Ever since I can remember I’ve been surrounded by images of poverty. So much so that I can’t remember the last time one of these images evoked even so much as an uncomfortable shuffle from me. Like static on the radio, it seems the faint crackle of poverty has whispered in my ear for so long that I don’t even hear it anymore. I think this is the case for most of us in the western world. It blows me away that we can watch so much death and destruction on the news and then comfortably slip into bed only a moment later, safe in the knowledge that it doesn’t affect us.
The sad part is that while their struggle may not affect us, the greed and waste of our western lifestyle is having a profound effect on them. Wherever someone has too much of something, someone else must go without. 21 years of attempting to understand this through the lens of the media has only left me further numb to the crisis than ever. The truth for many of us is that we’ll never really understand until we see it with our own eyes.
So this September, with teams from across New Zealand and the world, that’s what I intend to do. To find out the names of the people behind the statistics, to see what life looks like for those outside the frame of a news camera, and to have my heart broken for the cause of those who are so often forgotten about.
While many may claim a charitable goal for going with Global Tribe to Mexico, the reality is that this is as much about ourselves as it is about those we go to serve. The houses that are built will make a difference to the families who they are gifted to, but then the problem of poverty still remains. As we board a jet and head back to New Zealand we have merely treated the symptom, not the problem.
For me the importance of a trip like this lies in the fact that as we return to New Zealand we come back with hearts and minds that truly understand what Jesus talked about when he said he came for ‘the least, the last, and the lost’. As we return to our homes the real work begins. No longer able to plead ignorance, we must use this new understanding to make sure that we are really known in years to come as the generation who put poverty to rest.
In his 2006 address to the national prayer breakfast, Bono said, “I truly believe that when the history books are written, our age will be remembered for three things: the war on terror, the digital revolution, and what we did—or did not to—to put the fire out in Africa.”
While the focus is different, the message is the same. Trips like this are about raising armies of young people willing to fight the fire of poverty with a real understanding of what we’re dealing with.
In its most basic form, a wake up call is what I’m after.
