The Definition of Poverty

How would you define poverty? Is it even important to define it? Working at soup kitchens as a teenager broke my heart. I remember one Thanksgiving a family came in for a thanksgiving meal but they were one of the last people to arrive. For most of the day, we were able to provide the families with clothes, jackets, and other items to help with the cold. By the time this family arrived, we had given everything away. While this sweet family sat there enjoying their meal, the father asked if we had any more socks because his children did not have any and they were freezing and having some other complications. I felt helpless and just went to a back room and cried. I thought this was poverty. Then I went to China. I saw people go to trash bins where human waste was mingled in with leftover food and use their chopsticks to eat off the street, literally. I have never been that hungry. The same level of poverty hit me while I was in Africa, children dying because they cannot get food or clean water. The problem was that these were no longer children that I saw on TV but children that sat in front of me.

However, last Sunday night, I sat next to a man from Malawi at a dinner party to learn more about his work with Opportunity International. (Which is a fantastic organization!) He asked that question: What is the definition of poverty? The common responses of his staff in Malawi and probably most people anywhere would be the lack of money or lack of ability to get the resources needed to survive. Webster dictionary defines it as "the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support." What this man said is that that is not the definition of poverty but rather the result of poverty. In reality, poverty is the lack of knowledge. If people had the knowledge of how to provide for themselves, then poverty can be eradicated.

I had never really thought of it that way. It was really quite interesting to me. And, actually, very encouraging. The ministry that I have the privilege of serving is about educating people and loving them. You want to restore people's dignity and worth as a person, as an image bearer of God. One of the things that I love about the work that I am involved with is that I have seen horrible results of poverty, people living in conditions that shock you to your core, but I feel hope because I know that lives are being transformed and people are coming out of poverty, lives are changing. The education of the children at our schools is impacting not only the children, but their parents, on others in the community. People are dreaming and hoping for a future that many never even knew existed. It's amazing.