Could poverty be defined as “the amount brokenness of relationships”?
After communicating with many people who have no food, I have learned a lot more about what it is really like in places such as Uganda or Kenya.
I appreciate these people’s friendliness, their willingness to help me, their persistence and the smiles on their faces as they introduce me to all the members of their families.
It seems to me that the amount of money is not really an accurate measure of the amount of poverty.
People in Australia and the United States generally have more money than people in Kenya.
Looking at the quality each person’s relationships with themself, with their family, with their community, with all mankind, with all living things, with our planet and with God, how does the quality of people in Australia and the United States compare with that of those in what we regard as poor countries?
Some people often have no food for themselves and for their orphans to eat.
These people have taught me to appreciate what I have, to be more resourceful and to do more with less.
I live in Melbourne, Australia where the winter is mid year. I like warmer weather.
In Melbourne, winter is most of the year except around January and February.
I feel cold sitting in my workspace in my room for long hours, communicating with people who are experiencing their hot summer. A heater doesn’t heat the room much and it costs a lot of money to run.
These people inspired me to insulate my workspace and get myself a heater to be warm.
Now that I have made the changes to my workspace, I don’t even need a heater when the sun is shining in through my window during the day!
When the sun is not shining, I can be comfortably warm with a small heater.
I am grateful for what I have been given in exchange for the business coaching that I have given to them.
I am a business coach but instead of promoting my services to paying clients and being paid $120 per hour, I have been providing business coaching to people who often can’t afford a meal so that they and other people in their community can eventually afford to support each other and the orphans.
Many of the people in countries like Kenya are very skilful at making the best use of limited resources, and I believe that they could teach more people in my country and the United States not only to save money, but also to cause less harm to the environment and be willing to pay the people of countries like Kenya for teaching them.
I live in Melbourne, Australia.
Thank you for reading.