Poverty in India

Poverty: More Than A Lack Of Money

 

So what really is poverty? Often we think it is just the lack of money. I have learned as an Advocate for Compassion International that poverty is really much more than just a lack of food or a lack of clothes or a lack of a job or a lack of adequate housing. . . . Poverty is really a lack of choices and opportunities. It is a mindset that says “I don’t matter” or “I’m garbage.” This is something that is learned at an early age. It is a lie that satan would have us believe.

 

This is why Compassion has a holistic approach to helping children with a long term goal of enabling a child to become all that God intended them to be and grow into healthy, fulfilled Christian adults.  This holistic approach to development has its foundation in the concept that poverty expresses itself in a child’s life in multiple ways: through physical, educational, economic, environmental, social and spiritual poverty. Attacking all areas of poverty in a child’s life is more likely to result in releasing them from poverty with tools they can use into adulthood to help them become all that God created them to be.

 

Compassion uses the example of “The Poverty Wheel” to depict life for an individual. Abject Poverty is depicted as the hub of the wheel and the opposite of poverty (defined by Compassion as adequacy) represented by the rim of the wheel. Each spoke represents a potential cause of poverty. When any of the spokes of the wheel are weak or deficient in a person’s life, that person experiences a deficiency in choices and opportunities (i.e. poverty) in that specific area.

 

Adequacy, or simply having enough or available options and opportunities, is the desired state with each spoke being strong and fully available to each child. This is Compassion’s goal: to develop the child holistically so he or she can grow to be a fully productive, responsible Christian adult, an adult who has been released from poverty in Jesus’ name.

 

Poverty was the one thing that I observed in India from many sources. In Kalkutta we drove to the Vidyasagar Setu, a modern cable bridge crossing the Hooghly river from Kalkutta to Howrah. From the bridge we had a view of a tent city with people living next to the water. In the river we saw people bathing and washing clothes. They had small fires for cooking with whatever they had been able to acquire for their family to eat.

 

The Bible verse, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was naked and you clothed me…” just kept coming to me as I began to see in the people of India, Jesus who was hungry, thirsty and naked. That verse in Matthew 25 was not just about the people around me but it was Jesus standing before me. It made me think what would I do if Jesus was in the flesh and here right now. And I was able to see that He is here in the hurting multitudes and I can do something to minister to Him.

 

We arrived in an extremely poor area of Kalkutta and got out of the bus to walk through this neighborhood. We walked around people that were lying beside the street and were met by children that were begging for a small handout. We arrived at the Kalighat Kali Temple and were able to actually go in and learn about what we were seeing. Kali is depicted as the goddess of evil and is described as the only goddess in Hindu mythology who proudly wears a garland of skulls and boldly holds a few heads of the devils in her blood stained hands. She has a lusting blood thirsty, vengeful look epitomizing the spirit of the fight of good over evil.

 

Many people were there praying, wrapping their prayers around a stone and offering them to Kali. We saw the spot where blood sacrifice was made each day (a goat whose throat was slit). And our guide told us that sometimes children were also sacrificed. Almost like the ultimate sacrifice that could be made was a totally innocent child.

 

Such a presence of evil, I have not felt since we were in Brazil or Haiti and saw the influence of voodoo. The stench of burning flesh, the people lying on the streets, the masses of people living with out hope will never leave my memory. One of the sponsors said “at the Kali temple there was NO HOPE but Compassion gives HOPE” and it really was evident.

 

In the midst of all this hopelessness, we were able to see one small glimmer of light. Next door to the Kali temple was Mother Theresa’s “Home for the Dying Destitute” where the loving hands of volunteers ministered to the needs of the multitudes. It was very sobering.

 

This experience gave me even a greater appreciation for Compassion’s outreach to the poorest of the poor. The contrast of the street people who were living without home and those who were dying but with a degree of dignity to the children and ministry that I saw at the Compassion Projects was truly a contrast of light versus darkness.

 

What does Scripture say about Poverty and out response? Here are just a few verses.

Proverbs 14:31 He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.

Proverbs 19:17 He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done.

Proverbs 22:16 He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich – both come to poverty.

Proverbs 31:8-9 Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Matthew 10:42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.

Can we turn away and just ignore the cries of children? I hope that your answer is “No, I want to make a difference. I want to sponsor a child.” Go to Compassion today and Sponsor a Child! Thank you for the children.

 

 

~ by calledandchosen on September 16, 2008.