Dictionary.com defines poverty as “the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; the condition of being poor.” It defines “poor” as “having little or no money, goods, or other means of support.”
Poverty means not having enough money. Right?
According to the World Bank, if you’re living on $1.90 a day or less, you’re living in extreme poverty. More than 750 million people fall into this category. But you can make more than $1.90 a day and still be poor. The World Bank has drawn two other lines.
Pause for a moment to reflect that eliminating extreme poverty is one of the original United Nations’ Sustainable Goals for 2030. We will still have a long way to go.
The UN has created a Human Development Index, the result of a complex calculation of the multiple dimensions of poverty that must be overcome. Not unexpectedly, the greatest measurable amount of poverty continues to exist in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Knowing that poverty exists is one thing. Knowing the extent to which it exists is another. There are several ways to view the data but here we will simply look at the ranking of the South Asian countries where, according to Gospel for Asia, the need is greater than most can imagine.
WARNING: This article contains facts that are grim to grasp and difficult to digest (pardon the pun).Most Americans do not regard hunger as a problem, let alone understand the magnitude of its scope. If you really want to know about the severity of global hunger – and if you are willing to do something about…
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – the International Labor Organization cites Zambia as one of the five countries where more than half of all rural workers live below the poverty line. Just a few years ago, the average annual income for native Zambian farmers was the equivalent of $500. Aside from the sickness, isolation, and death resulting from…
GFA World’s humanitarian efforts continue as ‘commendable’ Indian prime minister extends COVID-19 stay-at-home orders; 1.3 billion people ‘in hands of God’ WILLS POINT, TX — The world’s biggest coronavirus lockdown has been extended — leaving more than a billion people in India on the edge of survival amid fears of mass starvation, mission agency Gospel…
HOFFMAN ESTATES — Bright Hope publishes new, downloadable booklet for churches and Christ-followers to examine the COVID virus from an extreme poverty perspective. Food Security, health and hygiene, social distancing, and medical care are all vastly different for those living on less than $2.00 a day. The spread of the COVID-19 virus could have devastating…
Stay-at-home Americans challenged to support coronavirus relief efforts WILLS POINT, TX — Faith-based humanitarian group Gospel for Asia (GFA World, and its affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by KP Yohannan is helping to sustain desperate families pushed to the brink of starvation as South Asia battles the deadly coronavirus. More than 5,000 cases…
LOUIS, MO – The theme of Crisis Aid International is “Helping the Helpless.” But what does that mean? Well, it means different things to different people. The St. Louis-based FBO defines it as saving lives, saving souls, and changing futures. Founded in 2002 by Patrick Bradley, the organization offers a spectrum of programs that help…
VIENNA, AUSTRIA – World poverty. It’s bad. We all know that. But how bad is it, really? Is it as pervasive as we imagine? Or is it worse? And how are we doing to achieve the Number 1 Sustainable Development Goal of the United Nations to eradicate world poverty by 2030? Extreme poverty is defined…
https://gospelforasia.net/empowering-girls/Noel Yeatts, President of World Help, discusses the plight of many girls like Mia, in the grip of extreme poverty, live a life of abuse, prostitution, hopelessness, and the story of escaping the sex trade, freedom: the power to choose a different life. Here in the United States, if you saw furniture sitting beside the…
STONEY CREEK, ON – Gospel for Asia Canada (GFA World) says that community events are an important part of our lives. They play a vital role in allowing us to serve our neighbors and build relationships within Stoney Creek and the surrounding area. The autumn season is especially filled with opportunities to serve, both on…
COON RAPIDS, MN – When I saw a headline in The Christian Post that 5,000 people from a church in New Jersey would spend December 6 & 7 packing one million meals for an annual Christmas Outreach, I had to reread it. As I was doing my usual fact-checking, I noticed that The Parsippany Patch…
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Partners Worldwide is filling a much-needed niche for Christian faith-based organizations. Their ministry is being a catalyst to help evangelical partners around the world to develop and sustain poverty alleviation efforts. Team members agree that “work and worship shouldn’t be divided.” The Lord gave us the privilege of bearing His image,…
HOFFMAN ESTATES, IL – Dr. Kevin Dyer established Missionary Enterprises in 1968 following several visits to Eastern Europe, observing many people in extreme poverty. He was particularly burdened for the people of Romania. He wanted to do something to help. Dyer realized that the local evangelical churches in those countries could be an effective network…
Noel Yeatts, President of World Help, is an active advocate for social justice and humanitarian needs around the world, discusses the women trapped in the sex industry by poverty and lack of education, and our need and responsibility to speak and act to give them a chance at freedom. For many of us, the holidays…
