I recently watched A BBC miniseries “The Honourable Woman” and there was a particular statement that stuck out to me.
“Conflict is born from terror. Terror thrives on poverty and dies on wealth.” Wealth is created thru education.
Many studies have been conducted on the link between conflict and poverty. While the debate continues as to whether conflict causes poverty or vice versa, one thing is known to be true. Throughout the world, and especially in developing countries, conflict and poverty tend to come hand in hand.
When we look at solving conflict and poverty in developing countries, we must first look to the root cause, and that is terror. Conflict is born from terror. Two opposing groups have an extreme fear of something, presumably the biggest fear is loss. Loss of resources, money, loved ones. This is where terror begins to thrive on poverty.
Although it is a much-needed part of the solution, it’s not enough to provide money and resources such as roadways, wells, tools, etc. to decrease poverty and conflict-stricken areas. Once an area receives this aid, they must also be trained in how to use, maintain and ultimately achieve growth in this new lifestyle. If terror dies on wealth, we must find a way to maintain wealth in countries. The key to doing this is through education.
Therefore I propose this addition to the statement: “Conflict is born from terror. Terror thrives on poverty and dies on wealth.” Wealth is created thru education. That is the mission of Hope for Hearts. We take children who are dealing first-hand with the worst kind of poverty imaginable – homelessness, parentless, doing whatever it takes to find their next meal, shelter or other basic necessities – and give them the educational resources they need to become self-sufficient and end their cycle of poverty. With each donation to Hope for Hearts, you help take a child from poverty to prosperity through education. As a global community we become one step closer to ending terror. Let us be reminded of the Starfish Story:
For just $20 a month ($240 annually), you could make a difference by sponsoring a child at St. Elizabeth’s Academy. For more information visit: https://hope4hearts.org/sponsor-a-child/.
