From Pretense to Pain
One of the world’s biggest tragedies today is the art of POVERTY PIMPING. This may not be a term that most of us are familiar with, but it is an act most of us have participated in- in one way or another. Poverty pimping is the use of the stories of the poor to grow our own capital, financial or otherwise. The tragedy in this is that the line between pimping and helping is so thin that it is hard to pick the two apart.
…Unfortunately poverty sells so even corporations and companies in the quest to hit their triple bottom lines have join in what merely used to be helping the poor. Don’t get me wrong, there are some great benefits to this, but there are certainly things we must also worry about…
Part our dream within The Chisomo Idea, is to create a safe enough environment where such things can be talked about. We hope to create space that allows people to wrestle with what it means to “suffer with those who suffer.”
Our hope is that our dialogue can help move us from building our own Kingdom to truly feel for our brothers and sisters that need us to live our most heroic lives. We hope we can raise their concerns from mere “issues” to “pains” and effectively feel with them. We hope to not only marvel in the glory of talking about poverty but also deeply feel its consequences.
…to move from pretense to pain.
Speak to you soon,
Noel
