By Karl westerhoff

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”John 9
Jesus is the Messiah who brings sight to the blind. His healing presence overwhelms all the terms we usually use to think about sickness: blame and sin, personal and generational. His response is simply to make the glory of God manifest in healing the blind man.

I’m so tempted to try to find a reason to blame…. I reassure myself and I excuse myself…. But Jesus shows no interest in blame, nor in finding a reason not to help. When the church has become rigid and judgmental, when churches find reasons not to help, the power and presence of Jesus breaks out through people who will be his body in this world. The religious leaders wanted to control who got healed and when. Jesus, the merciful healer, cannot be limited. His presence cannot be confined. His power and compassion testify to God’s glory.

The church has come very late to the suffering of those with AIDS. And too often it has come with only judgment. Thank God that Jesus’ mercy is upon the church as well. He heals us too, and uses us, as he’s using churches throughout the world to show his healing power to those infected and affected by HIV. It’s an incredible witness we get to make! We are forgiven, and we follow a powerful, merciful Healer.

Merciful God, may we show mercy. Forgiving God, may we forgive. Graceful God, may we show grace. We thank you for using us – even us – in your work to heal what’s broken and bind up the brokenhearted. May we be vessels that you can use.
Karl Westerhof is Consituency Relations Team Leader for CRWRC.

Just 3 Days Eating as Most of the World Does
Recently over 100 people participated in a Global Dinner Experience at Crossroads Church. Some left
with their tummies full and others left hungry (not your usual church dinner!) but all left with plenty of food for thought. They also left with a challenge; to continue their experiment in learning how most of the world lives by taking the Rice and Beans Challenge.
Some brave participants took up the challenge, eating only meager meals of basic food items such as rice, beans or plain oatmeal. Half cup measures of these basic food items per meal were recommended to give the participants a small experience of what it is like for more than half the world’s population.
The following Sunday some of us met to exchange thoughts on how we had fared. We all agreed that we really didn’t fully experience how most of the world lives - the uncertainty and insecurity of knowing whether there will be sufficient food for the next meal, since we had only to look in the pantry or refrigerator or drive to the store to see the overwhelming choice of food available to us. However, we did experience hunger, some weight loss, and a very deep gratefulness for the plenty and diversity of our food supply.
If you would like to organize a Global Dinner Experience or take the Rice and Beans Challenge please contact CEP for support materials and resources.

Globally a world record number of people stood up to declare their committment to end poverty and to support the Millennium Development Goals as a means to doing that. In Escondido we had 129 people attend the San Diego County event.
This high level of public engagement on the issue of extreme poverty reflects the same results as a recent survey by WorldPublicOpinion.org which found that 75% of Americans expressed a willingness to pay the estimated required amount (approximately $56 per year) to meet the goals of cutting world hunger and global poverty in half. There is a way (demonstrated by the Millennium Development Goals) and there is a will (demonstrated by the 116,993,629 people around the world who participated in StandUp) The time is now!
Read an op-ed by Anita Sharma here.

Join the Five Hundred For Compassion
It was with great thankfulness and anticipation that I approached the meeting with Congressman Issa in August. CEP and Jubilee members have been visiting with Congressman Issa’s aides for several years and largely due to the persistent efforts of Jubilee San Diego the Congressman arranged to meet with a small group of us to discuss his failure to support International Debt Forgiveness and to discuss his views on ways to respond to global poverty. It is with great regret that I report now on the actual reality of the meeting.
To read our letter to the Editor click here

Submitted by Su kraus

My main impression walking out of that meeting was that I had been run over by a talking steamroller. Instead of a civil exchange of views and an opportunity for constituents to express concerns and detail their priorities, the meeting became a monologue. A mere platform for the congressman to expound his views with little opportunity for discussion or dialogue. Added to that the disrepectful description of a former president as a “Shithead”, and a prejudiced and simplistic view of the causes of the troubles now facing Zimbabwe, left a bad taste.
Nonetheless, Congressman Issa has been returned to Congress by his constituents and I am still a resident in his district. So now my struggle is how to continue to advocate for those whose voices cannot be heard in an environment so hostile to compassion. I pray that I will continue to be grateful for the opportunities our nation provides for citizens to meet their representatives and that I will find ever more constituents who are willing to express their views on behalf of the poor to their representatives. I have set myself a goal of finding 500 constituents who care sufficiently to speak out for the least of those among us. 500 votes do matter to our Congressman. Will you be one of those 500. It begins with just 1! To join the Five hundred For Compassion email info@christiansendingpoverty.org

Our bothers and sisters in churches in the global south have written a powerful letter to the church in the United States. Let all have ears hear. Click here to read the letter signed by church leaders from Zambi to Australia, Rwanda to Peru.
To view a response to the letter from Micah Challenge and to sign on to support it visit here.

The following article contributed by Jubilee USA gives a clear description of why International Debt is so unjust and also such an obstacle to overcoming extreme poverty. We have urged you to write in support of debt forgiveness in the past. The following example by a Kenyan college professor shows why we must keep up the pressure for debt forgiveness.

