What poverty and biking have in common...

During lent I read this well-known passage in John 12 about Mary who anointed Jesus with an expensive perfume. One of the disciples who didn’t (want to) understand what happened, talked about taking care of the poor instead of wasting money to perfume. Jesus, who knew that Mary had done this out of love defended her with the words “You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

Now, some people use these words to discourage us from working on poverty reduction. We all know that poverty is a reality in nearly every country in the world, and it is hard to change it. However, the Bible calls us through the Old and the New Testament to care for the poor, and the vulnerable in society. Both the prophet Micah and the apostle James challenge us to show our faith in our actions towards the poor. Living and working in Haiti where 55% of the population live on less than $1 US dollar per day (which is the definition of extreme poverty) gives this a complete other dimension.

Poverty reduction has been a theme for CRWRC for many years. We have learned that short-term relief doesn’t really change the situation of the poor. CRWRC has focused more on solutions that help the poor improve their situation today and tomorrow. This week I visited a program of PWOFOD, one of our partners in Haiti. Normally PWOFOD starts working in a community by training the deacons of the different protestant churches. These deacons become the base of the transformation of their community. Often churches are focused on the poor in their midst, but PWOFOD is teaching deacons to include the needs of the people outside their churches. Through literacy and micro-credit programs PWOFOD tries to help alleviate poverty.

Since three years CRWRC has been engaged in a program to help orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs). These are children, which are most often the victims of AIDS, and are taken care of by another family member. In Haiti it is not always clear if the cause is AIDS, because people don’t speak easily about this disease. I visited an old grandmother in the village of Bas-Vaudreuil, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Port-au-Prince. She is taking care of five grandchildren, including the little boy in the picture with the name of Kevens Lovens Wladimir. His father died while working in a factory in the city, and now the mother spends most of her time in the city trying to earn a living for her family. PWOFOD came along and is helping this family. The promoter negotiated that the school would allow these children to attend school without paying, while PWOFOD funded the building of a water reservoir for the school. At the same time the OVC program purchased a goat for the grandmother to increase her income. The grandmother takes care of the children and the goat. The goat has a kid now too, so together they are making progress. This is a simple way of helping families in rural communities to improve their income.

Grandmother with Kevens Lovens Wladimir and the goat with her kid.

This summer 216 people will be biking 3,750 miles (6,000 kilometers) from Seattle to Jersey City. Besides 104 American, and 111 Canadian bikers there is 1 International biker, and that is me (Ad). So what has this tour to do with a poor grandmother in Haiti? Of course, it is a physical challenge to bike through the United Stated from one ocean to the other. But this Sea-to-Sea tour is about raising awareness of poverty in this world, and to help raise funds to
support CRC projects in different countries, including Haiti.

“Funds generated through the tour will be used to support new or ongoing CRC initiatives in three areas of development (business, community and leadership)—each one ending the cycle of poverty for individuals, families and communities in places all over the world.” For those of you interested in supporting me in this big adventure, I am looking for sponsors. 100% of these funds will help CRWRC Haiti continue the work of helping Granny and Kevens, and other people in the same situation.

Looking for sponsors of the Sea-to-Sea tour….

You can find more information on the website of the tour www.seatosea.org including a picture of me and my bike on the beach in Jacmel (Haiti). If you would like to sponsor me and donate for the good cause, please click here and you will find everything necessary to become part of this adventure.

In the mean time I will continue to bike regularly on my old mountain bike. The roads here have many holes, and so this is the right bike for Haiti. I hope to get a better bike for the real tour.