A while back I was part of a discussion with a couple of my coworkers during break. One of them said he thought that there were too many charities in the world. To that I said that as long as there are starving people and people dying of preventable diseases/causes, that perhaps there should be more, not fewer charities in the world. As we dialog-ed about world poverty and he shared with me why he is where he is today, (lots of hard work, sucking it up, etc.) it became clear to me that he believes that the same opportunities that exist in America and other developed countries are the same that exist worldwide. Instead of telling him that he was speaking out of mind-numbing ignorance on a subject he knew nothing about (which is what I pretty much told him), I WISH I would have simply painted a picture for him by asking him some questions. Questions like, "What do you think it would be like to work all day long everyday to simply survive?" "I wonder what it would be like if there was no connection whatsoever between how hard you worked and the results you got?" This is the reality for approximately 1 billion people who live on less than a dollar a day.
It struck me how shortsighted and arrogant we can be to think that our brothers and sisters in developing countries have the same opportunities as we do! Imagine being born into a slum somewhere in sub-saharan Africa or India for example. You grow up seeing your parents toil for long hours every day so that you can eat a simple meal at the end of the day. At a very young age you are put to work for the same purpose. You see some of your friends get sick from the same contaminated water that you and your family drink from. You see some of your friends die from diarrhea caused by the polluted water. Some of your friends get malaria and die because they don't have any kind of access to healthcare. You don't know how to read or write because your parents need you to stay at home and work in order to survive. Besides, they wouldn't be able to afford the uniform required by the nearby public school anyways.
Now imagine how ridiculous it would be to tell these people that they need to work harder to improve their situation and em-better themselves. Keep in mind that words like public assistance, food stamps, food programs, school loans/grants, work programs etc. are simply not part of their vocabulary.
The point I'm trying to make here is not that we should pity our brothers and sisters in these situations and simply give them hand outs. I'm suggesting that we have compassion on them by first understanding how few options they really have. We have to step out of our western mindset for a bit and try to walk in their shoes before offering our solutions. Ultimately, the question is, What is God asking of us? I think of the scripture that says, "Love your neighbor as yourself" Would I want my child to die from a preventable disease? Would I want my only option for water to be a contaminated water source a mile or two away from where I live? Would I want to be hungry and see my child malnourished? I think when we dare to actually somehow live out a well know passage like this, it can quickly become clear how radical real Christianity is when contrasted by our cultural norms.
One opportunity to step out of our western world into the shoes of those who are living in extreme poverty would be to attend the Real Life Exhibit at Medical Teams International in Tigard, Oregon, on August 28, 2011. They will be having an open house between the hours of 1-4 p.m. with the latest entrance time of 3:15 p.m. For more information you can go to the following link.http://www.medicalteams.org/sf/real_life_exhibit.aspx. Please check their event schedule if the above date does not work for you. Some other opportunities would be to read the books listed on the sidebar of the blog under recommended reading and watching movies that tell the story of people living in a world so different from our own. (i.e. Slumdog Millionaire, War Dance, Triage; Dr. James Orbinski's Humanitarian Dilemma, just to name a few...)
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