Wealth and Poverty Revision Aim: to revise for your exam next Tuesday (14 th June)

Marking a past answer: Mark the paper you have been given- write how many marks you think the student got by the side of the answer. Note any comments that you have about the answers. For the part E question, mark up the following: Different points of view Her own point of view Evidence Examples Any inaccurate/unclear information

This is a very famous photo A starving little girl, trying to make her way to an emergency feeding station, collapses. Photographer Kevin Carter, waiting for his military transport plane to take him away from this awful place, hears “the sound of soft, high-pitched whimpering” as he is taking a look around. He discovers the source of the noises when he happens upon this scene, right as a vulture lands and waits for the inevitable. Kevin takes this photograph that brings the suffering in the (formerly unheard of) “Sudan” to the world’s attention, and wins him the Pulitzer Prize for photography in 1994.

Causes of Poverty There are many different reasons why people in developing countries are poor. Most of these combine to increase poverty in a vicious circle. For example, lack of sanitation leads to the spread of disease which makes people too ill to work, increasing unemployment etc. There are other factors which many see as major contributors. For example, Zambia, a country decimated by AIDS, pays off millions every year in foreign debt. In Zambia, between 1990 and 1993, debt repayments cost 34 times as much as the country was able to spend on primary school education – education spending fell by more than 80%.

FOOD: Is essential for life. Without it, the body will die. If you have no food, or don’t have a balanced diet, you will suffer from malnutrition. No food= no energy=cannot work=no money

WATER: This keeps the body alive. Dirty water can cause hundreds of diseases. Water shortages in the village of Thirunindavur, south India, mean that many women and children spend a long time walking, often long distances, to public taps

HEALTH: It is better to prevent disease than to cure it. There is a shortage of trained staff and an even bigger shortage of medicines in poorer countries.

EDUCATION: Most countries agree that a basic education should be free and available to all children. The question is: who pays for all this? Poor countries do not even have enough money to pay for food. An education=skilled job=more money & better life.

WORK: In most poorer countries, if you don’t work, you don’t eat: its as simple as that. There are no benefits system to take care of you if you are out of work. In India, sixty per cent of the population make their living from farming. In this photo, workers weed rice crops in the paddy field

It is a well known fact that the resources in the world are not shared equally. In many areas the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer.

Interestingly, based upon the wealth the world can clearly be divided into two parts The richest countries are north of the equator, and the poorest south of the equator (apart from Australia and New Zealand). This is known as the North/South divide.

80 per cent of the world population have 20 per cent of the resources, and therefore 20 per cent of the worlds population have 80 per cent of the resources. How is that fair?

Do not steal. Do not kill.

A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children.

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.

“At the end of every seven years…… every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbour…”

The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

If one of your countrymen becomes poor and cannot support himself, you must provide for him, so that he can continue to live among you. You must not sell him food for a profit

They sell into slavery honest men who cannot pay their debts……..they trample the poor, weak and helpless, and push the sick out of the way.

You can’t serve both God and money

OK, So what do Christians DO about it… Again, Quite a lot actually… Christian organisations like Christian Aid, CAFOD and TEAR FUND work to raise awareness about the causes of poverty.

JUBILEE 2000 Jubilee 2000 was based on the Biblical concept of debt cancellation. It was recognised that a person could become so indebted that they are unable to pay off the debt. In most developed countries you can declare bankruptcy if you cannot pay off your debts. However, for the poorer countries of the world, debt was simply getting bigger and bigger. At one point, the poorest countries of the world had more than repaid their debts, but the interest meant they still owed hundreds of millions of pounds. The Jubilee campaign asked wealthy governments to cancel the debt of the poorest countries. Although some debt has been cancelled, the campaign continues.

They also get involved in Trade Justice… £500 billon is effectively stolen from poorer countries every year through unfair trade CAFOD, Christian Aid and TearFund are all members of the Trade Justice Movement, and run, and run their own campaigns to try to make international trade fairer. “Our vision is trade that is in the interests of the many, not the few”

Other Christians might: TITHE- give a percentage of their income to charity Buy Fair Trade goods Give money to specific disaster relief projects Make others aware of the issues