The suprising truth about extreme global poverty
It’s impossible to do communications for a group of missionaries and not understand that there are desperately poor people all over the earth. I see the photos; I know the statistics; I edit the stories. It all fails to do justice to the plight of the 26,500 children who died today because of preventable causes related to their extreme poverty.
Yet, the surprising truth about extreme global poverty is that we can do something about it. There hasn’t always been a huge gap between the wealthy and the poor, and we can use our wealth to help the poor escape death. But will we?
In The Hole in Our Gospel, Richard Stearns list three major impediments that prevented past generations from eradicating extreme poverty: awareness, access, and ability. Previous generations weren’t aware of the problem, so they couldn’t address it. That changed in the last 100 years with mass media, video, and the internet making the wealthy (i.e., you and me) aware.
Increased awareness couldn’t make any difference, however, unless people had access to those in need. As commercial air travel made it possible for anyone to travel internationally, we all gained the access needed to help the poor. You could be in a desperately poor part of the world tomorrow; your donation can get there instantly.
Yet even being aware of and physically near a problem doesn’t give one the ability to address it. Only the last few generations have known how to treat illnesses like smallpox and typhoid or prevent disease through basic first aid and good hygiene. Moreover, we understand better than ever how to prevent disease, increase food yield through better agriculture methods, and assist the poor in starting microbusinesses so they can permanently escape poverty. We also have the surplus gained from our prosperity to fund the initiatives needed.
We have the awareness, the access, and the ability to virtually eradicate extreme poverty. No longer are the world’s poor someone else’s responsibility; they are our neighbors, and Jesus calls us to love them as we love ourselves.
