Today in Poverty: Presbyterian Bloggers Unite

Today, eMMAUS is participating in a one-day "poverty blog" initiated by Presbyterian Bloggers Unite. This is part of an effort to build awareness of the ways that the Presbyterian Church (USA) communities address issues of poverty and to offer ways to mobilize efforts.

Poverty has been much in the news lately. The economy is affecting our incomes, our retirement accounts, our health insurance, and our charitable giving. It is also affecting our government's priorities: non-essential government spending is being cut and school budgets are being slashed as our elected leaders try to figure out how to do more with less.

It's easy to develop tunnel vision and believe that the economy is only affecting us in the U.S. However, our aid to foreign nations will be greatly affected by the economy. In 2000, the nations of the world, including the U.S., agreed to a platform of action known at the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. These 8 goals were collectively designed to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015. Christians around the world have committed themselves to achieving these goals, and the goals have been endorsed by PCUSA. The 8 stated goals are:

1. Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger: Halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015; Halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by 2015
2. Achieve Universal Primary Education: Ensure that by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling
3. Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005 and in all levels of education by 2015
4. Reduce Child Mortality: Reduce by 2/3 the under-5 mortality rate by 2015
5. Improve Maternal Health: Reduce by ¾ the maternal mortality rate by 2015
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases: By 2015 halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS; By 2015 halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases
7. Ensure Environmental Sustainability: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reverse the loss of environmental resources; Halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation; By 2020 achieve a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers
8. Develop a Global Partnership for Development with Targets for Aid, Trade and Debt Relief: Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system; Address the special needs both of the least developed countries and of landlocked and small island developing states; Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable; Develop and implement strategies for decent and productive work for youth; Provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries; Make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications

I wonder how we are progressing on the 8 goals - 2015 is not too far away. Leading economists since the 1970s have agreed that if each wealthy nation gives 0.7% of its national income for investments in infrastructure, health, and education in poor nations, those poor nations would be able to become self-sufficient. In 2004, 5 countries gave at the target rate of 0.7%: Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, & Luxembourg. The U.S. gave less than 0.2%, and has rarely given more than 0.2% since the 1970s.

So, when reflecting on poverty today, remember that although times are tough in our own country, there are a great number of people in the world who have been suffering for generations, with no end in sight.

How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. 1 John 3:17-18