Do Organizations Know How to Break the Cycle of Poverty?
For decades, various organizations worldwide have been studying how to break the cycle of poverty. As a result, they have been able to name some of the top poverty-ending methods. Before learning how these can be developed and deployed, however, we must first understand one of the biggest barriers to overcoming poverty: a dependable source of income.1
Rural and vulnerable families in places like South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa very much want to provide food, shelter and water for their families. They have to meet these basic needs before they can even consider regular schooling for their children or building an income stream that will grow with time. Often, parents and older siblings will take on whatever jobs they can find and still not be able to meet the family’s needs.
Children are sometimes sent to factories or farms, anywhere someone might pay them something, anything, to supplement the family’s income. If children are forced to work from an early age, they will commonly not go to school or obtain an education, and their cycle of poverty continues.
Adults who never had the opportunity to gain an education or who had to quit school at an early age often lack the skills and capital to begin a business that can support a family. They are left to work whatever menial jobs they can obtain without a way of bettering themselves or their situation.
GFA World can help a family gain and sustain a dependable source of income through its livestock, fishing and sewing programs. While some entities may charge for the classes and materials to learn how to sew, GFA World provides them for free. This opportunity is life-changing for women struggling to feed their families. For each woman who completes the program, her new skills as a seamstress and a new sewing machine are the beginning of stability for her and her family.
Likewise, the gift of a farm animal, like those provided through the GFA World Christmas Catalog, can be the start of a business for someone who depends on various, unreliable day labor jobs that don’t provide dependable income. Two piglets can become a pig farm. Chickens lay eggs that lead to more chickens and eggs.
When you give to one of GFA World’s income-generating programs for impoverished families, you place tools directly into the hands of those who need it most. GFA missionaries live and work alongside the very people who are most in need. This allows them to see what items will be most beneficial for those families and communities. They bring these practical gifts that demonstrate Christ’s love along with His Good News.
Donate today to provide a future and a hope to a family who wants to do more than merely survive.
1 “Strong Markets and Strong Societies Go Hand In Hand.” United Nations Global Compact. https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/our-work/social/poverty. Accessed February 2, 2022.