Fighting Global Poverty Through Awareness and… Faithful Travel?

Talking about global poverty is like hitting many people’s snooze button. Depending on the messenger, the topic can quickly become vague, wordy, overwhelming or more like an outlet for self-importance. But the facts on the ground aren’t changing. 2 billion people live on just $2 dollars a day, and another billion live each day on $1 dollar. Meanwhile, it costs me about three times that just to get a cheap lunch. It’s almost shocking to realize how little we need to sacrifice in order to make a huge difference.

Last night, I got the chance to hear travel guru Rick Steves speak to a local church about America’s presence in a global neighborhood. I am a huge fan. Though I haven’t been to Europe since the 3rd grade, I’ve still grown to love his travel show- Europe Through the Back Door, and watch as often as I can, especially when I’m winding down after work. I love his quirky style and the fact that the show is a little bit history lesson and lots of scenery. Very recently, I discovered (through Youtube) that Steves is also an outspoken advocate against global poverty, American complacency and other things like the drug war. Steves is a Christian who takes quite a risk by speaking boldly and controversially about these moral issues to people that may very well be customers. His recent travel special- a tour inside Iran- was a real act of courage, and showed just how little we know about certain countries in the world (especially those deemed to be the enemy by our elites ). Steves made the important point that the U.S. can bomb countries with a greater peace of mind when we don’t bother to understand a country’s people,  history or its complicated political situation. How far we’ve come from the days of Thomas Jefferson:

“…peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.”

So what does U.S. foreign policy have to do with global poverty? Each of these would change if we were more aware (not to mention the fact that one often effects the other). As Steves said, “it’s not a guilt trip, it’s a reality trip…we can be enlightened and aware, or we can be blissful.” During the talk, he demonstrated our disproportionate priorities when speaking about the Natalee Holloway news frenzy. The nation is captured when one beautiful white girl with blonde hair goes missing, but can manage to be largely unstirred by the news that 26,500- 30,000 kids die each day from poverty.

So I hope that you’ll hear him out for 15 minutes as he’s got some very compelling and optimistic things to say- it’s not Sally Struthers urging us to share in melodramatic guilt. Americans need to stop looking at every issue as left vs. right and instead use a fresh set of eyes to consider things in light of right vs. wrong. Although the two clips are disconnected, I think they make for great companion pieces because Steves is getting at this issue of awareness- through learning and first-hand experience. How can we be bothered enough to do good if we don’t expand our understanding?

 Clip 1: Martyrdom and the American Empire [3:00]

Clip 2: Faithful Travel [12:00]

Travel has become tougher for many people in this economy. It’s understandable.  What I like about Steves’ approach is that he’s using what he knows to make a difference. Travel is just one of many opportunities for advocacy. The rest of us can benefit by just listening. As some are not in a position to go or to give, they can still choose to become knowledgeable and help to spread the message.

Steves spoke on behalf of Bread for the World- an organization that tackles global poverty through aid and legislative pressure. I’ll post a link to their website for those interested, as well as a non-profit org that my friend and pastor Eugene Cho is starting up. The second link will lead to his F.A.Q. which has some good summarized information on this issue.

Bread.org

Fighting Global Poverty