Poverty Small Group Curriculum

What Is Poverty?

Can you explain what poverty is? You have heard the word hundreds of times, no doubt. But do you know what it is? Take the time to read through this study, whether with a group or on your own. I will venture to say that you will most definitely learn something.

To give you a "sneak peak" of the sneak peak, I've included a quote from the first lesson:

Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett, staff members at the Chalmers Center for Economic Development, have conducted an informal exercise in dozens of North American, middle-to-upper-class churches. “What is poverty?” they ask the church members. Fikkert and Corbett report that, without fail, congregants begin to list a lack of material goods like food, money, clean water, housing, and medicine as the symptoms of poverty. On the other hand, when over 60,000 people living in material poverty were asked how they would define poverty, the results were surprising: “While poor people mention having a
lack of material things, they tend to describe their condition in far more psychological and social terms. Poor people typically talk in terms of shame, inferiority, powerlessness,
humiliation, fear, hopelessness, depression, social isolation, and voicelessness,” say Fikkert and Corbett.

Article: "Slum Cooker"

Definitely take a look at this!

Article: In US Poll, Most Fail a Quiz on Global Causes of Child Deaths

This article speaks to a poll from two years ago, but it is still very true today, I'm sure.

NYTimes Article: "After A Devastating Birth Injury, Hope"

Ideally, fistulas should be prevented, but prevention — which requires education, more hospitals, doctors and midwives, and better transportation — lags far behind treatment. Worldwide, there are still 100,000 new cases a year, and most experts think it will take decades to eliminate fistulas in Africa, even though they were wiped out in developed countries a century ago. Their continuing presence is a sign that medical care for pregnant women is desperately inadequate.

“Fistula is the thing to follow,” Dr. Wilkinson said. “If you find patients with fistula, you’ll also find that mothers and babies are dying right and left.”

While this article highlights a hospital in Tanzania, the problem of fistulas are a big big problem in Africa and Asia (as the article states). Mercy Ships has a clinic especially for fixing fistulas in Freetown, Sierra Leone. So....this is pretty relevant. :-/

Water (Part 1)

Today's topic: Water.

"Why?", you ask.

Think about how important water is. Water is essential to life on Earth. Living things can not endure very long at all without water.

I was sitting in on a leadership meeting at the church I work at a few weeks ago. Long story short, the church has just raised enough money for EIGHT wells to be built by Gospel for Asia. I was able to relate my own experiences around the world seeing how valuable clean water is which prompted me to think aferwards about just how valuable the substance is. It's valuable for health and sanitation but as a tool for evangelization among non-Christians. Throughout this fundraising venture with the church, I have looked more into the wells and clean water, in general. An a recent article, GFA said that each well will impact hundreds of people! Praise God!!

I will assert that we, in the western world, underestimate the value of clean water--or water in general! When's the last time you:

• Turned on the faucet
• Flushed a toilet
• Cooked (with water)
• Washed your hands
• Washed your car
• Went swimming
• Enjoyed a nice, refreshing cup of ice water
• Enjoyed coffee, cocoa, or cider
• Took a shower/bath
• Washed your clothes
• Washed your dishes (by hand or dishwasher)
• Watered your lawn (think summer, Midwesterners!)
• Put water in your car to prevent overheating (okay, maybe just me...last summer!)
• Washed off a piece of fruit
• Drank from a water fountain
• Ran the shower to help with congestion

You get the idea....I bet you wouldn't use even a fraction of that amount of water if you had to pump water out of a well or fetch it out of a river...and then CARRY IT! Let me tell you, water buckets are HEAVY! I watered plenty of dust in my six months at JCC. And you probably wouldn't care nearly as much about the temperature after all of that... :-) But here, at home, we like our "creature comforts", don't we. Addicted to our hot showers, nice bubble baths, "just-right" cup of coffee....aren't we? This is as much to me as anyone.

This is essentially the first installment of a series about WATER and how we might better be informed of the issues. Water--clean water especially--is critical in Sierra Leone as it is throughout the world! If you read this blog or follow Jonathan House at all, then please take note of this and pray! Pray for clean water in the villages of the church plants, for the poorest, for the "least of these", for the wells at Jonathan House to work without mechanical issues. The driest, hottest month of the year in Sierra Leone is March. And it gets HOT!!! Then the rainy season will start in late April, May. The World Water Day (UN) also takes place in March coincidentally.

Let me leave you with this YouTube video about water. And as always, if you have any contributions, feel free to let me know. Contact information is at the top of the right margin.

Free Rice.org

For every question (on a variety of subjects) you answer correctly they donate 20 grains of rice. If you need to improve your vocabulary (um, maybe you need to study for the GRE?), geography, chemistry knowledge (element symbols anyway), etc....this is a great way to do it. They work with a UN program. Very cool. Try it out and feed someone.

