October 31, 2009 at 2:56 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: Africa, HIV/AIDS, International AIDS Conference, poverty
I try to resist getting too preachy when I start writing about certain topics, so forgive me if I fail. In my work here, or really in my everyday life I see glimpses of life that challenge my established thought patterns. I just sat down to write a newsletter and thus found myself reflecting on what the African people around us are doing and how amazing they are. Particularly when I think about people who have taken orphans into their homes. They completely rearrange their lives and go to great expenses to serve these children. Some of them have special needs that require a lot of attention.
I am also thinking about the clinic. The people who work there are pouring themselves out and doing the best they can to meet the needs of those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. Most of the people working there have at most, completed high school. They can read and write French to some degree. They don’t own computers to look up the latest research or protocol. They don’t have access to major conferences or universities where there is teaching on the field of public health. There are very few NGOs who come to this “insignificant” country, and when they do come it is even more rare for groups to make their way 6 hours north of the capital city. In short, my colleagues are working in an area where the AIDS pandemic is out of control and they are working with some of the most meager resources of anywhere I’ve seen.
And yet they work. They use what they are given. They continue whether the support is there or not. They continue doing they best they can even when they don’t have access to the newest information put out by the World Health Organization or Partners in Health.
I am trying to raise money to go to Vienna next summer so that I can attend the International AIDS Conference and bring back what I learn to help the clinic. Raising money during a recession is pretty tough, and I can’t help but feel a little cynical. I wonder if I won’t get the money, won’t be able to go, and then the people working at the clinic in the small town in this country will face yet another instance of not warranting the attention or resources of others. I’m not typically a cynical person, and I do see a bright side in all of this. I greatly admire the way my friends and colleagues press on relentlessly despite the poverty of their resources.
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July 13, 2009 at 10:48 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: activism, poverty
Ok, so I usually try not to get too preachy on my blog because most people who read it are wanting to catch up with our work and our family. However, I felt compelled to post two links today that are inspiring to me. When I read or talk about joining in the fight against poverty in a pure and untainted way, it ignites a spark within me. So the first link is a short article by Alhaji Ado Bayero that promotes optimism for Africa while acknowledging the complexity of poverty (although I feel te definition he gives for poverty is a little over simplistic and would reference Ruby Payne’s A Framework For Understanding Poverty.) As a big believer in holistic ministry, I appreciate his viewpoint. The second link is by Colin Firth, and I appreciate his explanation of celebrity role in activism. He does not seem to have an over-inflated sense of importance in world matters, nor does he exempt himself from the responsibility of doing what he can to speak for those who have no voice.
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March 28, 2009 at 11:36 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: Africa, orphans, poverty
I just got back from a trip to the bank with my teammate, Becky. I am taking on the responsibility of helping the families who have taken in orphans get monthly support from donors in the U.S. through the Christian Relief Fund.
I wanted to take time to express my thanks to the Christian Relief Fund and to those who contribute to it for the difference they are making in people’s lives. There are so many children who are left without homes and families, and there are not enough orphanages to take them in. There are families who are willing to take children in but have to stretch already tight resources to do so. I know ideally we would like to empower people here to be able to support themselves and the others in their community without having to go to developed countries for help, but I look around me and I can’t deny that these people are living in poverty and that in many case that is impossible. At the very least, it is a long process that doesn’t occur over night and still takes resources outside of what is locally available to them.
For those who contribute to efforts like this, I want you to know that your money makes all the difference. We are seeing children who are going to school, receiving the nourishment they need, and who don’t have to worry about not receiving medical care because they don’t have the money. We see families who can joyfully give them the upbringing they need because they don’t have to worry about choosing to feed themselves and their children or feeding another child in need. Thank you for you help.
When I contrast that with the children I see who have nowhere to go it is clear that the service that Christian Relief Fund and other groups like them offer is truly making a difference in the lives of those who need it most.
