{"id":249,"date":"2015-03-17T14:21:45","date_gmt":"2015-03-17T14:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/?p=249"},"modified":"2015-05-28T18:49:45","modified_gmt":"2015-05-28T18:49:45","slug":"to-give-teach-or-join","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/to-give-teach-or-join\/","title":{"rendered":"To Give, Teach, Or Join?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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by\u00a0Jamie Dunning<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Often in our Missions\/Humanitarian efforts in developing countries (as well as domestically!) we have approached the issue of poverty by offering charity. We have been taught that if we freely give to those in need, we have done our part in assisting them and in giving them a chance at a better life. We know the value of giving. We know that Christ expects us to be generous and\u00a0to be filled with compassion when faced with the suffering of others. We have become extremely charitable, which is one of the most beautiful aspects of the Christian Church. Around the globe, Christian communities are immensely\u00a0generous and freely give to the needs of others through aid and charity. We follow the way of Christ,\u00a0knowing that we serve Him by serving others and\u00a0that what we do for “the least of these” we do for Him (Matthew 25). But sometimes our charity isn’t enough.<\/p>\n

When faced with extreme poverty (whether it be financial, physical, emotional, or spiritual),\u00a0we cannot be content with offering charity alone.Don\u2019t misunderstand me, I believe\u00a0charity is immensely important. Taking the time to provide a meal, offer financial assistance, or pausing to pray for someone, is always the right cause of action.\u00a0We should daily look for opportunities to serve the needs of other\u2019s, however,\u00a0after several years of living and working in Kenya, I believe that charity alone can’t be our only approach to social justice ministry.<\/p>\n

In the book,\u00a0Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty<\/em>, Noble Peace Prize recipient, Muhammad Yunas, states, \u201cWhen we want to help the poor, we usually offer them charity….But charity is no solution to poverty. Charity only perpetuates poverty by taking the initiative away from the poor.\u201d These are sharp and poignant words, but there\u00a0is truth within.\u00a0Charity, on it\u2019s own, can\u00a0perpetuate poverty by taking the initiative away from the people that we intend to\u00a0help. Charity can also create a self-absorbed and inaccurate lens through which we see ourselves as heroes and those\u00a0we are helping as incapable and\u00a0dependent upon us. So, how should we approach charity and foreign (and domestic) aid?<\/p>\n

There is a well-known Chinese Proverb that says,\u00a0Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. \u00a0Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. There is great value in empowering people to provide for\u00a0<\/em>themselves<\/em>; in\u00a0essence, teaching them to fish. Through micro-finance programs and investment in income-generating projects, we can offer people the opportunity\u00a0to,\u00a0not\u00a0only meet the needs of today,\u00a0but to also be\u00a0prepared to face the needs of tomorrow. I would like, however, to stretch the analogy a bit further. \u00a0\u00a0In ourexperiences in Kenya we quickly learned that no one needs us to\u00a0\u2018teach them to fish\u2019. Most of the people we work with are far better “fisherman” than we are. They are creative, intelligent, hard-working, and prayerful men and women\u00a0capable and willing to provide for themselves, far better than we could. What they do need are partners, partners that will assist them in purchasing the boat, the fishing nets, and be willing to join them in the boat.<\/p>\n

Ok, enough of the fishing analogy (unless you are actually investing in a literal fishing business!). \u00a0What does this approach to “charity” look like? \u00a0For individuals,\u00a0it can come in the form of micro-loans, which are\u00a0small amounts of money that allow them to start businesses (such as buying a cow\/goat to sale milk, buying chickens to sale eggs, \u00a0planting crops, starting a sewing project; etc..there are dozens of possibilities). When these individuals began to make a profit, they are required to repay the loan (at no interest….though many that offer these programs do charge interest). In repaying the loans,\u00a0the fund grows, allowing\u00a0others to apply. This creates a network of partners that are funding one another. The entire community can benefit as they invest inone\u00a0another. For ministries such as orphanages, schools, feeding\u00a0programs and\u00a0medical\u00a0clinics,\u00a0this\u00a0can come in the form of investing in income-generating\u00a0projects. Larger scale chicken farms, dairy farms, bee-keeping, greenhouse gardening, Aquaponics, handcrafts, etc., are all examples of income generating projects….the possibilities are endless. This type of sustainable aid requires a more humble, trusting, and organized approach, but it can bring about the long-term change that simple charity cannot. The greatest benefit of this type of “charity” is that it provides the opportunity for the receiver to eliminate the need for our charity tomorrow. C.S. Lewis said it best when he wrote: “The proper aim of giving is to put the recipient\u00a0in a state where he no longer needs our gift\u201d (Four Loves<\/em>). After all, isn’t that the goal?<\/p>\n

For more reading on micro-finance and\/or changing the nature of foreign Aid:<\/p>\n

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  • Yunus, Muhammed. Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty; Public Affairs, 2003<\/li>\n
  • Smith, Phillip & Thurman, Eric. \u00a0Billion Bootstraps: Microcredit, Barefoot Banking, and The Business Solution for Ending Poverty; McGraw Hill Professional, 2007<\/li>\n
  • Moyo, Dambisa. \u00a0Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There is Another Way for Africa; New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 200<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      by\u00a0Jamie Dunning Often in our Missions\/Humanitarian efforts in developing countries (as well as domestically!) we have approached the issue of poverty by offering charity. We have been taught that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-249","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world-missions","7":"entry"},"title_es":"","content_es":"","author_name":"","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb62Ar-41","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}