Beginning with this issue, What One Can Do, the EGR e-newsletter, will be arriving in your email box regularly on alternate Tuesdays. Send us your submissions, and we'll get them in!
Is It Relief or Is It Development?
It's a common question. And knowing the difference is important.
Relief is about bringing healing to acute crisis situations. Development is about creating long-term solutions to situations that are chronically broken. The two are related. You can't do development in a situation of acute crisis. The key is to do relief in a way that empowers development ... that gets people to a place where they can start using the gifts God gave them to sustain themselves ... and not in ways that foster dependency.
One way to think about the distinction between relief and development is using our baptismal covenant. The final two promises in the covenant have to do with the Body of Christ's commitment to bringing healing where there is brokenness.
"Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?"
"Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being."
Broadly drawn, the first one is about relief and the second about development. When we see a starving sister or brother and give them food, that is us seeking, serving and loving Christ in them. It's doing what Christ did when he fed the hungry or brought sight to the blind -- bringing immediate Good News that corresponded directly to the critical bad news in their life. That's relief.
But development is different. Development is about addressing the root causes that allow hunger and poverty to happen. It is about dealing with large systems -- and we do that by striving for justice and peace. We do that by helping people in ways that don't create dehumanizing dependency but that foster and respect human dignity ... that allow the image of God that resides in each person to come to full flower.
The Millennium Development Goals are about development, not relief. They are about striving for justice and peace. About effecting permanent and transformative change to systems that allow poverty to exist and thrive. In certain situations, relief might be necessary as a precursor to create a context where development can happen. But in those cases, relief must be done in ways that promote and respect human dignity and in ways that prepare people not for a life of handouts but for a life of being co-creators of the future that is God's dream for us all. |
| Join the EGR Conversation |
Don't be working on God's mission of global reconciliation by yourself (doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose?) There are lots of ways to connect with Episcopalians everywhere finding creative ways to bring the MDGs home.
*EGR conference calls. An afternoon call every second Thursday (noon central) and an evening call every fourth Tuesday (8 pm central). An hourlong update and chance to network for resource-sharing, idea-generating and problem-solving. Email us for info on how to log on.
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On Mother's Day-Give the MDGs |
 Your mother gave you life. On Mother's Day (Sunday, May 13), honor her by giving life to mothers and children around the developing world. Need some ideas?
*BeadforLife has beautiful gifts made by Ugandan women who are using this industry to take control of their lives. Use the code "mom" in the promo field at checkout to receive a free gift bag.
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| What One Diocese is Doing |
 Dioceses are addressing the MDGs in a number of different ways. Check out these:
If your diocese or parish has a great MDG webpage, email us the link so we can put it on the EGR website and in future issues of What One Can Do. |
| Quote of the Week |
 "So why should we Christians care about the Millennium Development Goals? We should care about the MDG's because God wants us to. We should care about the MDG's because they are one way by which we as Christians can join with God and with each other in the restoration and reconciliation of the world. We should care about the MDG's because they help us to be more faithful participants in God's mission to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ."
-The Rev. Dr. Ian T. Douglas, EGR board vice president, in his talk with the House of Bishops in March, 2007. | |
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What One Person Can Do |
Ever wonder if any of those "sponsor a child" programs are on the level. The Rev. Kelly Demo had her doubts, too, until she found this week's MDG spotlight organization
I have always wanted to do one of those sponsorship programs for children in developing countries. You know the ones I mean? You see the ads on TV of dirty, sad emaciated children sitting on the lap of some actor who is urging you to become a sponsor. "I could do that," I think to myself. I could give up one cup of coffee a day to save a child. Heck, I don't even like coffee. But, then the cynic voice in my head (that so often gets squelched out by the romantic voice inside my head) starts in with the questions:
How do you know where the money goes? Don't the corrupt governments take big chunks of that money just to allow the organizations to work in their country? How do I know my child is getting any help? How do I even know there is an actual child on the other end of those letters I get? Cynic voice and, I confess, inertia wins out and I do nothing.
Funny where life and God takes you, though. I have found and now work for an international sponsorship organization whose work is so effective and stewardship is so impeccable that the cynic voice has been silenced. I am an Episcopal priest and preacher for Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, a grassroots movement serving the poor at project sites in 25 developing countries around the world. We invite people to enter into relationships with children and aging persons who are being held back from their dreams and God's dreams for them because of the obstacles of poverty. We don't advertise on TV and, because we respect the dignity of each person we serve, we never portray them as destitute or oppressed in our print ads. We like to show the possibilities and promise that each person holds.
One of the greatest strengths of the program is that families of sponsored persons have a voice in determining what benefits they will receive so it is not some outside, Western agency bestowing gifts from above. It is a program in which coordinators (who are mostly villagers or neighborhood residents themelves, some of them graduates of the program) talk with the local communities, determine what benefits are needed (food, clothing, education, health care, beds, shoes, skills training, etc.) and, if possible, purchase goods locally.
The other strength of CFCA is its fiscal responsibility. It is $30 a month to sponsor a child or aging person and all but $3.06 of that goes directly to the project. If a sponsor sends birthday, Christmas or special funds money, 100 percent of that goes to the project. There are regular audits, both internal and external, from the home office right down to the project site. CFCA is consistently given the highest ratings for stewardship from independent oversight groups such as American Institute of Philanthrophy and Charity Navigator.
CFCA is all about relationships. We emphasize the importance of the bond built between sponsor and friend. The children and elderly who are sponsored write at least two letters a year and one holiday greeting and yearly updated photos are sent to the sponsor as well. In addition, sponsors are encouraged to go on mission awareness trips to meet their sponsored friends and their families. CFCA organizes these trips so sponsors can experience firsthand the lives of those they are working to help.
The MDGs are exciting, hopeful and really, really daunting. So big! They want us to not only seriously decreae global poverty but to actually change our way of thinking and worldview. That the world could look very different than it does. That just feels too big for any one person to tackle. Somebody important who has influence could make a difference. Somebody like Bono or Archbishop Tutu could make a difference. But not little ol' me.
That's the beauty of ONE and EGR. It's all about what little ol' me and little ol' you can do. Someone once said, "To the wordl you might be just one person, but to one person you might be the world." Engaging in a relationship through CFCA is a safe, highly effective, and personal way to change a life. Both yours and theirs. |
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