By Dominic Odipo Op-Ed in The Standard
There are many strange and ridiculous stories that have sprouted out of Kenya’s unholy experience with its public or national debt. One of the most ridiculous of these goes all the way back to 1953 at the height of the Mau Mau rebellion for Kenya’s independence.
During that year, the colonial government borrowed, on behalf of the Kenyan people, more than Sh500 million [Blog the Debt Note: 1 Dollar = 61 Kenyan Shillings, so a little more than $8 million] to be repaid by us, with interest, in future. The money was borrowed to enable the colonial government to buy specialised military aircraft from Europe with which it would bomb the Aberdare Forest and kill or maim Mau Mau freedom fighters who were believed to be hiding there.
At Independence in December 1963, the Kenyatta-led government inherited all the loans that had been contracted by the colonial government, including this one. And so, over the years, we have been paying off — through our noses — a loan that was contracted to acquire the military capability to kill our own people!
Strange debt
There are many other strange stories about Kenya’s national debt which have unfolded over the years. If you could scrutinise the Public Debt Register at the Treasury, you would probably find that, in the mid-1980s, the government borrowed more than Sh100 million for the construction of a giant meat processing plant called Halal, which was to be built near Ngong’ Town.
The site of this giant plant is about two kilometres from the Shade Hotel on the Karen-Ngong’ road. Visit this site today and you will find that this giant meat processing plant does not exist. Yet we, the Kenyan people, are still paying through our noses every month for this meat processing plant that was never built.
The full story of Kenya and its rather dubious national debt can drive even the coolest and most collected among us up the wall. Every month, as our children die in their thousands all over the country for lack of basic medical drugs, the government is forking out Sh12 billion [Blog the Debt Note: $193.7 million] to service our so-called national debt.
For every shilling that we invest in the education sector (development expenditure), five shillings are set aside to pay off our national debt. For every shilling that we invest or spend in the health sector, seven shillings are spent to service debt. If we turn these figures around, perhaps the message gets clearer.
If we were to stop paying off Sh12 billion each month to service this debt, we would have five times as much money as we now have to invest in the education of our children.
All education in this country, from primary school to university, would be absolutely free and we would still have billions left over.
If we were to stop servicing this debt, we would have seven times as much money to spend in the health sector overnight. This means that we would be able to build a modern hospital in every constituency, fully equipped and staffed, in only three years. In other words, every shilling we pay to service this dubious national debt translates directly into the death or disability of our people. The people are being slowly hanged on the cross of this ‘national debt’.
Usury
But this debt nightmare gets even more frustrating and infuriating as one delves further into it. According to reasonably reliable estimates from the Treasury, since independence in 1963, the government has borrowed almost Sh1 trillion (Sh1,000 billion).
Over the same period, we have managed to pay off approximately Sh3.5 trillion or about three and a half times what we are supposed to have borrowed. Yet the end is still nowhere in sight.
According to the same estimates, our outstanding national debt today is just over Sh750 billion, a figure that is rising by the month due to cumulative interest charges. And then, believe it or not, we are still borrowing for, among other things, the construction of ghost factories and laboratories. We have realised that we are already deep inside this dubious debt hole, but we are still digging.
There are very few political problems facing this country that are more serious that this debt crisis. This problem seeps into every facet of our national life. Continued servicing of this dubious debt is a matter of life and death. We need to thoroughly interrogate this debt and quickly decide whether we are going to remain enslaved by this dubious debt or whether we are going to find an alternative way forward.

Washington, DC, May 14, 2008–Bread for the World president Rev. David Beckmann issued the following statement today concerning the 2008 Farm Bill that is expected to pass both houses of Congress this week and is also expected to be vetoed by President Bush:
“The 2008 Farm Bill represents half a loaf. Congress has increased funding for vital domestic nutrition programs but has failed to substantially reform the U.S. agricultural system.
“We rejoice that additional funding has been given to nutrition programs especially in light of the growing global hunger crisis that is hindering the efforts of struggling parents to feed their children. We celebrate the increases to the Food Stamp Program and funding for food banks. We are happy that the bill authorizes the Hunger Free Communities grant program, which will enable community-based organizations to work together to plan and implement local strategies to end hunger. We are also encouraged that it contains a pilot program that allows for the local purchase of food aid from sources closer to the countries in need.
“But we are missing the other half of the loaf–substantial reform of the commodity programs. Congress has failed to make our commodity programs fairer and more equitable. The bill does little to target subsidies to where they are most needed, but continues to concentrate payments to the largest and wealthiest landowners.
“This missing half has long-term and pernicious effects on global agriculture and trade. Current policies have helped stymie agricultural development in poor countries, leaving millions of people mired in poverty and helping to create the current hunger crisis worldwide. Rather than respond to the new reality of global agriculture, the 2008 Farm Bill locks the United States into another five-year protectionist system that hampers the desperate efforts of small farmers to feed their families.
“We celebrate the important and urgent increases in nutrition funding. But we deeply lament the lack of serious reform of agricultural subsidies in this bill. Many will praise the 2008 Farm Bill as ‘the best we can do.’ We think the United States can and should do better. Therefore, with a heavy heart, we have chosen a middle of the road stance as the bill moves toward final passage.
“Our stand on the 2008 Farm Bill comes from a Biblical imperative that calls for a ‘harvest of righteousness’ (James 3:18). We will keep on working to reform the farm bill until it truly serves the needs of poor farm and rural families and all people around the world who struggle to feed themselves and their children.”

