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» Masking tape; using the tape, create a ladder on the floor, with six lines as rungs, two feet apart
» Seven copies of resource 1, “Labels and Tokens”
» Bibles, one for each participant
Activity Steps
1 B e g in by s h a r ing the follow i ng:
» Economic development happens when a country progresses for the well-being of its people.
» For example: Economic development occurs when someone who makes just one dollar a day
(and has not got enough food and clean water to survive) progresses to make enough money
not only to survive, but also to thrive. This improves the quality of life for the family and the
entire community.
» If economic development is a ladder with higher rungs representing steps up the path to
economic well-being, there are roughly 1 billion people around the world, one-sixth of
humanity, who are not even able to make it onto the first rung in order to start climbing.
They are caught in the poverty trap—too poor, too ill, too hungry—they are fighting just to
survive.
» These are the extreme poor struggling with absolute poverty, unable to even secure life’s
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necessities. Earnings for people occupying this rung may be a dollar a day, sometimes even less.
» A few rungs up the ladder is the upper-end of the low-income world where 1.5 billion may
be surviving, but they struggle to make ends meet. They have chronic financial hardship
and lack basic amenities, such as safe drinking water and sanitation. They also face many
diseases.
» About 2.5 billion people who are in the middle income world occupy the next few rungs.
Their income may be a few thousand dollars a year. Many of them live in cities and are able
to secure some comfortable amenities. Their children go to school, have access to medicine,
and nutrition is adequate.
» Still higher up the ladder are the remaining 1 billion in the high-income world. The majority
of these people live in North America and Europe with an increasing number living in
middle-income countries such as China, Brazil and Mexico.
» More than half of the world is experiencing economic progress. The greatest tragedy is that
one-sixth of humanity do not even have a foot on the ladder of economic development. Even
though life-saving solutions exist—whether in forms of medicines, drought-resistant seeds, or
malaria bed nets—they lack the money to invest in it.
(Note: Statistics based on The End of Poverty, Jeffrey D. Sachs, 2005, Penguin Books).
3 T h e n di s c u s s with the whole group where they think this individual would stand
on the ladder. Have the member stand in their spot on the ladder, until all seven
members are placed.
4 L a s t ly, gi v e e a ch volunteer his or her situational token one at a time. Ask them to
read it aloud and then have the group discuss how this situation will affect the movement up or
down the ladder of economic development. Tape this token onto their label card.
6 No w h av e y o u r group read Ezekiel 16:49-50. Then invite the participants to discuss the
following questions:
» What strikes you as you hear Sodom’s sin described in Ezekiel?
» How would you summarize Sodom’s sin as expressed in Ezekiel?
» Do you think our world is doing enough to address global poverty? What more could we
do? What more could you do?
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7 I n t r o d u c e t h e Millenn ium Develop ment goals as noted below and briefly
discuss why each is important.
» At the Millennium Summit held in New York in September 2000 leaders from 189 nations
gathered to adopt the United Nations Millennium Declaration, committing their nations to
a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting out a series of time-bound
targets, with a deadline of 2015.
These goals are called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). They are summarized as
follows:
Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality
Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health
Goal 6: Combat HIV and AIDS, Malaria, and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development
Copyright © 2010 by World Vision, Inc., Mail Stop 321, P.O. Box 9716, Federal Way, WA 98063-9716,
wvresources@worldvision.org. All rights reserved.
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Resource 1
Creating my job….
HYDERAB AD , INDIA
I am an information technology (IT) worker. I work for Microsoft—India. A poor country
is an attractive place for high-technology enterprises. Coming to India, Microsoft saves
money, but it also introduced our poor economy to sophisticated technology and advanced
management processes. Hosting it on our turf has helped us learn from their processes and
move up the ladder. I grew up in a village outside Hyderabad. In 1950, the population of
India was 350 million, and now it’s more than 1 billion. Many people in rural areas are still
in extreme poverty, but I was able to make it to the city and get some education. I support
my family, who still live in the village. My dad sells rice locally. India has had to stop
exporting rice, due to the current global food crisis, and keep it for its growing population.
DHAKA , BANGLADESH
I am a factory worker in Dhaka. I walk in a long line of women who travel two hours to
the city to work in a clothing factory, where our clothes are bound for places like Wal-Mart,
USA. I grew up in the countryside. I couldn’t read or write. I was unschooled. Our village
was poor, with no clean water, and diseases were rampant. My family wanted me to marry
young and have many children. I did not want to raise my children in these conditions. As a
young woman, I saw this job as an opportunity to travel to the city to work, acquiring skills
and income. I hope to possibly go back to my village and start a sewing co-op.
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KA B ALA , S IERRA LEONE
I am a young father of four. After years of civil war among my people, we are slowly
recovering. The rebels, in an effort to claim diamonds in the mountains, forced us out of
our village. My whole village was forced to move away, and we all lived in a camp for the
internally displaced for a while. I cannot work right now, as I had my arm chopped off
during the brutal war—many others also endured such acts. Now we are trying to rebuild
our burned villages and farmland. Forty-one percent of the children in our area go to
school. People live to the average age of 42.
Situational Tokens
Note: these are all fictional situations—not reality.
1 . S h a n g h ai: The Yellow River is drying up. Climate change is taking affect. There is not
enough water for the people in Shanghai. Water is severely polluted from many factories.
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4 . B a n g l a d e sh: An organization comes in with opportunities for “microfinance”—they
offer loans to women to start their own small business. I start my own sewing business back
in my village.
6 . I v o ry C o a st: Hershey’s decided to incorporate “Fair wages and fair conditions” for
their workers in their cocoa plantations and factories. At least 200,000 of the 600,000 workers
are affected by these dangerous conditions. Laws are put into effect for no more child labor.
7 . D .R . Ha it ia n worker: The D.R. is asking for all foreigners who don’t have papers
(like a passport) to leave the country. Where will I go—what will I do with no money, no
land, no education, no social assistance, no healthcare?
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About World Vision
W o r l d Vi si o n is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated
to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide
to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and
injustice. Motivated by our faith in Jesus Christ, World Vision serves
alongside the poor and oppressed as a demonstration of God’s
unconditional love for all people.
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