Water within Poverty...photo by kim

Posted by: kimthanh

I remember when I took this photo. Bola Moyo's Board had taken a break from a morning of meeting and took time out for the park.

We were all just sitting around, talking and enjoying one another.

And this view caught my eyes as I was basking in the warm sun.

It almost seemed indictative seeing the sweating cup of water (that was given freely to me, and refills would have been abundant if we had remained in the local coffee shop) alongside the background image of the book on ending poverty.

I know sometimes we can get so caught up in what we have and what others do not, and I beleive it is a healthy view to keep in mind and not be used in a manner that depicts or points out the very situation. But like Paul Farmer, when not working in Haiti, be it Paris or London, he too would dine in expensive restaurants, as well as drinking a very expensive bottle of wine. But as in the book, Paul states that he too enjoys the finer things in life. It is not sin to nor even wrong to enjoy those things that have been given to us abundantly. But it is when we we take for granted the needs of others whether in our own town or across the world, that we are then guilty of not being conscious of other's economical situations.

Though this picture paints a thousand or more words in many eyes, it is disheartening to me to know that we have such conditions that still exist in this vast world. That with the shere number of bright, educated, resourceful people, governments and political systems, that we would have enough to go around to all persons of this world. But that is not the reality of things. And what a poor bastard of a society we are that we can let others live in such squalor and in want with out blinking an eye.

I've wondered what I would do if I had all the money in the world to provide, to supply as the demand is needed and to continue reproducing those things that are working and improve on those that aren't.

I've learned that to have that kind of money, one would need to continue to find ways for it to make itself increase more over so that the giving would never be just a one time gift, but an ongoing system of providing when and where needed.

I look forward to working in our area of passion with Bola Moyo. To know that my heart desires to see the people of Malawi live a better and more purposeful life, and to see the future, the children, become who they are meant to be in their homes, their village, their country, and what more they will be able to do for their country given the chance to live, to eat, to produce gardens necessary for food and taking their medicines.

How I dream about the day when Michael and I will see with our own eyes the people of Malawi, and what they are doing and can do to help their own.

For Bola Moyo to simply have the means to help them, be it in every aspect of their needs, is flabbergasting to me but also thriling to know that we will have supporters who also hear, see and feel our passion for the people of Malawi and we can in taking this journey together will be amazing.


Take a look at WWW.ONE.ORG
"WE BELIEVE that in the best American tradition of helping others help themselves, now is the time to join with other countries in a historic pact for compassion and justice to help the poorest people of the world overcome AIDS and extreme poverty. WE RECOGNIZE that a pact including such measures as fair trade, debt relief, fighting corruption and directing additional resources for basic needs' education, health, clean water, food, and care for orphans' would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the poorest countries, at a cost equal to just one percent more of the US budget. WE COMMIT ourselves - one person, one voice, one vote at a time - to make a better, safer world for all."