Shedding Light

Hello Cibola community! It is so nice to write to you again. Since we last “spoke,” I have spent most of my time at New Mexico State University- Main Campus in Las Cruces, pursuing a major in Communication, a minor in Journalism, and a second minor in Social Media Management. I still think about Cibola County often and hope for its continued growth.

I am currently working with an organization called The Borgen Project – a national nonprofit working to fight extreme global poverty by making poverty a focus of U.S. foreign aid. My interest in this cause started at NMSUGrants, when I watched a 2013 documentary called Living on One Dollar for one of my classes. This film opened my eyes and my heart to the reality of those born into extreme poverty in other countries.

It told the story of families that were informally employed as farmers, meaning they did not know when they would receive work or how much income they would receive. Their young children had to drop out of school to help farm, earn an income, and support their family. One of the fathers featured in the film broke into tears as he talked about his young children: “There is no nutrition. They only eat salt and tortillas. They’re just laying there because they don’t even have the energy to play.”

Working with The Borgen Project, I have had the opportunity to learn even more about this issue. There are over 700 million people living in extreme poverty worldwide. The Borgen Project uses a strategy of advocacy to help. You might be wondering, how does advocacy solve this issue? Advocacy garners the attention of the people in positions of power that can help the most.

For example, The Borgen Project advocated for the Global Food Security Act, which became law in 2016. As of 2019, 23 million people now live above the poverty line and 5 million families are no longer suffering from hunger due to increased sustainable growth, such as improved agricultural practices, women’s economic empowerment and food security. These advocacy efforts put global poverty on the minds of U.S. leaders, who are in the best position to make legislative decisions that will help alleviate hardships worldwide.

In the big picture, not only do these decisions help people born in extreme poverty, but they are also global investments that help to create U.S. jobs and protect our national security interests. When impoverished communities and developing nations begin to thrive economically, new consumer markets open up for U.S. companies to enter into. When they begin to thrive academically, it reduces poverty, increases incomes and economic growth, fosters peace, reduces child marriage and maternal death, decreases violence and extremism, promotes gender equality and saves lives.

This cause is incredibly important and also very easy to support. You don’t have to be an advocacy expert to get involved. Two easy ways to help are to call or email your leaders in Congress.

All you have to do when you call is say, “I’m a Borgen Project supporter. Please protect the International Affairs Budget.” Or “Hello, I’m a Borgen Project supporter and I would like you to support the reauthorization of the READ Act.” Each congressional office keeps a call report that tallies issues that are called in, and just 7-10 calls alone can put the issue on that leader’s radar and push them to support poverty-reducing legislation. You can learn more about these pieces of legislation and why they are important here: https://borgenproject.org/legislation/ If you would rather email, all you have to do is visit this link – https://borgenproject.org/action- center/ – select one of the legislation options, add your information at the bottom of the page, and click Send Message.

I know that the decision to support a nonprofit or a specific cause is a big one and one that people want to be informed about. I encourage you to visit The Borgen Project website – https://borgenproject. org/ – to learn more.

I have done my research and evaluated why this is important to me personally, and I can genuinely say this is a cause worth supporting. As most people know, my faith is very important to me, and the two verses that have been my personal inspiration for fighting this fight are: “Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute,” (Psalm 82:3) and, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice” (Proverbs 31:8-9).

Thank you for reading and taking the time to learn about this issue. It is easy to forget about those living in extreme poverty when they are so far away, but I hope to use the skills and passions God has given me to not let them be forgotten and to fight for them in an impactful way. I hope you will consider doing the same, in whatever ways you are able.

God bless, Cibola!