Category — Poverty

“But [White Liberals] think all the world’s problems can be fixed without any cost to themselves.  We do not believe that. There’s a lot to be said for sacrifice, remorse, even pity.  It’s what separates us from roaches.” 
 -Dr. Paul Farmer, as quoted by Tracy Kidder, Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a man would cure the world (2004), 40.

All kinds of issues fill the pages of our newspapers and figure prominently in the evening news - the war, oil prices, the upcoming election, etc.  And yet, some of the more pressing world problems seem to be completely absent.  For example, what do we read or hear about malaria?  AIDS gets some press - not near enough - but malaria is hardly on the radar for any of us, especially me.  While reading The End of Poverty, I came across a sentence that caused me to stop reading and put the book down …

Malaria is utterly treatable, yet, incredibly, it still claims up to three million lives per year, mostly young children, about 90 percent of whom live in Africa  (Jeffrey D. Sachs, The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time, 196).

Three million lives per year … mostly young children … 90 percent live in Africa … and yet … utterly treatable!  That would be like one half of all the children 18 years and younger in Texas dying in one year!  As I have turned this sentence over and over in my mind, I have wanted somehow to insert the word church somewhere into the middle of it.  Could the church in some way intervene in the lives of three million human beings dying of malaria every year?  Isn’t such intervention part of the mission of God to which we are called?  And yet, more than empathy or concern, we must know what to do about malaria, how best to act in its prevention, and where to put our efforts.  Zeal and rhetoric without knowledge and know how is empty. 

Malaria alone is not the problem - it causes poverty and poverty causes malaria.  Jeffrey Sachs points out that with five billion clinical cases of malaria per year, the disease causes poverty through absentism, anemia, poor school attendance, and reduction of the labor force (pp. 196-200).  And on the other hand, poor households cannot take the simple measures necessary to prevent the disease - netting, sprays, or screens.  And so malaria and poverty progress hand-in-hand. 

A group of people are getting together October 23-25, 2008 to consider a response to the causes of global poverty.  “Bottom-up Approaches to Global Poverty: Appropriate Technology, Social Entrepreneurship and the Church” is sponsored by the Baylor school of engineering, business school, and Truett Seminary.  These three perspectives on the world issues contributing to poverty will converge for a unique conversation.  I am extremely encouraged that the church, the most grassroot organization in the world, will be in the conversation.  The church must be part of the response to malaria and poverty.  I encourage you to come and be a part of the conversation.  Whether the conference produces definitive answers or not, I feel it will at least call the church to take up these issues and become a full participant in offering hope to mothers who watch their children die. 

Three million a year …