Most of us, who have grown up in rich nations, are totally unaware of the severe economic challenges that people living in other countries have.  We may have a vague notion that in other parts of the world, people are poor, but it is not something that we spend a great deal of time thinking about.   When we do stop and think about it or talk to others about it, the attitudes are often not very kind.  The conscience can often be soothed, if the blame or responsibility is passed to another. “If, they would just move to a better place, get a real job, or work a little harder, then they would be OK”, is the sentiment that I have often heard.  In other words, it is their own fault.  “If they just had a little more ambition, if they weren’t quite so lazy, if they would just get an education, then they could put their poverty behind them and be like us.” 

While shifting blame may take the pressure off our responsibility to right a huge wrong, it does nothing to help the poor.  In many countries, “moving somewhere else” is not an option and “real jobs” are scarce.  The jobs that are available, actually do not pay a whole lot more then what the people would have made if they had stayed on the family farm growing vegetables.  People who have sacrificed to get a university education often find that the financial rewards for their efforts and investment are minimal.  Even if they can find a job in their career of choice they may only make $15-$20/week.  In some countries that I have visited, university professors have turned to driving taxis because they are able to support their families better as a taxi driver, then they were using their professional degree. 

In many countries jobs are so scarce that even educated people are forced to accept employment in a factory where working conditions are inhumane and the pay is just enough to survive.  What a horrific waste of human resources!  When conditions force people to accept employment that does not use their full capacities, education, or skills, it is called underemployment.  Some unscrupulous business owners and politicians seem to have no problems with this, but ultimately it is the society and the world that allows this to happen, that loses the benefits from the unutilized resource.    

 

Often, the only ones that make any money in many poor countries, are the owners of the factories and plantations, the politicians that allow them to continue, or the multinational corporations that flock to regions of the world where they can get their products produced at a fraction of the cost that it would be in their homelands. 

How is it possible that in 2006, with all of the moral advancements that we claim to have made, with all of the laws that we have been able to enact, with all of the pressure power that consumers are able to wage against corporations, that it is still possible for a few elite individuals to get rich off of the desperation of people trapped in poverty?  We like to think that slavery is an institution of the past, that we are more enlightened now, more civilized now.  Unfortunately, the reality is that most of the products that we purchase and use in our daily lives, show up in our stores at the price that they do, because they were manufactured in a dark factory in a country far away by people trapped in virtual slavery.  In a very real sense we have not advanced very far.  The abuses may not be as visible to us, but they are perhaps more widespread then they ever were.

I don’t want to minimize the importance of promoting and encouraging excellent educational systems.  I believe that education is the most important, legitimate step a person can make out of poverty.   It gives individuals the tools and skills to interact with others in their community and create products and services that others value.   A good education provides an individual with the tools to easily learn new skills, as new markets arise or new services are required.  A country that has a high percentage of high school and college graduates will certainly be better positioned to benefit from globalization and foreign investment, then those who have not made education a priority.

However, education alone is not enough.  If we are serious about helping people rise out of poverty, we must not only give opportunities for education, but also opportunities for employment at a reasonable wage.  Unfortunately this cannot happen in many countries without some major changes.  Fair wages require certain civil systems and moral values to be in place that some countries as well as some multinational corporations that work in them, have found difficult to establish.  It requires a rule of law and the establishment of fair laws.  It requires institutions that promote anti-corruption legislation and the will to enforce it.  It requires multinational corporations that are willing to be satisfied with less profit and more interested in making investments in people.  It requires the belief that all people are created equal and deserve our respect.  It requires that we assign the same value to people everywhere, that we would give to ourselves and our children. It requires women’s equality, and a fair, minimum wage legislation.

If these things seem out of our reach, beyond the scope of our ability to influence, they need not be.  Even small voices can have power.  Politicians who want to get re-elected listen to the demands of their constituents.  Multi-national corporations fear the bad publicity that awareness campaigns can bring in their wake. 

What can you do?

Get involved.  Learn about the issues. Read some books.  Send a letter or an email to your representative.  Insist that your government live up to their promises of foreign aid.  Research the companies that market the products that you consume and find out the conditions in the factories or farms in which they were produced.  Demand that your favorite brand demonstrate substantially that they are paying their producers a fair wage.  Find new brands if they cannot.  Purchase products that are delivered with a fair trade and fair wage certification.  You may have to pay a little more, but then you should have been paying more all along.  (Sometimes it is more about what is fair, then getting the best deal for ourselves).  Visit a developing country.  Volunteer your time.  Help build a school or a medical clinic.  Find a poor family and start a life-long partnership with them that will bring them out of poverty. Get your school to adopt a school in a poor country.  Get your church to adopt a church, get your town to adopt a village. 

