...For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore i command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land (Deuteronomy 15:11 KJV).
Today, i want to divulge into something that i have been thinking about for some good time since i came to America. The poor. We have them everywhere in Uganda and indeed Africa. In fact in Uganda, over 70% of the population lives in poverty.
My country and my people get most of the aide from the American people and government. The country has so many American organizations that are doing several things from child sponsorship to church planting. Out there, America is seen as the savior; an ally that you always want to have on your side and when it decides a thing or two, then you have to comply, because otherwise, you could end up being in trouble. So, America always tries to fix things up and this has endeared it to many a people while also generating a lot of hate towards it.
America still remains the number one dream destination for most young people around the world: a land of dreams and freedom and liberty.
It's indeed true that there's liberty and freedom here, people are free to do what they want, and they are also prevented from doing what others don't want. Coming from a farming background, i would compare it to a fertile piece of land where everything that is sown germinates and grows very well and the harvest is always plenteous, because all the necessary conditions for these are there. And this is where the problem lies; where as there are millions of people who are sowing seeds of goodness, there are also millions sowing wrong seeds and these have sprung out too and now, there seems to be a stiff competition between good and evil here than i have seen or witnessed in my entire life. Someone told me freedom always comes at a cost, how true!
In my first blog, i talked about the abundance of things here and that made me understand why so many Americans donate to charities all around the wold. I, even talked about the birds of the air being fed here, contrary to the ones in my country that are still living in the Biblical provisions and sustenance of the Lord. However, a couple of weeks ago, i saw something that got me thinking; during service in one of our supporting churches, there was a power point presentation showing some very impoverished and neglected parts of Virginia (i think it was Virginia). It was shocking to me when i saw some bits of that clip. I kept asking my self: "is that America?". Of course i had seen the homeless people and my mother-in-law had given me a guided tour in one of the nights to places where the homeless people lived. But seeing an impoverished village was shocking.
Last week, a dear friend of mine who used to serve together with me in Uganda invited us to Milwaukee to share my story with his high school students. I am always excited to do anything to inspire others. But there was something odd about this particular school. All the students are African Americans and All the teachers are White Americans. That's another day's story. This even made me want to share my story with these young people more. I spoke to four different classes and though they are known for being naughty (i witnessed some of this), all of them were very quiet and very attentive when i talked. I looked most of them straight in their eyes, and i saw grief, broken dreams, suffering, struggling, desperation, name it. There were tears, frowns and smiles- we were connected emotionally and had something in common; our stories seemed to be acquainted with each other.
They asked me a lot of questions and my views on many things. But i will pick one that suits this discussion. One student asked me: "Have you seen poverty in America?". This student was one of those who had wet eyes, i knew what he was meaning, i knew he was probably living in poverty and i gave him my honest opinion.
That question triggered lots of thoughts in my mind: Is it time for America to start looking at itself inwardly? I mean, America and Americans send millions of dollars around the world to fight poverty and disease, etc, but is it time for it to start looking at it's own citizens that are living in poverty? Is there a way to help these people out? I feel like a big discussion needs to be started, if it has not yet been started already on how to address these issues. Surely if people here can meet the needs of the animals, they can meet the needs of its poor citizens. Sponsorship programs for children from poor villages and neighborhoods to good schools and Colleges would be a great start.
I know many organizations and churches are doing a lot in providing housing and feeding the homeless and other needy people; but i am afraid the same fate that has befallen Africa has befallen these people too -Dependency syndrome. Where people have stopped to desire to work because they know on such and such a day, in such and such a place, i can get A,B or C. I am one of those who opposes handouts and instead advocates for skills training, equipping and empowerment so that one can depend on his or her own, using his or her own God given abilities and talents.
Since this is the land of freedom and liberty, i can see several missionary opportunities here, opportunities to help change and transform lives and communities, opportunities to bridge gaps and opportunities to lift Christ's banner higher and higher. The above scripture tells us we will always have the poor and also urges us to open our hands and reach out to them, and help them in anyway that we can. Surely, the poverty in America calls for an urgent attention. Do something today.
We are in Denver en route to California, keep praying for us. Till next time, God bless you.
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