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Three Approaches to Poverty, Part III: Seven Characteristics of a Transformational Development Approach
In the previous two posts, I surveyed two approaches to poverty: charity, and development. Now, I'll introduce a third approach. It uses the tools of both charity and development. What is distinctive about this approach is that it is a thoroughly Christian one. It's...
Three Approaches to Poverty, Part II: The Rights-Based Approach
We saw in the last post that the charity approach starts with needs. A rights-based approach, unlike a needs-based approach, sees deprivation and the inability to pursue ones’ potential not just as tragedy, but an injustice. Therefore, a development, or rights-based...
Three Approaches to Poverty, Part I: The Charity Approach
The Bible gives us many straightforward commands to care for the poor. But when we go out to put those words into action and actually tackle poverty, we run into all sorts of questions: how do we do this without doing more harm than good? What's the best way to...
Street Kids in Egypt
When Magda lost her father, she and her mother had to go and live with her uncles. At first, things went well. But after a while, Magda's uncles started feeling the financial pinch. They started pressuring Magda's mother to send Magda away to her grandmother, or for...
A Message of Hope
I was on Facebook the other day and saw this picture. The tears in this little girl’s eyes sum up the situation in Egypt for me, yet the quote struck me. There is so much suffering. Basma* is terrified to go to school even fully veiled. She has to brave intimidation...
“Cover Your Hair!”
Basma ran home to her mother crying. On her way back from school, she ran into two bearded men who shouted: “Cover your hair,” attached to other things I can’t mention here. This wasn’t the first time Basma got intimidated going to school. So, her mother tried a...
Coptic Orphans Welcomes Our New Shepherd
Coptic Orphans welcomes our new shepherd, His Holiness Pope Tawadros II. After hearing about the results of the papal election, Pope Tawadros told reporters that His Holiness "will start by organizing the house from within," according to the Associated Press. His...
Coptic Diaspora: Building Another Pyramid for Egypt
The Diaspora Engagement Alliance, a partnership between the US Department of State, USAID, and the Migration Policy Institute, recently published a post on the work of Coptic Orphans. The Great Pyramids of Giza represent the biggest cornerstone of Egyptian pride. If...
B’edaya: The Results
A big factor in Egypt’s orphan issue is that when a family loses the father, they’re sunk. Traditions do not usually give a widowed mother the opportunity to be able to earn money to support her family. In fact, widows wear black and stay at home, out of the way. Last...
Egypt’s Lost Glory
Her life was about as difficult as one can imagine. Sixteen-year-old Hala lost her father in 2008. She was living with her mother and two siblings in Helwan, (near Cairo) on a mere 170 Egyptian pounds ($28) per month from her father’s pension. Her little sister was...
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