One of the things that you can do to make a difference, is to support “NGO”s like ADRA that help the poor start their own small businesses by giving them skills training, education, tools, and small, low interest loans, to get them started.  The best way that people trapped in poverty can truly become self reliant is to become self-employed.   When people have their own small business, the amount of income that they make is set by their own ingenuity, ambition, and talent rather than a greedy factory owner, middleman, or multinational corporation.   

Underemployed and underpaid for fair work represents a failure of, not only the morals and values of the corporations that pay the meager wages but the western consumer who buys the cheap products at the expense of the extreme poverty of the producer.

If we are to end extreme poverty in our generation it must start with us.  If we wait for the politicians and elite business owners in poor countries to get some scruples, if we wait for  multi-national corporations and their stock holders to get some principles, if we wait for the good will of our politicians to fulfill the promises that they have made to the impoverished world, it will never get done.  You can make a difference; your voice can be heard.  Reach out a hand to the underemployed and the underpaid today!

Before becoming a photographer, I used to be a pastor in a Christian denomination.  With that explanation, I hope that those of you who may not be Christian will forgive me if my  writing sometimes sounds like a mini “sermonette”.  I guess it just comes out naturally sometimes.  I believe that there is wisdom in all belief systems and that there is much that we can learn from each other.  Most religions teach that people will be in some way held accountable for the actions of their life.   Christianity is no exception.  While some Christians like to minimize the seriousness or even the reality of this final judgment, it is an event that is spoken of often in the Bible.   Perhaps one of the most detailed references to this ultimate court of justice, is found  in  Mathew 25.  

The followers of Jesus had gathered around him on the mount of Olives.  As they looked at the beautiful temple, across the valley in Jerusalem, Jesus began to share with them many things that would happen at the end of time.  And then to wrap up what would be his last sermon before he died, Jesus said, “When the son of man comes, he will sit on his throne of glory with all of the holy angels around him.  All nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them just like a shepherd separates his sheep from his goats.  Sheep on the right, goats on the left.  Then the king shall turn to the people on his right, and invite them to enter in and inherit a kingdom that has been prepared since the foundation of the world.”  To the people on the left, the King  has some strong words.  He says, “Depart from me you cursed. Enter in to the eternal fire that has been prepared for the Devil and his angels.”

Over the centuries since Jesus uttered these words, many  people have developed complicated systems of religious practice and belief to try and avoid becoming one of those goats on the left.  Unfortunately, very few of these belief systems have managed to grasp the real reasons why the goats end up on the left!  Most religions seem to suggest that being a good sheep has more to do about things that we do to ourselves, with ourselves and for ourselves, rather then about our service to others.  It promotes the idea that the better we can keep a complicated list of  rules and regulations, ceremonial practices and rites and rituals, the more likely we will end up with the other sheep on the right. 

This is what we are good at.  We like to have our belief systems clearly defined and wrapped up in pretty boxes of doctrine and life-practice.   We want a list, so that we can be checking it off each day.   Like the rich young man who once came to Jesus, we want to know exactly what we need to do to be saved, and we will do it.  We don’t like the idea of ending up with the goats on the left and we are anxious to find out what it is we need to do to make sure that we are in the herd of sheep! 

The answer that Jesus finally gives the rich young man often makes no more sense to us then it did to him, “If you really want to know what to do, sell everything that you have and give it to the poor.”

That’s not a list!  Like the rich young ruler, many of us are looking for a new proclamation of health laws, or a clear set of  rules of proper Sabbath observance, annual feasts and festivals, rites and rituals. What to do, what not to do, when to do it and when not to do it, that’s all we ask.

If you have not read Jesus’ story about the final judgment recently, you might find it interesting to look up.  The passage is in Matthew 25 and starts in verse 31.   The essence of this last message of Jesus is that, to a great extent, those that end up with the sheep are those that have lived a life of selfless service for others.  Those that end up with the goats have not. 

The whole passage is very similar to another message that Jesus gave when He began his ministry. On another mountian, three and a half years earlier, Jesus had invited people to live a life that demonstrates the same kind of kind of "perfect love" to others, that God shows to us.    It is interesting to note that the judgment scene, depicted in this sermon of Jesus, carries a very similar theme to the sermon in Matthew 25. Here, the people come to the Judge saying, “But Lord, have we not done many wonderful works in your name?  Have we not prophesied in your name, have we not cast out demons in your name”?   Apparently many of the “goats” will be religious people who have lived in strict adherence to doctrine, ritual, ceremony and rules.  They have done many amazing and miraculous things in the name of Jesus.  They are quite shocked that they are being asked to, "step to the left". 

The simple answer, given by the Judge, as to why people are asked to move to the left, to become one of the "goats", is something that should make us all examine our hearts and lives.  “I was hungry and you didn’t feed me, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink.  I was a stranger and you did not take me in, I was naked and you did not clothe me, I was sick, I was in prison, and you did not visit me.

