May 23, 2009

• Poverty Experiment, part 2

  (If you missed part one, I am trying an experiment of living off of $2.50 a day–for a month…what half the world population calls total income)

  Top 10 reasons why NOT to listen when Jesus says “Sell your possessions and give the money to the poor.”

  (Note: the “Irresistable Revolution” talks about how Rich Mullins said that it is great that Jesus told one man to be born again, and how the church really picked up on that. But Jesus also told one man to go and sell all he had…and we sorta forget to highlight those verses. This idea is actually from the book “Make Poverty Personal” by Ash Barker. i would hate for you to be misled into thinking i was the smart one who came up with it. grin)

  1. But then who would support the missionaries?

  2. God has called me to minister to the rich.

  3. It is on my to do list…i just have to finish (fill in the blank)…

  4. Jesus only asked him because he had a problem with possessions.

  5. Jesus only asked him because he didn’t have a family

  6. Actually, you can get the camel through the gate–if he gets on his knees.

  7. But Jesus wants me to have the best.

  8. I would do it, if Jesus made it clear He WANTED me to.

  9. II give 10%…He wants MORE?

  10. Giving money to the poor is bad stewardship–they would use it for booze.

  Day 9: I totally miscalculated. i had to be at work at 9:45am. That means i need to leave at 8:45am (30 minutes to ride my bike to work, 15 minutes to change, 15 minutes to stop sweating and look presentable) which means i need to start getting ready at 7:45am (to make my lunch, to eat breakfast, and take a shower). instead, i cleaned the house and cut John and Dad’s hair. and i looked up to see it was 8:45am. opps. i had to accept a ride to work from Dad. without him, i would have been late. i felt like a failure.

  No wonder everything is always late in Brasil. Everything takes longer than you think without the money we pay for convenience.

  Day 10: This experiment is quickly becoming normal. My family went to go visit family. It is funny to ride in your car as a passenger instead of as the owner.

  What it feels like to be among the ultra poor (from “Voices from Ethiopia”)

  “We are left tied like straws

  living by scratching like a chicken

  what is life when there is no friend or food

  we are above the dead and below the living

  hunger is a hyena

  a life that cannot go beyond food

  difficulties have made us crazy

  it is like sitting and dying alive

  a life that makes you look older than your age

  just a slip and no more drop is left

  if one is full, the other will not be full

  we have become empty like a hive”

  Day 11: I have always been a little…grabby about my food. this is regularly proven, and pointed out, by my sister, as she takes things off my plate and eats them. My family went out to eat and this happened again. but i didn’t mind. i guess when you realize it isn’t yours, it is easier to let go and let your sister’s hand slide across your plate. Anna likes this new lesson i am learning.

  Buffets. i don’t think i have been to one since i became a vegetarian (almost a year ago). Almost everything is meat. Mostly chicken, or pork that looks like chicken. After two weeks of rice, beans, spinach, and granola, a buffet was amazing. Four tables piled with food and i went right to the broccoli (from the chicken stir fry), veggie sushi, and egg rolls. it made my family laugh.

  Day 12: This experiment is going exactly opposite of what i’d thought. i thought it would make food the focus–an even bigger deal than normal, since i had to be more careful with it, take more time to prepare it, and had less of it (at least less options). but in reality, food is becoming less of a focus than it was. Sure, i am writting about it more, but when we went to a buffet as a family…the time together was more important. When John bought me strawberries, i savored every one, but it was that he THOUGHT about it–that he thought of me that meant more.

  Day 13: I don’t feel embarrassed to look at people asking for money in the eyes and smile at them. because i really don’t have any money.

  Poverty means (according to Peter Singer “The One You Can Save”):

  * Being short of food some or all of the year

  * Where you can’t save money, and can never get out of debt

  * You can’t send your children to school

  * You have an unstable house that has to be rebuilt every couple of years

  * No close safe drinking water–it must be found and boiled to use.

  What makes people poor and is making them poorer (according to “The Blue Sweater”):

  * Not making enough money for your work

  * Not getting much/any education

  * Not saving money

  * Alcohol abuse

  * Law breaking

  “Poverty is a consequence of the differential distribution of privileges and resources” –Wilson “The Power to Care.”

  Day 14: I was talking with the Cinnabon worker about my experiment. why? because i tell random people way more than they every wanted to know. It started when he was passing out free samples, and i was so excited to get one, that he asked why. and so out tumbled the explanation of rice and beans and “oh! how nice was that yummy dessert!” and then he gave me a Cinnabon. a whole one. a big one. all that amazing gooyness! Free food makes the world go round.

  Day 15: HALF WAY THROUGH! $16.69 for this weeks groceries, a total of $50.65 for three weeks…or about $2.41 a day. and this week, i was able to get apples and kiwi…FRUIT was the number one thing i missed, more than anything else.

  Eggs were $1.09 this week, $.20 more than last week. these little changes do not mean very much to me, but they would make a lot of difference to someone who didn’t have that $.20.

  I don’t really feel like i am doing without, except when i work a 9 hour day, biked 9 miles, and then smell pizza. and then i really want pizza, and don’t care about things called “Poverty Experiments.” i just want to eat SOMETHING instead of having to MAKE something. the convenience of food is a bigger deal than content. When i am tired and hungry, i don’t care what it is, as long as it IS. so cold rice and beans it was.

  Day 16 (Saturday, May 23):

  8 Keys to escape poverty traps (by Smith in “Ending Global Poverty”)

  1. Health and nutrition (to keep adults working and kids growing)

  2. Basic education (to build self-reliance)

  3. Credit and basic insurance (to defend against risk)

  4. Access to income and opportunities (to get assets)

  5. Access to new technologies (to gain productivity)

  6. Non-degraded and stable environment (to have development)

  7. Personal empowerment (to gain freedom from exploitation)

  8. Community empowerment (to participate in a wider world)

  The ”New Friars” book says that poverty can only be fought from within. That the solution is living with them:

  1. Incarnationally–being God to them

  2. Devotionally–being devoted to God

  3. Communally–living together with everything in common

  4. Missionally–going to the geographic fringe

  5. Marginally–outside the norms

   

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