Helping People

During the term break, I wrote a couple of posts about wrestling with poverty, the desire to help, and the plight of the poor.  So many destitute people here have, as they see it, no way out.  And much of the time, they're right.  Unless somebody helps them somehow or takes compassion on them, they are powerless to change their situation.

Most Americans are incredibly wealthy.  We, on a missionary salary, are incredibly wealthy.  We have the potential to do great good - but the problem is overwhelmingly huge!  So, as I've processed the last couple of weeks, trying to distill the actionable points from a complex set of experiences, I've got a couple:

The Power of Hope.  In our relationship with Zack, it's been incredible to see the role hope plays in breaking the cycle of poverty - I think.  While the jury is still out on whether Zack has been able to develop a long-term, sustainable means of supporting himself, a person's future is often written in their face.  Zach's desperate, hopeless, tension was clear - even in this culture that discourages negative emotional displays of any kind. The relief of a way out was equally palpable.

I'm still unsure whether we did just the right thing to help Zack, but I think we did help - hopefully without developing an unhealthy dependence on 'wealthy' white missionaries.*  Yesterday, Zack stopped by to chat.  He's a new man.  "I think it will work out,  We will be ok," he says.  The poor don't need a handout, they need a way out.

Our Need for Humility.  Zack was making less than 100 dollars per month in a place we spend at least as much to eat as we did in the states.  And yet he is able to raise over 60 dollars a month to feed twenty HIV families once a month.  When feeding those HIV families, I saw families much poorer than Zach living in huts facing an incurable disease with JOY on their faces.  Me?  I get stuck thinking I'm over-worked, underpaid, under-recognized...  I am blessed!  I need to recognize my complaints for what they are: prideful self-entitlement.  I need to respond to trials and disappointments in humility.  But not only those!  My successes and my blessings are not deserved - they require humility as well.

Our Burden.  I am rich.  Money and possessions - these are obvious, but we (the western church) are rich in other areas.  Time, experiences, opportunities, knowledge; we have the best.  Will I part with the wealth I have to serve the less-fortunate?  To give all?  Christ demands it, will I surrender it?

* I recently read the book "When Helping Hurts."  The first few chapters are a very good and thought-provoking demonstration of the need for real help - not just handouts - and should be required reading for those thinking about helping the needy.  A later chapter on short-term missions is also very good and thought provoking.  If you're going on, or especially if you're organizing, a short-term missions trip, you need to read this chapter!