Gospel for Asia

When considering the question, “How can education break the cycle of poverty?” it is important to recognize that children of poverty do not have broken brains or lower intelligence. [1] Their circumstances have often been less conducive to learning and given them fewer opportunities to receive a proper education, resulting in another round of the poverty cycle as they cannot find high-paying work with little to no schooling. Education can reverse that trend and be the way out of poverty. Divena’s parents often fought, the sound traveling well past the tarp walls of the family’s house. It fell silent when her mom left to be with another man, and three-year-old Divena and her older brother never saw their mom again. Divena’s father was a truck driver, which meant he had to leave the kids at home alone for weeks at a time, only seeing them between driving jobs. An elderly grandmother took care of them for a while, but her age and failing health soon made that impossible. While other kids...

The question, “What is the poverty cycle, or cycle of poverty?” is one that must be answered to address and end poverty across the globe. Put simply, the term refers to the trend where the vicious effects of poverty and deprivation pass from one generation to the next, with no seeming way out. [1] Someone born into poverty has fewer opportunities than their wealthier peers. They must focus on survival above all, leaving little room for anything else. One illness can wipe out a family’s savings, but the unclean water sources and lack of protection available to them invite sickness. Walking to retrieve water can be time-consuming yet must be a daily priority, and many children must work alongside their parents for the family to afford food. Thus, school is often a far-off dream. Having had few opportunities to acquire skills, the kids grow up to repeat the cycle of poverty with their own children. This story was all too familiar for Nalah. His father worked in the tea fields, trying to e...

There are many methods for how to break the cycle of poverty which one can learn about. From education assistance to income-generating gifts like sewing machines or farm animals, there is hope for families who have been poor for generations. GFA World works in communities in all these ways through sponsorships and gift distributions, and one by one, we see lives changed as families escape poverty. Raina’s life had been dominated by poverty. She was part of a highly underprivileged people group that faced discrimination and deprivation from others in the region. Despite that, Raina had been able to attend school up until tenth grade, but she discontinued her education when it became too much for her parents to afford. Rather than receiving her certificates of completion, she had to join her parents in the field to earn money to put food on the table. After she married Ander, Raina continued to work in the fields to supplement his income with her own. In search of better job opportunitie...

Answering the question, “What is the cycle of poverty?” may seem simple enough; the concept is somewhat intuitive and can be understood with relative ease. Breaking the cycle is another matter entirely. Millions of people around the world labor without hope, despairing that any change will ever come to their lives. Globally, about 10 percent of the population—over 700 million people—fall below the international poverty line of living on $2.15 a day. While this number had been decreasing, the recent global pandemic has slowed progress. Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa have both suffered immensely from this setback, and poverty’s grip has tightened in those areas. [1] This information is regularly discussed, but what is the poverty cycle ? The poverty cycle, or cycle of poverty, is a term used to describe the fact that poor families tend to stay poor for generations. If a child’s grandparents were poor and their parents are poor, the odds are strong that they will be poor as well. [2...

When considering the question, “How can education break the cycle of poverty?” it is important to recognize that children of poverty do not have broken brains or lower intelligence. [1] Their circumstances have often been less conducive to learning and given them fewer opportunities to receive a proper education, resulting in another round of the poverty cycle as they cannot find high-paying work with little to no schooling. Education can reverse that trend and be the way out of poverty. Divena’s parents often fought, the sound traveling well past the tarp walls of the family’s house. It fell silent when her mom left to be with another man, and three-year-old Divena and her older brother never saw their mom again. Divena’s father was a truck driver, which meant he had to leave the kids at home alone for weeks at a time, only seeing them between driving jobs. An elderly grandmother took care of them for a while, but her age and failing health soon made that impossible. While other kids...

