| LIFE-NET NEWS |
| by Ret Z. |
| Covering Poverty Widely in a Net of Many Voices |
| 2004 November 10 | No Profit; No Proceeds |
| Volume 8 Number 18 | All-Volunteer |
| "Give a family a fish, and they'll eat a meal; give them a Net, and they'll have fish for Life." |
| US 'Poor' Not Without Amenities |
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Poverty, as defined by the government, has a very specific and often counterintuitive meaning. Some facts about Americans classified as poor:
46% of all poor households own their homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio. Nearly 75% of poor households own a car; 30% own two or more. 97% of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more. 78% have a VCR or DVD player; 62% have cable or satellite TV. 73% own microwave ovens; more than half have a stereo; a third have an automatic dishwasher. 76% of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, 30 years ago, only 36% of the entire US population had it. Only 6% of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person. The average poor American has more living space than the average individual (poor or not) living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other European cities. Source: Heritage Foundation |
| Aid-Working with Bull's-Eyes On Their Backs |
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From Iraq to Afghanistan to Darfur, the very notion of impartial humanitarian support is coming under unprecedented attack. Aid workers complain they are often caught between two implacable foes -- the US and Islamic insurgents -- who have blurred the line between combatants and civilians to the detriment of the vulnerable.
"People have lost sight of what humanitarian action means; it's not for personal interests or international interests, it's for people in need," says an aid worker. "If you blur the distinction between civilians and combatants, and you extrapolate that, you have to wonder whether in fact there can be any kind of humanitarian efforts anywhere." Aid workers -- most of whom have spent their careers operating in conflict zones -- say that the increasing dangers in Afghanistan and Iraq are rooted in the "hearts and minds" methods of the war on terrorism. By sending US troops to conduct what would ordinarily be seen as development work, or by requiring aid workers to coordinate their activities with those of the Western coalition, it becomes easier to identify aid workers -- however falsely -- as pro-Western and therefore justifiable targets for violence. While Western aid workers are more likely to get media attention, most of the slain aid workers in Afghanistan and Iraq have been national staffers, the aid worker adds. "When you target foreigners, it's for publicity. But the people who get targeted most, who work day in and day out, are the nationals." Local staff can keep working long after foreign colleagues withdraw -- but even they must close shop when the situation deteriorates too far. International staff typically act as bridges to the international community -- vital communication and fundraising links that break down when aid groups must rely on national staff only. Source: Christian Science Monitor |
| Marketing Deals Make Fatter Students |
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Over half of all high schools and junior high schools nationwide have struck deals with soft-drink companies or vendors, giving them exclusive marketing rights to their
students, according to the Institute of Medicine, a health-policy adviser to Congress. In exchange, the schools often get five- or six-figure payments that cover benefits their budgets don't, such as SAT test fees for low-income students, new scoreboards, uniforms, and even proms.
The deals often promote consumption of foods that give nutritionists nightmares. Since, according to the institute's study, kids eat 40% of their daily food while in school, schools are implicated in the worrisome childhood obesity trend. Montgomery-Blair (Silver Spring, MD) is in a bind, said principal Phillip Gainous. In 1997, it signed an exclusive deal with Pepsi, which pays the school $55,000 a year. The contract comes up for renewal soon, and the Montgomery County school system recently issued rules aimed at improving nutrition. Out went the soft drinks in Montgomery-Blair's vending machines. In came fruit juices, chocolate milk, and water. Pepsi's vending-machine revenue has plummeted, according to Gainous. Pepsi may not renew the deal. "The money is absolutely vital to the operation of the school," said Gainous, who has used it to buy computers and subsidize fees for SAT, achievement and Advanced Placement tests for low-income students. "How are my kids from poorer areas supposed to compete with affluent kids without this money? If I push them to take these tests to get into college," he said, "I have to be prepared to pay for them." Other schools have made the switch more successfully. North Community High School in Minneapolis found that it made $4,000 a year more from its machines when it replaced soft drinks with water. The biggest experiment is under way in California, where coalitions of parents, students, and pro-nutrition groups won a statewide ban on soft drinks in elementary and middle schools. The ban went into effect in July. "We know that children learn from what we tell them," said Harold Goldstein, executive director of the ban's leading promoter, the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, "but we need to remember they also learn from what we sell them." Soft-drink companies maintain that banning products is not an effective anti-obesity strategy. "We need to teach people how to make their own choices," said Kathleen Dezio, a spokeswoman for the American Beverage Association in Washington, "and you don't teach people things just by restricting them." Source: Philadelphia Inquirer |
| Locusts Threaten Northeast Namibian Harvest |
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A senior agricultural expert on October 27 appealed for additional resources to control an outbreak of locusts threatening the new harvest in Namibia's northeastern
Caprivi region.