Article: Talking Dirty--The Politics of Clean Water and Sanitation

From the Massachusetts Medical Society (linked by child-survival.org)

An interesting article about global health and more specifically clean drinking water.

Click on the title and follow the link. It is a PDF document.

SIM: "But Why?"

I found this great article in the magazine SIM (Serving in Mission) publishes. It was written by a missionary in Ethiopia. What a great look at poverty. Sometimes (or most of the time) poverty just seems like such an insurmountable "battle"--where do we start? I'm including the entire article instead of just a snippet--because it's just that important. You can go to the article by the title link. The rest of the magazine is also good and is available online.

"But Why?"

by Clare Meckler, Ethiopia16 May 2008

Today the two-year-old child died.
“But why?” we ask.
Because he was severely dehydrated.
But why?
Because he had diarrhea.
But why?
Because he drank dirty water.
But why?
Because his ten-year-old sister was too weak to fetch clean water from the distant spring.
But why?
Because she’s extremely anemic . . . because of intestinal parasites . . . because of unsanitary conditions.
So why didn’t the older brother go and get clean water for the family?
Because he didn’t know the nearby muddy water harbored disease.
And why didn’t he know?
Because he never had a chance to go to school and learn about microbes . . . because he had to work all day to eke out a meager crop for the family’s food . . . because erosion depleted the soil . . . because the trees were cut down for cooking fuel.
And why didn’t the mother take the sick child to the clinic?
Because she had no money for medicine.
Why not?
Because her husband had died . . . because of tetanus . . . because he stepped on a thorn . . . because he had no shoes.
“A God who cares cannot be served by those who don’t.”

You get the picture. The endless questions, the illusive blame, ever probing deeper to try to get to the true cause of the unrelenting cycle of poverty and disease. Be it war, hunger, drought, or any of the problems that plague our planet, “quick fix” bandages do nothing to heal the hemorrhage.

So fragile is the coping mechanism of struggling people that whole communities are vulnerable to events like variations in climate or deteriorating health status of family members. Our various ministries of compassion endeavor to bring better health and brighter hope to the daily lives of hurting people.

There is Someone who can save them from an endless cycle of “whys”—a God who cares deeply about their suffering. Many years ago this statement deeply impacted my life: “A God who cares cannot be served by those who don’t.” May we all learn to care as he does.

FT.com: Rice Jumps as Africa Joins Race for Supplies

Rice is THE staple food in Sierra Leone. Especially outside of Freetown, rice is part of or the entire meal for Sierra Leoneans. There are different types of sauces to cover the rice including two that contain cassava and potato leaves, respectively. Another with groundnuts (peanuts). Then there's the yummy Jollof rice. Take rice away from Sierra Leonean and you will hear about it. :-) I jest, but in reality this has the potential to affect the country and JH considerably.

By Javier Blas in Nairobi and Roel Landingin in Manila
Published: April 4 2008 15:23

Rice prices rose more than 10 per cent on Friday to a fresh all-time high as African countries joined south-east Asian importers in the race to head off social unrest by securing supplies from the handful of exporters still selling the grain in the international market.
The rise in prices – 50 per cent in two weeks – threatens upheaval and has resulted in riots and soldiers overseeing supplies in some emerging countries, where the grain is a staple food for about 3bn people.

Click on the title to read the entire article.

Article: The Importance of Good Nutrition Early On

Even though, the article was published earlier this year, it's so completely relevant. If infants and children receive good nutrition in their first three years (regularly), their health will be better than those that do not. You should definitely take a look at this article.

JOHANNESBURG, 1 February 2008 (IRIN) -
Eating nutritious food at an early age will not only ensure a source of income as an adult but also better pay, according to a study published in the current issue of The Lancet, a leading British medical journal.

The study, conducted in four villages in Guatemala, found that boys who received atole, a gruel made of skimmed milk powder, sugar and vegetable protein, in the first two years of life earned on average 46 percent higher wages as adults, while boys who received atole in their first three years earned 37 percent higher wages on average. Those who first received the supplement after age three did not gain any economic benefits as adults.

Children and infants aged under seven in two of the villages were given atole, while those in other two settlements were given a placebo drink until 1977.

The research is the first to show direct evidence of the effects of early childhood nutrition programmes on adult economic productivity and incomes, said John Hoddinott, lead author of The Lancet's article and a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

Until the Guatemala study, "substantial, but indirect, evidence from previous research suggested that providing infants and very young children with healthy, nutritious food is a long-term economic investment for developing countries," he told IRIN.

Follow the link to read the entire article.