Helping The Marginalised And Poor

Do you know what it’s like to be poor? Of course you do! You've seen images of the poor on TV and have seen poor people in the towns and cities where you live. Perhaps you've also been exposed to poverty on your travels around the world in Asia or Africa where the problem is widespread. But here’s a penetrating question for the inquiring person: Have you ever stopped to think what it must feel like to be poor? Being able to see with our eyes what poverty is reveals a lot about the plight, but knowing what it feels like for the poor is a rather sobering realisation. With our eyes we see the makeshift shelters, the dusty feet, the scantily clad and the pot-bellies that poverty breeds. But to feel the frustration, the loneliness, the bewilderment, the hopelessness and fear of the ones caught in poverty brings us even closer to their predicament.

A Complex Knot

For many of the world’s ultra-poor (those living on less than a dollar a day) their lives have descended to such a depth that they are in fact no longer able to help themselves. The society they live in seem to only push them further and further down while the people around use them for their personal gain. In that hopelessness they fear for their life and that of their children. Their daughters and their sons lack the security that parents want to offer their children. Even in the hustle and bustle of a busy city like Kampala or Kolkata they feel isolated and alone in their hopeless existence where people seem too busy to care. They have no one to turn to for help. They wonder how their luck can be so bad, who cast the die against them, and why they are excluded from the prosperity that is all around them. Many give up the fight involuntarily and accept the hopeless fate they find themselves in because they have run out of ideas and energy to rescue themselves; and because of the frustration of getting knocked down each time they try to do something about their situation and end up in a deeper mess than before – owing more and more money to moneylenders and having to surrender themselves or their children to a lifetime of servitude even in this century. The poorest themselves have described their position as being trapped in a “complex knot which can lead to further knots if wrong threads are pulled.” For these poor souls someone must step forward and reach down to them or they will remain in that state.

'Horse' before the 'Cart'

Speaking to a group of parliamentarians in London toward the end of the nineteenth century, William Booth (1829-1912), founder of the Salvation Army, defended the plight of the poor with the illustration of the cab horse that was common on the streets of London in those days. ‘What happens’, he asked, ‘when a cab horse collapses on the roadway? Men do not gather around the fallen creature and say, you stupid animal, you got yourself there, get yourself up! Nor do they gather round and academically analyse the environmental difficulties that caused the horse to fall down’. ‘No’, said William Booth, ‘men of goodwill will gather round, put straps under the horse’s belly and lift it back to its feet. They will then make sure it has three things – food to eat, shelter and work. And if you will do that for a horse, why will you not do it for a man...?’

Changing Lives

Many understand the combined physical and emotional predicament of the poor and do step forward in compassion to help somebody experience a better quality of life.  Many understand that sometimes people need help to escape their predicament.  As a result, many lives have been changed because someone caught the vision of giving. You actually have the ability to feed at least one person on the planet that is genuinely living a life in abject poverty. Together we have the capacity to put a roof over many orphaned children or marginalised families. Collectively, we can supply education and create industry for the poor today to survive tomorrow. As Jacqui Kennemer, founder of Soul Bags (www.soulbags.com), from Portland, Oregon puts it “Giving is a beautiful thing – no matter where you are or who you choose to give to. Just make it happen somehow today.” Be part of a movement that changes lives!