Poverty

So apparently it’s Blog Action Day 2008, and you’re suppose to blog about Poverty this year, and donate some money and stuff… so here goes.

Poverty

I’m one of the minority Americans who has seen poverty first-hand.  Because I was a youth Pastor, I traveled to various “poor” countries and got to experience poverty like most privileged American’s would never be able to.  I’ve eaten in poverished houses, spoken to people who barely are getting by and putting food on the table, built houses for families living in nothing more than shacks built of scrap lumber (or cardboard).  When I was in Africa, we walked through the slums, went to church there, and listened to story after story of people’s lives living in poverty.  Like Tony, I would agree, poverty does indeed suck.

And it is depressing. The strongest feeling you feel when surrounded by poverty is depression and hopelessness.  The problems seem so big that there must not be an answer… at least not one that you can do anything about.  And it becomes more disconcerning when you hear stories of natios trying to fight poverty and they too can’t seem to undo the corruption and systems that cause it.  The whole world feels like a pyramid scheme, with us Americans and other industrialized/technologically advanced nations (mostly white) on top, and everyone else fighting for the scraps beneath us.

Yet, here is one thing I have learned about poverty.  Sometimes poverty is in the eye of the beholder.  In other words, poverty to us – is not having a car, or not having our own bedroom, or not owning more than a few outfits and pairs of shoes.  Poverty to us means not being able to eat out or eat three square meals for that matter.  And what I’ve come to find is that, although some places and situations look and feel and smell like poverty to me, the people that live there are just fine… or if they are not fine, it is because they want American lifestyles.  And so there is this hunger that exists in the world, to have more and more – and if we don’t have access to more and more, we are living in poverty.

Of course, there are people who REALLY ARE LIVING IN SHIT.  They have nothing, and desire to better their life so their kids don’t starve, so their kids can learn how to read and write, so their kids can grow old and have a family, so they can have the essentials – food, shelter, cleanliness.  And these are the systems we need to address and as a nation, as a world we need to figure out how we can eliminate the injustices and inequalities that exist.

I woud live off of less if it meant that the poorest would get a little more – the depressing thing is that it is never that simple.  But perhaps it can be, we can start to shave off a little of our privilege to give to the needy.

Kiva.org

I love microfinancing.

So go to Kiva.org and give a little today.  It’s not a free gift… it’s a small business loan.  And essentially, you get paid back.  It’s a great idea and one that truly is making change in the world and in impoverished nations.