The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World
One night in May my parents and I, camped out in my brother and sister-in-law’s motel-room-sized apartment in D.C. My mom just wanted us to be together. My parents had a futon to sleep on; I slept on a papasan chair cushion on the floor. It looked like a doggie bed.
The next day I looked at their book-shelf and realized I needed a book to read. Mire Bobbi (Hindi for my sister-in-law) recommended The Blue Sweater. My Dad said he wanted to read it, and took it out of my hand. My brother said, “Wait I haven’t read that yet, you can’t take it.” Mire Bobbi insisted I should take it, because he had plenty of other books to read first. Then we sat outside and I “read,” while she “studied.” Within a few pages my mind was going wild with ideas and we just kept talking about what I was reading. Here are some of the first words of Jacqueline Novogratz that stirred me up as I sat in my home nation’s capital:
In America, my grandparents raised 6 children, who then brought another 25 individuals into the world. My cousins and I stand on the shoulders of our grandparents and people like them who never asked for handouts, but supported one another and shared suffering and, through hard work and determination, gave their children better futures in a country that assured them hope and opportunity, if nothing else.
Today poor people the world over are seeking opportunity and choice to have greater dignity in their lives—and they want to do it themselves, even if they need a little help. Today we have the tools and the technologies to bring real opportunities to people all across the world.
The time has come to extend to every person on the planet the fundamental principle that we hold so dear: that all human beings are created equal.
Novogratz tells the readers that in this world that is getting smaller, markets, public policy, and philanthropy all play a vital role in offering this opportunity of equality all of humanity. But if you are afraid that this idealistic book of methods is not for you, you are wrong. This book is written much like a memoir with fascinating stories of adventures around the world, yet it challenges the reader to action.
I am under no illusions that we can make equality for all humanity happen. I am not an Enlightenment child. And as I read Novogratz story, the cycle of evil that grips our world is made clear. She spent years working in Rwanda before the war/genocide, making what seemed like progress. And yet two of the founding members of her organization that gave small loans to poor women and helped charities turn to profitable business, ended up in prison for their involvement in the genocide. Yet like Novogratz, I believe that we must do what we can.
I believe that our service to the poor is worship to the one who created all humanity equal. We can be the people who do not refuse the thirsty person a drink of water—and not only that but we can be the people who show people where to get the clean water and how they can sell the water to the people who need it and in doing so, improve the lives of an entire village.
Poverty Profanes the Gospel
He raises the poor from the dust
And lifts the needy from the ash heap;
He seats them with the princes,
With the princes of His people.
-Psalm 113:7-8
Last week my grandparents, whom I am staying with, had a houseguest from Uganda. His name is Hamlet. He is a priest in the Church of Uganda, a former parliamentarian, current chaplain for the Parliament of Uganda, an entrepreneur, and more than everything else an activist. Being a person with a vision for the economic and spiritual development of his people, he had so many words of wisdom for me since I have a heart for the economic and spiritual development of the people I work with in India.
He was surprised to discover that I do not have a car in India. He asked me if it was because I was afraid to drive there. I said, “yes, that’s a big part of it, but we also want to live a simple life as the people we work with for the most part do not have cars.” He said that while there is value in “living like the people,” there is also an importance to modeling social upliftment. He said that, glorifying poverty was one of the mistakes of the missionaries that went to countries in Africa. They pointed towards heaven and encouraged the locals to be content instead of working hard and trying to make their situation better in this life.
In another conversation, Hamlet lamented that so much of Europe regrets having ever sent missionaries to Africa. But, “they don’t realize that the gospel corrects itself. They don’t realize the value of the gospel,” Hamlet said to me. He went on to explain that after a generation of people grow up with the gospel, if the gospel is internalized the people start to realize the inconsistencies they were fed along with the gospel and they reject the mistakes. It is like John Wimber used to say; they “chew up the meat, and spit out the bones.” (Yes, yes, I realize that saying only makes sense in cultures where people do not chew up the bones).
In this case, one of the mistakes to be rejected in Africa is the glorification of poverty. While Jesus did come to earth, and live among us as a lowly human—he did not just stay that way and encourage us to stay that way. Instead, Jesus transformed himself through the resurrection—and encourages us to follow. So, perhaps we are not just called to live among the poor and handle our finances like the poor but we are called to model how to live a better life where we do not have to live in fear of how we will feed our children or pay our rent because we run sustainable businesses and we budget our money wisely.
I have seen the “poverty mentality” eat away at beautiful, intelligent, and gifted people. They run from crisis to crisis, never looking ahead and therefore they are unable to live to their potential. I want to be a part of helping people out of that destructive cycle. Because good news is not good news unless it is good news to the poor, and as Hamlet said to me, “poverty profanes the gospel.”