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March 27, 2009 at 11:43 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: Africa, HIV/AIDS, orphans, poverty
I wanted to post an update on Awe. We have not been able to find a new home for him, but have spoken with the grandmother and she is willing to start feeding him again and start him back on meds. His home situation is being monitored three to four days a week, and we have started him on a diet that should re-nourish his body. He has already gained some strength. We will continue to look for a home for Awe as his grandmother is still less than enthusiastic about his care. Thank you all for your prayers for him.
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January 27, 2009 at 11:30 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: Africa, gender inequality, poverty, power, women's issues
Every time I get on a plane to travel from Africa back to Europe or America I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone. Truly, the differences between the “first world” and the “third world” are like travelling between worlds and to imagine that they are just different places on the same planet is pretty mystifying. In some ways the adjustment to living here again and adapting to life has been easy and enjoyable (I owe this to the fact that this is our second time around.) It has been relatively easy to adjust to cooking with the ingredients that are available, and I love that we can get most easily and economically fresh fruits and veggies that are for the most part, organic. I have no problem with the lack of entertainment. I love to read above all things, I’m getting time to learn to play some musical instruments which I have wanted to do, and family time is much easier to come by which is probably the greatest benefit of living here. We have a lot of good friends among the Kabiye people and I honestly love them.
However, there are deeper parts of the culture here that are quite staggering to observe on a daily basis and almost impossible to wrap one’s mind around. I have come to believe that a key issue in African culture is power that is mismanaged and therefore pollutes the lives of just about everyone. The often fruitless struggle for power has many manifestations, but in my opinion the most pervasive manifestation is gender inequality.
Here a crowd will lynch a person who steals in the market, but a man will also hand a young daughter over to an older man to form a beneficial relationship for the family. Boys are seen as virile and strong because of sexual conquests but girls are defiled and used up. In fact, the Kabiye word for a divorced woman means “used up.” When a woman has a child, the father’s family and even her brother has more say in the child’s life than she does. Children are FREQUENTLY taken from the homes of women by male relatives at the male relatives will and a woman has little to no recourse. Spousal abuse is an acceptable means to “correcting” your wife.
I am not making a case for man bashing. I don’t see it as a problem of men being evil and victimizing women, I see it as a human problem as people mistreating other people, and it just so happens that it in this case it is based on gender distinction. It seems that here people often have needs and responsibilities that are outside of their power to fulfill. That’s a hard thing to cope with and people often turn to destructive coping patterns such as exerting power where they can, over those subordinate to them. In the case of this culture, women are subordinate to men and therefore become the recipients of a man’s anger and frustration. Who then, in turn, is subordinate to a woman? A child. Thus the cycle perpetuates itself and becomes the modus operandi for the whole community.
John Mayer penned the lyrics “Power is made by power being taken…” and those words echo in my mind frequently as I live among and interact with people here. Some situations are so sad and seem so unjust, and to my mind, absolutely unacceptable. Yet they are approached with resignation because people here are powerless to resolve them. It makes me reflect on how privileged I am to have grown up in a place where I was taught that I can make my own decisions and chart my own path.
I don’t deceive myself that the work we are doing will change the whole culture, but I am glad to stand beside those who fight for each small step and who seek healing from these hurts. I feel honored and privileged to know and learn from these people who live in such hardships and yet live with joy and peace in Christ as if unassaulted. Witnessing the indomitable spirit of another is both a salve in times of pain and an inspiration in life.