The question, “What is the poverty cycle, or cycle of poverty?” is one that must be answered to address and end poverty across the globe. Put simply, the term refers to the trend where the vicious effects of poverty and deprivation pass from one generation to the next, with no seeming way out. [1] Someone born into poverty has fewer opportunities than their wealthier peers. They must focus on survival above all, leaving little room for anything else. One illness can wipe out a family’s savings, but the unclean water sources and lack of protection available to them invite sickness. Walking to retrieve water can be time-consuming yet must be a daily priority, and many children must work alongside their parents for the family to afford food. Thus, school is often a far-off dream. Having had few opportunities to acquire skills, the kids grow up to repeat the cycle of poverty with their own children. This story was all too familiar for Nalah. His father worked in the tea fields, trying to e...

There are many methods for how to break the cycle of poverty which one can learn about. From education assistance to income-generating gifts like sewing machines or farm animals, there is hope for families who have been poor for generations. GFA World works in communities in all these ways through sponsorships and gift distributions, and one by one, we see lives changed as families escape poverty. Raina’s life had been dominated by poverty. She was part of a highly underprivileged people group that faced discrimination and deprivation from others in the region. Despite that, Raina had been able to attend school up until tenth grade, but she discontinued her education when it became too much for her parents to afford. Rather than receiving her certificates of completion, she had to join her parents in the field to earn money to put food on the table. After she married Ander, Raina continued to work in the fields to supplement his income with her own. In search of better job opportunitie...

Answering the question, “What is the cycle of poverty?” may seem simple enough; the concept is somewhat intuitive and can be understood with relative ease. Breaking the cycle is another matter entirely. Millions of people around the world labor without hope, despairing that any change will ever come to their lives. Globally, about 10 percent of the population—over 700 million people—fall below the international poverty line of living on $2.15 a day. While this number had been decreasing, the recent global pandemic has slowed progress. Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa have both suffered immensely from this setback, and poverty’s grip has tightened in those areas. [1] This information is regularly discussed, but what is the poverty cycle ? The poverty cycle, or cycle of poverty, is a term used to describe the fact that poor families tend to stay poor for generations. If a child’s grandparents were poor and their parents are poor, the odds are strong that they will be poor as well. [2...

The signs of spirit of poverty are not necessarily observable just by looking at someone. This kind of mindset is usually inherited from generations of those living in poverty and affects a person’s worldview in heartbreaking ways. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, “Poverty causes stressors such as insecurity and uncertainty about food, housing, and income. Low-income communities tend to have specific characterizations such as limited resources, poor houses, high crime and violence rates, and an inadequate school system, which are all associated with poor mental health outcomes.” [1] Poor mental health touches every part of person’s life, whether physical, mental or emotional. So, imagine this being your reality day in, day out, for generations. According to an article in Psychiatric Times, “Poverty is one of the most significant social determinants of health and mental health, intersecting with all other determinants, including education, local social and...

You’ve heard it said that if you give someone a fish they will eat for a day, but if you give him a fishing pole, he will eat for a lifetime. This saying continues to be true in the world of philanthropy and humanitarian efforts. What are some solutions to poverty? Giving someone a way to provide for themselves and into the future is a proven one. As the World Bank notes, “Strategies to reach the least well-off must be tailored to each country’s context, considering the latest data and analysis, and the needs of the population. How the world responds to these major challenges today will have a direct bearing on whether the current reversals in global poverty reduction can be turned around.” [1] The United Nations has targeted poverty as its number one goal that can be globally addressed by 2030. The UN “recognizes that ending poverty in all its forms everywhere is the greatest global challenge facing the world today and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.” Part of...

Yes, breaking the spirit of poverty is possible. However, in order to change someone’s life enough to release their mind from the idea that poverty is who they are, you need to give them a reason to hope. According to one article on poverty and mindset, “A scarcity mindset is a mental shift resulting from a perception of limited resources. We have a limited amount of bandwidth in our brains, so any attention we devote to one problem cannot be used to solve another.” [1] In other words, a continual and endured stress of limited resources means someone cannot give any attention to the future or to things that are not going to contribute to immediate survival. It’s this constant, generational stress that results in what is known as a spirit of poverty. It lingers and clings to everyone in the family, and if the situation doesn’t change, then that mentality is passed on to the next generation. So, how do you give someone hope? How do you show them a way out? GFA World has been using prove...

