemplating adoption because they cannot feed their children
the horror is food rotting in the fields because it is too dangerous to bring it to market
the horror is a nurse watching her daughter be snatched by thugs along with her
the horror is aid workers and food vendors being kidnapped and raped
the horror is Haiti’s first president being ousted
the horror is Haiti’s forty-third president being assassinated
the horror is stinking piles of rubbish in the streets
the horror is children playing in open sewers
the horror is a teenager brandishing an AK-47
the horror is a gaunt young boy clad only in a pair of ripped shorts put on backwards
the horror is the interminable misery of a beautiful people
the horror is the insufferable ravaging of a beautiful country
the horror is the unconscionable neglect of a heedless world
the horror is almost no one cares

Pray for Haiti

Pray for Haiti

Please pray for the people of Haiti!

I have not seen it in the news, but I received this email today from the executive director of Fonkoze, an organization I support. Fonkoze supports Haitians, primarily females, in raising themselves and their families out of poverty by providing microcredit loans and banking services. Here is the email …

Dear Timothy,

As you may have heard, the socio-political crisis in Haiti has in recent weeks become increasingly worse. Massive numbers of protestors are taking to the streets to voice their demands for justice and accountability from President Jovenel Moise.

In some areas, the demonstrations have unfortunately been accompanied by looting and violence. Police forces are doing their best to manage the situation, but the shortage of personnel is making this difficult. Many of the roads are blocked by barricades, rocks and/or burning tires. And as a result, businesses in these cities are not able to operate. Thankfully, so far none of Fonkoze’s staff have been victims of violence.

The staff at Fonkoze Financial Services are doing everything they can to keep as many branches open as possible. Logistically, this is a challenge, but our brave colleagues are determined to serve our clients as best they can even in situations as these. Enforcing its internal crisis communication and action plans, Fonkoze is working to ensure its staff and clients are well equipped to handle the challenges this crisis is presenting each day.

We hope the political leaders of Haiti will be able to find a solution to this crisis as soon as possible – one that will restore hope and set the country on a path to better governance and improved economic conditions for the majority of the population who are suffering terribly from rising food prices and lack of jobs.

We will keep you informed about the situation as it evolves.

With hope in solidarity,

Mabel Valdivia
Executive Director
Fonkoze USA

robin hood in reverse

robin hood in reverse

President Trump’s first major budget proposal on Tuesday will include massive cuts to Medicaid and call for changes to anti-poverty programs that would give states new power to limit a range of benefits. How does it make us better or stronger to turn our backs on our most vulnerable citizens? One commentator quoted in the article calls it “Robin-Hood-in-reverse” … in other words, stealing from the poor to give to the rich.

Democracy at its best is a social contract, a mutual commitment to take care of each other, to pool resources of wealth and power to ensure that we are together protected from threats, both external and internal. Internal threats include poverty, disease, injustice, exclusion. It is government’s purpose, not merely to create conditions for economic growth and “stay out of the way,” but to make sure none of us are left behind or left out.

This is not about partisanship or politics. It’s about survival … both of our most vulnerable compatriots and of our democratic ideals.

as yourself

as yourself

Jesus put it simply: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

As yourself …

How do you love yourself? Out of pity? As a duty? Because you have to?

Or is your love for yourself a desire for well-being and happiness, just because you want well-being and happiness? Don’t you defend yourself because you believe you deserve to be treated fairly? Aren’t you patient and kind with yourself, because you understand your own strengths and weaknesses and know you are still learning, still becoming? And don’t you accept help, when you do, with gratitude, believing it is offered not out of pity, but out of love, because people care about you like you care about them? Because you matter?

Isn’t your love for yourself based on a belief in your own inherent dignity and worth?

A friend shared an article with me today. You should read it. It is subtitled:

We need to change the conversation about poverty and inequality. It starts with compassion and kindness.

We need to change the conversation, to see poverty, not from the outside, but from the inside, to set aside stereotypes and see our neighbors as they are, to lead with compassion, to learn to love our neighbors … as ourselves.

An excerpt from the article …

When researchers at Princeton University showed two groups of viewers the same video of a little girl answering questions about school subjects, they told the first group that her parents were affluent professionals. They told the second group that she was the daughter of a meat packer and a seamstress.

The girl, named Hannah, performed right at grade level on the videotaped test, answering some questions correctly and missing others. But when asked about her performance, the first group, primed to believe she was wealthy, felt that she had performed above grade level. The second group, primed to believe she was not, felt that she had performed below.

It was the same video, mind you — the same girl, answering the same questions in the exact same way. But their conclusions were totally different.

Sometimes we see what we’re looking for …

peace on earth

peace on earth

Rachel SimonsRachel Simons lives in Galati, Romania, a field worker with Word Made Flesh, an Christian organization committed to “serving Jesus among the poorest of the poor.” She works with Galati’s street children, providing them educational and recreational and spiritual programs, and interacting with them on a daily basis in their own context on the streets.

The following is taken from one of her recent prayer letters:

… around the holidays I constantly run into children begging outside of restaurants, shopping malls, supermarkets and at stop-lights. They know that people tend to give more in December, so they bear the cold, stomp their feet to keep from freezing, and stand for hours outside of places that attract shoppers.

The weight of poverty is felt so deeply this time of year, and the lines are drawn between those who can shop and those who are left on the margins, outside the window looking in. Yesterday as I waited at the bus stop in below freezing weather, I watched some children I know doing their dance outside the pastry shop door … dancing to keep their feet from freezing. One of the boys had courage to step inside the door for a few brief moments of warmth before getting scolded to “keep out!” … Please pray for those who are marginalized and left out. Pray for God’s kingdom of peace and equity to come on earth as it is in heaven.

When people like Rachel have a heart for the “poorest of the poor,” not just generally, but for particular children and women and men they know by name — when they see them and love them and pray for them and choose to be with them — then God’s peace has already come on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus is indeed among us!

To learn more about Rachel’s ministry in Galati and about the global ministries of Word Made Flesh, check out the Word Made Flesh website.