Solidarity Will Transform the World
By Jeffery Odel Korgen
I read this
book as part of a curriculum of ‘JustFath,’ a program intended to help one
raise themselves to a compassionate awareness for those whose lives are played
out on the fringes of society. With this
awareness one may be moved to action. After
reading a couple of preceding ‘Just Faith’ books on the subject a reader would
be hungry to appreciate where this action would come from and to learn how it
manifests itself into success stories.
In the end the ultimate goal in the stories of this book finds a common
thread; the aim of that action. That aim
is directly set towards bringing dignity and social justice to all those in the
fringe of society.
This dignity
is not brought out through government sponsored entitlement programs. In fact these programs don’t even take place
in America, though there are indeed American versions. These stories take place on a world stage,
India, Rwanda, Nicaragua, Zambia, Mexico; holding a broader view, beyond
American life. Yet the solutions are
brought in part by Americans through the programs of Catholic Relief Services. While the CRS is funded by the Catholic
Church, the actors are not necessarily all Catholic. They don’t have to be this book is higher
than Catholicism, it is about the restoration of the “Oneness” of mankind;
story by story.
The stories
told don’t fit the paradigm of the
average American that has been programmed by public education and steeped in
American television ‘sit-com’ that portray the ‘American Family’ in the American
situation that is white washed of human
suffering. After all who wants to be
entertained by episodes of suffering? Is
that even possible? The suffering is not what one sees on those commercials of
flies on the swollen bellies of starving children in commercials during those ‘sit-coms’. They are stories first about people trying to
carve out a living amidst challenges of a society looking to systematically oppress
and abscond their own selfish riches off the backs of another man. Second and
here’s the lesson learned; where people join hands and inch by inch, dollar by
dollar, cup of coffee by cup of coffee climb out of a life of social injustice
to a life full of dignity and peace.
Below are
excerpts. If you don’t read the book
read the following Ten whole pages.
1. In his encyclical “On Social Concern
(Sollicitudo Rei Socials) in 1987 . John Paul II defined the content of
solidarity as “a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the
common good; that is to say to the good of all and of each individual, because
we are all really responsible for all.”
The pope was convinced that this principle of moral responsibility
should be con used within societies and across societies and cultures in
international relations.
2. Page 4: Even the poorest people have something to
offer, and with Catholic Relief Service
(CRS) programs, solutions to global poverty emerge in partnership with
low-income beneficeries. This approach
respects the dignity of the poor people and foster creative responses to
overcoming poverty.
How we work with people living in poverty also reflects our
belief in human dignity. If we truly
believe in the sacredness of human life and the dignity of the human person, we
must continually ask if we foster development or dependency through our
ministries. Do we act with the
understanding that people living in poverty have resources, or do we view them
like a child in the public service announcement, who could not even stand
without spoon feeding milk to his mouth?
3. Page 5: Paul stated that defeating
poverty and growing in knowledge were the first steps of human development, but
also held out expression of culture, …a growing awareness of other people’s
dignity, a taste for the spirit of poverty, an active interest in the common
good, and desire for peace as an ends for which we should strive.
4. Page 7: We cannot realize our full potential or
appreciate our full meaning of our dignity unless we share our lives with
others and cooperate on projects that hold the promise of mutual benefit.
5. Page 8: These stories of hope and human development
projects they represent defy crass political categorizations as “liberal” or
“conservative.” Insisting that the
pooest women in India grow savings accounts before receiving a single rypee of
microfinance loans is not a conservative ideological tenant; it is simply the
most effective method to help these women become self-sufficient. Calling on the U.S. government to fund
anti-retroviral for the poor of Zambia who suffer from HIV/AIDS is nor part of
a liberal political program, it is a principal source of healing “Lazarus
Effect” that CRS fosters in sub Saharan Africa.
For me, this was one of the great lessons of this year-long immersion in
global poverty; CRS’s stories of hope reveal that both liberals and
conservatives have something to contribute to human development, and the end
product transcends ideology.
