One of the most thrilling pledges ever made must be the World Bank’s commitment to abolishing poverty worldwide by 2030. That date has since been extended, but it remains on the table as an ultimate aim.
I can’t help wondering whether ways of speeding things up might have to come from the heart now, as well as from our wallets, creating a more respectful solidarity with our neighbours impoverished by war, corruption, exploitation and displacement, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia. As Pope Francis put it in an interview recently: “The Christian message is transmitted by embracing those in difficulty, by embracing the outcast, the marginalised.”
Evidence from the Global Issues website shows that almost half the world lives on less than £2 a day. According to Unicef, 22,000 children die each day as a result of poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world”. Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child in school by 2,000. But that, too, didn’t happen.
The good news is that the Catholic community is characteristically generous – the level of donations did not dip at the start of the economic crisis. But it’s not all about money. It gets personal, beginning with ourselves, as Geoff O’Donoghue, overseas development director of Cafod, explained.
“So the way I eat, dress myself, take my holidays – these are actually all things that can either help or hinder,” he suggested. “On another level, it’s also about challenging governments and businesses. And some of that is global. Cafod doesn’t act alone. The Church is a massive, multi-faceted entity and it has influence in the UN and at government level, and we try and play our part within that.”
Referring to “the globalisation of indifference”, Pope Francis wrote starkly in his encyclical Laudato Si’: “The earth itself, burdened and laid waste, is amongst the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor … if we no longer speak the language of fraternity and beauty in our relationship with the world, our attitude will be that of masters, consumers, ruthless exploiters, unable to set limits on their immediate needs. By contrast, if we feel ultimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and care will well up spontaneously.”
“There were lots of challenges for us that were unexpected this year,” O’Donoghue said. “For agencies like Cafod, Christian Aid, Oxfam and others – because we work across dollar economies – when the pound takes a big hit, as it did after Brexit, then it’s a real loss and we have to mitigate that, work at it, and it does give us headaches.”
How does Cafod counter the corruption that seeks opportunities to syphon off aid? The answer is largely through its extensive network of local Church partners who operate in the very poorest of places.
“Because the Church is knitted into the fabric of a community and goes right into places even the UN can’t reach,” O’Donoghue said, “by working through the churches we are working through a system of capillaries that go out to the edges.
“This is to make sure that what is donated is as close to the margins as possible. Working with local partners means that we can pre-date any emergency – the Church will be there before, during and after.
“I remember the big crisis of the Philippines, when a cyclone had gone through. On the One O’Clock News what was clear was that the local churches were the first responders – like first aiders. They were there, and they were mobilising the responses a day or two before the rest of us could organise from around the world to get equipment in.
“It’s not just a case of ‘Well, let’s just hand over the funds.’ It is to make sure that what was given in compassion is used for what it was meant for. So it becomes a family thing.”
What currently threatens Cafod’s initiatives most? “In the immediate future, climate change and the availability of clean, usable water – or even water at all,” O’Donoghue said. “Water is one of the critical factors because it causes people to move. In the past, they would go from dry to wet areas and back again as the seasons moved, or they had cycles of agriculture.
“Shortage of water and drought conditions have become more intense and more frequent. It’s a bit like having flu in winter is for us: if you caught it at Christmas and at Easter and again in the summer, then in the winter again, you’d find you didn’t have the resources left in you to cope with the crisis. That’s what’s happening as people’s natural cycles are being stressed beyond coping. Having access to land to grow food for those in rural environments is critical.”
At the same time, Cafod aims to support the poorest in their stand against the plunder of the earth by outside interests. “There are lots of things – the way that raw materials are taken out of the ground and traded, the way crops are being taken at a fraction of their true value, with the cost being added in afterwards … local people are receiving far too little of that. One of the things that also strikes me is that we have more people displaced in the world – over 60 million – through conflict and injustice than at any point in history. Our country may not be at war, but you may not be safe in your own country. And people flee because of that.
“I think there’s a very negative narrative in the press based on fear of migrants and the stranger. I do think that the link between mercy and the plight of people like the migrant community is so clear: that idea of what does it mean to be fully human in relation to the earth and how we tend to it in relation to each other.
“The relationship between ourselves, God, each other and the earth lies right at the heart of things. The voice of Francis, the voice of mercy, I think, tempers and is a balance to some of what we see in the media.”
In an address to the Food and Agricultural Organisation in 2013, Pope Francis threw down the gauntlet. “A way has to be found,” he said, “to enable everyone to benefit from the fruits of the earth, and not simply to close the gap between the affluent and those who must be satisfied with the crumbs falling from the table, but above all to satisfy the demands of justice, fairness and respect for every human being.”
Are we up to it? “I hope so,” said O’Donoghue, turning positively towards the New Year. “I hope, deeply, for a political resolution. Pope Francis was calling for a political solution to the problems in Syria – that somehow if the conflict is suspended the seeds of some alternative way of acting can actually take hold. I hope it will.
“I think the same of South Sudan, and I hope for a peaceful election in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and that the peace process in Colombia continues. These are things that are within the reach of countries and communities, if the right actions happen. I think they are real hopes.”
Jane Taylor is the author of the novel Over Here (Thunderpoint Publishing)
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