Poverty
Imagine that you had not been born in the United States. Imagine instead that you had been born in a small village in rural Congo. What would life look like for you? Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of a young boy living in the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Bauma is 16 years old and this is what a typical day is like for him:
Bauma wakes up at sunrise on a thin mattress that he shares with 2 of his younger brothers. The mattress sits on the dirt floor of his mud and grass hut. 6 people share this little house, which is not much larger than a walk-in closet.
Bauma wakes up hungry. Hunger is a constant companion – he simply cannot find enough food to satisfy the gnawing pain in his stomach. He has learned to ignore it. Most days, he eats one meal, and occasionally goes without in order to make sure that his 5 younger siblings have at least a little something to eat.
Bauma and his younger sister Faraja are the head of their household. Their father passed away several years ago in the Great Lakes war that devastated this region between 1998 and 2004. Their mother died 2 years ago after contracting the AIDS virus. She was caring for a neighbor who had AIDS and fell victim to the disease.
Bauma’s youngest sister was ill for several months last year. A mosquito bite led to a severe case of malaria. Bauma was able to carry his sister to a local aid organization a few miles down the road, and they gave her some pills that helped her to get better. He was relieved that he did not have to pay the $4 for the pills – they could not have afforded that. The aid organization also gave them a $5 bed net that will help to make sure that none of the other children get malaria.
Bauma has not learned how to read. He went to school for two years, before his parents died. He wishes that his younger brothers and sisters could go to school, but they cannot afford the $2 per month for tuition. And there is no way that they would be able to afford the school uniforms and supplies that are required.
Bauma’s primary work is on the acre of land that his family owns. He grows cassava, which is the family’s primary source of food. They have a few chickens and 2 small goats that provide a little bit of milk. On market days, he goes into town and tries to find work as a laborer, but there is rarely anyone hiring. He wants to build a better life for himself and his family, but he doesn’t know how.
Bauma has considered joining the army. They will give him a uniform and a gun and will pay him $20 per month. He doesn’t like the things that the army does – sometimes they come through the village and demand food or money. But if he doesn’t join the army, he’s not sure if his family will survive.
Bauma is a smart and hard-working young man. He has a quick smile and loves to laugh. You can find him in church every Sunday morning, and sometimes he even plays the drums. In the midst of a life full of hardships, he leans on his faith in Jesus to give him hope. In spite of incredibly hard circumstances, he still exudes joy and love and generosity that we find hard to comprehend.
Bauma’s story is not uncommon. His life is typical of the more than 3 billion people around the world who live on less than $2 per day. Many of these people live in rural villages, while others live in the slums of large cities. Regardless of where they live, their lives are filled with challenges – they live just one small misstep away from starvation, illness, or even death.
Most of us who live in the developed world cannot comprehend the daily reality of those who are poor. We wonder why these people don’t go to school and apply themselves so that they can break out of the poverty trap. We fail to understand the immense challenges and obstacles to escaping the harsh realities of extreme poverty.
Poverty is not caused by laziness. Poverty is most often caused by systems and structures that make it virtually impossible to build a different kind of life. Most poverty is caused by circumstances that the poor cannot control.
We may not want to acknowledge it, but poverty is most often a function of where we are born.
Those of us who were born in the United States start out with many advantages that people like Bauma never had. We have safety nets and we get second and third chances. We are blessed to live in an environment where we are able to recover from a tragic event or a failure. This is simply not the case for half of the world’s population. They can work hard, apply themselves, and start to build a better life - but one wrong choice, one disease, one act of violence can take it all away.
As Christians, we should be concerned with the plight of people like Bauma. Scripture tells us that he is a person created in the image of God, and is deeply loved by his Creator. God grieves for the poor. God’s heart is broken by poverty and suffering. Throughout Scripture, we see that God is concerned about poverty. Over 300 verses in the Bible talk about the poor. Many of these verses are directed toward God’s people - calling us to care for those that the world has forgotten.
In the 4th century, St. Augustine wrote about God’s special preference for the poor. As Augustine read Scripture, he recognized that God has great compassion for those who are poor. Augustine understood that the church should have the same engaged and compassionate stance toward the poor. He wrote, “We are called to emulate God by showing a special preference for those who are poor and weak.”
It is my prayer that as we start to understand the realities of poverty, our hearts would be broken. We acknowledge that we cannot take for granted the blessings that we have been given, and we start to think about how we can love and serve the poor as God has called us to.