6. Page 12: CRS-Mexico manager Erica Dahl Bredine has
characterized the migration relationship between the U.S. and Mexico as “one
that forces people to run through a human obstacle course to get here, and if
they make it through alive, CRS Mexico build hope to developing the human and
financial resources of Mexicans, creating alternatives within Mexico that give
them the option to stay in their country.
7. Page 13: Engracia is a seamstress, ad also the
president of one of the first micro finance groups formed in Nogales, the Bank
of the United. “Microfinance” refers to
small-scale savings and loan products that provide an alternative to the loan
sharks and coyotes that prevail in Mexico.
8. Page 15: There she might employ another seamstress or
two, multiplying the hopw that the Bank of the United has given her by
providing living wage jobs for others.
9. Page 16: Norma views the banks as an important tool
for the empowerment of women.
1 Page 17: They also assess what size loans clients may borrow
and repay based on their current business activity and their capacity to
expand. Current or previous experience
running a business – even selling eggs out of a basket – is vital. The animators obtain references from
neighbors and factor in variables like how long potential clients have lived in
Nogales.
11. Page 17: The first loans are funded by Bancomun. Each member of the bank guarantees the
repayment of the other members’ loans which average $200 to $300, repaid over a
four month period. If someone misses
payment, all are responsible for making up the difference. At the end of the cycle, everyone gets new
loans, but only if all of the previous cycles’s loans have been paid. A combination of positive peer pressure and
careful selection of bank members has resulted in a repayment rate of 95
percent
1 Page 17: CRS intends to introduce “solidarity groups”
of five to seven women with established businesses who would graduate to larger
loans. The bank animators have learned
that as the original businesses funded by banks grow, they require larger loans
to sustain development.
1 Page 18: Biweekly bank meetings provide opportunities
to collect loan payments and savings deposits.
They also include time for group building exercises and discussions
about community issues, over coffee and cookies. Through this process, the material and human
resources of these women grow, but peace rebuilding has also figured into the
experience.
1 Page 20: Molina’s story widens the scope of human
development: her financial resources have grown; her business skills have
expanded; and new her mental health has improved – dramatically.
1 Page 20: But the result of this project indicate that
many Mexicans at the border are looking for reasons to stay. If they can live in what they consider to be
acceptable living conditions wit family and friends, the push and pull factors
(of illegal immigration) lose some of their power.
1 Page 23: The adult children have built a life together
in Wyoming and send a total of $500 a month to help support the family in
Mexico, Remittances like these are the number two source of cash in the Mexican
economy, after the sale of oil.
1 Page 26: Immigration is a phenomenon that obeys
economic laws. Migration will be the
fate of the Molinars and other family farmers if viable alternatives are not
sustained in Mexico, CRS cannot change economic laws, but it can help small
family farmers, like the Molinars develop the agricultural skill, market penetration, and access to
credit they need to compete in the global marketplace.
1 Page 34: The
Line in the Sand and the other three CRS-Mexico border programs stand
together as a peace building effort as much as an integral human development project. The banks and the FDC development material
assets, business acumen, and agricultural skills, addressing head-on the
desperate forces driving migration into the Unites States.
The Lazarus Effect
1 When Zambia achieved independence
from Rhodesia in 1964, it was middle –income country. Devastated by droughts and natural disaster,
fluctuating copper prices, and a disastrous experience with socialism, Zambia
descended into poverty in the 1970.ffect therefore springs from the
intersection of the medical and financial resources of the U.S. Catholic Church
and the American people (via the PEPFAR initiative) and the human resources of
the people of Zambia, though institutional partnerships and relationships with
the individual Zambians who volunteer.
2 In general, the volunteers in the
various CRS-supported programs are just as poor as the clients, which help to
build trust, minimizing the cultural learning curve for volunteers.
21 CRS has responded to food insecurity
by promoting the cultivation of drought-resistant crops and hosting “seed
fairs” throughout Zambia. In a community
seed fair, participants receive vouchers for seeds they need.