Yael Eckstein, president of the International Fellowship of Christian and Jews, shares her thoughts on the close of 2019 as Christmas and Hanukkah coincide, the accomplishments made, all that still needs to be done, and the need to bring more of God’s light to so many who struggle in the darkness. Friends, it is the…
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Two young men, life-long friends from Cape Coral Christian School in southwest Florida, took a trip to Haiti with Mission of Hope in 2013. The squalor they witnessed in sprawling tent cities far exceeded their worst expectations. Brett Hagler described it as “crazy.” He and Mike Arietta knew something had to…
WILLS POINT, TX — Millions of “unwanted” children in Asia crave “the gift of love and hope” this Christmas, missions agency Gospel for Asia (GFA) said today — as the Texas-based organization launched a Christmas season campaign to help what it calls “the forgotten ones.” Asia’s ‘unwanted children’ crave ‘Hope More than Anything Else’ at…
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) issues an extensive Special Report on extreme poverty worldwide, how alleviation and eliminating it is possible, but it is not inevitable. If the modern world is truly a “global village,” that means everyone on earth is our neighbor—and Jesus was very clear about how we are to…
COLLINGWOOD, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA – Anglican Overseas Aid is an Australian-based FBO committed to creating partnerships with like-minded organizations to alleviate poverty, injustices, and provide disaster recovery services. According to their website, their work “is inspired by the Gospel of Christ, with a vision for a peaceful, just, and sustainable world.” The Reverend Dr. Bob Mitchell…
NORTH FT MYERS, FL – “The world produces enough food to feed every person on the planet. World agriculture produces 17 percent more calories per person today than it did 30 years ago, despite a 70 percent population increase. This is enough to provide everyone in the world with at least 2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per…
Gospel for Asia’s ‘Forgotten Christmas’ Says ‘Put Compassion Ahead of Commercialism.’ WILLS POINT, TX — Faith-based missions agency Gospel for Asia (GFA) is challenging people to reject the commercialization of Christmas and instead remember Christ and His heart for Asia’s 300 million “forgotten” outcasts this festive holiday season. Last year, Americans spent an estimated $720 billion…
PORTSMOUTH, VA – Natural disasters like floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes can leave families as deprived of food and shelter as people displaced from war zones or subject to abject poverty. Having a pantry and a refrigerator full of food before a disaster strikes are useless after it has passed.Gary LeBlanc had already spent 35 years…
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA – TeachBeyond is all about transformation. In the early years following World War 2, Youth for Christ invited the Janz Brother Quartet to travel from their homes in Manitoba to participate in crusades in Germany. Those crusades envisioned sharing the hope found in Jesus Christ to transform a languishing, war-weary nation. In 1954,…
NEW YORK – On my first trip to a big city (several decades ago), I saw a sign in the front window of a home. The sign had two lines of large print. The first line said, “Rooms.” The second said, “to let.” In the naivety of my youth, I thought someone had either forgotten…
DELHI – The Indian government Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs issued a press release on October 23 that could change the lives of four million Delhi residents for the better. The Union Cabinet has approved regulations to guide the process “for conferring/ recognizing ownership or mortgage transfer rights to residents of Unauthorized Colonies (UC)…
WILLS POINT, TX — Faith-based mission agency Gospel for Asia (GFA) – on the frontlines in the fight against poverty–has released a new report declaring extreme poverty “public enemy number one,” and challenging people everywhere to help eradicate it. The release of the report – titled Poverty: Public Enemy #1: Eliminating Extreme Poverty Worldwide is…
WILLS POINT, TX – Earlier this month, Gospel for Asia released a special report entitled “Poverty: Public Enemy #1.” Author Palmer Holt of InChrist Communications shared the almost incomprehensible fact that some 736 million people worldwide earn less than $1.90 a day, less than many of us spend for our favorite morning latte. The Tip…
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) issues an extensive Special Report on the deadly diseases brought by the mosquito and the storied impact of faith-based organizations on world health, fighting for the Kingdom to “come on earth as it is in heaven.” It takes only one mosquito, buzzing around with ill intent, dive-bombing…
BAYANA, Philippines – Hunger and lack of education appear on nearly every list of obstacles faced by the poor, disenfranchised, displaced, and underserved. It doesn’t matter where they live, hunger and lack of education are as common as the lack of clean water, sanitation. An increasing abundance of plastic waste pollution is also on many,…
NEW YORK – As we head into the fourth and final quarter of 2019 and begin the third decade of the 21st century, it seems like a good time to review the progress of South Asian countries toward reaching the United Nations’ sustainable development goals for 2030. This information originally appeared in the “United Nations’…
