THE POOR

INTRODUCTION

At first, we ll take a look at the root origin for the word poor in contrast with the word rich, then we
ll go to the second part of this subject called types of poverty where we ll see that there is a natural
aspect of poverty but also a spiritual one and how these two connect with each other.
Here Antonius will be speaking about the material side whereas I ll be speaking about the
educational and the soul type of poverty. The third part and also the last one will be about the
renewing of the mind,( the old and the new) and how that is related to poverty.

ROOT ORIGIN
What does the word poor mean and where does it come from? i found out that
The word POOR comes from Latin pauper, from pre Latin pau paros which means: producing
little and getting little. Then I searched the definition for the word poor and I found this:
-the state of being poor= lack of smth
Here, I found 3 definitions:

1. Lacking sufficient money to live at a standard considered comfortable or normal in a society.

2. Lack of access to opportunities like education and employment which aid to escape of
poverty.
3. A low of inferior standard or quality.

But under these def. I ve noticed some adjectives that would describe the state of being poor and I
would like to share these with you as well.
These are: short of money, deprived, penniless, beggarly, unprosperous, bellow standard, imperfect,
inferior, mediocre, miserable, wretched, pitiful, frightful, trashywheres opposed with the
adjectives that describe the noun/ word RICH would be: abundance, ease, enough, plenty, sufficiency,
wealth, richness, advantage, fill, surplus etc.

As far as I can see, it looks like the dictionaries can give us a clear distinction between what I would
call a material poverty and a soulish poverty as we ve heard the words like short of money, penniless
alongside the words inferior, mediocre, frightful...which made me think a lot more then I used to
about the connection between the material, natural aspect of poverty and the spiritual onehow it
can all start in your soul and it might end with the material aspect./your pocket..

I just want to make clear now the difference between soul and spirit ,and that s maybe just for me
as we will go to the roots of poverty and where that begins.
Even though in the Bible the words soul and spirit are used interchangeably there is still a difference
between them. The following passages make a very clear distinction between the soul and the spirit.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

1 Thessalonians 5:23, And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole
spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are a spirit being, we live in a body and we possess a soul. The real person inside of us is our
spirit. The soul consists of our mind, will and emotions. Our bodies is what we live in here on earth.
 The spirit of a man can be made right with God and raised to a new life the moment we accept
Jesus but the soul can carry much spiritual dirt over from our past lifestylesand related to the roma
people we are working with we can say they carry a lot of generational dirt, oppression , bondage etc.
As the history tells us, the word gipsy comes from greek athinganos or athinganoy which
means pegan, eretic. According to Romanian documents from 1385 the word atigan reffers to a
social status , a slave but not to a ethnie. If we reffer to a ethnie we call them rroma which means
man .
In the beginning the roma people were slaves and only in the XIX century they were set free from
slavery but didn t get any rights. In a short story they ve lost their ethnic identity due to the
communist attempts to civilize them.
So, we have seen the consequences they have suffered but also what is engraved on their soul
rejection, self pitiness, anxiety, hatred, complex of inferiority etc. All these carry them into a cycle of
poverty and it s hard for them to see what causes them to stay in this cycle of poverty unless they are
helped and here comes the Christian s part.
How can they be helped in a practical way? How can they get their mind renewed?

RENEWING OF THE MIND

First, I think that people have to choose whether they want to get out of poverty regardless to
what that looks like, as the following prayer of a compassion alumni, DJ and youth minister, God
if you exist, please take me out of this prison.I don t want to live this life anymore. And when you get
me out of prison, please take me out of poverty.

I think this is possible the moment people accept Jesus in their hearts because you need God s
strength to say yes to giving up the old mind thinking and accepting a new one.
I remember one of Jesus healings in the Bible Mark 10: 46 where a blind man called
Bartimaeus , a beggar, asked Jesus to heal him. Jesus question, which was kind of odd was: What do
you want me to do for you? obviously the guy was blind and of course, he needed his eyes to be
restored. The reason why He asked that was that the only way the guy could make a living back then
was by begging, for he had no qualifications, no diplomas..and if Jesus healed him, he could no
longer beg since he was healthy now. That meant he was supposed to start a new life..to learn reading,
writing etc. Bartimaeus answer was Rabbi I want to see. The guy made a choice. He knew that it
will not be easy to start a new life but for him it was more important to be set free from his prison. I
m sure he managed to start a new life, because he chose to let go of the old mindset where he was a
victim and embraced a new life with Jesus as we now that he followed Him.

In Checheci there is a group of women led by Anca and Ingebori .There, these two ladies minister to
them and speak to them from the Word. Their minds are washed by the Word of God which is the
truth John8:32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
Women come for prayer.
Then, there is the youth meeting at Adoram on Fridays, where 7 th and 8 th children are going with
the Networks team. They get out of their community where they get into contact with a new world,
they see Christian teens at their age being joyful and free in whom God created them to be
 THE EDUCATION

WHY IS EDUCATION IMPORTANT?

It s important because Education is one of the most effective ways to break the cycle of
discrimination and poverty that children with/ without disabilities and their families often face.
- it gives people critical skills and tools to help them better provide for themselves and their
children.
- education helps people work better and create opportunities for sustainable economic growth.
An illiterate person faces activities and has fewer opportunities to develop a professional
career( European commission, Education and Training)
-as the level of education/ qualification grows so does the chance to get a higher income.

BUT LET S HAVE A THOUGHT ON THE ROMA PEOLPLE SEE EDUCATION

But even so/Still, education can have different values for different groups of people(parents,
children, teachers, poorer families or wealthier ones).
For some people, the aspect of education is not important, because of their culture, and those
who are interested in education they don t have the necessary resources to send their children to
school. The consequence is the high rate of illiteracy that leads them into a cycle of poverty just like
their parents were and it keeps the roma population into a continual material and intellectual poverty.
There are some obvious factors for which the roma children aren t attending school as they should ,
these are: low income, precarious health, discrimination, lack of identity cards etc.

From an early age, roma children get an informal education, and they are given independance and
autonomy.They are taught survival abilities and how to bring resources in the family or in the
community that are different from the moral and social code of a society and so, for a traditional roma
way of living, school is not relevant. When the child gets into school and is subject to new rules not
only he doesn t understand them but neither knows how to react to them. School discipline does not
correspond to the traditional way of roma education and the parents don t see it essential for their
children.
Some statictis show us that in 2008, 13 % of the roma children were attending school but in 2010,
25% of them were going to school. Looking back at our roma children from Checheci that used to
come to the homework club until the age of 14, 15 or depending if they passed the class at school or
not more and more are going to what we would call a training school where students can be qualified
for different jobs. But this didn t happen from the first year the homework center was opened, but in
time..as the mentality in both parents and children has slowly changed. The fact that there are people
who are for them and give them support makes a difference not just for their hearts, but also for their
minds as they are influenced by people like me and you.