The Poor Will Be Glad

i just started reading the poor will be glad last night.  written by peter greer--president of HOPE international. i enjoy books written about poverty and international development- i have read the opposing views of the end of poverty and the white man's burden.  both very in-depth accounts (and way too many statistics for me to keep up with...) of what works and what doesn't in poor countries.  the poor will be glad brings the "christian" spin to the table with a much simpler  way of stating solutions for effectively reducing poverty.  


a story on page fifty-five caught my attention.  greer writes about a famous christian author who went to swaziland, africa to plant a "grand theme park"-- i was originally  picturing swazidisney but quickly the book informed me that this "theme park" would include a golf course, cannery, chicken farms, schools, churches etc.--the goal of this "theme park" was to appease western tourists and house ten thousand AIDS orphans.  the author  creating this park was advised by the u.s. ambassador that his plan was not the best solution to the swazi challenges due to the swazi culture--but he went ahead and gave the swazi king five days to approve his plan to give his organization a ninety-nine year lease on game parks which would in-turn force out local groups that worked on the prime game parks for years.  long story short-swazi press heard what was happening and turned local swazi's against the agenda.  after not receiving the swazi king's approval-- the author returned to the united states with word that "swazi traditions had failed to adequately provide for the multitudes of poor AIDS orphans, and that drastic new measures and bold dreams were required." greer points out  importance of engaging local leaders and listening to their ideas before forging ahead with western solutions.  


this story made so much sense to me, especially after recently returning from swaziland.  what i love about sparkventures (where i interned) and children's hopechest (where i am currently working) is that both of these organizations highly value building relationships with local leaders, and local pastors--learning about the culture and the individual needs of each community to find the best solution to the problems.  i have been with both of these organizations to africa and had the chance to sit down with pastor gift and pastor walter in swaziland and pastor  mumba in zambia to get a taste of their vision and work together to accomplish sustainability for their own community.