Imagine No Malaria

SC UMC Delegation Lobbying
Capitol Hill for INM '12

For two days I joined 100+ United Methodist clergy and lay for advocacy days on The Hill. Our advocacy focus was Imagine No Malaria--a UM initiative to help eradicate malaria in sub-Saharan Africa by partnering with other government and non-government agencies. The UMC has pledged to raise $75 million by 2015--money which will buy nets, vaccines and provide equipment, education and training for local people and clinics in more than 20 African countries. Malaria is caused by a parasite in the belly of a mosquito. Such a small thing is so deadly, killing a child in Africa every 60 seconds. And yet, very much like smallpox and polio, malaria is preventable, treatable and curable.

Part of our work in DC was lobbying our senators and representatives to continue to support the less than 1% of our federal budget that goes toward foreign aid. Specifically we want the government to support the senate's proposal of $670 million for the global health fund. This is such a small fraction--remember less than 1%--that can do so much good. When the average US citizen is asked how much money we spend on foreign aid, most estimate 25-30%. One man I talked with guessed we spent 30% on foreign aid, so I asked him what we should spend. He said, "Well the Bible tells us to give 10% to church, so I guess the US should give 10%." What a great idea!! Needless to say this man was surprised that less than 1% is allocated for foreign assistance. I understand that our government has a difficult and controversial situation on their hands right now with the ever nearing fiscal cliff. Cuts must be made, and many propose to cut foreign aid, but cuts to foreign aid would be very short sighted in many ways.

Think about it. Right now sub-Saharan Africa is wrought with poverty and sickness--especially with treatable and preventable diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS. If we pull out and do not invest in the ameliorating some of the health issues that plague these African countries, others will fill our place. Right now China is scouting out new business and manufacturing opportunities in Africa. China has been known to come into places and wipe out natural resources, making Chinese business people richer and leaving the countries they violated worse off than before. Such vulnerable and desperate places are also prime recruiting grounds for terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda. If we leave sub-Saharan Africa alone, you can be sure we will be back there within the next decade spending money on a war that would cost ten times what we are asking our congress to support now.

That is the part of the political issue of the foreign aid debate, but there is a moral component that we must consider as people of faith. Jesus asks in Luke 10, "Who is your neighbor?" He asked this after he told the parable of the Good Samaritan. Jewish people would have never considered Samaritans their neighbors. But then Jesus' whole life and ministry redefined who the people of God considered their neighbor. Jesus ate with tax collectors who stole and cheated people out of their money. Tax collectors became your neighbor if you were a follower of Jesus. Jesus sat, ate and talked with prostitutes, adulteresses, the lame, the blind, the outcasts of society. All these Jesus called his followers to consider their neighbor. I believe Jesus calls us to think just as broadly as he asks us today, "Who is your neighbor?"

Yes, we have vulnerable, needy people among us, but we live in a global village where we cannot neglect the needs of our neighbors in the farthest, darkest points of this world. Malaria is preventable, treatable and curable if those who live in these areas have access to nets, vaccines, education and training. The goal is to help the sub-Saharan African people overcome malaria so that they, themselves, can create a sustainable and thriving society where thousands of mothers are telling their babies goodbye every 60 seconds. Some in our own nation think that such use of foreign aid will create a dependency or a longterm lifeline. However, that cannot be further from the goal of reaching out with seed money to help jumpstart health initiatives like Imagine No Malaria. I would hope if such a disease ever plagued us in this country, our Christian brothers and sisters in other parts of the world would consider us their neighbor.

As God's people we have a calling. As people of the wealthiest country in the world this calling is even higher. Just two chapters after the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus says, "To whom much has been given, much is expected." We have the means--even in the shadow of this fiscal cliff--to continue to support our neighbors in sub-Saharan Africa through US foreign aid. Less than 1% of our budget can change that part of the world in a way those who live there can only imagine. Let us not forget Paul's words in Ephesians 3:20, "To God who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than we can ask or imagine, to God be the glory." Through us God is already doing so much good. Let's not get in his way by cutting where cuts do not to be made.