Poverty

A thought on financial 'wealth' and 'poverty from Wilfred Mak, who is currently working as an accountant and doing further studies in finance and is the Music Ministry leader at MCRC.



This article made me think,

http://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13562149&fsrc=nwl


As the article suggests, the world since 1990 has progressed positively towards reducing world poverty. Thinking through history, this is probably due to many factors, including

1. The collapse of socialism meaning that there is a movement towards "world trade" and integration between countries and markets;

2. The consumer western society e.g. America, which consumes more than they can chew and afford, so that goods must be purchased from people who still makes stuff (e.g. China and certainly not Americans);

3. The dot com boom meaning overnight millionaires could be created in previously poor countries such as China and India;

And so forth.


The word "Poverty" is defined as:

1. the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor; indigence.
2. deficiency of necessary or desirable ingredients, qualities, etc.: poverty of the soil.
3. scantiness; insufficiency: Their efforts to stamp out disease were hampered by a poverty of medical supplies.
source: dictionary.com

Within the Christian circle, the topic of "poverty" is often discussed. Jesus was once heard saying "Blessed are the poor for theirs are the Kingdom of God". At MCRC, we had a chocolate night to raise awareness for eating free trade only, and I'm sure we would support more fund raising / awareness nights in the future.

The point is the world has come a long way in terms of alleviating poverty, but then why are we still bombarded with the word and topic "poverty?" How do we know it exists and who cares?

There are many things that ring alarm bells in my economist head when the poverty topic is discussed. I always used to think of it as people stealing my savings. For example:

Why is poverty always a measure of below $1 a day? Why is having less than $1 a day considered having no money? Money only has relative value. If I earn a $1 a day, and food in my country costs 10c a day, I am no poorer than someone who earns $100 a day but have to buy food which cost $10 each day. Another practical way to think about this, the median wage in Brisbane is say $1000 a week, Sydney it is $1200 a week, London $1500 a week, while median rent is $100pw for a house, $300pw and this is an apartment, and $600pw for a shoe box. Who is worse off?

Is supporting Oxfam and fair trade by guaranteeing farmers a minimum price necessarily good? Maybe these farmers would be more skilled and better off by farming other agricultural product (grow olive trees instead of coffee beans) or by selling socks (a shift into a new industry, e.g. Japan going from textile to heavy industrial). A minimum price does not provide the incentive for these people to produce better crops, find more efficient ways to grow the crop, or exit the industry all together (they might be great at making socks but no one would ever know now). So is this really morally right?

If poverty is measured in dollars, and dollar is a relative measure, then me, Wilfred is poor if I compare myself to Bill Gates, maybe he should fund my living! Australia is poor compared to the US, why doesn't the US fund the infrastructure required to support our country?

But when I take off my economist hat, perceptions and angles change.

As a Christian, and as much as I would like to use the arguments above to avoid the poverty trap at church, it doesn't work. Academia questions don't matter (except for making sure a charitable organisation is not a dodgy scheme or cult).

That is because the poverty we focus on extends beyond financial and dollars. As the bible teaches, it is about providing a mouth to oppressed or neglected people in society/world who otherwise would not have the power or ability to speak, not just providing money, although money can be a means to release those from oppression and neglect. In addition, it is about providing a future to those who would otherwise be denied one. Jesus was this and provided this to many people who were either oppressed, neglected by society, and/or denied a future in society. While I can deny that there is financial poverty, no one can deny that there is oppression happening in our world, and a type of poverty which extends beyond finance. In fact, no one can deny that diseases is killing innocent babies. Food (physical and spiritual type), water (physical and spiritual type) and basic necessities required to survive is missing to the masses in sub-Saharan Africa. This matters to God and so this matters to the people of God!

As a result, we as Christians should also focus on helping those who have been oppressed or neglected by society whether that is in our street or city, or across the ocean in another country. God has placed people in our heart which we have soft spots for (some people may want to support youth homelessness, while others want to provide food for starving children in Africa, and others education for a Indian teenager who grew up in the slums.) In fact, in God's eyes, someone with a university degree is not worth more than another sinner in the slums of India. We are no better than those in Africa without water (though society may make us think that because we contribute to productivity and output because we have a university degree, then we deserve food and water more than those in Africa). If we are truly Christians, then we have to clear our minds and see things as Jesus would see it. Until the day that malnutrition stops in Africa, we as Christians need to show our love and act accordingly (note that there are many more examples of need in society and world, I'm just using Africa as an example).

Yes the world has come a long way in reducing financial poverty, however, we need to continue to do our part towards poverty not by making excuses but by seeking answers. Answers from publicly available information and answers from God.