Posts Tagged ‘poverty’

  • 12 Nov

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    Design for Life {by Paulo}

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    {my dear husband wrote this, as we are in a time of asking God what he would have us do. this is what he felt. he’s the amazing webdesigner who designed my site, of course!}

    This is the sketch of what my heart burns for..

    I dream of night and day constant everlasting prayer and worship that will affect people, that will change hearts. Not a mega-maniac concept that sees the big and imagines nations changed, that will be a realistic outcome of our intimate prayer life, of hearts being touched by a passion that burns stronger by the day that it stays in the presence of the Holy.

    I want to rescue kids from prostitution and the streets, I want to grow old with them and walk and watch as Holy Spirit transforms their lives. I want to rescue teenagers away from drugs and teach them what I know, teach them what I have in my hand. Teach them how to translate their life story into design.

    I have a dream of forming a design agency made up of young adults rescued from the streets. We will serve the church and help NGO’s and institutions to create relevant and high quality design so that they can bring out their message and in partnership they’ll help us to train and develop more “life designers”, to rescue others from destitution. I want to design for life, to give them a future, to teach them that each line they draw, each typography they work on can mean a chain being broken, how it can mean a message of Hope being brought to the world.

    I want this agency to spread bringing future and proving that Design and Creation can truly announce our essence: that we were created to create, we were designed by God to design, to design life, to design hope, to create the Kingdom of Jesus in this world. Design as a lifestyle, as a fruit of constant worship. This is my dream, this is what I long for; serve the Church and strengthen our Message of Love and Hope by in return giving Hope to those who apparently have no future.

    This is what I’m walking towards, this is what I will look like when I go into full time ministry. I will design for hope, I will write code for the Body so that I can free others to code with me, so that through my art, through my sketches I can show others a way out of the streets, i can give them jobs, show them that they’re life story can be relevant to others around the globe, all they have to do is be willing to pick up a pencil and draw that first line, express who they are, simply design.

    Design for Life
    Pray for Change
    Live for Love

    -Paulo

  • 27 Jul

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    {on adoption}

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    If this doesn’t make you shed some tears, I don’t know what will. My opinion is that Christians who are living in the developed world, and who are able, should adopt. If you have an empty room in the house for “guests” why not make it for a permanent guest? Adopt! :)

    I just showed my husband, and we are both crying… we’ll adopt soon enough. We’re just not quite old enough… well, we sort of are, I guess we could adopt a baby. But its not the babies that need to be adopted the most– its the older kids, over age 5 or 6. Or the ones with special needs. Anyhow, thank you to Third Day for making a beautiful, tear-jerking video about adoption. We loved it and we’re going to adopt.

  • 14 May

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    {a start} On Poverty and Riches

    1

    Last Sunday’s newspaper had a shocking revelation about poverty in Brazil.  First, let me tell you a bit about our currency, so you have an idea of numbers.  One real (hey-ahl) is equal to about USD $0.61.  The minimum wage in Brazil is R$545/month.  That’s USD $334.

    Could you live on $334 per month?  I don’t think I could.  Not here, not there, not anywhere.

    The newspaper article basically had percentages of the households in Brazil, per state, and for the entire country, that had no income, less than one minimum wage, two minimum wages, three, four, and more than five minimum wages as income.  In all of Brazil, 5.1% of the population makes more than 5 minimum wages, or, roughly USD $1671/month.  That’s the TOP 5% of the population of the entire country!!  That’s not even that much money…  But in the DF (Distrito Federal, the “state” that Brasilia is located in) 19% of the population makes more than 5 minimum wages.

    Wait, so what you’re saying is??

    Out of all of Brazil, only 5.1% of the population makes more than $1671/month, and in the DF, a relatively small region, that number jumps to 19% of the population.  We live in a bubble here!

    Poverty is so widespread in Brazil.  We talk about Africa and development in Africa, when, in reality, parts of the northeast, are suffering under a huge burden of poverty that the politicians in Brasilia never see.

    Just so you have an idea, my monthly salary alone is about 3 minimum wages, and my husband’s is more than mine, even on a bad month.  We’re barely scraping by in Brasilia.  Cost of living here is so incredibly high, I don’t want to start on it.  But, there are some prices that are national, not regional.

    Gas, for instance, costs about USD$6.90/gallon.  That’s the national price.  What does a poor rural family from the northeast do?  Even if they had a car, they wouldn’t be able to fill the gas tank.  We spend just under one minimum wage per month on gas alone.