"Fortunately, there are no crops in the ground right now, so the damage has been negligible," said Caprivi-based Food and Agricultural Organization consultant James Breen. "But unless more pesticide spray becomes available, we may find that within a month the locusts would have hatched and this could cause severe damage to emerging crops." The infestation follows an outbreak of anthrax in the province, brought by encroaching game from neighboring Botswana's Chobe national park. Breen warned that the locusts signalled an even greater threat to food security in the province, which has already experienced three consecutive years of drought. In 2002 swarms of locusts destroyed almost 300 hectares of maize fields near Lake Liambezi in southeastern Caprivi. "We have managed to control a swarm 20 kilometers east of Kongola [in northeastern Caprivi] which was 7 kilometers long, but already today [October 27] it has been reported that 10 kilometers north of Kongola there is another large swarm," he said. "It is very important that more funds are made available for equipment for the control operation." Source: IRIN |
| Council Rejects Waterfront South Relocation Plan |
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Camden's state-appointed chief operating officer, Randy Primas, said he will take legal action on the Waterfront South Redevelopment Plan after council members rejected it Thursday. Council members voted 4-0 (2 absent, 1 abstaining) against the plan proposed by the Camden Redevelopment Agency.
Waterfront South residents and representatives of the neighborhood's housing agency, Heart of Camden, applauded the council's decision to reject the plan. As city officials worked to establish new truck routes away from the residential core to mitigate noise and air pollution, a new trucking company was allowed to locate behind the neighborhood community center on 4th and Viola streets, alleged Helene Pierson of Heart of Camden. Marianna Emanuele, a member of South Camden Citizens in Action, said Primas has neither presented the plan to the neighborhood nor met with resident groups on the plan. "Oh that is totally incorrect," Primas said of that comment. "I've met with members of the community at least a half-dozen times." Primas said the plan, written in 1999, was already approved by council once, just incorrectly. He said it was written with input from the community and is needed to relocate residents of the Terraces section who want to move because of complaints about pollution. The neighborhood is home to two Superfund sites and 15 brownfields. The plan calls for more light industries to move in and the Terraces residents to receive relocation assistance. Council President Angel Fuentes said council has already hired an attorney for $100 to $150 per hour to defend them. "I don't think we need to justify our actions (on this issue)," he said. Source: Courier-Post (Camden) |
| Christmas Around the World On Display in Georgia |
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The experience of Christmas in many cultures and traditions will show its splendor at Habitat for Humanity International’s Global Village & Discovery Center from
November 26 through the end of the year. From Mexico to Ghana and Malawi, authentic decorations common in those countries will adorn homes.
Guests will also have access to an international doll exhibit from The Doll & Toy Museum of New York City, featuring more than 50 dolls with the currency of each country on display the entire month. The dolls are dressed in various national costumes, and children will be allowed to play with some of them. Special events each Saturday throughout December will show traditions from different regions, including:
Habitat for Humanity International, based in Americus, GA, is an ecumenical Christian ministry dedicated to eliminating poverty housing. By the end of 2005, Habitat will have built its 200,000th house, and more than one million people will be living in Habitat homes they helped build and are buying through no-profit, zero-interest mortgages. Source: Habitat for Humanity Internatioal |
| A Plate of Noodles and a Shaken Soul |
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From a book by Kaaren Solveig Anderson:
My friend Marcy and her boyfriend Brian recently ate dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. As they enjoyed a plate of lo mein, engrossed in conversation, a hand reached down and ushered away their platter of noodles. A voice quick and agitated mumbled "Sorry," and a thin, poorly dressed woman left the restaurant with their plate. In astonishment, they watched her walk down the street, holding the plate with the flat of her hand as she stuffed noodles into her mouth, slapping sharply against her face. The owner realized what had happened and darted out the front door, chasing after the noodle thief. He stood firmly in front of her, blocking her way and grabbing a side of the plate. A struggle ensued, noodles slid uneasily from one side to the other, slopping over the edge. He surged forward and pulled with a heroic strong-arm attempt to retrieve his plate. The woman's fingers slid from the plate. Noodles flew, then flopped pathetically on the sidewalk. Left empty-handed, with soggy, contaminated noodles at her feet, the woman stood with arms hung dejectedly at her side. The owner walked victoriously back to the restaurant with the soiled plate in hand. My friends were given a new heaping plate of lo mein, although they had already consumed half of the stolen plate. A stream of apology in Chinese came from the proprietor. Unable to eat anymore, they asked to have the noodles wrapped up and set off to see their movie. A block later, they happened upon the lo mein thief. The