SOUTH ASIA – Gospel for Asia (GFA) – More than 820 million people around the globe suffer from chronic hunger and malnutrition. Forty-five countries have “serious levels of hunger.” Hunger is the number one health risk in the world. Hunger is the root cause of “a staggering 3.5 million deaths” every year. Every 10 seconds,…
MUMBAI – A strange thing has been happening with the slums in South Asia. NGOs like Gospel for Asia (GFA) have been working amongst the millions of people living in extreme poverty and struggling for survival in the slums of South Asia’s major cities. Suddenly, these slums have become a remarkable tourist attraction. In fact,…
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Integral Components of GFA’s Observance of World Health Day Include Treatment and Education. WILLS POINT, TX — Each year since 1950, April 7 has been set aside for the observance of World Health Day. The special day was introduced to commemorate the first World Health Assembly sponsored by the World Health Organization. The purpose of…
More than 3 million men, women and children in India’s capital city are homeless. They choose to sleep on the streets regardless of the weather. As I write, it is 3:45 a.m. in Delhi and the temperature is 43° F. Delhi offers shelters of various types for its homeless population. Some shelters are available in…
Poverty. You know it when you see it – but, can you define it? A World Perspective Dictionary.com defines poverty as “the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; the condition of being poor.” It defines “poor” as “having little or no money, goods, or other means of…
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JHARKHAND – An Anganwadi[1] worker in Jharkhand recently praised a team from World Vision for its work with Jharkhand health officials to help reduce acute malnutrition in the state. Although the State of Jharkhand contains about 40% of India’s entire mineral reserves, nearly 80% of the people who live there are farmers. It is India’s…
Gospel for Asia Believes Alleviating Poverty Starts at School Wills Point, TX — As the world “goes blue” to mark World Children’s Day (Nov. 20) Gospel for Asia (GFA) is bringing attention to another color in its efforts to improve the lives of children at risk—the red line of poverty. The organization spotlights the desperate…
The 410 Bridge is in Alpharetta, Georgia, a few miles north of Atlanta. However, if you were to look at a map of the area, you might be surprised to find that you can’t find a highway number 410. No highway, no bridge, right? Wrong. There is a 410 Bridge. Not a physical bridge leading…
LONDON – The independent think tank, Overseas Development Institute (ODI) has released a shocking report that indicates that 25% of the world population – 40% of all urban dwellers – will live in slums by 2030. This is only one of the failures to achieve adequate progress on the UN’s list of 17 Sustainable Development…
KIEV – Ukraine (fka “the Ukraine) presents many conundrums. Because of the Russian annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, many measurements and statistics must be listed and compared as “including Crimea” or “not including Crimea” – an issue that remains a point of contention for Ukraine. Although Ukraine is the largest nation located entirely…
KERALA – Merku Thodarchi Malai is a made-in-India Tamil language film that chronicles the daily lives and the continuing plight of tea estate workers in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The English title of the film is The Western Ghats. The Western Ghats is 62,000 square miles of the mountain range that runs parallel to the…
PHOENIX – Gary Edmonds, President of Food for the Hungry (FH) has responded to a recent study sponsored by Grey Matter Research and Opinions4Good (Op4G). The Donor Mindset Study provided many interesting insights, one of which is that 54% of child sponsorship donors think it is “mostly a gimmick to get donations” and that donations…
UNANDERRA, NSW, Australia – Dr. Jerome Teelucksingh, who initiated International Men’s Day on 19 November 1999, recently called upon NGOs and national government leaders to celebrate an International Boys Day. May 16, 2018 will mark the first annual International Boys Day. While there is a tendency to emphasize the plight of girls and young women,…
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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The U.S. Dry Cleaning Corp., doing business as Tuchman Cleaners, an Indiana dry cleaner chain and World Help, an international humanitarian organization, have formed an unexpected partnership to fight global poverty. Tuchman Cleaners, who has 24 stores in Indianapolis, has joined forces with humanitarian aid group World Help to help develop impoverished…
Nearly 80 million people in the U.S. workforce are paid on an hourly basis. About 700,000 who are currently paid the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour will be getting an increase as 18 states raise their minimum wage effective January 1, 2018. Minimum Wage Increase The federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25 since…
Photo by Andrew Dunn When Brexit happens, about 30% of children will be living in poverty, because of welfare cuts. Per CNN, “The number of children living in poverty in the U.K. will spike to around 30% over the next five years because of government welfare cuts, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.” This…
