The poor will always be with you
The electricity just went out for four hours. It wouldn't have been a problem...except the one appliance we're running in the middle of the day is the ceiling fan. That matters in August. Thank God it was only 90 degrees with manageable humidity, one of the more pleasant days we've had. But little Shakeenah struggled …
My first slum homestay was in a large, decrepit house. The entrance was split into narrow hallways by particle boards. I followed my homestay "brother" down one of the makeshift paths to the right, then left, right then two more lefts, shuffling between flimsy dividers that didn't leave enough space for my shoulders. We arrived …
I would have found out sooner if I hadn't been out all day. Turning down the alley I could see that something was up. People were out of their homes, disturbed, grouping. I started towards them but then they rushed to me instead. "Four boys! They've been missing since 3pm yesterday! It is your kids …
Most folk don't want to hear me talk about slums. I once thought that slum life would make this blog unique. The internet is saturated with almost everything, but there aren't many English-speaking slum bloggers. Maybe people wouldn't want to hear what I had to say about money, power, or nonviolence, but at least they'd …
I was gonna write something else this week but this one is stuck on my heart. Our dear friend Aslam was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. The shock came just a year after he got married, a month before his son was to be born. The news has been a roller coaster - the …
We were wiped out from the wedding. The trip to the nation's capital was in itself exhausting, and a long day had played out getting the groom's side into a bus, across town to the event, and out in the hot sun for the festivities. It was well past dusk before all fifty of us …
Three years ago our 14-year-old friend Neha was married off illegally. As we were very close to the family the preparation was done in secret, so we wouldn't know about it and couldn't stop it. I found out what was happening halfway through the wedding (which was only supposed to be for her older sister's …
I consider the following statement by economist Silvio Gesell, made on the eve of the Armistice Agreement (the end of World War I), to be one of the most prescient assertions in published history. “In spite of the holy promises of people to banish war once and for all, in spite of the cry of …
For centuries the Church spoke with strength against usury. Then society changed so much that the message could no longer be heard. The transition from abhorrence to acceptance is best demonstrated by a letter of St. Francis Xavier, the famous 16th-century Catholic missionary and co-founder of the Jesuits, writing to a priest. When in the …
Basil the Great, among the most renowned of the early Church fathers, states: When the prophet wished to describe in words those who have attained perfection, those who are about to attain to everlasting life, he reckoned among their noble works the following: “They do not lend money at interest.” This sin is denounced in …