woman was hypercharged. She simultaneously cried, convulsed, and shouted at a man, who rapidly retreated from her side. My friend, unsure about what to do, listened to her boyfriend's plea to just walk away. But she didn't. Instead, she walked over to the thief and said, "Ah, we haven't formally met, but about ten minutes ago, you were interested in our noodles. They gave us some new ones, are you still hungry?" The woman nodded and extended her bony arms. She took the Styrofoam container in her hands, bowed ever so slightly, and murmured, "Thank you, you're very kind." What makes us walk away from discomfort? Or stay? You could say a lot about my friend's story -- a lot about generosity, kindness, attention, and thievery. I'm more interested in what motivates us to confront that which makes us uncomfortable and makes us look at the guts and grit of decisions, the choices to not address things that are uncomfortable, uneasy, unbalanced, unnatural, unbelievable. When our foundations start to shake, we can feel the tremors move up our legs and into our torsos. And we want more than anything to make it stop. Any how. Any way. My friend Marcy could feel herself shake. I know because she told me so. But she chose not to walk away; she dealt with uncomfortableness. She held firm in the muck. Sometimes that's all we need or can do to get to the other side -- the side where generosity, comfort, and kindness reside. Source: Singing in the Night |
| # LNN # Small # Hauls # |
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| Life-Net News Extra |
| An Ancient Example of Charity and Philanthropy |
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Just about everybody has heard of "the patience of Job", but his charity is less well-known. Here we present an extended excerpt from a document written, probably, sometime between the first century BC and the first century AD, The Testament of Job. This is a non-Biblical writing, but it's indicative of ancient -- specifically, hellenistic Jewish -- thought on charity.
9 So listen, for I will show you all the things which have befallen me, my losses. For I used to have 130,000 sheep; of them I designated 7,000 to be sheared for the clothing of orphans and widows, the poor, and the helpless. And I had a pack of 80 dogs guarding my flocks. I also had 200 other dogs guarding the house. And I used to have 9,000 camels; from them I chose 3,000 to work in every city. After I loaded them with good things, I sent them away into the cities and villages, charging them to go and distribute to the helpless, to the destitute, and to all the widows. And I used to have 140,000 grazing she-asses. From these I marked off 500 and gave a standing order for their offspring to be sold and given to the poor and needy. From all regions people began coming to me for a meeting. The four doors of my house stood open. And I gave a standing order to my house servants that these doors should stand open, having this in view: Possibly, some would come asking alms and, because they might see me sitting at the door, would turn back ashamed, getting nothing. Instead, whenever they would see me sitting at one door, they could leave through another and take as much as they needed. 10 And I established in my house thirty tables spread at all hours, for strangers only. I also used to maintain twelve other tables set for the widows. When any stranger approached to ask alms, he was required to be fed at my table before he would receive his need. Neither did I allow anyone to go out of my door with an empty pocket. I used to have 3,500 yoke of oxen. And I chose from them 500 yoke and designated them for plowing, which they could do in any field of those who would use them. And I marked off their produce for the poor, for their table. I also used to have fifty bakeries from which I arranged for the ministry of the table for the poor. 11 There were also certain strangers who saw my eagerness, and they too desired to assist in this service. And there were still others, at the time without resources and unable to invest a thing, who came and entreated me, saying, "We beg you, may we also engage in this service. We own nothing, however. Show mercy on us and lend us money so we may leave for distant cities on business and be able to do the poor a service. And afterward we shall repay you what is yours." When I heard these things, I would rejoice that they would take anything at all from me for the care of the poor. And receiving their note eagerly, I would give them as much as they wished, taking no security from them except a written note. So they would go out at my expense. Sometimes they would succeed in business and give to the poor. But at other times, they would be robbed. And they would come and entreat me saying, "We beg you, be patient with us. Let us find how we might be able to repay you." Without delay, I would bring before them the note and read it granting cancellation as the crowning feature and saying, "Since I trusted you for the benefit of the poor, I will take nothing back from you." Nor would I take anything from my debtor. 12 On occasion a man cheerful at heart would come to me saying, "I am not wealthy enough to help the destitute. Yet I wish to serve the poor today at your table." When it was agreed, he would serve and eat. At evening, as he was about to leave for home, he would be compelled to take wages from me as I would say, "I know you are a workingman counting on and looking for your wages. You must accept." Nor did I allow the wage earner's pay to remain at home with me in my house. Source: The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, James H. Charlesworth ed., Doubleday, 1983. |
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