    Housing prices, fortunately or unfortunately, vary drastically from state to state.  For the price of our small house in the DF, we could rent a mansion in Tocantins (another state… get out your map!).  However, we have an incredibly cheap house, but still pay over one minimum wage on rent each month.

    What is poverty?  It seems to be relative in Brazil.  Two minimum wages in the DF wouldn’t cut it.  You could maybe buy groceries and pay for a small, dingy apartment.  But if you made two minimum wages in Piaui, you’d be rich. But if you went to the US and made only $660, you’d be below poverty level and getting social assistance.

    More and more, I feel like I’m not just to stay in Brasilia, but we’re to take our vision for sustainable development other places in Brazil.  We have friends who want to take projects up to Maranhao, I’m thinking here “Count me in!” but don’t know if that will work.  I’d love to do something about the great gaps in wealth and poverty here in Brazil.  I’d love to teach people how to sustainably get above poverty level and raise their living standard to human levels.  Let’s see where it goes!

  • 11 May

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    In the Face of Questioning

    0

    What is true social transformation?  What will be the outward sign of true, deep, transformation in society?  Do social projects just serve our egos?  Does helping the poor only give us a pat on the back?  What are signs that what we do actually makes a difference?

    Is it enough to just visit a children’s home and play with the kids?  Is that social transformation?  What about when you find out dark secrets about the home?  Are you to continue in the name of “Social Justice” when, in reality, no one but the owner’s fat wallet is benefitted by the children’s home?  What would “Social Justice” look like when you find that a project is hiding a dark secret?  Do you stay?  Do you leave?

    What if you leave?  You are accused of leaving the poor and needy.

    What if you stay?  Well, we didn’t even want to think of the ramifications of staying, so we don’t know that outcome.  However, from friends in the legal world, I have heard that nothing good comes of being implicated with such a money-siphoning scheme.

    So we left.  We backed out.  Yes, we left the kids.  But, we decided to do things right.

    Before we start another project, we will either partner with an existing reputable organization or church, under which the project will be founded.  Or we will open our own project, officially, with all that 501c3 and CNPJ stuff.  Lots of paperwork.  It will be lots of red tape, many hours, much work, but we will do things correctly.

    As I am working at a non-profit educational institution now, I have the opportunity to learn some of the things that one must do to stay legal and operating, with transparency.  It is the long, hard road.  It will not be easy to do things correctly, its easy to just let things slip, but there must be checks and balances and transparency so that whoever is working with us, donating to us, or even praying for us, will know what is going on.

    Last year I spent quite a bit of time researching what I need to do in the US to get a non-profit started.  I began to gather paperwork and make contacts, but a wedding got in the way of that, and we decided it wasn’t quite time for us to do that yet.

    Now, a year later, its still not my time.  We wait patiently, even as people we know head back to the children’s home, even knowing full well of the administration problems there.  We get accused of giving up, we get told we aren’t working for “Social Justice”, yet we are.  We are building the foundations for something bigger than just playing with kids.  We are building the foundation for our vision, for our dream, for what we are called to do.

    And the first step of red-tape and paperwork is almost done, and its all been done correctly, legally, above reproach, and we intend to live our personal lives and ministry in that way.  So if anyone ever questions my visa here, I am now officially, legally, a permanent resident.  Everything done right.  The first time.  Let’s keep it that way.

    *as a side note, as I get into the sometimes gray area of sponsored blogs, I’m putting up a reviews tab on here, where reviews of products will be placed, so they are not confused with my ramblings about missions, life, and the world.  All sponsored blog posts will have a disclaimer on them, that they are sponsored.  Even if they stay here on the main tab.  I’m being transparent here…  you readers have a right to know what I’m compensated for.  That said, this is NOT a sponsored post.

  • 27 Apr

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    Mother’s Day for Haiti

    1

    My maternal grandmother’s prayers have always pushed me to reach out to the world, to help others, and to pray for others. Seeing her unfailing devotion to God, always praying, always sharing what she had read in the Bible, really has inspired me.

    In all the times I’ve traveled here and there, and been in all sorts of bizarre situations, I know my grandma is back home praying for me.

    When I went to Africa a few years ago, I rested assured knowing my grandma was one of my many prayer warriors. She prayed for me, despite her missing me. She knows that God is using me in different places to reach out to people who would otherwise not know His love.

    Letting me go to reach out to others is a huge sacrifice for her. Yet, she is always encouraging me, and telling me to keep praying and that Jesus is taking care of us.

