The Untold Story That Brings Hope To Our Current Crisis

Early estimates indicate that the crisis created by COVID-19 could push an additional 70-100 million people into extreme poverty.* That could mean many more will be forced to live on less than $2/day, a ridiculously low income that most of us can’t even fathom. Here in the U.S. we now say that you are “poor” if you make less than $35 per day. (That’s about $12, 760 a year) Seriously, could you live on that?

I don’t want to minimize the struggle that anyone is experiencing, especially in this moment. Yet the current struggle of those ensnared by poverty does not tell the whole story, and certainly doesn’t begin to demonstrate the potential of impoverished communities, and how we might respond.

Did you know over the past two hundred years global poverty has been substantially reduced?
It’s true. In the early 1800’s global economists estimate that 80% of the world’s population lived on today’s equivalent of $1.90/day. They were indeed poor, extremely poor.

Global poverty has been on a downward trend ever since.  From 1850 to 1990 poverty decreased by 34% and that’s with two world wars, too many famines to mention, and two pandemics!

More recently, in the past 40 years, from 1990-2020 extreme global poverty has fallen below 10%.† Currently, that equates around 750 million people. That’s way too many people in distress, but far less than just 50 years ago.

The other side of the story of suffering and lack is one of resilience, creativity, and grit that can open a door to a brighter future.  As we say at Hope, “Poverty is real. So is their potential.”

This is a defining moment for those of us who claim to be followers of Christ and for that matter, anyone who wants to help champion change in the world.  Jesus didn’t just talk about compassion, he lived it.  Make no mistake, the challenges are real, but both God’s story and history actually give us hope. With prayer, compassion, and thoughtful action we can continue to help people move toward the kind of flourishing that God intends, even coming out of COVID-19. Michael Fairbanks of Harvard University wisely shares, “Having a heart for the poor isn’t hard, we all have that, but having a mind for the poor—that’s the challenge.”

Smart generosity will be key in truly helping people break free from poverty. Rather than focusing solely upon emergency relief we must invest in God-given potential, starting and growing businesses that help people to their feet and enrich the very soul of their communities. While COVID-19 is trying to tell one story, together we can take part in a much greater story of hope and human flourishing.
 
* https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty/brief/projected-poverty-impacts-of-COVID-19
† https://cepr.shorthandstories.com/history-poverty/