“Week of Poverty”

Members of the Globalscope Mexico team in Puebla are holding a “Week of Poverty” this week for the staff and students of the El Pozo campus ministry to raise awareness of and help them indentify with the poor. They hope to teach the students how they might be a part of the solution to poverty.

You may not think that poverty is a lesson that needs to be taught in Mexico, but as Globalscoper Kami Burns points out, “Mexico is actually a country with great wealth, and much of that wealth lives here in Puebla. We minister to students at a school where you will see bodyguards waiting for ‘their students’ to leave class. The roads may flood nearly every day and be full of potholes, but brand new Hummers, Audis and BMWs have no problem navigating their way through the streets, past women selling tamales from a cart or men selling tacos from a basket for just a few cents each.

“We live on the outskirts of a large, cosmopolitan city, in a state filled with some of the country’s worst poverty. A quick car ride can have you in a place where people don’t have electricity or clean water, places where people have never been educated, places where people not only do not have the luxuries we’re accustomed to but also have no hope.

“So we think a natural step would be for our students, whose lives are being changed by Christ’s love, to change the world around them,” writes Kami. “We will be learning about poverty by experiencing life as impoverished people do.”

Monday, Sept. 6, was “A Day Without Electricity.” The students and staff didn’t use anything that required a power cord or battery for a whole day. No iPods, laptops, TVs, cell phones, microwaves or lights allowed. Tuesday was “A Day Without Money.” Since half the people in the world live on $2 a day or less, each member of the group could spend only $2 the entire day.

Wednesday, Sept. 8, was “A Day Without Wheels.” Students and staff had to walk everywhere all day, just as most people in the world must do. Cars, buses, taxis, bikes, skateboards, roller blades and unicycles were off-limits. On Thursday, students were encouraged to donate their extra shoes to a local organization as a reminder of the millions of people who go barefoot every day.

To conclude the week, El Pozo will hold “A Taste of C.H.E.” seminar on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 10-11, to introduce students and local church leaders to the concepts of Community Health Evangelism. CHE is a biblical strategy for helping the poor in a way that promotes dignity and hope instead of only temporary relief.