In 2009, a book was published entitled When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor…and Yourself. Written by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, it addresses the very real issue of misguided but well-intended efforts to care for the poor that have actually done damage. It details the issues of harm to cultures and economies as well as fostering dependence on others instead of personal responsibility. I have read the book and believe it to be a very worthwhile way to spend your time. The concerns it raises are very real and do need to be addressed.
As a ministry we work very hard and diligently to assess needs and to evaluate the best ways to assist families. We seek to determine the cause of the crisis and address the root issues. We also try to settle on the least intervention necessary. For example, if a child needs medicine we try to determine what the family can contribute to the need and then help with the rest. Sometimes that is nothing. At other times it might be 100% and we realize that they don’t need our help. We, in no way, want to enable people to maintain a dependent lifestyle. We understand the concerns of the authors and want to make sure we don’t fall prey to those destructive tendencies that exist within many helping ministries.
However, I do have a very real concern, not so much with the book but with its application. In many cases, it seems that those who read the book or attend one of the accompanying seminars walk away paralyzed. In other words, they realize that much of what they have done to help has perhaps been used to harm. But they feel ill-equipped to address the bigger issues of poverty by addressing the systematic issues. As a result, they are afraid to do anything.
Just today I heard from a ministry leader in the States that is considering eliminating a part of their work that has been a huge blessing to our ministry here. That decision is rooted, in large part, in the principals of When Helping Hurts and some other resources along similar lines. So, we are suddenly finding ourselves scrambling to see how we can produce the same resource ourselves that they were providing. While I understand their motivation and desire to be careful, I wish that I could fully explain to them the ramifications of such a choice and how it will impact the families we and others help.
Then there are others who read the book and come to us to impart their new-found wisdom and insights. They enjoy telling us what they believe we are doing wrong and how we should change without understanding the real issues that we face. The black and white words on a printed page may seem cut and dried, but when they take place in real lives and real families it looks very different.
I agree that we do not want to become an American Santa Clause who comes to town regularly, gives gifts and then leaves again. We don’t want to be enablers and need to be careful in how we help. However, there are times in which we simply need to help, regardless of what the latest book or seminar says.
Let me give you a few examples:
- When faced with a widow who has a son with special needs that requires 24-hour a day care and is unable to work….
- When faced with a mother of seven children, one with severe special needs, whose husband has left her for another woman and has no means of income…
- When a father of five is working 12 hour days to provide for his family, but his son’s anti-seizure medication cost half of his monthly salary and the family is getting skinnier and skinnier…
- When a single mother has a son who has severe CP, is malnourished, and in whose lungs I can clearly hear fluid while their house is without food for them and the other three children…
In these instances, I have a greater fear than the one that warns me to be careful of how I help. It is the fear of what will happen if I DON’T help. In those moments, the only literature I need is the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Matthew 25:35-36
Once again, I want to extend that help in a way that truly helps and doesn’t hurt. I want to, while giving them a meal, consider ways to help them learn to produce what they need in the future. But you cannot argue with scripture which teaches us that when we encounter legitimate need and we have the means to help…we are to help. Period. Sometimes that is a meal. Sometimes that is lots of meals. Sometimes it is a wheelchair. Sometimes it is medicine or help with medical expenses. Sometimes it is giving them a job. Sometimes it is a hug and a prayer.
In the cases I listed above and many others, not helping is not an option. And in each case, there is no easy long-term solution to address the need, although I pray and seek God daily for his direction in finding it. At times, simply showing up with what they need in Jesus’ name is the only answer. So we do…and will continue to do so.
Often Not helping hurts more than helping.
That’s all for now. Blessings from San Antonio Aguas Calientes!
Daryl, Wanda and the Crew