It is easy to understand that poverty is physically defined by lack or need. Someone needs food but doesn’t have any. Someone needs medicine but cannot access it. Someone needs an education but has to work instead. These are things we intuitively understand about poverty. And yet, there is a side to poverty that is unseen, and if you have never experienced true poverty yourself, it may be hard to understand: the spirit of poverty. Breaking the spirit of poverty begins with understanding what it is and how it infects every part of a person’s life. George Orwell’s first full-length published book was about his time in Paris and London when he had next to no money and was even a tramp for a while. The first thing he observed was that “when running dangerously short on cash, without money for food or rent, … poverty completely eradicates the future. In other words, one no longer cares about their career in five years’ time, their child’s future education, or any forward-thinking notions su...

For many people, “Why is poverty reduction important?” has a simple answer: Poverty leads to suffering, and we should want to help those who are in need. Indeed, millions all over the world do not have access to necessities, like clean drinking water, and that is something that should be addressed. Women and children in developing countries must walk an average of 6 kilometers― about 3.7 miles―to retrieve water from often polluted and diseased sources. [1] They travel the distance barefoot or in sandals, and many are forced to make the trek more than once a day. Dangerous landscapes, thorny plants, wild animals or robbers could lie between them and the water. A 20-liter jug of water can weigh up to 44 pounds when full, and that is not sufficient for a family. The bare minimum water supply for one person for a day is considered 15 liters, which is why many trips back and forth are required. [2] Every day—rain or shine, hot or cold—Kylan and his wife, Esmae, needed to fetch water to dri...

The question “What is the relation between economic growth and poverty reduction?” is certainly vital in ending global poverty. Everyone agrees growth is necessary to end poverty; the real debate comes from how much poverty is reduced by improving the well-being of the impoverished versus how much it is reduced by broad-based economic growth. From data and correlations, it seems economic growth is the most important source of poverty reduction. [1] GFA World has efforts in both areas, with programs addressing overall well-being in cooperation with improving economics. Because economic growth has such a close relationship with reducing poverty, GFA has been distributing income-generating gifts and offering vocational training, which help to lift people above the poverty line. Things like farm animals and sewing machines make a world of difference for someone with nothing. Subia was a young mother in Asia. She and her husband worked as day laborers—like millions of others in Asia and Af...

Answering “what is poverty reduction?” has become more complicated over the years. What most people used to consider sufficient—passing out food, clothes and money—does not make long-term improvements. Now, the goal is sustainable programs that address multiple facets of poverty. [1] GFA World has found that an especially effective program for poverty reduction is distributing farm animals. Taden’s story illustrates how this is true. His father died when Taden was a little boy, sending his family into a financial crisis. He and his mother had to work the land they owned, leaving him no opportunity for education; the family’s survival depended on his labor. When Taden grew up, he got married and had two children. He still worked in the fields around the village, with very little to show for his back-breaking efforts. He was doing everything he could, but even working multiple jobs would not let him gain ground on his family’s poverty. Taden had to make the difficult decision to deprive...

Poverty is a complicated, multifaceted problem, so there are more than just 5 ways to reduce poverty, but GFA World has several tried-and-true methods that are breaking the cycle of poverty for families all over the world. Extreme poverty is considered to be living on less than $2.15 a day, and in 2019, over 659 million people fell under that line. [1] According to the latest update of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index, three out of five children live in extreme poverty, [2] and the negative effects of deprivation in the early years have lifelong implications, continuing the cycle. While significant advances had been made to address poverty, events in recent years have hindered and even reversed progress. The pandemic economically affected many, but Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are expected to see the largest increases in extreme poverty because of it. [3] With so many people affected by poverty, it is only natural to ask, “ What is poverty reduction , and what does i...