Let's Talk Hunger Work

By Ruth Farrell, Coordinator Presbyterian Hunger Program - Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)


In hunger work, we often talk about including the voices of the hungry, the small farmers, the women, and the children in development projects. Including these voices is more than designing a successful project; we do it because it is what Jesus did. Jesus broke the cultural norms. His actions demonstrated that people who are widowed, disabled, impoverished, and children are to be treated with dignity. Being treated with dignity means being listened to by others, but Jesus even went further. In addition to treating the marginalized with dignity, he pointed out over and over that many had deep faith, an exemplary faith that the disciples (and others) should develop.

In my own experience with people living in poverty, they are used to not being listened to. In fact, many no longer speak up because experience has taught them that what they have to say does not matter. In addition to listening, we must at every step, communicate in words and actions, that they do matter—their experience, their wisdom and their feelings matter.

In Peru, the women we worked with started to believe that they mattered. After several years of running a successful knitting cooperative, you could see the change in these women. They were no longer silent, but vibrant. They were no longer passive, but tackled problems. At one of their meetings they put away their knitting needles, and talked about organizing their community to ask the city authorities for running water and a proper sewage system. When I asked what had happened in the past when folks asked, they told us that they had never asked before. A woman of the group explained, “Before (the cooperative), we were afraid if we caused trouble, the authorities would make us leave so we never wanted to create problems. We tried to be invisible.” No one was invisible to Jesus, especially those whom society tried to make invisible. These women had learned far more than how to run a knitting business. They knew they mattered and were now giving that voice.



For more about this Presbyterian Hunger Program Post article click here: PHP Post

For information about the Presbyterian Hunger Program click here: Presbyterian Hunger Program.