Poverty is a muddled thing. It is confusing and terrifying and imprisons at least 1 out of every 6 people from the 6.6 billion that live on earth today. It does not discriminate, but claims lives from every nation. These people, the ones who are entangled by life’s unruly circumstances, are often over looked and forgotten. It can be overwhelming when we sit with this reality. How can I help all of those people? The truth is, I can’t. The problem is too convoluted. But I can help one. And if I can help one, that is one life that will change forever…
When you start to see the individual faces of poverty is when you start to realize that defeating poverty actually is possible. A couple months ago I heard about the work International Care Ministries was doing in the Philippines and knew I had to be a part of it. Yesterday was pretty surreal when our plane touched down in Hong Kong. The waiting was over. We were here. Last night we attended ICM’s benefit banquet for the poor in the Philippines. When we sat down at our tables, we were asked to look in front of us. A tiny cracker lay bare in the middle of a white bread plate. I looked across the table. My friend had a huge basket of assorted bread. The speaker explained…I represented one of the 12,227,312 Filipinos that currently live below the poverty subsistence standard of USD0.54 per day {subsistence means only having enough income to pay for food, nothing else}. That tiny cracker has been my humble reminder this week…
The speaker went on to share the story of a 13-year-old boy, named Jude, from one of the slum communities that ICM works with. As a result of a previous ICM fundraiser, a family from Hong Kong “adopted” Jude’s family. Because of this, Jude was able to attend school for the first time. Upon his graduation, he entered his school's singing contest and won. From there, he ended up participating in one of the Philippine's national children’s contest, Birit Baby, and won! His story has been broadcast all over the Philippines, and is now making its way into homes all over the world. Jude’s story shows how a family helping another family rise out of poverty makes a difference. The reality of Jude’s story carries me past the impossibilities of poverty as a whole and pushes me to spend my life walking beside individuals…
Click here: Jude's Story
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