2 Page 46: She believes that her call is not only to
treat the sick, but also to challenge cultural
norms that allow men to have two or three sexual partners outside
marriage. “As women, we accept this.” She said “my own husband got AIDS and gave it
to me. He was in denial until he died.”
2 Page 48: Esther’s question brought me back to the
Lazarus Effect. Why did Christ bring
Lazarus out of the tomb? To die of
malnutrition? Malaria? To live in a society with 87 percent
unemployment? Even CRS works to save
lives, one question pushes all others out of the way: what kind of life awaits a modern Lazarus?
A New Awakening
2 Page 58: Self-help groups build both financial and
human assets, employing principles of microfinance (see chapter1) to
demonstrate the even the poorest people can save money, repay small loans, and
develop their own businesses.
25. Page 61: When you live Hihiri Pipiri, your ancestors
will come alive in your own village. So
you won’t go looking for that particular village; it will be here and now.”
Fr. Christu’s words reminded me that when I asked Sharmila
what she was most proud of, she answered:
Earlier, if there was a problem, we ran to someone with an
open hand, asking for help. Today, we do
not do that. We go directly to our group
full of confidence that we’ll get help.
Secondly, when we have a problem, we get more than material help; we get
human resources. This is what I am most
proud of Hihiri Pipiri, indeed.
2 Page 63: Freedom members are most proud of the group’s
name. Chabbi offered this explanation, “ The group has taught us to experience
freedom: freedom from superstition and
ignorance, economic freedom, physical freedom, and mental freedom.” Those freedoms have been earned through the
tight discipline of weekly savings and loan payments and the growing social
bonds within the group.
Page 64: Fr. Christu Das, director of
the Social Development Center of the Diocese of Dumka, too time to explain the
key dynamics of self help groups. His
passion for human development and love of the Santal people were on vivid
display as he talked about the balance between encouragement and challenge that
he and his staff must provide.
We want to create a way for people to take their own life
into their hands, a way for people to get their God-given dignity back.
2 Page 70: “ We experienced three kinds
of results: saving time, increasing productivity, and making our relationships
stronger. Through these activities, we
escaped the trap of money lenders.”
2 Page 71: By the time we completed our tour, my
questions about gender relations had become almost ritualistic. In every village I asks “How did your
husbands react to your participation in the group?” The response in each group was the same:
giggles.
And why not? Social
change is not easy. Women like Sharmila,
Chabbi, and Sushila, found that they were capable of so much more than they
ever imagined. They discerned “Hidden Skills.” They determined that they could raise their
families out of dollar-a-day poverty and discover a whole new set of life’s
possibilities.
3 Page 76: Most self-help group candidates who run for
office vie for a seat on the Panchayat Raj Institution (PRI). The PRI is a local governmental structure,
founded by Mahatma Gandhi, based on a Catholic social teaching concept called
subsidiarity: the principle that the smallest possible social unit should take
responsibility for social life. The PRI
ensures a local voice in determining where roads, bridges, wells, schools, and
health centers will be built. U.S.
readers might understand the PRI as analogous to a U.S. city council, which
determines how federal block grants are spent.
31 Page 81: For
Reflection: The development we speak
of here cannot be restricted to economic growth alone. To be authentic, it must be well
rounded; it must foster the development
of each person and the whole person.
Forgiving the Unforgivable
3 Page 97: Hutu and Tutsi; There is one difference among
the three that meant little in this part of Africa for centuries but became a defining
characteristic under Belgian colonizers:: ethnicity.
My comment: This draws out two questions: Is our
Western Civilization philosophy that took on an Enlightenment twist, the only
way? A way that through classification
and division that was previously not required, or was it?
3 Page 104: What makes forgiveness difficult, she
explained is when part or all the truth is withheld. She, like many Rwandans, is still waiting for
her neighbors to volunteer the truth.
3 Page 117: Drocella forgave Philippe and invited his wife
over for a long conversation. Afterward,
she returned two water jugs she had taken from their house while they were in exile. The two families shared their
story of reconciliation at church, to inspire others to tell the truth and
forgive. Philippe helped with occasional
handyman work around her house for a while
But when the Gacaca courts began operation in 2004, a change
came over Philippe. He ‘got tired’ and no
longer came over to work on the house.