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May 31, 2008 at 9:19 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: life choices, poverty
Witnessing these things from the insulated background of middle-class America (which I am not knocking, I feel extremely blessed and ever grateful for the hardships I have been spared!) leads one to pontificate the multi-faceted and complex problem of poverty. In Ruby Payne’s research she postulates that there are seven resource areas, and that the absence or presence of these resources affect whether a person is in and can get out of poverty. I think there is a lot of credence to the fact that poverty is a state that involves so much more than the fact that someone is not investing in their 401k. Living in two worlds that are vastly different from one another brings a lot of questions to my mind (Becky wrote a great post on this). What causes some people to be willing to sacrifice their morality, physical and emotional health, and sometimes their relationships to secure a better place in life while some people hold fast and withstand their hardships to patiently wait for something better? What gives people the strength to endure while others are so fragile? How much of the ability to stand strong is choice and how much of it is just the resources that are already available to us? As I ask these questions I am already thinking about what answers I would hear. I know that some people will say that is is the presence of Christ in someone’s life and their willingness to rely upon him that determines how well someone can come through difficulties having made wise choices and grown from it. I don’t dispute that, but I also know that it takes form in many different ways and that we can’t oversimplify that process. Each experience is almost as unique as the person that is experiencing it. I have heard a lot people talk about how it is all based on choice and that every person knows what’s good and bad and could choose to have a better life if they are just self disciplined and hard working enough. Again, I don’t dispute that the theory has some applications, I just feel that it is universalized too often, and is especially abused in a culture that is accustomed to being able to control circumstances and produce a desired outcome (hmmm, what culture could I be referring to?)
Ok, so I’ve rambled on in a stream of consciousness type fashion for two days. I guess all of this just needs time to settle in my head and heart, and it may take awhile. That’s ok because despite the unsettling feeling I get sometimes, I have a deep sense of joy in being here and being able to be part of these people’s lives. I know I say this all of the time, but I truly feel very humbled by so many people around me who continually face hardship in so many areas on so many levels, and maintain a great character and faith in God. Many of them can’t even count on relief from their hardships in this lifetime, but they persist with inspirational perseverance.
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May 31, 2008 at 8:43 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: poverty, prostitution
Good hamburgers, used bookstores, pizza delivery, a mall, milkshakes, many good restaurants, speaking English, and satellite television are all things that make one feel as though they are almost stepping outside of Africa for awhile when you come to Accra (at least when you are coming from Kara, Togo.) We can go to any number of places and be with a very international community, in very comfortable, western type settings. In fact, the lady at Enda (a coffee shop here) recently told me that they were trying to be as much like Starbucks as they can. The setting does provide some relief from the inundation of sobering stories and sights with which we come in contact on a daily basis.
Today we took our girls out for a big lunch before we have to get on our flight this evening, and as we sat in a very westernized restaurant, an older European man came in with a very young and provocatively dressed African woman. Unfortunately, this sight is pretty common around here, and it is something that always bothers me a great deal. I have a hard time ignoring it and shaking it out of my mind. Now I don’t mean to say that every time I see an older European or American man with a very young African woman that something is amiss, but I know that it would be naive to not realize that often times I am witnessing prostitution, or at the least a “sugar daddy” sort of deal.
There is something about these scenarios that bother me on a whole different level from other hardships we see. The difficulties we see a lot in our work in Togo are a little bit more understandable to me, probably because people are fairly honest about them. We have friends who have talked to us about not being able to conceive children, not having enough money to send children to school, being HIV+, being abandoned by their spouse, having to take in grandchildren due to irresponsibility or illness/death of their child, teenage pregnancy, rape, hunger, being persecuted for refusing to worship idols, and the list goes on. In our ministry we have many opportunities to pray with, pray for, cry with, listen to, and sometimes help the people we know and love as they go through these things. In my opinion, there is a new element of sorrow when one seems to be enjoying or thinks that the thing that has ensnared them will bring them satisfaction. Most of these women are “well dressed” (meaning their clothes were probably expensive,) they are eating at nice restaurants, and one of the ladies I saw today had an iPod. These scenes bring to mind a lady I met at one of the AED satellite clinics. She moved to Cotonou, Benin so that she could find a good job. She didn’t find a job but did find a man who would “take care” of her. He got her an apartment and supported her until she became sick, then he cut her off. She was too sick to work and had to find a way back to her parent’s village. Her parents allow her to live with them, but they haven’t really accepted her back. Now she lives as an outcast in her own community and is fighting to reclaim her body from the disease that is devouring her. How many of these lovely young women I see with these men will end up with a similar story?
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