Surprised and dismayed, the people on the left, on that "great day of accounting", will ask, “But, when Lord”?  “When did we see you like this and not come to your assistance”?  It is then, that the One who knows the very secrets of our hearts will say, “Whenever you did not do these things unto the least of these my brethren, you did not do it to me.”

Over the last 17 years I have had the privilege of playing a supportive role to ADRA, an organization that  works to relieve the suffering of the poor.  Some of the religious people that I have met in my journey have expressed their doubts about the validity of ADRA’s approach.  They may complain that vital resources are being diverted to programs that have no “evangelistic” agenda.  “While it is nice that a village gets a well”, these critics have said, “while it is nice that people learn how to grow better gardens, live healthier lives and become self reliant, where are the baptisms”?

To these people I simply ask, “what will Jesus say to the "sheep" that he invites into his eternal kingdom”?  If they don’t remember, I remind them.  He will say, “I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.  I was hungry and you fed me.  I was a stranger and you took me in, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and in prison and you visited me.” 

The people that hear these words on the day of judgment are surprised!  They scratch their head in bewilderment.  “But, Lord, When”?  We don’t ever remember seeing you like this!  And then the judge of our world will say, “Whenever you did it to unto the least of these my brethren, you did it unto me.    Come you blessed of my Father, enter into my eternal kingdom”.

Many years ago I worked at a Christian summer camp for kids.  One of the songs that we sang each evening was called, “I Just Wanna be a Sheep”.  I don’t think that I fully grasped the meaning of that simple song until many years later.  Today, more then ever, I just wanna be a sheep.    

While this web site carries the Christian theme of going to the very least with our love and service, we welcome the participation of all people who have a concerned heart for the poor of our world, regardless of your religion or belief system.  We invite your participation and input as we discuss ways to bring an end to extreme poverty in our generation.   Working together we can accomplish this amazing goal! And, aside from all of the joy and satisfaction that this work can bring to us in this life, we have that added assurance that a life of service to others, is the real vision and mission of Christianity. Take up this exciting new approach to your spiritual journey, and on that great judgment day, you may very well end up with the sheep.

Cholera is not a fun illness to have and untreated can be fatal.  Without proper care, individuals can die within a few hours of the first symptoms.  The primary way that you get this horrid illness is from drinking water that has been contaminated with the feces of someone who has cholera.  As unlikely as that might seem by Western standards, if you happen to live in a village where the river that runs past your hut serves the community for everything from drinking water to bathing, laundry and waste disposal, then it is safe to say that you and your family are in danger of contracting cholera and other waterborne diseases. If there are twenty other villages upstream from you, your chances are multiplied 20 times.

Last October the hospital in São Tomé began reporting cases of cholera. Once a disease like this gets started in an impoverished nation, it can spread quickly and the death tolls can rapidly rise.  It seems like such a simple problem to fix.  Just stop drinking water that may have been contaminated. Right? Get on the radio, make a few public service announcements and the problem should be solved.  Right?  Unfortunately, poverty means that you do not have the money to buy bottled water for your family.  It may mean that you do not have a well in your village or the resources to install one.  It may mean that you may not have not had the education that you need to accept the idea that your illness could be caused by drinking the water out of the river that you have drunk out of your entire life, by a bug that is too small to see.  It is estimated that since the first reported cases in October, approximately 10% of the residents of São Tomé have had exposure.  Thirty six people have died.   

Since the outbreak, ADRA São Tomé has enriched its health education to all of the communities in which it works, to include information on cholera.  In addition, it is working with the local government to do health lectures, drama education, and distribution of water purification solution in many communities where it is not yet working.  Emanuel, the ADRA São Tomé director, noted with much interest how the villages in which ADRA has established women’s community based organizations, readily accepted the new information on cholera with confidence and trust.  They immediately implemented the recommended changes.  In other villages where ADRA has not established a presence, the information was received with more hesitancy and skepticism.  When you have done something a certain way all of your life, change is not always easy, especially when the call for change is coming from a source you have not come to respect or trust.

One of the solutions that ADRA São Tomé is endeavoring to implement is a type of latrine that is culturally appropriate and accepted.  With health education, sanitation, latrines, and water purification it is hoped that this outbreak of cholera in São Tomé can be eradicated. As they move through and past this crisis, thanks to the hard work of the ADRA staff, the people of São Tomé will have gained valuable information, improved village sanitation, and adopted personal hygiene habits that will not only prevent a future outbreak of cholera but improve overall health and well being.

As I write these words I am in the Detroit airport waiting for the last flight of my journey home.  It has been a wonderful trip.  I have met many new friends and appreciate the amazing dedication that they have for their work.  I hope to continue to discover ways that I can partner with them as they do their work of saving lives and eliminating poverty.

While my trip to Africa is over, I plan to continue this blog and update other materials to this website.  I hope that you will stop on by whenever you get a chance!