He told his official confession, but omitted the names of his
accomplices. He even said in court, “You
say you forgave me. Forgiveness is not
from you; it is from God and from [President] Kagame.’
Dorcella was crushed.
She thought, “I forgave, but I am still alone. I will shudder all my life because I lose my
children. What’s going to happen to me?” He roof leaked, and with every drip of water reinforced
her sense of isolation
One of the parish justice and peace commissioners saw the
condition of Dorcella’s home and offered help.
Commission members reconstructed her house, and the archdiocese contributed
toe cost of the roof. This response
surpassed all of Drocella’s expectations and shored up her own healing. Life after genocide remains a challenge for
her, but she is not facing it alone.
My comment: Forgiveness was under way until the Rwandan courts stepped
in, under the eye of western civilization, to prosecute. This broke down the cycle of forgiveness-redemption
and brought these people back to a material world. The Catholic Church eased the tension with
material relief; but where the atrocity of genocide was on the forgiveness path
it was derailed, by a ‘well intended’ government institution.
The Solidarity Economy
3 Page 132: Since 2003, Catholic Relief Service [CRS] has
supported CEOCAFAN with low-interesyt harvest loans and coffee purchases for
the initial shipments of CRS-brand Fair Trade Coffee, while (CEOCOSMEAC awaited
certification). In turn CEOCAFAN has
helped CEOCOSMEAC farmers with technical assistance as well as dry-milling
services. CEOCAFAN farmers in the village
of Los Pinos showed our group what the future of the solidarity economy might hold for CEOCOSMEAC
farmers
3 Page 132: Alfredo Rayo and Maria Elsa
Granados live in a spall concrete home like Jose’s in the town of Los
Pinos. Alfredo and Maria have lived in
two-dollar-a-day poverty for most of their lives, but solidarity economy has
begun to change that. They still live
simply, but now with more dignity. They
never go hungry. The have divided their
two-room house into four rooms. Each of their four children has a university
education; two of their daughters hold degrees in computer engineering. Their youngest son now attends college on a CEOCAFAN
scholarship working as a tour guide in his spare time.
3 Page 134: Every cup has a story; this cup contain a village’s dream of decent
health care for all of its residents.
3 Page 137: CRS promotes the quality control efforts of
Nicaraguans like Raul but also brings in the resources of other U.S. Catholic
organizations, Professor Sue Jackels of Seattle University, a Jesuit
institution, is a chemist who answered a specific call to solidarity. Sue had attended meetings of a worldwide
association of chemists from Jesuit universities (ISJACHEM) for several
years. In 2001, a college from the University of Central America (UCA)-Nicaragua stood up in a plenary session and
encourages members of the organization to help lead a response to the coffee
crisis:
He said, “as chemists, there is something we can do about it’” I heard that and I thought, “Idon’t know what
it is that I can do. I just cant wrap my
brain around the idea.” But I started
reading. So the next year he got up and
said that nobody had responded. He
said, “if we don’t do something about
this, I am going to stop coming to these meeting.” Si I got up and said, “Okay, I am going to
figure out something to do. I’m going to
consider something, some way to get involved.”
So I started reading more and talking to people on campus.
3 Page 138: "CRS staff reported fears that the
fermentation process was going awry for a significant number of CECOSEMAC
farmers. “The concern was that the farmers were just letting the fruit mucilage
ferment too long, and this was degrading the coffee quality, ”she explained.
After studying the problem, Sue came to believe that an experiment measuring
the changing acidity of the mucilage might help the farmers understand what was
going wrong.
She
and her husband, Charles, a chemist at the University of Washington-Bothell,
applied for research sabbaticals to study the fermentation process in CECOSEMAC
farms. In 2004, they traveled to Nicaragua with two of Sue's students, joining
up with a University of Central America (UCA)-Nicaragua student to form a
research team. They devised and carried out an experiment in response to the
farmers' research questions, a scientific application of the preferential
option for the poor. The small coffee plots became the Jackels' laboratory; the
farmers became amateur chemists.
