Comments on: All Aboard the Poverty Train

By: Sarah C

Sarah C — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:55:21 +0000

Honestly, I don’t see how anyone could see people living in such conditons and not be moved to help in some way. If people are truly going just to gawk and go back unchanged that is the true poverty…

By: Catherine Cavanagh

Catherine Cavanagh — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:42:32 +0000

I struggle with these issues too, especially as a high school chaplain. I worked in the poorer parts of Africa for eight years in the eighties and nineties. Now in my high school we run a one week Poverty exposure trip to Mexico. It’s not enough to understand poverty – even eight years isn’t enough – you have to BE poor to understand, but it’s something. The trips are truly about listening. Visitors should leave not feeling as if they know something, but as if their work is just beginning.

I think overall the trips are useful because you don’t know who they’re going to change or how. And in my experience the people visited appreciate the concern. But lets not judge other people’s trips. That’s a little unfair.

By: Andrzej Gandecki

Andrzej Gandecki — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:22:38 +0000

Becky,

You asked: Is it possible to truly understand life in poverty without ever going to see it for yourself?

To be honest, I do not know. I believe ‘going and seeing’ certainly helps in understanding poverty.

However, understanding is only a means, not the main goal for us. I do not think Jesus in the gospels calls us to understand poverty. I would say the Bible presupposes all of us have a sufficient basic understanding of poverty to make us responsible for doing something serious about it.

When I share with the people around me about Compassion child sponsorship, I concentrate on the biblical call to help the needy.

Still, there is this disturbing call for equality among believers from 2 Corinthians 8:13-14. I would love to hear some people share something on their understanding and application of this text.

I feel like the call for equality is quite seldom used in our efforts to motivate ourselves to help those in need. Do we fear it is just demanding to much?

My estimate is I’m about 20 times wealthier than most of my sisters and brothers in the faith all over the world. How should I implement this equality?

Is anybody out there struggling with the same type of questions?

By: Vicki Small

Vicki Small — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:40:31 +0000

I believe there’s still another difference–or two–but this, too, requires an assumption: that the folks taking “poverty tours” have no personal involvement before they go. On sponsor tours, everyone has a personal relationship with a child, or works for Compassion and likely sponsors at least one child, somewhere.

Another possible difference is in what we do when we’re there. On a sponsor tour, we get “down and dirty” with the children. We interact with them, hug them, kiss them, play games with them, worship with them.

But, yes, there are moments when it feels as if we’re gawking. Those first moments when we enter a church, find a seat, and then look around can be awkward. The best way I’ve found is to find a seat–or squeeze in–among some children and start interacting right away.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 01:14:36 +0000

There’s another difference. Friends of mine visited their compassion child last year and talked to her about Jesus. She wasn’t ready to get saved at that moment but did change her mind and become a Christian about a month later. She is hanging out with Christian nationals growing spiritually. I doubt poorist tourists ever see that happen!

By: Russ

Russ — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:23:23 +0000

The scary part about this conversation is that Jesus didn’t come to observe the world, or even help the world, but he came to be the lowliest in the world. I’m afraid we’re called to do the same. Nouwen called this Jesus’ “downward mobility.” My hope is that these trips and experiences in time create solidarity. Not just pity or shock, but friendship.

By: Compassion dave

Compassion dave — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:10:11 +0000

I don’t know how to respond; I have written (and erased) 4 or 5 times so far. I suppose the bottom line (for me) is that I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t guilty.

Guilty of what?

Yea…all of that.

By: Cher

Cher — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:53:56 +0000

I can’t help but wonder how it makes the poor feel. When they see a ‘gawker’, do they feel embarrassed, ashamed, wish we’d go away? Or do they think, “Have a great time and return with some friends, because for every person that comes to see us, our economy is stimulated a little bit more.” I would hope that a trip like this would affect everybody, whether emotionally invested with Compassion or otherwise.

By: Katie

Katie — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:33:13 +0000

I hope that we are not assuming that the poverty tours you first talked about do not affect the wealthy people that go. Whether they are eating a good meal that night or not, they have paid money to be concerned with the rest of the world. Attitude is everything. Those people that are paying the money to go, are also likely to be able to do something very substantial financially, that some of who care a lot already, before we have seen it.

By: Jim A

Jim A — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:04:45 +0000

Within the materialism of most of the western world I suspect it would be easy to return from a “sponsor” trip and get slowly sucked back into not doing anything about it. A new haunting Caedmon’s Call song speaks of this in searing fasion – http://caedmonscall.net/song-vault/overdressed/two-weeks-in-africa/

Author N.T. Wright has also said that our search for justice is often coupled with globe trotting curiosity. I think it would be awesome to take a trip someday to Ecuador and visit the child we sponsor – I also like the idea of visiting Ecuador or other south and central American country’s to visit their coffee plantations. I’m sure I would meet impoverished individuals in each instance.

I’m not sure I see the difference between a sponsor trip and these “poorism” trips. In both cases one confronts a seeming injustice and each person on each of these trips will have to decide how they wish to respond both foreign and domestic.