The Face of Poverty - Does Anybody Care?

I don't know the lady in this picture but she is one of the ones referred to in an e-mail I received this week from one of our mission partners, a pastor of a church in Cagayan De Oro City, Mindanao.

Here is part of what he wrote: -

Greetings from the Philippines!

When we went to the the tribal village of Iba, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom,
our team visited a house we found three elderly women there living in a day to day survival.
In the course of the conversation, they confided how hard their lives are when no one cares for them. One of them wept bitterly as we had shown concern for them even just by being a person who has listening ears to listen to the cries of their hearts.

Here in the Philippines, there are no government programs to sustain them with their basic needs of food and medicines. We have about 40 elderly women in our bible fellowship attending
our prayer, bible study and worship. Every week we are giving them fares for transportation so that they can attend the fellowship gathering. Every week we are giving free food and rice......

We are in the process of putting together a package of tools and medical equipment for this church to enable them to provide some medical care and also set up some community programs in tribal areas so that people like this can be given ways to earn a living, perhaps by making some simple craft goods or by growing a few crops to provide food for themselves and to sell in the market place.

We can easily obtain the tools and medical supplies but shipping is quite costly and the amount of equipment that we are able to give is constrained by our limited budget. We know that no matter how much aid we send there will always be a need for more but that shouldn't stop us doing what we can.

As I look into the eyes of this lady I find myself moved by her serenity and dignity but in truth this is the face of poverty in 2009. This is not countless hordes of people on the brink of starvation in some African food crisis. This is one elderly lady, amongst a group of others just like her, struggling to survive from one day to the next. This lady has a name, she has a story to tell.

If this were in England, or another affluent country, she would be entitled to welfare support, state benefits, to provide for her needs. But this is the Philippines - a country where almost half of the 80+ million population live in serious poverty (surviving on less than £0.50 / US$1 per day) and where there are not the resources for the government to be able to change the situation, even if there were the political will to do so.

We can't help them all but we could make a difference for this lady and her two friends who live with her. Does anybody care?