    This mother’s day as you remember the moms or grandmas in your life, take a look at these beautiful pieces of jewelry and household decor. Your moms and grandmas, I bet, would love a piece of jewelry that is part of the “Shop for a Better World” initiative that is helping to fund reconstruction efforts in Haiti or Rwanda.  Its a little way of reaching out to help others in need.

    If you make a purchase from “Shop for a Better World” between May 3 and May 8, enter the promocode CLEVERGIRLS at checkout to receive a 15% discount on your purchase of Heart of Haiti or Rwanda Path to Peace items.


    *I was selected for this very special “CleverHaiti” opportunity by Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity. All opinions are my own.*

  • 15 Apr

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    Host an orphan for the summer!

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    How big is your heart?  Big enough to open your heart and your home to an orphan from Eastern Europe for a few weeks?

    New Horizons for Children runs an orphan hosting program which allows children to experience America and the love of a Christian family for 4-5 weeks.  The hosting programs run every winter and summer, and they’re looking for families to open up their hearts to host for the summer right now!

    Their website has more details about the hosting program and a listing of all the kids available to host, with photos. The kids are from Russia, Latvia, and the Ukraine, for this summer.

    The really awesome about New Horizons is that alot of these kids end up finding their forever families while in the US. Sometimes its the host family, sometimes its another local family. There is nothing more amazing than seeing the transformation in kids’ lives as they are adopted into a loving family.

    If you can’t host for whatever reason (I can’t because I’m overseas!), consider sponsoring a child for part or all of their program costs to allow another family to host them. Or, pick one or two to pray for. Pray for the kids, that a host family will find them, and they will find their forever family in the US.

    What I think I like best about New Horizons, as an organization, is that the people on staff actually host as well. And adopt. LeAnn, the founder, who I nannied for a few years ago, started the program after adopting one of her sons, when God put it on her heart to help more orphans, not just the “few” (ok, 7… or is it 8?) kids her family could adopt.

    Pray and see how God might have you involved in this awesome ministry to orphans in Eastern Europe.

  • 26 Mar

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    savior of the month

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    wishing to find the hope in the blind

    the ones who cannot see beyond the pain and the rain

    and try to be free by flying free south always

    all the time wondering when

    the savior of the month will come down

    when the savior of the month will ride in on a star

    from the southern cross to venus’s tip

    he comes up riding on the horse on the hill

    the stray horse full of fleas and other debris

    the savior of the month is salvation to the soul of the wrong

    planning to fail again, fall again, die again

    he falls off the horse

    scared silent breathing up the hill

    the humid air beats upon the face

    of the little girl who only needs

    to be saved to be rescued to be loved

    to be held on the lap

    with curls being stroked

    and love profusely pouring out

    the savior of the month comes down

    from foreign lands and foreign tongues

    but whats that?

    I don’t know anything

    I don’t even know love

    don’t try to explain in English to me

    how much I love you

    or how much you care

    because I don’t want to understand

    the savior of the month always leaves me

    alone here without a tear to shed behind

    but hope therein it lies

    that not a tear falls and hoping that these fears fall

    from the stars with the savior to the earth

    shed again

    lighthearted breathing air that frees

    that saves that comes to save

    that always saves me

    June 2005, Recife, Brazil.  (just a little bit of cycnicism… i think i’ll be writing the sequel to this poem soon…)

  • 16 Dec

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    Christmas at the Creche!

    0

    “Ho, Ho, Ho! Papai Noel Chegou!!”  was the cry we were greeted with as our small caravan of three cars, not camels, arrived at the daycare center, or Creche, in Santa Maria.  The kids were chanting “Ho, Ho, Ho, Santa is Here!!” because we were bringing these kids Christmas gifts.  They all come from very poor families, and live in a rather poor neighborhood, and otherwise don’t receive any gifts.  Their excitement was contagious and quickly spread to the church group, made up of Americans and Brazilians.

    The kids sang for us, and then we taught them new songs and one team member had a puppet and told the kids a Christmas story about the first Christmas with the puppet.  The kids loved it!  There were smiles all around, as the kids waited in anticipation to get to take their presents home.  We were glad to share the real meaning of Christmas with them, as well as love on and give to those who have less than we do.

    We gave the kids a snack, and had a chance to play with them.  We sort of gave out the gifts to some kids, but they weren’t allowed to unwrap them.  Can you imagine 30+ 2-6 year olds all opening up Christmas gifts at once?  What chaos that would be… so we took photos with the kids we bought the gifts for, and when their parents got them, they took the gifts home to open.

