I was only beginning to grasp Africans’ great generosity, even during their own desperate
times. It seemed so different from everything I had known and experienced.
Let me tell
you about a time when Ugandan kids, living in extreme poverty, donated funds to an American charity.
That’s right.
Desperately needy Ugandan kids donated to Americans.
A pretty amazing
guy, Bob Goff, founder of Restore International (now Love Does), started a
school in Uganda for kids in destitution. Boys at Restore International received
an education and also grew and sold crops.
About that
time, Bob’s friend, Donald Miller, founded The Mentoring Project, which worked
with fatherless kids in Portland, Oregon.
When the
Ugandan boys heard about The Mentoring Project, they wanted to send money to
help those fatherless kids.
Justin Zoradi,
Marketing Director for The Mentoring Project, writes:
“When we
heard this news we were shocked, and a little unnerved.
“What were
these young men thinking?
“Are we
seriously going to accept donations from kids in Uganda? Many of these students
were former child soldiers, their lives upended by poverty, conflict, and civil
unrest, and now they want to give to The Mentoring Project?”
If you’re
like me,
when you hear
such stories your heart races
and you want
to cry out, “No! That’s not right!
They need to
keep their money for their own needs!"
Bob Goff,
however, turns the idea of charity upside down.
“It’s easy to
. . . assume it’s not in the best interest of The Mentoring Project to accept
donations from young people who are, for the most part, in a much harder
situation than the fatherless boys in Portland.
“But in
talking to Bob . . . we realized that
accepting the contributions and allowing Ugandan youth the opportunity to give
generously is the most empowering thing we can do.”
“Bob
described these students as the future leaders of Uganda and how this donation
is a powerful incentive for the development of their country. The gift is a
boost for us, but also an act of nation-building for them. . . .
“We’ve
learned that there is something meaningful and deeply enriching in the act of
giving itself, regardless of the amount.
“Remember the
parable Jesus told
about the widow
who gave her last coin
to the poor
in Mark 12?
In the same
vein, let’s not take away
the
opportunity for the boys from Uganda
to be blessed
by God and experience the joy of giving. . . .”
Yes, indeed, Bob
Goff turns the idea of charity upside down!
“Exactly in
line with the Beatitudes,
he [Jesus]
was describing and inviting his followers
to enter an
upside-down world, an inside-out world,
a world where
all the things people normally assume
about human
flourishing, including human virtue,
are set aside
and a new order is established.”
(Virtue Reborn, by Tom Wright)
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