Sue
and her team distributed pH strips to participating farmers, who measured the
pH of three coffee samples at regular intervals during fermentation. They
halted the process by washing the beans when the pH decreased to 4.6, 4.3, and
3.9 for the three samples. Lower pH indicated higher acidity.
Anyone
who has baked a cake “until a toothpick comes out clean”will understand the
late stages of coffee fermentation. If a farmer pokes the fermenting mucilage
with a stick early in the process, the hole made by the stick fills in quickly.
If she does so when the process is completed, the hole persists, and the beans
rub against each other with more friction. If the farmer does not wash the
beans soon enough, the fermentation continues, the coffee becomes too acidic,
and taste quality is compromised (recall Raúl's acidity scale).
The
research team gathered the coffee samples and then dried and roasted the beans.
Raúl's CECOSEMAC laboratory and CECOCAFEN's quality control department then evaluated
the various samples through a formal cupping process. The results indicated a
correlation between the pH of the coffee at washing and the quality of the
roasted coffee—the longer the fermentation, the more acidic the coffee, with an
accompanying decline in taste quality. 6 Farmers then refined their practice of
the traditional fermentation process based on the results. Their test for
“doneness” remained the same—when a hole made by a stick persisted—but they
gained valuable quantitative data that encouraged them to more carefully
monitor the process and accurately" gauge its completion.
4 Page 141: The
farmers are keenly aware of the role of technology and education in
being keys to improving their process. They also have a very long-term view,
which interested me. I din’t expect this.
When you talk to them about coffee, they’re not simply asking, “How will
this help me next year?” They are
asking, “Will this help me develop a method of farming and an approach that
will have sustainability over the long run?”
…
without elements of the solidarity economy such as cooperative membership, Fair
Trade-certification, the technical assistance provided through CRS and
scientists like Sue and Charles.
41 Page 142: low-income farmers produce a “cup of
excellence.” CRS has helped to usher in
this new era of service-learning by respecting both the skills of low-income
coffee farmers and the resources university and their professors have to offer.
4 Page 146: Our bishop recognized that we live-even in
our basic rural diocese here - in something of an American cocoon. We’re not always aware of realities in other
parts of the world, especially with regard to social justice. Going into a relationship with people in
another part of the world through our faith connection, that is really
transformative.
4 Page 146: Solidarity happens when you get to know each
other, and you begin to share your faith and your relationship with each other
With
all good intension, we still had this perception that we were going to visit
poor people. But I quickly found out
that they’re just people. They were
intelligent, capable and very knowledgeable about the world. The first thing you notice about them is that
they are so full of joy.
4 Page 150: Every perspective on economic life that is
human, moral, and Christian must be shaped by three questions: What does the economy do for people? What does it do to people? And how do people participate in it?
Afterword
4 Jesus tells us by
word and example that true Christian living requires dialogue and engagement
with the culture in which we live.
Commitment to peace and social justice, exercising a preferential option
for the world’s poor, respecting the life and dignity or every human person
across the full spectrum of life, are the litmus tests of our lives as Jesus’
disciples. It is how we will be judged
on the last day. Shouldn’t we begin now
to think, speak, and act differently?
Catholic
Relief Services believes that Solidarity will transform not only the lives of
poor people overseas, but our own lives as well, we are convinced. A firm commitment to respect the sacredness
and dignity of every human being, to share the goods of the earth equitably, to
practice peace, justice, and reconciliation, and too cherish and protect the
integrity of all creation will fundamentally change the lives of everyone on
earth. God has given the human race the
ability to achieve such change. Indeed,
we are all called to be agents of that transformation, to be co –creators of
the reign of God on earth.
The
collective consciences must be raised.
Our awareness of global issues must be increased. We cannot act if we do not know what to
do. We must educate ourselves, pass on
our knowledge, and get involved.