    This visit to a project was a nice change for me.  I wasn’t leading it,which was different.  Almost everyone spoke Portuguese and English, so no translating for me either.  I wasn’t even interviewing the co-ordinators of the project or anything, as I usually do.  I was just free, absolutely free.I was able to play with the kids, photograph them playing, see their joy in receiving gifts, and be reminded that we give gifts to these kids just as the magi gave gifts to baby Jesus.  We, the rich, the middle class, the modern day magi, took time to give thoughtful gifts for these children, born into destitute situations.  Many come from broken families, born out of wedlock, the mother pregnant without being married, like little baby Jesus’ family was.  We never know who these children will grow up to be, like Jesus came from such a humble family’s beginnings, yet grew up to be the Savior of the World.  We give to kids we don’t even know, to kids we meet when we give the gift, in the same manner as the magi gave to a baby they had never met.  But the magi knew he was special.  Like we all know these kids are special.As we celebrate Christmas, we must not forget the real reason why we give gifts, and why we celebrate.  And if you have the opportunity to give an Angel Tree gift, or an Operation Christmas Child shoebox, or donate to a local homeless shelter, please take the opportunity you have to bless someone else and show them what Christmas is really all about.

  • 10 Nov

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    Operation Christmas Child

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    Its that time of year we’ve all been waiting for!  Its SHOEBOX time!!!

    What am I talking about?  Shoeboxes?

    Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes! Operation Christmas Child is a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse that uses a simple shoebox filled with toys, gifts, clothes, school supplies, and candy to reach out to the lives of children all over the world.

    Simply fill an empty shoebox with age-appropriate gifts and drop it off at a local church or other drop-off location.  The boxes go around the world and are given as Christmas gifts to children who otherwise wouldn’t have any gifts.  It is often the first gift that child has ever received.

    One of the kids I nannied for a few years ago had received a shoebox in the children’s home she had lived in Latvia.  She told me that the hair things were the best part!  Of course, she was a typical pre-teen girl!

    The boxes go to real kids, with real lives, pains, joys, and need.  This girl I nannied for was adopted and helped me pack some boxes in 2008, she was, of course, really excited to help me!

    Last year Samaritan’s Purse started allowing you to track where your boxes went if you donate the $7 for shipping online. Some of the boxes I packed went to Nepal, Panama, Cameroon, and southeast Asia!

    Shoeboxes are given to local churches and ministries and distributed through them. The churches are able to use them as a wonderful evangelism tool to reach out the kids and their families.

    OCC has a great how-to-pack a box video.

    Happy Packing!

  • 25 Jun

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    Something on the Road cut me to the Soul

    0

    “Something on the Road cut me to the soul. Your pain has changed me, your dream inspires.” -Sara Groves

    I know Sara Groves wrote this song about Africa, and while its so true about Africa, something cut me to the soul here in Brasil yesterday.

    I was just outside the favela (slum) near here, as we were talking with one of the boys from church and his family who lives in the favela. The favela is kind of up the hill a bit from the rest of the predominately lower-class neighborhood that occupies the rest of the hill. The difference between the favela and the rest of the lower-class housing is that the favela is made up of shacks more, kind of built all on top of one another. And the people who live in the favela have not much in the way of possessions and don’t always have food to eat and often don’t have jobs.

    Just below the favela is a big dumpster which I assume is used by the people who live in the favela.

    There was a man who was picking things out of the dumpster. This was not dumpster-diving in the US, this was a guy who was picking out things from the trash of the poorest people in this town.

    I watched him closely, I think he was picking out things to sell. 3 2-liter plastic soda bottles. A large plastic bag. A naked Barbie doll, an old stuffed animal, and an old cloth doll. A 3-ring binder of papers. And he was gone.

    No matter how poor people are in one place, there are always people who are poorer. One lady who lives in the favela came by yesterday for help- she has no job and can’t really hold one because she has alot of kids at home. She was out of food and had no blanket and her kids don’t have much clothes. The need was presented to the church here, and one of the ladies, who herself just lost her job and apartment, offered the blanket off her bed for this other family, and also offered to buy some food for the family.

    There is always someone needier than those you think are the poorest people around.

    I’m amazed at people’s generosity even when it seems they have nothing to give, they give it all. The widow’s mite, I remember, was worth more than the riches of kings given up. What little can I give up today? What can I give out of my nothingness to these people who are so desperately poor?

    There are needs so great here, it is overwhelming when we think of them. But God gives us the ability to give even when we have nothing. We give to those who have less than us, no matter how poor we may be in the world’s eyes.