Have you paused to consider your power?

By Rori Picker, Associate for Interfaith Relations, RFP-USA

In a previous post, entitled Make Poverty History, Bishop Mark Hanson asked the question, “Have you paused to consider your power?” When I first read the question, I didn’t pay it much regard. After all, he certainly wasn’t asking me. He was speaking to all of the people who were out of college, with regular jobs, and could afford to donate money to a cause. He was speaking to all of the people who are on television or the radio, who play sports or write books, who have the ear of people and should use it for good. He certainly wasn’t asking me. After all, what power do I have?

It turns out, I have plenty of power. And so do all of you.

Seven months ago Rick Reilly wrote an article in Sports Illustrated called “Nothing But Nets” asking just for that: nets, and plenty of them. Except this time, he wasn’t talking sports. He was talking malaria.

What do nets have to do with malaria? Turns out, one net can save a child from dying of the disease. What’s even more impressive is that the net costs only $10, and that’s with shipping included.

So what power do you have? The same power I have. You have the power to post it on a blog, e-mail it to all your friends, and tell everyone in your family. You have the power to go to www.nothingbutnets.net and donate the $10 you were going to use to buy yourself lunch today. You have the power to save a life.

Gender Bias Increases Poverty

By Rori Picker, Associate for Interfaith Relations, RFP-USA

Can inequality between men and women lead to health problems for children and poverty for the entire family? According to a new study, it most certainly does.

The study released by UNICEF today, entitled “Women and Children: The Double Dividend of Gender Equality,” asserts that there would be 13 million fewer malnourished children in South Asia if women had an equal say in the family.

UNICEF surveyed family decision-making in 30 countries around the world and found that whoever brought in the greater share of household income and assets decided whether those resources would be used to meet family needs. In situations where men controlled the household, less money was spent on health care and food for the family, resulting in undernourished children and an increased number of health problems.

The study also found that women worked longer hours than men in the developing world. In many families where women worked, daughters were taken out of school to perform household chores and take care of the younger children, continuing the cycle of undereducated females with inferior employment opportunities.

We must remember that these dialogues cannot exist independently. We cannot discuss peace without discussing poverty. We cannot discuss poverty without discussing equality. And we cannot discuss any of it without committing ourselves to taking concrete steps to improve opportunities for women around the world.

Women must enter this discussion. Our children depend on it.

Make Poverty History

**Listen to an interview with Bishop Hanson on RFP-USA's podcast.**

By The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, Presiding Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)

Sometimes I pause. Three seconds pass. A little girl has died because she didn’t have enough to eat. Three more seconds pass. A father infected with AIDS has died because he could not afford life saving medicine. Three more seconds pass. A little boy has died from malaria, a preventable and treatable disease. Three more seconds pass. A mother has died giving birth because she had no access to proper medical treatment. The seconds pass quickly. People are dying because they lack the basic resources of life to survive. I can’t help but pause to consider the inequality and injustice.

I pause to consider the great opportunity. We are the first generation in the history of the world with knowledge, resources, and capacity to end extreme poverty. What will history say about our success or failure in building the moral and political will to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, an holistic framework to save the lives of more than eight million people who die because of extreme poverty each year?

I pause to hope. The world is organizing itself under the banner of “Make Poverty History” in order to build the political will to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. I am proud that the church I serve, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has established a unique partnership with the U.S. expression of this movement called ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History. ONE by ONE, Lutherans are joining the growing movement of 2.5 million Americans committed to making poverty history.

Have you paused to consider your power? You have a role to play in Making Poverty History. Join the ONE Campaign. Build a relationship with your legislator. Find out how your community of faith is engaged in the effort to end extreme poverty and the emergency of AIDS. Tell a friend about the Millennium Development Goals.

Let us pause together. Consider the opportunity. Hope. Act on our power. Make Poverty History.

Cotton: America Makes It, Africa Pays For It

By Rori Picker, Associate for Interfaith Relations, RFP-USA

The United States has dominated the global cotton market for nearly two centuries. Few things in the global market stay constant for so long, but America has worked hard to maintain its position. Every year, U.S. taxpayers spend tens of millions of dollars on research to improve the nation's cotton industry. The federal government also gives cotton farmers more than $1 billion a year in subsidies, which provide even more competitive advantage. There are university and government cotton research centers all over Texas and the South, all of which help U.S. cotton farmers compete in the global market. And it's working: U.S. cotton makes up 40 percent of world exports. No other country comes close.
And they are paying for it.

African governments have long complained that U.S. and European agricultural subsidies drive prices lower, making it difficult for African farmers to make a profit and nearly impossible to end Africa’s cycle of poverty.

A typical African cotton farmer will earn between $300 and $400 a year from his crop. Usually he will grow other food crops to feed his family, but cotton is often the only avenue to cash. Some estimates show that between 2001 and 2003, U.S. subsidies cost African cotton farmers about $400 million. Cutting cotton subsidies would raise prices 10-12 percent, costing an extra $30-$40 per year, an insignificant price for a Western farmer, but a momentous gain for his African counterpart.

Despite falling cotton prices, U.S. cotton production rose 40 percent between 1998 and 2001. This extra cotton is being dumped on the global market at below the cost of production.

Last year, the World Trade Organization upheld a ruling against the United States stating that American cotton subsidies are illegal. The United States has moved to eliminate export subsidies, but under the farm bill which expires in 2007, the vast majority of payments to U.S. growers continue.

America thrives in this new age of globalization, but we must remember that with a global economy comes a global partnership and a global responsibility. Elected officials may have decided that dominance in the cotton industry is worth the billions of dollars it costs taxpayers, but it it worth the hundreds of dollars it costs African farmers?

Source: NPR

America's Growth Spurt

By Rori Picker, Associate for Interfaith Relations, RFP-USA

According to a recent article in the Washington Post, the population of America is expected to reach 300 million within the coming week. America is the third most populous nation, trailing behind China and India. With an estimated growth rate of one person every 11 seconds, it would seem that America, currently in its 230th year, is still in a growth spurt, and a rapidly increasing one at that.

After the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, it took the country 139 years to reach 100 million in 1915, then only 52 years to reach the 200 million mark in 1967, and now another 39 years to achieve 300 million. According to census projections, the next 100 million will take only 37 years. According to William H. Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institute, a change in immigration law in 1965 unintentionally reignited immigration-led population.

As the population rises, though, so does the quality of life. Longevity has increased to 78 years, the percentage of adults with a high-school diploma has reached 85 percent, homeownership has risen to 69 percent, and the cost of a gallon of milk is half its cost in 1967. Immigration may yield even further benefits. Frey believes that foreign-born residents and their children will surge into the workforce, and their payroll taxes will help reduce funding shortfalls for Social Security and other social programs that benefit older people.

However, this assumes that immigrant children will be educated well enough in American schools to find competitive jobs in the global economy. Poverty rates for children have exceeded poverty rates for the elderly for more than 40 years, and Hispanic and black children are between three and four times as likely to live in poverty as whites.

With elections looming in November, immigration has once again risen to the forefront of debate. Political rhetoric is rife with discussions of securing American borders and protecting American jobs. Yet we must ask: Is immigration failing us, or are we failing our immigrant children? By putting their lives and their futures at risk, are we not simply risking our own?