“This orange is left over from our travel day if anyone wants it” Nat declared from the kitchen in our cozy apartment that we were staying in as we passed through Serbia to our next adventure in Montenegro. I sat eating my breakfast and considering if I would have the orange. I decided I wasn’t hungry and I didn’t want to carry but I thought, if we leave it surly someone will eat it. I don’t really know why it mattered so much, except that I hate the thought of wasting something perfectly good. But it took a second for the culture to settle into my mind… No, there isn’t a person here that would eat that orange.
Poverty is a problem, it denotes a people living below an imposed standard. But who determined that standard? I’ve been in Africa for three months, and driving through the small village I stayed in in Ethiopia I realized that “poverty” hasn’t astonished or humbled me. I’ve met many people in less than designer clothes, visited homes built of mud or concrete with completely “inadequate” furniture and appliances.
But I realized that the value of these people was not dependent upon the worth of the capitol in their possession (Matt. 6:25-34). Of course that’s easier to say than to truly believe.
There is a deep desire in my heart to speak life over the “impoverished” areas of the world. Something that has been bothering me lately is, why people label others with negative terms such as poverty, impoverished, destitute, etc. These words denote a problem yet, how come there are so few people actually dedicated to help fix the problem?
I’m not talking about solely humanitarian aid, I don’t believe in any way that throwing money at a problem will fix it. However I think that as Americans there needs to be a change in the mentality. When we see a picture of a hungry African child or a slum it’s easy to take pity, to feel bad for their situation. But honestly I’m beginning to see that pity as a bit condescending when lacking an accompanying action.
What actually happened during my time in Africa was a transition in my mind and heart to see potential rather than poverty. I don’t expect it will be easy for everyone to see that potential, but the sad part is I believe that it is even harder for those who have been labeled as impoverished their whole life to believe that they themselves have potential. I am beginning to dream about mentoring college students because I know that in my own life I needed some external motivation to begin to understand this word as well.
I don’t know the fulfillment of what this dream looks like yet but it is something you can stay tuned to discover. I do know that as God leads me I want to be obedient to and also recognize the passions he is developing within me during this year.
