It takes more than words to make a difference in the lives of the 840 million people who go to bed hungry each night. It takes action, it takes protest. And that is just what the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), a humanitarian organization,
It takes more than words to make a difference in the lives of the 840 million people who go to bed hungry each night. It takes action, it takes protest. And that is just what the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), a humanitarian organization, is doing with its new poverty-fighting initiative. “Protesting Global Poverty” is the theme of their exhibit at the Adventist Church’s 58th General Conference Session in St Louis, Missouri.
The impressive exhibit presentation, prompted by the tsunami that devastated large parts of South Asia and Africa in December, includes a series of graphic and moving placards telling of the millions suffering from hunger, the million people who died of hunger-related diseases last year; the 2.8 billion people (about half the world’s population) who live on less than U.S. $2 a day; and the one out of every six children born to an uneducated woman who dies before the age of five.
Tereza Byrne, the organization’s marketing and development chief, says “There was something very different about the tsunami. The entire world wanted to do something and the generosity of ADRA donors supported our involvement with emergency management.”
“But,” Byrne continues “whilst giving money is important, what’s really important is to make a lasting impression on the heart. And that’s what this exhibit will do.”
The agency has a strong track record of providing community development and relief wherever it is needed, helping in Iraq, Sudan, North Korea and Afghanistan, including the hot spots of the world.
“Church members are keen to know who gets the help and what type of help they receive,” adds Byrne.
The ‘Protesting global poverty’ display invites delegates and visitors to America’s Center to select which of ADRA’s poverty-fighting projects should receive funding.
A handbook of community development projects, entitled “The Really Useful Gift Catalogue,” includes training women in small business skills in Papua New Guinea, providing care to infants orphaned by AIDS in Siberia and paying school fees for a child in a developing country.
While fundraising and provision of aid continues, the launch of the poverty protest coincides with the Live 8 concerts to take place around the world this weekend demonstrating solidarity with the world’s poor and inspired by popular musicians Bob Geldof and Bono.
The protest brings a new dimension to ADRA’s work. The agency operates around the world without regard to political and religious affiliation, and that helps when it is required to open doors into closed societies. The new poverty-fighting initiative, therefore, focuses on persuasion as much as protest. “We are protesting to anyone who will listen,” admits Byrne.
The protest is not with the church. “The Adventist Church lends great support to all we do,” she points out. ADRA’s intention is to influence anyone who is able, to impact poverty, whether inside or outside the Adventist Church.
Byrne suggests the thousands attending the church’s quinquennial event over the next two weeks will leave the America’s Center with a better understanding of the aims and work of ADRA and, hopefully, accept that helping the world’s poor and disadvantaged is both an individual and a corporate responsibility.