As we previously reported, Jim Beezhold, a 72-year- old retired teacher, is preparing to bicycle 3,750 miles across North America next summer hoping to raise more than $1.5 million to help the world’s poor! Jim is one of 211 riders, ranging in age from 18 to 76, currently registered to participate in what is likely to be the largest group of cyclists to ever cross North America! The Sea to Sea 2008 Bike Tour begins June 28 in Seattle, Wash., and ends nine weeks later in Jersey City, NJ on August 30. For his part, Jim hopes to raise at least $10,000.
Jim has reported that he has acheived his goal of raising $10,000! That won’t stop Jim from raising more and going beyond his goal though! A fundraiser is being planned by his home church on May 31st. See our events calendar for details and watch this site for more news as Jim begins his coast to coast cycle ride raising awareness about the Millennium Development Goals and raising money for the world’s poorest.

Voices of local Congregations Ignored by Three Republican Congressmen who voted “No” Despite Bipartisan Support in Congress By Jean O’Leary

Leaders of churches, development agencies, and civil rights, labor, and human rights groups praised the passage by the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote 285-132 of the Jubilee Act (2634). The legislation calls the U.S. Treasury Department to negotiate a multilateral agreement for debt cancellation for up to 24 additional poor countries that need cancellation to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Jubilee USA Network, which includes 20 Jubilee Congregations from a variety of churches and faith communities in San Diego County, is an alliance of 80 national organizations that has been leading the advocacy for the legislation. “We commend the US Congress for its bold step in passing the Jubilee Act and listening to the people of the impoverished nations who have borne the burden of unjust debt for far too long,” said Rev. Bill Harman, a retired Encinitas pastor and member of the Board of Jubilee USA Network. “We hope that House passage will inspire the US Senate to move quickly to also pass the Jubilee Act and send it to the President for immediate action.”

Representatives Bilbray, Issa, and Hunter all received several delegations and messages of support for the Jubilee Act over the past months from local people of faith. Despite verbal and some written expressions of probable support for the act, after receiving thousands of written appeals from their constituents, they all failed to join Representatives Filner and Davis in voting “yes.”

WHY? We await replies from each of them soon. We hope their replies will reflect a reasoned response based on their faith perspectives and moral values and not on purely political considerations.

Can Representatives Issa and Hunter explain to us from their faith and moral values perspective their failure to join their fellow 69 republicans who publicly project “compassionate conservativism” and the importance of faith in the shaping of public policy as well as democrats like Representatives Davis and Filner to vote for this piece of legislation?
We await their replies.

Inspired by a meeting with Wahu Kaara.
Last month we wrote about going beyond charity and acting to see that justice is done. This requires understanding of the root causes of poverty and injustice, and then acting to address those root causes. I recently had the privilege of hearing Wahu Kaara speak. Wahu Kaara is an extremely dynamic, knowledgeable Kenyan woman. Since retiring as a teacher she has been a Kenyan presidential candidate, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, a spokesperson for Jubilee and ecumenical coordinator for the Millennium Development Goals among many other things. She speaks all around the world on global social justice issues, but more than that she “walks the talk”. This lady who is called on for her knowledge and expertise around the world chooses to live modestly with her family in her home village in a home without electricity and without running water.

I was fortunate enough to have a few minutes to speak with her and asked her what she felt Americans could best do in response to extreme poverty. Her answer was not surprising to me as it reflected the answers of most people from the global south I have met. She told me; “We do not want your charity or your sympathy. We want you to speak out for us, and with us, to learn about us and from us.” She pointed out that those in poverty in the global south have much to give us, in terms of spiritual depth and trust in God. We have much to give them because of the material and political power and stability we enjoy. In other words she would like us to enter into relationship with her and her people; a partnership of mutual respect not of donor and dependent. She emphasized that climate change was a significant root cause of poverty and had to be addressed.

Ways that we can speak out are varied but include writing and visiting our representatives in support of development aid, and in support of fulfilling our obligations to the Millennium Development Goals that address the root causes of poverty, this would include fairer trade policies (such as farm subsidies included in the farm bill,) supporting the Education for all Act and relief of crippling international debt.

We can tell our friends and acquaintances at church about the desires and goals of this humble yet very wise Kenyan lady. We are to speak out about poverty, inequality and climate change. This was perhaps the most surprising impression from her talk: climate change and poverty are inextricably linked and must be addressed as a root cause of poverty.

may we suggest you get to know someone from the global south or someone who is or has lived in poverty. Perhaps you might even be able to visit the global south and build a relationship with a community there. Not as someone going to hand out resources, and solve other people’s problems before you even get to know them, but as a friend willing to learn about them, their dreams and goals and the resources they have to work with. Then work together to reach the goals you set together.
So, wake up to poverty, speak up about poverty and join hands with those living in poverty as equal partners in the battle to overcome poverty.