My friends on Plurk continue to pass along good info about which to blog. I learned from @TeresaDKG that today is World MDG Blogging Day. MDG stands for Millennium Development Goals which are as follows:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
2. Achieve universal primary education.
3. Promote gender equality and empower women.
4. Reduce child mortality.
5. Improve maternal health.
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Create a global partnership for development with targets for aid, trade and debt relief.
According to the United Nations:
“The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 – form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions. They have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest.”
Did you know that there are 1.2 billion people who live on less than $1 a day? Too often we simply think of such people as “the poor” but never with a name or face. Partly, I think, we just can’t cope with the reality of poverty and the suffering of others and so it’s easier to generalize and relegate it to the nebulous “poor”. Keeping it abstract keeps us safe from having to do anything. I know that’s harsh, but I feel it too and honestly don’t really know how to deal with the reality of poverty which I witness right in front of me here on the streets of Chicago.
I am hoping that our October 15 discussion on poverty for Blog Action Day 2008 will help us not only reflect more on the call to end poverty but also some practical ideas for how we can do so in our daily life. Sobrino’s book is not all that easy to read (so I’ve found) but over the next two weeks, I’ll pull out some interesting quotes that we can reflect on together or if you are reading the book, let me know what stirs you.
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I just got the last copy from Amazon–but don’t worry, they have more on the way…
Julie, actually, I find Jon Sabrino’s book very stimulating, touching many of my nerves and awakening a new resolve about possibilities to end global poverty. Often the heart and will do follow the intellect if it is bombarded by fresh ideas that are scripturally based and theologically sound. Matthew 25 is a pretty solid basis for this discussion it seems to me. More on October 15.
His is one of the books I need to read…
Oh poo, I just found this today. I was just thinking about how people don’t think others have a right to food. Meaning, if they can’t afford it, they should just work harder. I really don’t get it. I mean, my grandmother was always making a casserole (or: hot dish) for someone. It’s just what you did–when you were in a bad way, they’d come over with a bag of groceries or something, because when they needed help, they knew you’d be there, too. Whatever happened to helping others out because it’s the right thing to do?
You have another chance to blog against poverty on October 16th Blog Action Day. which is also World Food Day.
http://blogactionday.org/
http://www.inmyname.com/our-news/lates