We Can End Extreme Poverty in this Generation. Really!

18,000 childrendie from preventable deaths every day.  More than 1.2billion people live in extreme poverty.

If thesestatistics leave you feeling powerless, you’re not alone—but you canmake a difference. I mean it! 

Yes, Jesus said,“The poor you will always have with you” (Mt. 26:11). But sadly many read thosewords and think, “No point fighting poverty, then. We won’t win.” And althoughaward-winning scientist Scott Todd of Compassion International affirms Jesus’sstatement, he says it makes for bad economic policy if we think it means “giveup.” Why? Because (A)  that wasn't Jesus's point, and (B) we’ve actually made huge strides in raising the averageincome of the poorest in the world. How? Through generosity. And we can do somuch more. Scott talks about how in his new book, Hope Rising, which hits shelves today. And in this three-part interview he shares histhoughts.

Why did you write Hope Rising and what do you hope it accomplishes?

I wrote Hope Rising as a part of my effort tokeep a promise I made to a little girl from Tanzania. I wrote Hope Rising because I couldn’t not write it. I woke up in the middle ofthe night and had to write. I had no expectations for what it would “accomplish,”but now that I’ve written it, I hope it will encourage and motivate people.

Why is this book relevant?

Because we’re makingincredible progress, and nobody knows! It is important because it reveals thatwe are ending extreme global poverty. This book will convert sophisticatedskeptics of that claim. Hope Rising iseasy to read and yet substantive, and the ideas in it can change ourfundamental approach to helping people in extreme poverty. It can shift ourmotivations from duty into opportunity, from guilt to hope. It allows thereader to discover “relevance” in terms of social impact (we all want to dogood) but it also offers relevance in terms of freedom from superficiality.

You have spent countless hours overseas. Howdo you feel this has had an impact on your view of extreme poverty?

My experience workingamong the poor over the past 10 years has profoundly shaped my view of extremepoverty. Those years have made me cry. But they’ve also made me smile. I’vebeen in mud huts, slums, barrios and hospitals. I led a medical response teamin Haiti after the earthquake. I’ve seen kids who lack hope—who have lost thesparkle in their eyes because their world is broken. I’ve wept because of whatI’ve experienced, and then gone numb… and then felt guilty for my lack of tearsonly to (thankfully) find them again. And yet, in the midst of grief, I’ve alsoseen kids sleeping under insecticide treated nets and not contracting malaria. I’ve celebrated with families when accessto clean water becomes available in their village (because as a microbiologistI know exactly how they will not be gettingsick). I’ve played with kids who are alive because of anti-retroviral drugsthat are preventing the spread of HIV in their bodies, and I’ve huggeduniversity graduates who grew up in extreme poverty but overcame the challenges.There is hope that is stronger than grief! There are solutions that are moreformidable than the challenges. We are eradicating extreme poverty.

You explain that before we can endextreme poverty, we must first “overthrow the tyranny of low expectations.” Whatdoes that mean?

Our expectationsdrive our choices. They are ever-present guides in our lives. If we expectsomething, we act accordingly. Right now people have low expectations for thefuture of the poor. We know this because of survey data. And until we overthrowthe tyranny of low expectations, we will remain defeated. Our action willcontinue to be feeble and symbolic and burdened by guilt. Once we recognizethat such low expectations are completely unjustified and ill-informed, we cansee the situation differently. A new and liberated way of seeing the problemwill unleash a robust engagement with the work—a more joyful, comprehensive,and impatient approach that expects an end to extreme poverty.

If you have lowexpectations and you hear that a child died from a preventable cause, you feel sad.If you have high expectations and that happens, you feel angry. Most people aresad about poverty but not angry about it, because they don’t expect things tobe different.